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Have you ever stopped what you were doing, and just observed your surroundings? I like to go out in the woods where you can’t hear any horns blaring, motors racing, or people talking and just listen to the sounds the trees make. It’s so peaceful and the vibration is different.  I don’t understand it, but it is healing.

Squirrels make a chitter chatter sound, that is quite fascinating to listen to. You can hear their nails on the tree trunks as they scurry about.

I put some food out for the chickens, things like cantaloupe, tomatoes, lettuce, kale, chard, grapes – a little bit of everything.  Eventually, the deer will make their way over to the food I’ve thrown out.  It’s funny to watch them, just now a six-point buck was sniffing around.  I would have thought he would go right for the strawberries, or the apples but no, he went right for the kale. Kale is very good for you, with lots of vitamins and minerals.

Did you know that squirrels love avocados?  Very nutrient rich, both the kale and the avocados. Animals really are smart, you can learn a great deal from watching them.

The 11 Most Nutrient Dense Foods on The Planet — This is a great list, but I wouldn’t eat the salmon, while it may be good for you, it’s contaminated with radiation. The same goes for seaweed, shellfish and sardines. Great sources of nutrients, but it can lead to cancer and leukemia.

Dark Chocolate is a terrific food with wonderful nutrients, but I’m a little curious why the author didn’t specify cacao, instead of it’s processed cousin cocoa.

The potato is one of the dirty dozen.  The skin doesn’t protect the potato, so pesticides soak right in. A better choice is organic potatoes, which do not have pesticides applied, so they’re much healthier.

Nutrient Showdown: Best Sources of Vitamins & Minerals — Moreover, we consistently hear that plant foods – fruits, vegetables and whole grains – offer the very best sources of vitamins and minerals and while they certainly play a critical role in a wholesome diet, plant foods do not always represent the best source of nutrients. Indeed, animal foods – particularly liver, roe and shellfish – offer some of the most concentrated sources of vitamins and minerals. Turkey liver offers 3 times more vitamin A than the same quantity of sweet potato.

Pay attention to what the animals eat and you can survive anywhere.  Nature is just so wonderful, please stop what you are doing and enjoy a little bit of nature today and everyday.  Let it renew your spirit while you nourish your body.

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Have you ever had one of those days that is absolutely perfect?  The smoke has cleared tremendously and the weather is cool, just right at 66°F.  The Fire Information truck was making the rounds dropping off maps and an information sheet. While this doesn’t give all the information I would want, there are phone numbers to call for more details.

Red-dyed line of fire retardant stands out clearly on this Arizona hill. Drop was against the Alambre Fire.

We are all so thankful to the firefighters for working so hard save our homes and businesses.  However, that doesn’t mean all the residents are happy with the forest service, their policies and the other personnel working the fire.  There were a great number of concerns brought up at the last meeting.  The people running the meeting tried to provide answers, but there were a lot of questions remaining.

I was very happy that one lady brought up the fire retardant.  This is our forest – we live here – and we should know what chemicals are being used, what they are comprised of and any long-term effects of it’s use.  Yes, I realize it’s a trade-off, using chemicals to protect homes and such, but is it worth it to save a few homes if the chemicals used leech into our ground water and poison all of us – even those as far away as the bay area who use our water?  I’d rather be homeless than have our water polluted. At any rate, we should be making informed decisions about it, instead of having this conversation when it’s too late to make a difference.

But how many of us knew there was such a thing as fire retardant that could be used on such a massive scale?  I have never heard of it.

Now is a perfect time to come visit if you’ve been waiting for the smoke to clear. The crowds have gone home. It’s “sweater weather,” that’s for sure.  Bring a jacket to be on the safe side.  Jeans are back in style, unless you’re staying in Sonora.

I’ve been doing some canning, I highly recommend it.  It feels good putting up your own fruits, vegetables, even meat.  I canned some pinto beans which will be used for homemade refried beans, and I canned bread and butter pickles.  They could have been a little thicker, but otherwise they were good.

Deer Mtn. Fire

Yesterday, I had a surprise, as I was feeding the chickens some lettuce here comes ten deer into the yard, all at once. It was more than a little unnerving. Did you know deer love lettuce?  I have to plan feeding the chickens around the deer visits.  Deer are smart and they hide, laying in wait for something they want.  Droves will show up as soon as I get the lettuce out.

This morning around three a.m., two huge bucks came by, a 12 point and an 8 point buck.  They were an amazing sight to behold.  They had been scraping their horns and the horns were really rugged and marked up.  I had never seen these deer before.  We have a group of three bucks that come through a couple times a week.  There is a group of young females all with a dark coat, which means they were probably siblings. They are each pretty large.

I’m not seeing a lot of young bucks right now, but it could turn out that some of those “does” are actually bucks.  One never knows.

Please respond with your questions or comments.  What do you think about the fire retardants?  Should they be used?

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We had a group of deer come through our property yesterday.  I’ve been watching these fawns since they were born. They have a nesting spot not too far from here.  I’m worried about them.

I’ve been an avid deer watcher since moving to Twain Harte around 2000 or so.  This is the first time I’ve noticed any tumors.  Out of the four fawns who came by yesterday three had tumors.  They were born with them, the tumors weren’t something that came up overnight.

This is the worse one. This little guy has tumors on tumors.  I wonder if it has to do with radiation?  It couldn’t be due to the retardant used on the Rim fire, since these were born before the fire even started. They are only three to four months old.

The tumor on this deer is under the chin.  You can see him here eating a lettuce stalk. Could this be from eating GMO food?  Is it something else?  I did a search on google images for deer with tumors.  Notice that they are white.  It was not pretty.  Did I mention I was worried sick?

This seems to indicate that the causes are abscesses, but these fawns were born this way.

Why Do Fawns Have Growths on their Necks and Chins?

According to DFG Veterinarian Dr. Ben Gonzales, deer can have multiple lumps due to cutaneous tumors (aka papillomatosis or fibromas) which are thought to be induced by viruses.

The location you describe of these lumps makes him think they are more likely jaw abscesses which can develop from a broken tooth, or more likely from the migration of grass awns or foxtails. Foxtails migrate forward and find the path of least resistance. The body tries to fight this foreign body by delivering white cells (neutrophils), which collect, die and form pus-filled abscesses. The abscesses also find the path of least resistance between tissue layers and thus can end up on the upper neck. Since this is the time of year when foxtails are dry and are easily picked up and ingested during feeding, my best educated guess is that you’re seeing foxtail-induced abscesses.  [Read More]

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