Arlo, Another Farm Herbal Success!
Yesterday the vet arrived to euthanize Arlo. He had been suffering for almost three days with urinary calculi blocking his ability to pee. He had been in a lot of pain, was heaving and groaning. From the start of his illness, we were told that his prognosis was really bad. It turns out that wethers, castrated male ruminants, easily have this issue. The vet said she sees at least two cases a month in her practice and that she could count on one hand the number that had survived. The western medical treatment is ammonium chloride, which is meant to break down the stones. It is rarely effective.
We love Arlo. We also have his cousins, Mary Agnes and Whisper. They are all Gotland sheep with spectacular silver-grey wool. I’ve learned to spin and just finished my first knitted item with the yarn. 
Working with the fiber from these sheep has added to my appreciation of them.
Anyway, how could I not at least TRY giving him herbs? I find it so challenging with animals given their reluctance to talk. With so little to go on, what could I do? I was encouraged by my recent success with my horse Jasper, who is still […]
Below is an excerpt from 
In Chinese medicine, treating young children is sometimes referred to as the treatment of mutes. This points to the fact that young children are unable to communicate their experience with words. Practitioners have to rely on signs, most often with the help of the parents. Does the child throw off their blankets at night or do they want more covers? Are they clingy or resistant to being held? Is their cry loud or whimpery? Treating animals is much the same. Though, as a practitioner, I try to hone my observation skills, like most practitioners, I also rely on the patient’s verbal articulation of their experience. Treating beings who cannot express this way can be quite difficult. This is why my confidence in treating animals is shaky.
Sleeping Piglets 
When the 
Hello friends,
In the previous two posts, we discovered that these Six Thing-a-ma-jigs were first named as Jīng, 經 by Qí Bó in NèijīngSùwèn, chapter 6. Therefore, the next step in understanding what these Six Things are is to explore the meaning of 經.
In the previous post, we looked at how the Three Yīn and Three Yáng are described as great movements. Like Russian Matryoshka dolls, we saw that these Six thing-a-ma-jigs are circular images within circular images.
Translation of Chinese into English must be a conversation, not a conclusion. This is something I learned from my friend Sabine Wilms. Her book, 
Getting to Rothenburg is not easy. The flight is bound to have at least one stop and then there are several trains to take and finally a taxi from the train station. I was there teaching two years ago and I was pooped by the time I arrived. And yet, it is so worth it! The city itself is spectacular and it is surrounded by farms and forests full of hiking trails. The TCM Kongress is always held in May which is an exquisite time to be there. The Kongress itself is, I think, the largest and most prestigious in the world with esteemed speakers from all over the world. It is well worth the long trip.