Hal Schmidt

Thanks for the responses. I did one of those popular blood tests that tells you what your food intolerances are and it told me I should stop eating A LOT of things - a lot of meats and animal products, certain grains, peanuts, sugar cane, corn, gluten, etc. I noticed that I felt really sick after eating any of those foods and I started cutting them out. But what I was left with wasn't nutritious enough and I still felt like crap all the time and I was stuck in this downward spiral of cutting out more and more foods. I know other people going through that same spiral and their health is deteriorating. After doing a lot of research on nutrition (most books seemed to come from the Weston A. Price Foundation, hmm...) and exploring more recipes I gradually started adding foods back in my diet and now I am eating copious amounts of meat and animal products, although I am still wary of grains and sugars and will ferment them before I eat them. But I can handle a bit of crappy food now that my body is strong enough and I don't have to be "that person that can't eat anything" at a restaurant or going over to someone's house for dinner.

I was diagnosed with what the doctor called "exercise-induced asthma" at about 13 or 14. I used an inhaler for many years every time I exercised. I had a lot of musculoskeletal pain along with lots of stress and I was very malnourished and out of shape. I have since improved my health by making sure I have enough nutrition and have lowered my stress levels and started doing regular yoga and exercise and removed toxins from my home and what was diagnosed as "asthma" is now gone (by my own measure, I haven't actually been to the doctor in years).

I can't say for sure if I actually had asthma or if it was just a compounding of effects from being generally unhealthy. I found that acupuncture and going to the chiropractor would offer immediate relief, like my back was all knotted up and not letting me take a full breath. Even for people that probably have actual asthma, I'm sure supporting your lungs through a nourishing diet and lifestyle that keeps you healthy will help, even if those things take a long time to work. Yoga and strength-training exercises to keep my breathing muscles healthy and relaxed have been a huge help and my breathing generally feels easier when I do some regular running on the treadmill, although I have been really bad about establishing that as a habit).

Also removing sugar from my diet - I notice that when I eat sugar now I get winded, like it's harder to get a full breath. And the sugar also gives me some sinus congestion. I'm not saying that these things will cure your asthma but I hope considering some of these things I've experimented with for my own health will give you some ideas to try to help your body support your lungs.

I am contemplating writing a book about my experience "eliminating" my food intolerances.

It will be about how I was "diagnosed" with food intolerances, cut out a bunch of foods, became very sickly, and turned my health around through learning and experimentation and have now effectively "eliminated" my food intolerances. I would like to dig into the science behind food intolerances and food allergies and know that this will involve some research.

I would also like to make it sort of a pseudo-cookbook with recipes from different stages along my journey, highlighting that getting to a point where you are eating really well and growing and fermenting good food is a journey that you don't have to reach tomorrow.

Does this sound like a book people would be interested in and if so, why? And any recommendations for resources that discuss the science behind food intolerances and also traditional food preparation methods (fermentation, sprouting, etc.) to make food more digestible? Any other ideas come to mind? Has anyone else had any experiences with food intolerances/allergies and trying to make them go away?

This is a topic that would probably be better in the toxic gick forum, but I need to build up my apple supply before I can post there, so I am posting this here.

We bought a property and I found some raised beds that had been covered with a tarp and left for who knows how long. The tarp had started decomposing and I tried pulling it out and digging up as much as the bits of tarp plastic as I could. I am now wondering what to do with the soil that is full of little bits of tarp. It looks like pretty good soil so I would like to take advantage of it but I do not want to eat plastic. Yuck. I'm thinking of trying an experiment where I dump it in a hole and plant something to help break it down (that I don't have to eat - like trees maybe?). This property also has a trash pile that I anticipate being gross as well, so I'm thinking of throwing out all the trash and dumping the plastic soil in that spot and planting something remediating.

Any ideas for what to plant on the trash spot to help break down yucky plastics and garbage that's too small for me to pick up by hand?

Thanks!

Stephen is such a delightful human being. #WeLoveStephen.

Alright, I just started my research on what to plant on my property and the Russian Olive appears to be potentially the most useful according to the Natural Plant Capital Database. I'm looking for trees that could provide a good windbreak and be easy to establish. However, as I search for more information about the Russian Olive, I am seeing a lot about it being invasive and several states making it illegal and forcing you to cut them down. It's not currently illegal in Idaho but I heard that someone is trying really hard to make it so. I also found a website where people report sightings of the Russian Olive and had a map broken down by county. I didn't see any sightings in my county so I am wondering - if I plant this thing and it spreads outside of my property and makes someone mad, could they trace it back to me and cause me a lot of suffering? Is there a way to hide the tree (probably not very likely as my property is right along the highway)? What potential sociopolitical downsides could planting this thing incur and is it worth it?

Thank you in advance for any thoughts.

Hello! I heard about this awesome card game at the PDC this year and was hoping to get a set, however, it seems that the shop is no longer taking order and all of the posts are several years old and there are lots of dead links. Is there a way to get these cards? Is everything alright with Karl?

Thank you all for all the super helpful responses!

I have a followup question and maybe there's a thread that exists somewhere that someone could point me to. What do you do with animals in the winter when it's really snowy? We left our chickens behind in Oregon but we're planning on getting some new chickens and re-creating our setup with the mobile coop with the chicken wire floor so the poop falls through. Will the chickens be warm enough in a coop like that? I know that we have some neighbors that keep chickens but I have not yet asked them what they do during the winter. And if the chickens are fine in the snow how much space do I need to dig out for them to roam around? Or do they need to go inside like a barn to ride out the winter (would prefer not to have to scoop poop).

https://abundantpermaculture.com/Mobile-chicken-coop/

Hello!

So my husband and I just moved to an area that apparently gets a lot of snow in the winter and I'm looking to get some wisdom from folks who are familiar with living with snow. We're both from west of the Cascades where it might snow once if at all in a year and even then only a few inches, so this is something new for us. We walked over and said hi to one of our new neighbors and the first words out of his mouth were "do you guys like snow?" He recommended getting a snow blower and a snowmobile as well as a sledgehammer and a ladder to bust chunks of ice off of our roof (is that normal?).

What are some essentials you absolutely can't live without and what are some items that you love to have even if they're not essential in areas that get a lot of snow? Apparently we will get snowed in for parts of the winter and the highway closes. Do you have any crazy living in snowy area stories?

Thanks!