Week 14 :: What Frost?

Posted by Jill McLaughlin on Sep 16, 2011

Well, so much for the much-anticipated frost on Wednesday night. Yes, it was darned chilly on Thursday morning (hat, gloves, and scarf warranted), and there was a slight white glisten on the grass, but the crops survived - all but the basil.

Joey, her family, and some of their neighbors scrambled the day and night before, harvesting as much as they could. The shed and walk-in were full of produce; it will never cease to amaze me the volume of food that can be grown on a small farm. 

Adrenal Dysfunction 101

Posted by Jill McLaughlin on Aug 30, 2011

Do you have a hard time falling asleep at night? Do you wake up frequently during the night? Do you have a hard time waking up in the morning early or feeling refreshed? Do you get an afternoon slump, only to perk up around 6 or 7pm, and then get a second wind around 9:30? Are you lacking in energy? Do you feel tired yet wired? Do bright lights bother you more than they should? Do you startle easily due to noise?

What They Said :: My Fire Your Thyroid Series

Posted by Jill McLaughlin on Aug 22, 2011

I recently completed leading my very first teleseminar series, Fire Your Thyroid. Yes, thyroid (and adrenal) health is the focus of my health coaching practice, but creating this series was particularly weighty and meaningful to me because it’s so personal, and because I had three classes (yes, it could have been more, but it is summer, after all) in which to share the best of the best of my knowledge and teach people how I came into unmedicated remission from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

Chronic Inflammation: The Silent Health Bandit

Posted by Jill McLaughlin on Aug 21, 2011

Degenerative diseases, including heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s (including other forms of dementia), and diabetes, as well their kissing cousin, obesity, expend the majority of our health care resources in this country and possess a powerful inflammatory component. The onset of autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and Hashimoto’s, are, according to Dr. Sears, “clear-cut examples of out-of-control inflammation.” Think of chronic inflammation as an army of pistol-packing outlaws roaming our bodies and robbing us of our health.

My day on the farm :: Week 10

Posted by Jill McLaughlin on Aug 18, 2011

Didja think I got fired from the farm? I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath to hear what bugs bit me, what we harvested, and what twang I listened to to and fro. In case you’re wondering why the two-week pause, I didn’t get ‘round to writing a Week 8 post and was out of town last week. And yes, I missed the farm!

So yesterday. Up before dawn (not easy for this girl). Mellow drive. Beautiful, dewy morning. Chilly. (I’m still in denial that fall is soon upon us, even though it’s my favorite time of year.)  

Week 7 :: In Honor of the Rhinestone Cowboy

Posted by Jill McLaughlin on Jul 28, 2011

We’re losing another one of the last of the real country troubadours. This post is in honor of the Rhinestone Cowboy, one of twelve children born in Arkansas to a sharecropper father.

I don’t have much to say about the farm today, other than picking green beans is kinda hard work. They’re low and hidden by fat leaves exactly the same color as the beans. So you need something to sit on. 

My day on the farm :: Week 6

Posted by Jill McLaughlin on Jul 21, 2011

I got some new bug spray (the natural stuff, of course) and nary a mosquito came near me today. Finally, some relief. Li’l bastards.

There was plenty of sunshine and just the right amount of heat today, nothing like the sweltering, Amazon-ish, bizarro weather we’ve had these last few days. Want an ag-based perspective on our sweaty summer? Go grassfed to keep that dewpoint down! 

My day on the farm :: Week 5

Posted by Jill McLaughlin on Jul 14, 2011

We made quick work at the farm today. Lettuce is getting a break for a couple of weeks or so and it was too wet to harvest basil. The chard is still gorgeous, the green onions are plump as all get out, and the kohlrabi look like purple and green balloons about to burst. But they’re still delicious…not woody.