Tick...Tick...Tick

Mary Jane...my sourdough mother.

 

That's more than the passing of time on a clock....more like a time bomb.  TICKS. Oh, my.  Those nasty little creatures who sneak under your clothing, dig in, and proceed to feast on YOU.

You may or most likely, may not have heard of Galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or most commonly called Alpha Gal... one of the more obscure tick-borne diseases.  I've had it since 2012.  Since afflicting me with anaphylactic shock and almost killing me, Alpha Gal has caused a cascade of allergies.  So, in addition to giving up mammalian meat (cow, pig, lamb--any mammal) I gave up dairy (goodbye little goat herd) and gluten.  When you list all the food items that contain dairy, gluten, AND meat...that's a lot of food!!!

It's been an emotional and physical roller coaster ride for sure. It isn't just avoiding all the OBVIOUS choices--a nice juicy steak, a cold glass of milk and cookies, mashed potatoes (milk, butter), and gravy.  It's those hidden ingredients in everything at the grocery store and restaurants.  Such as toothpaste that has animal gelatin.  French fries sprayed with beef.  Milk casein in salad dressing.  The list is shockingly long and dangerous.

I am so fortunate to have a husband who loves to cook and is fully vested in food.  He turned from chef to private eye and spent literally days on the telephone tracking down hidden ingredients that had caused multiple reactions in my eight-year odyssey.   He saved me many a heartache and allergic reactions over the years.

This tick season--2020--has been predicted to be the worst and the not-so-bad so who ya gonna believe!!??  I know one thing for sure.  CHICKENS.  The single, safest best thing you can do to get rid of ticks.  We have experienced the chicken-tick phenom here at Rocky Creek.  They LOVE ticks and are expert in their fields (haha-pun intended) at eradicating them.  It's absolutely amazing and unbelievable how quickly chickens will rid your yard of ticks.  And, don't just take my word for it..check into these studies.

Now, let's get to the good stuff.  The answer to all those cascading allergies/sensitivities that Alpha Gal prompted.  About a year and a half ago I read this:

 "Within three months her food allergies started evaporating, and a year later she could eat anything she desired. She was no longer allergic to the mass of foods she had been allergic to."

Well, THAT got my attention.  And, the most amazing thing...this site wasn't selling a pill, a drug or a meditation technique.  It was selling a food preparation method that anyone can do.

CULTURED FOOD

Oh my word...so like...old-fashioned sauerkraut?  I wrinkled my nose.   YES! exactly like that!

I was remembering grocery-store sauerkraut..  Except the world of cultured food is so far beyond grcery-store kraut...like a "galaxy far far away" beyond that. If you can just get past your thought of kraut a minute...think instead about yummy fruited yogurt.  Now, there's a cultured food most people enjoy.  Except, again, grocery-store yogurt is far more inferior than home cultured yogurt.

I set aside my "eeewwww" reaction to kraut and focused on that part about curing allergies...CURING ALLERGIES!!!  Could this be possible?  Was this true?  Surely not.  Surely it couldn't be that easy.   I read on...almost holding my breath.

By the time I finished the article, I was determined to give it a try.  What in the heck did I have to lose?  ALLERGIES, THAT'S WHAT!

So, where to begin. This site--CULTURED FOOD LIFE had everything I needed:  motivation, explanation and recipes.  When you get to the site click the START HERE button.  You will see:

KEFIR * WATER KEFIR * KOMBUCHA * CULTURED VEGETABLES * SPROUTED & SOURDOUGH* YOGURT

I had played around with kefir at various times in my life, so I started there.  Since I was allergic to dairy I used nut "milk" and rice "milk". I began seriously using my sourdough (I had captured wild Rocky Creek yeast)!! Then I started cultured vegetables.

 

 

 

 Donna Schwenk and her website changed my life.  I had tried a few cultured foods before without any results.  It was very disappointing.  Then I read all Donn's stuff and she recommended eating 1/4 cup of cultured food AT EVERY MEAL.  Ahhh-ha!  I had never done that.


After 30 days, I felt so much better so I gathered up my courage and ate some contraband.  A very small piece of bread.  Not gluten free stuff.  Real bread.  The effect was...interesting.  Not completely without symptoms...but so much better than reactions I'd had before.


I waited another 30 days before I cautiously tried bread.  This time I ate a whole piece!! (I know, right?!)  What happened still fills my eyes with tears.  NOTHING. NADA.  NOTHING.  I waited a day or two and tried again. Almost nothing.  I had a little tummy rumble so I waited another 30 days.  This made 90 days since I began the cultured experiment.

Cultured veggies

After 3 months of cultured food at every meal...I tried some bread.  No effect.  Could this be right?  The next day I ate a sandwich--to the horror of my husband.  When I felt no symptoms, I was ecstatic to say the least.  During the course of the next several weeks I added in small amounts of no-no food into my diet little by little... execpt mammal meat.  I wasn't THAT brave.

Kefir

I felt so good and healthy, I just knew the meat allergy was gone as well, but given roast beef had nearly killed me I decided to take the blood test before indulging in a burger.    I couldn't wait to hear results.  When the doctor's office called, my heart was pounding and my emotions ran high.   When she started with an "I'm sorry...." disappointment surged through me and tears actually formed in my eyes.  No meat for me.

A lot of people have the effects of Alpha-Gal wear off--the meat allergy disappears on its own. I thought after eight years, my faithful cultured food diet and the fact the other food allergies were gone, the meat allergy would surely be gone as well. I had great expectations; the fall was also great. I still had Alpha-Gal. I blamed it on re-infection--other tick bites. After all, I live in the country and my chickens can't be expected to eat them all!

 

 

My fermented friends keep me healthy. Mary Jane isn't pictured here as she is a star by herself

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My Alpha Gal self-pity was short-lived. All of my other food allergies were gone. I was very healthy in every other aspect. I take zero medications which is no small feat for my age (77). So, I started counting my blessings--of which cultured food was a star.  Cultured food truly is a blessing.

 

 

Below is an assortment of resources:

Go here for my ALPHA GAL BEGINS STORY

AlphaGal.org

The Doctor who discovered Alpha Gal

This is the very first Alpha Gal source I read...TICKED OFF CARNIVORES!!

Alpha Gal reaction to MEDICATIONS

FAQS

GO(a)T MILK?

So, many years ago I sold my beloved goat herd because of milk allergies stemming from MY TICK BITE and the subsequent contraction of Alpha-Gal.  Then, this year, through a great blesssing from the Lord, I discovered CULTURED FOOD.

This led to my milk allergy (among MANY other allergies) DISAPPEARING!!

So, I tried some goat milk kefir from the health food store: LOVED IT!!   Then this week it dawned on me to find a local source of goat milk.  It didn't take long to find a goat dairy only a few miles from my farm.  And, they keep the very breed of goat that I'd been thinking about buying.  NIGERIAN DWARF.

So, since we are all in quarantine (COVID19), I made arrangements to pick up the milk via a cooler on the porch!! (Entrepreneurs are so innovative.)  I sent my husband on this errand with instructions to keep an eye out for the GOATS!!!  I'd seen their videos on the dairy's Facebook page:  CUTENESS PERSONIFIED.

Now, just let me say: there's goat milk and there's GOAT MILK!!!   Some milk is horrible.  In fact, most milk I've had the displeasure of drinking is horrible.  Smell and Taste.  Milk from my goat herd was sweet and delicious.  So, my standards are high.

FarmBoy Gary brings home the milk; I'm waiting with glass in hand.  I take off the lid and sniff. Ahhh....sweet!   I smile.   I raise the milk to my lips trying not to get my hopes up.  I sip. Realization slowly dawns. Excitement sparks within!!  The milk is delicious!!!! :)   FINALLY, after years of abstinence, goat milk begins to nourish me.

A huge shout out to CLM Premium Goats & Goat Milk Products.  You can find her on Facebook.  My husband did not see any goats but he proudly snapped a pic of a PLAYSET --originally for children, but works great for goat kids.  He said it was one of several.  Now, really.  In my mind anyone who sets up"toys" for their goats is GREAT!!!

How-To-Tuesday Canning Bacon

Canning Bacon
I know my eyebrows flew up the first time I heard THAT!!

I steer clear of MAMMAL MEAT because of my ALPHA-GAL allergy --check out ALPHA GAL tags in this blog and also click on this article for a good explanation   TICKED OFF CARNIVORES 

But my family still loves and thrives on mammalian meat (beef, pork, lamb, goat, deer, rabbit, etc)  (PS If you don't know what a MAMMAL is...google it!!)

So, I decided to give this a try so bacon could be a staple in my food storage plan.

 IT IS SOOOOO EASY.

Begin with parchment paper: 

I don't think the brand matters. I unrolled about 2 + feet.

Add your fav bacon:  line it up like like soldiers across the paper.  

I got about a pound and a third on one sheet as this is what fits into a quart jar.

Fold the excess paper over the top and sides, then fold the bacon IN HALF.

At this point ALL OF THE BACON will be covered.

Then start rolling and tucking.

Roll as tightly as you can, tucking in excess paper.

Put the bacon roll into your WIDE MOUTH jar by gently rotating the roll "screwing" it into the jar.

Wala!!!   Two "quarts" of bacon...each holding a pound +.

Now, process in a pressure canner... 90 minutes at 10 lbs pressure.

Now, wasn't that easy!!     Upon opening, save those parchments papers for FIRE STARTERS!! :)

French Fries

It's hard to describe my emotions as I type this entry.  For me it's all about honesty, transparency and morality to say nothing of life and death.  How do french fries play into this?     In today's culture...a lot.  And, what does the french fry have to do with writing about the farm?  Think WHOLE FOOD connection.

It begins with the humble potato.  I love potatoes.  And, I love french fries.  This potato story links back to two years ago when I went into anaphalactic shock and took a trip to the ER with a subsequent 3 day stay in the hospital.

 (Read the full Alpha gal allergy story here)

I had contracted Alpha-gal from a tick bite-- an allergy to MEAT.  Although that diagnoses  happened MONTHS later--no thanks to my doctor.    That began my downward spiral into the dark world of lethal allergies. 

Besides MAMMAL MEAT the alpha-gal triggered allergies/sensitivities to many other foods such as DAIRY and GLUTEN.  Keep these three food groups in mind...

Several months after my trip to the ER two years ago I was spending the day running errands in the city and as usual, RUNNING is a key word here.  Too many things to do; too little time.  What do we as Americans do in that situation--pull into fast food drive thru.  I'll admit it.  I've always loved Micky's Dees french fries.  It's potato and cooking oil.  Right? 

Having recently been deprived of hamburger, steak, roast, sausage...well, you get the idea...and being a WHOLE FOODY from the farm, my diet consisted mostly of fresh farm vegetables, eggs and chicken.  I hadn't had fast food fries in a LONG time and those french fries smelled like heaven. I was actually salivating.

Shortly after ingestion, I began to recognize my food allergy symptoms: red, itchy swollen feet--my precursor to full blown anaphalactic shock.    Since the ONLY thing I had eaten was the french fries....well, it didn't take a Big Bang couch potato (pun intended)  to reach a conclusion.  But, potatoes?   Cooking oil?

My husband is my Galahad.  He began researching alpha-gal soon after my diagnosis just so we could see what I could actually eat.  His findings WERE UNBELIEVABLE.  But, french fries were not on his hit list.  Who would have thought they needed to be.  After my French Fry Episode my husband dutifully read everything available about Mickey Dees fries and discovered they had BEEF on them.  Well, no wonder they make me salivate.  No wonder they taste so good.

But, BEEF?  So, that's what caused my allergic reaction.  McD's fries went on my NO NO list.

Today I ran across this article about all the OTHER  ingredients in McD's fries.  WOW and double WOW.  Not only is there BEEF, there is DAIRY, there is GLUTEN.   Three of my serious allergens.

This is just wrong.  It is morally wrong to not disclose A FULL ingredient list at the point-of-sale.  Not only is it unethical not to tell us the complete ingredient list it is downright criminal when you take into consideration that these foods can kill some of us.       So, McDonald's......  BOO ON YOU!! 

 READ MCDS FRENCH FRY INGREDIENTS ARTICLE HERE

And, if you are interested   You can read my full alpha gal story here.



PS  And, of course, most peeps are not allergic to beef, milk & wheat, but notice all the other CHEMICALS!!

Pumpkin Bread--From Pumpkins, Not Cans

Well, I promised this a couple days ago. You know how this time of year is: time is faster than the speed of light.

Retrieve that pumpkin from the front porch and wash it.

I like to use running water, then give it a good squirt of Basic H.

You'll need a fair sized baking dish; I use a deep stainless steel pan. Pour a little water in the bottom.

Remove the seeds; there's a couple of ways. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop them out with a large spoon. I like to cut the pumpkin into quarters then use a knife cutting between the seeds and the flesh. The seeds along with the stringy stuff will come right off.

Slice the pumpkin into smaller pieces and place face down in the pan, then cover with foil.

Bake at 325 degrees; start with one hour.

Check the pumpkin with a fork; it should be nice and tender. Careful when you pull back that foil, the steam will pour out.

Mine was a fairly good sized pumpkin so it needed more time. You will have to judge this yourself. I opted for another half hour.

That proved to be just right. Scoop out the pulp into a food processor. Or a mixer or a potato masher...whatever.

In the past I have made the mistake of immediately using the pumpkin. Well, let me tell ya, it totally messes up a recipe. IT'S TOO WET. So, I strain mine through a coffee filter. You will have to give it some time to drain the juice through.

Now, you're ready to bake, freeze or can your pumpkin. This bread is just too delicious. Of course, I can't eat it because of my alpha-gal allergies, but I got it on good authority that it was yummy.

PUMPKIN BREAD 350 degrees for 1 hr 15 min

3 1/2 c flour 2 c brown sugar 2/3 c sugar 2 c pumpkin 1 c vegetable oil

2/3 c coconut milk 2 t non-aluminum baking soda 1 t sea salt

1 t nutmeg 1 1/2 t cinnamon 1 c chopped almonds

OPTIONAL: 3/4 c coconut

Pour into 2 greased bread pans or 6 small ones. (I use coconut oil.) The small pans took a little longer to bake--10 or 15 minutes longer. Just test with a toothpick; poke it into the center, if it comes out clean it's done. If it is doughy, give it a little more oven time.

SECRET Place foil over the bread pans or in this case punkin' pans; tighten down the edges like your tucking into bed; set your timer for 10 minutes. Remove foil, remove bread from pans onto cooling rack. It will pop out like it was programed to leaving no bread behind in the pan!

Clean The Frig

Today is national Clean Your Refrigerator Day so I took the opportunity to sort out my kefir. I LOVE my little kefir grains.

Aren't they adorable?

Since my alpha-gal allergy to all things mammal I can't drink my beloved goats milk, so I kefir in rice milk and almond milk. It's a little tricky as the kefir grains do not feed on anything but the real deal-MILK. So, every two days I put them in goats milk to feed them, then I rinse them and put them in either rice milk or almond milk. As I understand it, the "faux" milk products do not have as many probiotics as it does in real milk, but I figure it's better than nothing.

I add a couple tablespoons of kefir to my morning smoothie.

I learned how to make non-milk kefir from this wonderful lady who shares her life stories and recipes HERE. She has amazing stories of health restorations.

This is a pint of milk kefir...since I make it every day to keep my grains healthy I have a lot more than I and my husband can drink. So, naturally I share it with my dog, Cassie, my cats--all seven of them--and my chickens. They all just love it and it keeps their tummys working wonderfully.

 

PS  I began drinking kefir about 2012. Since adding more fermented foods to my diet (2020-why did I wait so long!), MY FOOD ALLERGIES ARE GONE !!!!! So, I went back to raw cows and goats milk for making my kefir.  BRAVO LITTLE GUYS IN FERMENTED FOOD!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Alpha Gal

Perfect for goats....and deer....

I normally do not post about my personal health issues...that's not what this blog is about. It's about the farm but farms have ticks. The tick-related Alpha Gal allergy is not very well known yet can be life threatening so I feel it is pertinent to my readers. So, here is my story.

As my grandparents always said it was tradin' day. Living in the country has a lot of perks but trips to town have to be consolidated. Not only for gas savings but for good time management as well. I was tooling along in PT Patti Petunia (my PT Cruiser) going to town to do my "tradin' ". The bottoms of my feet began to itch. Before I got to town both feet and hands were itching. By the time I was finished with my "tradin' " my torso had started itching. I remembered that I woke up during the night itching. In spite of all this scratching, I still did not realize I was having an allergic reaction; I thought it was poison ivy.

Poison Ivy grows ALL OVER my farm and my goats love it; I get it from them. And, I get it ALL OVER. So, I was bemoaning the fact that a new round of itching burning blisters was beginning.

As the afternoon wore on I itched and scratched my way through my chores; I weeded six raised beds, put new straw in the hens nests, brushed the goats and played ball with the dog. By this time the itching and burning was intense and I didn't feel too good; I finally looked at my body. My entire torso, arms and legs were covered in huge red welts. Also, there were welts inside my mouth.

That's when I knew it was an allergic reaction. I have many, many allergies from food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals so I began to mentally search for something I may have eaten or come into contact with.

My first thought was the road spray. We have an ongoing dialog with the county about the terrible "trash gravel" they put on our road; whatever it is causes dust clouds that rival a Mount St. Helen's eruption. Really. So, in the spirit of detente the county agreed to try a new spray made from trees that would help settle the dust. They had sprayed that morning when I was in the garden so theoretically the spray could have gotten on my body. Plus, I always munch a little produce so I could also have ingested it.

The second possible culprit was a poison ivy spray I had been using; it contained one ingredient on my allergy list.

My ability to think was quickly diminishing; I could see blackness hovering on the perimeter of my awareness. It was like being enclosed in a slow moving whirlwind, the percussion slowly squeezing, growing thicker and darker, pushing me ever closer to the precipice. I put my head between my knees and mentally grabbed for the edge of the cliff and held on. I could NOT pass out. My husband was out of town and if I feinted I was on my own.

When the episode subsided enough to sit up, I reached for my cell phone praying I had service. Our farm is in a valley and the "mountain" blocks the cell tower that is just on the other side. Our son and his family live 3 miles away; I knew he was at work but prayed my daughter-in-law would be home. Struggling to keep the black gaping vortex at bay I pressed send. When she answered I simply said "Come."

I went into full anaphalactic shock and spent three days in the hospital. I hardly remember anything about those three days; I could have sworn I didn't even have a TV in my hospital room but apparently I watched movies with the family. And, I spent a month looking for my favorite camisole then they told me the doctor cut if off of me in the emergency room.

We all racked our brains trying to figure out what the trigger was so it wouldn't be repeated. My family spent hours on the phone talking to everyone and their brothers about the spray on the road and we finally eliminated it. I stopped using the poison ivy remedy but was doubtful about it causing such a violent reaction.

Then one day a family member heard a news report about tick bites--specifically deer ticks also called the Lone Star Tick-- causing a meat allergy. What? No! That's absurd. Never heard of such a thing. No one I knew had ever heard of such a thing. But, truth is stranger than fiction and this sounded like science fiction.

I looked it up on the internet and discovered a whole group of folks who had experienced the same symptoms. I get tick bites almost every day. I am a big meat eater. I usually eat meat three times a day. Oh my gosh. Could I be allergic to meat? A simple blood test would tell. Meanwhile I stopped eating meat from mammals.

I located a lab who processed the alpha-gal test; now all I had to do was go to my doctor and ask him to order the test. I printed out the lab order; all he had to do was sign it.

Silly me. Some doctors hate it when patients babble on about their self-diagnosis especially if that information came from the internet. And, when it's something they never heard of, well, good luck getting past all that I-went-to-med-school-I know things-you-know-nothing barrier. Not only did he refuse to order it he told me the test would cost me thousands of dollars which his side-kick nurse practitioner promptly substantiated.

I was shocked, disappointed and spent a half day railing against the medical profession. What happened to caring about your patient? Empathy? The hippocratic oath which I'm sure says something about getting to the bottom of medical questions. Wasn't he just a tad bit curious to learn about this new medical discovery? Apparently not. I was cranky. I was steak deprived. I wanted red meat and I wanted it now. My resolve hardened. Next time I would use a different approach.

I visited hospitals, clinics and private doctors offices; no-one had a clue about alpha-gal. When I finally selected a doctor and made the appointment I approached it from the standpoint of I simply needed someone to draw blood and send it in. Instead of saying I was pretty sure this is what caused my allergic reaction I said I just wanted to eliminate this possibility so I could start eating meat again. The personnel had never heard of alpha-gal but nonetheless treated me with curious respect instead of condescension and dismissal.

Then I encountered the fact that their regular lab didn't do the alpha-gal test and they did not have an account with the lab who did. We (and I say we because I was on the phone to the testing lab and my doctors office many times)finally got all the details worked out and I had the blood drawn. Whew. Oh, and instead of thousands of dollars the test would be around $50.

This entire process took a couple of months in which time I was abstaining from meat. And, I do love my meat. It took another week to get my results. The doctors office called. POSITIVE. Then someone else from the office called. The next day they called again. They just wanted to be sure that I understood I COULD NOT EAT MAMMAL MEAT. This was serious: no mammalian meat.

Yes, I cried. It's just that I already have a laundry list of food allergies. And, it was summer. And, it was grilling season. And, I do love a good steak. The positive test results sent my husband into hyper research mode. He read everything he could find and he found plenty. He's also a gourmet cook so he is all about creating good recipes.

I can eat poultry and fish. The turkey burgers from the store make me gag. So, my farmboy made his own--they not only taste good...THEY ARE DELICIOUS. And, he does things with fish that make my head spin.

For months now my foot has been hurting. On the bottom where you stand on your tippie toes and on the inside. Some days it just throbs and is swollen and it shoots pain up my foot into my ankle. Some possible considerations were stone bruising, twisting, spider bite (no point of entry), stubbing my toe; I just couldn't figure it out. Then one day I received a post from the alpha-gal chat room that said this person's foot hurt and was swollen. A light bulb went off but as I eat no mammal meat I was puzzeled. What I read next sent me into an oh-no spiral. They were allergic to dairy in addition to meat.

My favorite food in the world is milk. I drink more milk than anyone I know. I love it. I crave it. My ancestry is Scotch/Irish. A lot of blood type O. Freedom fighters. Meat eaters. Milk drinkers. In particular I love goat milk. I have two angel goats I milk twice a day. I love milking and I love milk. So, this was particularly hard for me. And, yes, I cried again.

This is Tessa. She's a Nupine-half Nubian, half Alpine. She has just started giving a half gallon a day. She is scheduled to be bred in a couple weeks.

Daisy (right) and her daughter Button. Daisy gives just over a half gallon milk a day. She will not be bred this year as she has had kids two years in a row so she gets a year off. Button is only seven months old and will not be bred until next year.

I grieved one day; then I decided I was being silly. After all, there are so many folks who have MUCH WORSE conditions than this. I will concentrate on my blessings instead.

It has been a challenge particularly because there is so much hidden animal products and dairy in foods; things you would never even think of. Like pectin in jelly--there's animal and there's vegetable. Like gelatin--beware of capsules. Like lactic acid. I've kept my farm boy busy researching foods that have caused reactions; it has been a trial and error process. We've read every fine print label in our pantry and frig. We spend hours reading labels in the grocery store. At least I have reached a point where I think I know what to avoid. But, eating in restaurants is a whole other story.

My husband has posted our research and his recipes as he perfects them on our website: HERE

He created this page just for alpha gal sufferers and interested parties. You will be able to access all sorts of resources to help with your own investigations. And, we will post new information as we find it.