I remember three decades ago embarking upon this journey of health. The very first holistic Dr that I saw was an MD/homeopath-a very old and beautiful man who said to me, “Matia, you cannot change everything over night...little by little you can make small changes that will slowly change your life.”

How right he was. Being quite young, I of course could not grasp the magnitude of what he was saying at the time. But, every year I walk along this path, every month even, I learn something new, or am influenced by someone else.

Yesterday I had an incredible conversation with a farmer who completely blew me away with his knowledge about farming. Of late, I have learned a lot from many people in my periphery, new people, about this subject. But, this particular man, well, he brought me to tears literally and then drew me in further with his knowledge of the microbiome and contrasted his farming with that knowledge. He was explaining how the terrain of the earth and the farming concepts were fairly identical to the terrain theory of the GUT and health. Of course I knew that, but not in the way he was explaining-not in the sense that the same microbes in the GUT are fundamental to the health of the farmland. I am going to plan a day to go and visit this man and learn more-I am completely in.

I go to another farmer each week to pick up my raw milk that literally has just come out of the cow. He is also a farmer of the earth-no chemical no antibiotics. People ask me am I not afraid to drink that milk. No I am not afraid, I am so happy and grateful to have it, and from such happy cows that I get to pet each week!

This farmer yesterday and I spoke about the concept of eating animals. I shared with him my deep struggle with it on a personal level and the conflict this causes me, as I advocate the eating of animals to my patients because I believe deeply that we need the red meat for health. He is much older than I am and has traveled along these same concepts and struggles. This was the part of the conversation that made me cry. He went on to discuss that his belief is that we are all one in this universe and are exchanging energy constantly, and that plants have feelings in the same way that animals do and went on to site the research behind it which, also blew me away. He said much of this info may be found in a book called, The Secret Life Of Plants. I am buying that this weekend.

In any case—on a day where I needed to have such a conversation, it was much enjoyed, so I thought I would share.

Dr.M