"Most of All, Beware This Boy"

Last night at 3:30 a.m. I got out of bed and cut my hair as a sign to God and the universe that I was going to keep my schedule today. Walloped with a hellhound virus for a week. I was determined to be at A Christmas Carol with the family, and I was. The piping hot wassail they sold in the lobby kept me going. I bought a second cup for me and Xander at intermission.

I came home and slept in bed with my Sunday shoes still on.

Fearing starvation (the last thing I cooked was on Monday) I went to the store with my wife, and heard my cousin Tracy hail us down in the parking lot as we exited. You know two cousins have gotten chatting when her patient husband, Chick, zooms up in their jaunty sports car and rolls down the window to exclaim, with his trademark grin, "I wondered where my wife was."

If I have been paying attention, occasionally in this life I meet people that I KNOW I knew in the life before. Tracy is one of these.

You might think I'm exercising artistic license. I am not. Tracy, my cousin Joy, my wife Charmayne -- I was with these people before being born into this world.

Speaking of people I knew before this world, sitting in the play today with Xander at my side, here are the words that grabbed me:

***

“Oh, Man! look here. Look, look, down here!” exclaimed the Ghost.

They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing...

“They are Man’s,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased..."

***

If children learn, it is because we have taught them. In 2014 the world today is filled with children "pinched, twisted, and pulled into shreds" because "Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing."

Plato's Allegory of the Cave proves (!) that some of the things we know existed before this world. Anyone who cannot recognize these things is blind. These are the only things of worth when this world is gone. (With four funerals in three weeks, my family knows something about the word "gone.") How we teach and treat our kids is one of these things.

***

"THE END OF IT.

...Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in!

“I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!” Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. “The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me." ...He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and his face was wet with tears.

***

Today, people mis-remember the meaning of Scrooge as a symbol of someone rich who refused to share. Not at all. Scrooge was a man who, until his fateful day, did not understand what Plato knew.

***

"He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!" 

***

If I were gone today, this is what I would have Xander, Conrad, Ada, Dominick, Zach, Cora, Gwen and Ryleigh know. 

Merry Christmas. :) -- Caleb

. 

Today was Harvest Day at Our House (Nov. 12 2014)

Parsnips

A boxful of carrots, parsnips, beets and a random potato :)

 Ada helping me pack the carrots

First we filled a couple boxes with loose, cheap sawdust.

Then we "planted" the carrots in it, and watered until damp.

We did this now, on Nov. 12, because the ground is going to start freezing this week, so it was time to either dig the carrots or cover them. Because I am doing a major garden renovation this fall, I needed to move the carrots out of the garden instead of covering them. Theses boxes have now been moved to shelves in the garage, where we can pop down and "shop" as needed all winter :) 

Also in our garage "store" is a wheel barrel full of pumpkins and squash.

And a huge bag full of onions from the garden. So we should have good eating all winter, until it is time to start harvesting the greenhouse carrots, beets, and onions in springtime, as well as the springtime outdoor perennial onions. You can see all our vegetable varieties at SeedRenaissance.com. Happy winter!

A New GMO Potato

A new genetically modified potato has been approved for use in the U.S. by the USDA. 

Since the first GMO potato failed at market, this time they cleverly use fearmongering, saying it is GMO for public safety reasons, because potatoes are so dangerous. Very clever way to get another GMO approved so that another vegetable can be removed from the public domain. And this:

"Potatoes are the latest genetically engineered crop to get approval in the United States. Others include corn, soybeans, alfalfa, canola, sugar beets, certain types of yellow squash and zucchini."

And this: "The nonbruising characteristic of the Innate potato is similar to that of genetically engineered nonbrowning apples, which have not yet been approved for commercial growing by the Department of Agriculture."

Here is the full NYTimes article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/business/genetically-modified-potato-from-simplot-approved-by-usda.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

Hands-on Herbal Medicine

Tincture and herbs from Caleb's garden

Hands-on Herbal Medicine
Instructor: Caleb Warnock

$39 per person
6:30 p.m. Thursday Oct. 30 at Real Foods Market, 420 West 800 North Orem, Utah

Advance registration required. To register, call (801) 224-0585.

Students will take home medicinal herbs, provided by Caleb. Learn herbal treatment for coughs, colds, hives, sinus infections, asthma, flu, viral infection, bacterial infection, and more, including:
- medicinal preparations for immediate use
- medicinal preparations for later use
- apothecary combinations
- apothecary tools: flat pestle, tuning fork, creating troche for children and adults
- no-nonsense cautions and limitations: When is herbal medicine appropriate, when is it not?
-Each student will take home a guide booklet. You will learn how to use each of the following organic herbs:

- calendula
- hyssop
- horehound
- German chamomile
- yarrow
- echinacea root
- mallow root
- mullein
- pine
- oregano

- plantain and more.

Books by Caleb Warnock

Gardening with Cold Frames

Yesterday I got this comment from a student of mine on Facebook:

“I have to put a plug in for a winter garden... Early to mid-August is the time to plant lettuce for a winter garden. Basically, you plant a fall garden and then around the end of October, you put a cold frame on top. The lettuce in the photo is growing under the cold frame pictured and covered with snow. I ate it in the fall, during the winter, and then it grew huge in the spring, and I had more than I could eat until mid-June when it went to seed. I will never plant lettuce in the spring again--just in my winter garden.”

Amen!

This year’s Cold Frames Gardening Workshop will be available in my backyard, or online, just like last year. Also, you may purchase twin-wall polycarbonate for building cold frames at the bulk discount rate for a short time. Here are the details:

In Alpine, Utah:

Saturday, Aug. 16 2014 at 707 West 800 South Alpine 84004.

$99 by Aug. 1, $140 after Aug. 1

TO REGISTER go to http://bit.ly/1jYjIJN

Sign up by Aug. 1 and get the $39 Fall Gardening Special FOR FREE. (Egyptian Walking Onions may be limited) Everyone will take home a cold frame (4-feet by 2-feet)

-- or --

Online

Class will begin Aug. 16.

$99 by Aug. 1, $140 after Aug. 1

TO REGISTER go to http://bit.ly/1oCKOpI

Sign up by Aug. 1 and get the $39 Fall Gardening Special FOR FREE. (Egyptian Walking Onions may be limited) Everyone will be mailed twin-wall polycarbonate to make a 2-foot by 4-foot cold frame.

This year’s classes, both online and in Alpine, include:

- No Nonsense Household Tips for Saving Money (This class will be emailed to you).

How to make the best, easiest bulk powder laundry soap, enough for more than 1,000 loads in 20 minutes at 1.8 cents a load! Save hundreds of dollars on shaving razors, dishwashing machine soap and much, much more!

- Backyard Herbal Infusions for Cold, Flu, Sinus & Asthma. (This class will be emailed to you)In this hands-on class, Caleb will teach you the best backyard herbal treatments. We will make and sample the herbal treatments, starting from scratch, and discuss which herbs to use to help which conditions. This class covers prevention and treatment.

- Forgotten Prepper: 15+ Essential, Simple Skills You Don’t Have. (This class will be emailed to you) Easy homemade garden hand soap, sanitation, and many other things every family should know for emergency preparedness and everyday use.

- Four Best Wild Edibles. (This class will be emailed to you). Each student will certify with Caleb their ability to individually recognize, harvest and prepare the four best backyard wild edibles.

- Fall and Winter Gardening With Cold Frame (This class will be emailed to you) Each participant will go home with at least $40 in seed for fall and winter gardening, with the latest information about the best autumn and winter varieties. Cold Frames -- Each student will go home with a cold frame that we will make in class, with information on how to use it and the seed you need to get started immediately.

- Q and A with Caleb

Caleb takes your questions via email.

TWIN-WALL POLYCARBONATE

This cold frame plastic can be purchased for pick up or mailing.

For pick up details, go to http://bit.ly/1qcj3Ck

For mailing, go to http://bit.ly/1uB2I0H

For Months Our Family has been Keeping Private Some Pain.

For months our family has been keeping private some pain. In gratitude, I want to share here, with the “hive mind” of Facebook and the internet, parts of a private message I shared with my family today.

In the night after the 2014 New Year arrived, I felt the strongest impression to write a letter, addressed to each of my six step-daughters and son-in-laws. Charmayne and I have had a very happy life in the past few years. But as the New Year arrived, I felt clearly “given to know” that that was about to change. I wrote the letter that follows, and over the next few weeks my wife and I discussed it. We decided to prepare ourselves, but not to share the letter with the kids at that time. Today, it feels clear to me that now is the time to share this letter. Here is what I wrote:

January 1, 2014

Dear Phronsie & John, Cassie, Mysti & Manny, Chelsie & Johnny, Amberlee & Rob, and Ariel & Trent,

I have something pressing on my mind. This letter is important to me.

When I married Charmayne, I had to figure out for myself how to fit into a family that had existed long before our marriage. Today, our family is stronger than it has ever been. But our family is changing, and so is the world. We are going to need each other more in 2014 than ever before. We are going to be called on to help each other. The world is going to continue to darken. We will need one another.

Defining a family is hard when a family is simple. Our family is not simple :) Each of you has a father, a mother, a Caleb, a Lorien. There are in-laws, religion, politics. I cleaned up Ariel’s throw-up in the middle of the night when she was a child, and helped Amberlee with her middle-school homework. Others of you were moved away to college by the time I showed up.

To me, there is no “step” between me and my grandchildren. I won’t have biological children. What a thrill it has been to have a role with these six grandkids.

Let me share a personal story.

When Xander was about three, he found in my truck a copy of Madonna’s “Erotica” album. The cover shows a man sucking Madonna’s toe. Xander looks it over and says simply, “Why is this man sucking on her toe?”

When we got home, I threw it in the outside trash can, with other things from a former life. I realized why I needed to change. I did not want to be responsible for introducing that morality to Xander.

Change is the purpose of life. All of us are working hard to be better people. At the end of life, only two things matter. 1) Were you honest? 2) Did you do good, or do harm, to those around you?

We have six and soon seven young people (and eventually many more) who will one day want to know, and deserve to know, the facts about some of the “questions” that accompany our complex family. We have three divorces to account for. Two of us stole cars before we had licenses. We have smokers in the extended family, drinkers, we have a marriage in the temple and many more out of the temple. We have Mormons, non-Mormons, and former Mormons. We have had drugs and pornography. We have diversity of race, religion, and politics. We have an ancestor who was a dance hall girl, another who shot someone. We have a Salem witch -- my personal favorite :)

Each of us has made decisions that will need and deserve to be explained one day to the rising generation. More importantly, all of us are changing.

I mention this as preamble to this question: As a family, what are we?

Are we a “broken” family? A “blended” family? The “remains” of a family following divorce?

I want to be clear that Charmayne and I did not know each other during our divorces but we were lucky to meet each other soon after. However we got to be “family” matters less than the fact that we are family. We need to circle around Xander, Conrad, Dominick, Ada, Zack, Cora, and Lott child #1, as well as those coming. Around each other, all the adults, too. The world is dark.

Each of us has known grief. Some of us have caused grief. I have my own knowledge of remorse and pain. I try now to prevent grief, not cause it. Can I make some suggestions?

-- Don’t keep secrets from your spouse. Secrets always come to light as grief. We have seen this in our family. We can choose to never see it again.

-- Our actions affect the people around us. We can lift or wound. Think, then act.

-- We are human and sometimes we will wound each other. Let’s forgive and be peaceable.

-- Where do you get advice? When a decision is important, talk. Husband and wife. Daughter and mother. You will make better decisions -- have fewer regrets -- if you talk to your loved one.

-- The little kids are watching, listening, and learning. We need to show these little kids how to be good people.

-- Figure out discernment, and use it. Study it. It means to develop strong judgement skills -- what is right, what is wrong, when to act, intervene, speak, spend, scold, or wait. We have seen examples, even recently, of people in our family who felt a decision was wrong and said and did nothing, only to regret it later. When you feel something is wrong -- take action!

-- Get out of debt. Financial turmoil is coming. Get out of debt. Get out of debt.

-- To the six girls -- never keep a secret from your mother. She is your best protection against the world. She has earned wisdom. How she prays for you! You have no idea how powerful her prayers are, and how often they are answered. Whatever your problems may be, talk to her.

-- Finally, forgive. Create peace. I’ve had run-ins with some of you. I’m sorry. I apologize. I am changing, Thank you for letting me change. Let us be peaceable and happy.

Charmayne and I are here to help. Let’s circle around each other. We love you.

Love, Caleb

So, today is July 13, 2014. Very soon after I wrote this Jan. 1 letter, we learned that Lott Baby #1 was in dire straits. No amniotic fluid was being produced. Experts said the baby had no kidneys. We were told to prepare for the baby to soon die in the womb. We were told the baby’s heart was severely enlarged. We contacted a funeral home about buying an infant casket, and discussed where to bury the baby. Dark days. Many, many tears. The little kids, who were so excited about Ariel’s baby, had to be told they were never going to be see the baby alive. More tears and difficult questions.

We had a family fast and we specifically did not try to counsel the Lord, but prayed for counsel, and for the Lord’s will to be done. We made clear that we hoped for a happy, healthy baby, and asked that we would be comforted. And we were.

Since the day of that fast, there has been nothing but good news for the baby.

Suddenly the baby had kidneys. The heart enlargement vanished. Amniotic fluid filled the womb. This morning Ariel delivered her baby, as yet to be named. How thrilling to seeing the baby breathing, crying, and eating in the hospital today! The word miracle is almost never used in its correct spiritual sense in 2014, but can we deny we have been given a miracle today?

Our prayers have been heard and answered.

Not all the darkness has been drained from our lives, but light has prevailed today, as it will in the end. I have personal spiritual work to do. We all do.

The suggestions I included in my Jan. 1 letter are more relevant today than they were seven months ago. Today I invite our family to ponder what I wrote in January, and what it means today. After meeting Ariel and Trent’s baby, do we need any more evidence of where to turn for light? 

Be slow to doubt what has happened today. Be slow to doubt that prayers have been answered by a living God.

This will not be our last darkness. There is clear and present darkness brewing on the horizon surrounding our family which need not be named in public. Let me suggest anew -- no secrets from spouses, or your mother. Lift, don’t wound. Forgive. Examine the advice you seek and take. Ask yourself who inspired your thoughts. Show the little kids the light, not the dark. Eschew debt. Study discernment. Decide to be accountable. Do not lie to yourself. Choose the light. I am working to change. We all can change. And be grateful for what we have been given.

Love, Caleb

From My July Garden :)

An animation of echinacea being pollinated.

Egyptian Walking Onions set bulbs at the top of the plant.

Corn :)

Dwarf Blue Siberian Kale, which self-seeds and produces two crops a year. Seed at SeedRenaissance.com. 

 Raspberries are in season!

Today I have been harvesting the winter wheat.  

Medicinal yarrow.

  Fragrant roses. 

The summer apples are ripe.

\

Blackberries in bloom. 

Vernal Red Orach going to seed.

Rare white strawberries. 

 Medicinal calendula.

Cilantro in bloom. 

Lettuce starting to flower.

Pioneer Pink Eye Beans in flower.

Straw-method potatoes.

Medicinal comfrey.

Perennial Tripled Wheat tillering itself out beautifully :)

My 25 Planets Have Aligned

So, big news, again :)

On Monday night as we stayed up to watch the eclipse of the blood moon (the alignment of sun, moon, and earth) my wife and I were also celebrating a rare day of our own. I have signed a contract with a new publisher for 25 new books. This is the culmination of an idea I have been working on for more than a year. “Books” in this case is a bit of a misnomer, because what me and Familius Publishing are doing is creating an imprint of natural living guides, tentatively titled “Backyard Renaissance Guides”. These will be booklets that focus deeply on a single topic, such as thermal oven baking, Swedish yogurt making, no-till gardening, etc. I am so excited (!). The intention is to grow this line into several hundred books in the coming years, all authored or co-authored by me.

I will also be doing a full-scale stevia cookbook with Familius. In addition, the publisher will be creating a mobile app of Backyard Renaissance content. The new contract is extremely fair to me -- the publisher gave me every single thing I asked for. This is the stuff of dreams.

All added up, I have seven more manuscripts due before December. My company, SeedRenaissance.com, has grown tremendously. And I will soon begin giving live nationwide classes. All of this will require my full-time attention. Because of this, on Monday I resigned my position at the Provo Daily Herald. I have loved being a journalist. But newspapers are on an uncharted course, and my future is at SeedRenaissance.com and Familius Publishing. I already miss writing for the newspaper. What a ride!

Huge thanks to my wife for believing in me. And to all of you, my readers and students. My goal is to be a useful person. Thank you for making this possible for me and my family. -Caleb

Edible weedkiller, lotion bars, seed potatoes

Hello all :)

This is Caleb Warnock, “Forgotten Skills/ Natural

Yeast author and owner of SeedRenaissance.

Thank you for being on my email list. New this

month: cucumber seed and more culinary

herbs, including lime basil, cinnamon basil,

sweet mace, and more!

Four things this month:

1. Many of you have purchased my edible

homemade weedkiller recipe. I’m excited

to offer a new, improved version,

which you can get for free if you ordered the

original recipe. For full details, please visit

http://bit.ly/1qKaFv8

2. After the “Forgotten Skills” class last month,

many of you asked me to start carrying Amberlee’s

fantastic all-natural lotion bars, and so I have. You

can find them by clicking here.

3. Many, many of you have asked me to get

Mountain Rose seed potatoes -- the fastest-maturing

potato I have been able to find. These are red on the

inside, and stay red when cooked. Delicious,

medium-sized potatoes. These are hard to find, and

I sell them at the lowest price in the nation: 2.5 pounds

for $16 including shipping, or $10 for 2.5 pounds pick-up.

To order, click here.

4. Finally, THE BIG NEWS :) At last, me and Melissa

Richardson, my Baking With Natural Yeast co-author,

get to make our big announcement! Based on the

fantastic results of their own patients and even staff,

Dr. Diane Farley-Jones and her team at the Alpine Clinic

in Utah are working on a clinical trial of the ability of

natural yeast to stop gluten intolerance in its tracks!!

We know what the results will be, and so do thousands

of you from experience, but we are so excited to have a

clinical trial to bring more attention to this important

natural food! If you are in the West, you can hear from

clinic staff directly, and much more, at our

Natural Yeast & Grains for Health Summit on May 3.

We expect this to sell out. Tickets are first-come, first-serve.

For full information, visit

http://bit.ly/1j14Kx4

Thanks! -Caleb