This series of blogs I am going to write under is a review of not only the products the farmers produce, but also about health related concerns.

Food has been under scrutiny for a long time which lead to the wholistic food movements and natural eating. Farming practices by the large agribusinesses have come under fire for their inhumane treatment of animals as well as their sloppy and makeshift way of growing food and raising their livestock. Life is to be treasured and if we do not treasure that which is under our care, how can we expect ourselves to be treasured?

Before Mark and I began GFGU I had been talking to him about the frustration with not knowing why my body was holding the weight. I could gain and loose 10lbs in a week. I knew it was water weight. And I had figured it had to be inflammation. Whenever the body is in repair mode, or under stress, water is brought into the area. Think of inflammation in the knees, or fingers for instance. Or burns. I had lived in South Africa for a short while when I was a teenager. The bread there was quite different and made with water. The loaves were square! Flat topped!

I had tried to go gluten free. Nothing happened there either. Aside from being almost impossible to go gluten free, cause flour is in everything, I had no changes in my body. So gluten was not the problem. One year we were in Saskatchewan and we were nose to nose with agribusinesses using glycophosphate. I was stunned at the quantities used! They killed the wheat and left it for a month before they harvested it. They were told that the poison wore off during that month and made it safe to eat. Are you kidding me!??? I will never touch wheat in a field again!

So Herma makes all kinds of old world flours from grains she grows! We bought some to try, a little bag. Mark made some bread and I tried some. Carefully. I watched the scale to see if I had an increase in water weight. No. Ok so I had more and then some more. Still I am fine! I can eat Herma’s grain!

I made an artisan style bread using flour, water, yeast and salt. It rises for almost 2 hours and baked in a hot oven. I could not get enough of it!

And it was filling too! All the good nutrients, the fiber, everything – it was so satisfying! All those years of not having grain I had often had Vit B deficiencies and low iron. In combination with my panic attacks, which I no longer have, dealing with stress and the issues with – I don’t know how to describe it – brain stutters maybe – were all related to the mineral deficiencies and B vitamins that grains provide. I had resolved the brain thing about 10 years ago. It was an accidental discovery. It was making bone broths, stews and hugely increasing my potassium through meat, milk and mushrooms. I realized the nerves are like wires and if they are bare, they short out all the time. I suspected something was amiss with the myelin sheath, the coating of the nerves, a rich lipid layer.

Our foods are not what they were in our grandparent’s day. I can’t eat enough volume to have the nutrients the food guide says we are supposed to have. Are they less nutritious? Aside from the obvious pesticide use and that the Canada Food Guide was written to cater to big interests, our bodies know what we need. Our bodies also know when something is not good for us.

I think whatever they (the large agribusinesses) put into food I think it blocks our ability to intake what we need. Those blocks are what causes inflammation. This is my understanding after many years of endless diets, vitamins and many other experiments to get my body back. I still have weight and I am slowly going down. I believe for myself, that the issue I am having comes from having a sensitivity to the poisoning of our wheat. Interestingly during some research while in BC, most foods available for public consumption through box stores have glycophosphate on them.

I’d love to be a skinny size 12 because I love the clothes you can buy, how free I feel and how much I love gypsy skirts! But all in good time. I need to do something about the water I drink. I have just recently discovered putting magnets under the water jugs and I can notice instant & powerful differences. Because usually I just cannot, cannot drink water. I will have tea and the like, but I can’t drink water

But back to Herma’s flour. The taste is amazing. Real food. GOOD food. I love rye and have not tried hers yet but I am sure I am going to love it. Herma has spelt and buckwheat too. So I would recommend looking over her products, read up on how she farms on her site! I highly recommend connecting with a real farmer who grows food that gives us every real and natural sustenance.

I give Herma VanGarderen Ranch 5 Gold Stars!