I’m sure my late father-in-law, Bill Brewer, is somewhere laughing at our latest adventure in farming.

Like many of us who take pride in our lawns he spent much of his lifetime trying to eradicate Harmony Farm of dandelions. I spent time today “harvesting” dandelion flower heads, which will be used to create natural remedies. To the un-enlightened it may sound as if I’ve been smoking dandelions, but bear with me as I explain our vision.

As you may already know, we have invested in lavender as a foundation crop for our future medicinal products. Lavender takes 3 years to mature to a point where it can be harvested; later this summer we will begin to harvest from our first 3-year-old plants. To supplement our lavender crop we are adding a variety of herbs and flowers that will also be processed into biodynamic medicine. We are also learning about the benefits of the plants (some may call weeds) that naturally grow here on the farm. Wildcrafting is a term for this age-old process of collecting plant material in their natural habitat for food or medicinal purposes.

So what about those pesky dandelions?

Well, based on input that we have received from Marian Farms Biodynamic ® Farm in California, not all dandelions are created equal. Those big fluffy yellow blooms that we have here in the mid-west are perfect for Biodynamic ® preparations. BD #506 as it’s known in the Biodynamic ® world is a preparation created from dandelions and is a component used in the process of making Biodynamic ®compost.

The Josephine Porter Institute (JPI) for Applied Bio-Dynamics recently sent an email to subscribers asking for dandelions. JPI is our source for obtaining biodynamic preparations here in the United States and we hope to assist them with our bountiful dandelion harvest.

In addition to playing a role in the compost preparations, dandelion roots, flowers, and leaves are used to create tinctures (plant material mixed with alcohol) and infusions (plant material mixed with oil) that you may find at your local health food store. The leaves of the dandelion plant are rich in nutrients and have been traditionally used as an effective liver treatment by cleansing the bloodstream and increasing bile production. They also act as a gentle diuretic as well as assisting in digestion.

Well Bill, laugh all you want. My yellow fingers tell me that there may be something more to those pesky dandelions than we originally thought!

Rich

Reflexology is a science based study that explains how the reflexes of the hands and feet correspond to all the parts of the body.  It is a complimentary therapy that works on the hands and feet to help heal the whole person, not just the prevailing symptoms.  By stimulating and applying pressure to the feet or hands, circulation is increased, promoting specific bodily and muscular functions.  This gentle therapy encourages the body to work naturally towards restoring its own healthy balance, restoring and maintaining the body’s equilibrium.  Reflexology also integrates well with medications, improving the efficiency of their work in the body.

Benefits of Reflexology may:

• Reduce Stress
• Improve circulation
• Increase energy
• Cleanse the body of toxins
• Reduce pain
• Compliments health care

For your first visit, plan an additional 15 minutes longer than your scheduled appointment to allow time to fill out a brief medical history and patient information sheet.  Typical sessions are scheduled for one full hour although ½ sessions are available. Wear comfortable clothing as only your shoes and socks will be removed during the session.

Margie DeHays has been a Clinically Certified Reflexologist (CCR) for 13 years. She is a graduate of the Ohio Academy of Holistic Health. She is certified in Reflexology and Chair Massage with over 10 years experience in Whole Food Nutrition Education. To schedule an appointment with Margie, call Harmony Farm at 937-667-8311.

These individuals are worth studying because we can learn a lot from them and there are practical and beneficial outcomes from the positive choices they make:

1. Having an attitude of gratitude makes it easier to graciously accommodate to changes in life and since change is ongoing, this is an important life skill.
2. A positive outlook tends to attract like-minded people who become part of a loving support system that can help during a health crisis, a loss experience, or other significant transitions.
3. Being positive in the face of life’s challenges brings compassion for self and others that allows conflicts to be resolved through forgiveness and quantum leaps to be made in relationships.
4. Continued personal growth buffers the impact of aging with its inevitable losses as friends and family members pass away and reduces the potential to be overwhelmed by grief.

Positive Aging and Adult Development

In order to develop fully into mature, capable and happily fulfilled adults there are six key tasks that must be mastered. Achievement of these tasks is often imperfect and there is always room for growth. The tasks tend to overlap; no one stage is more important than the others. Each task is completed within social relationships because personal growth requires other people. We can think of adult development as a map that contributes to our wholeness as we progress from youth to old age:

1. Identity – Adolescents must develop a sense of self that enables them to successfully separate from their parents and to create a place for themselves in the world. They must find their own tastes in music, political views, values and passions.
2. Intimacy – Young adults must create close reciprocal emotional bonds with a mate or a partner in a relationship based on interdependence, and mutual commitment, whether it is “mating for life” or having a “marriage type love” for one another.
3. Career Consolidation – Adults must assume a social identity in a career that not only helps society but brings them pleasure as much as play once did when they were children, thereby resulting in contentment, competence and compensation.
4. Generativity – Older adults must possess a clear capacity to unselfishly guide the next generation – to give themselves to something greater than themselves in caring relationships with those who are younger, yet also continuing to respect their autonomy.
5. Keeper of the Meaning – The elderly must pass on the traditions of the world’s cultures and institutions with a concern that extends beyond the immediate community to future generations. In a real sense, the elderly person is a bridge from the past to the future.
6. Integrity – The last of the six tasks for the elderly is to achieve a peaceful heart and along with it, wisdom, order and spirituality characterized by a detached concern, even in the face of death and the decline of the body and mental functions. As one elderly friend recently observed, “I am ready to meet my maker; while it would be nice to see my grandchildren grow up, I have lived a full life and accomplished most of what I wanted to achieve and what was expected of me. I am at peace.”

The Harvard Medical School Longitudinal Study

Harvard Medical School has spent more than 50 years studying Adult Development, looking at life choices, health and happiness in hundreds of Harvard graduates who were followed from their late teens into their old age. The landmark study revealed surprising insights about how we can all lead more fulfilling, meaningful and healthier lives as we age. Among the most significant findings to emerge:

• It is not the bad things that happen to us that doom us; it is the good people who happen to us at any age that facilitate an enjoyable old age. Happiness is contagious and the more we are surrounded by upbeat people, the happier we feel.
• The past often predicts, but never determines, old age. We are never too old to change a behavior, forgive a wrong done, or improve a limiting attitude. We can grow, learn and satisfy our curiosity about the world throughout life.
• Healing relationships are possible when capacities for gratitude, forgiveness and for loving someone deeply are present. While revenge, anger and fear are corrosive emotions that harm our bodies and our spirit, gratitude and love bring healing and hope.
• A good marriage at age 50 predicted positive aging at 80. But surprisingly, low cholesterol levels at age 50 did not. Love is good for those who are “young at heart” no matter how old they are.
• Joy makes for successful aging. The heart speaks with more vitality than the head. It is joy that facilitates learning to adapt to change and accepting the philosophy that “what can’t be beaten can be endured with a smile on your face.”
• Alcohol abuse consistently predicted unsuccessful aging. Apart from its devastating impact on health, alcoholism also damages future social supports that are vital in later years.
• Learning to play and to create after retirement, and learning to gain younger friends as we lose older ones, add more to enjoying life than retirement income.

Gratitude and Aging Well

Those who age well teach us to live each day as a ‘thank you’. Appreciation is akin to praying: when the elderly speak appreciation out loud, they help us consciously focus on the good in all our lives. When they describe challenges they have overcome that have made them stronger, we each draw closer to knowing what our Best Selves look like. And through their courage, perseverance and faith, we learn how to participate in the great river of life, adding momentum to humanity’s progress.

Aging well and gratitude are intertwined, so if you aspire to age positively you can begin by adopting two simple, but powerful, daily rituals to help strengthen and inspire your soul:

• Start each day with thoughts of appreciation and positive expectations.
• End each day with a gentle review of the blessings given, lessons learned and appreciation for those you met along the way.

Elaine Voci is a life coach whose private practice specializes in career and forgiveness coaching and is located in Carmel, IN. More about Elaine can be found on her website, www.ElaineVoci.com and she can be reached at elainevoci@elainevoci.com.

Aging Well, Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life, Little Brown and Company, George Vallant, M.D. 2002.

Green is associated with spring, a time of renewal, refreshment, and vital energy.

Leafy greens are some of the easiest and most beneficial vegetables to incorporate into your daily routine, but yet, they are the most missing food in our modern diet. Densely packed with energy and nutrients, they are nature’s most abundant superfood. Easily identified by their dark green color, members of this family include kale, collard greens, swiss chard, mustard greens, arugula, dandelion greens, broccoli rabe, watercress, beet greens, bok choy, napa cabbage, green cabbage, spinach, cilantro, parsley and broccoli.

How do greens benefit our bodies? They are very high in calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorous and zinc, and are a powerhouse for vitamins A, C, E and K. They are crammed full of fiber, folic acid, chlorophyll and many other micronutrients and phytochemicals that have yet to be named. Their color is associated with spring, which is a time to renew and refresh vital energy. Greens aid in purifying the blood, digestion, binding and removing toxins, stabilizing blood sugar levels, balancing hormones, curbing cravings, strengthening the immune system, improving liver, gall bladder and kidney function, fighting depression, clearing congestion, improving circulation and keeping your skin clear and glowing. Better eat some, hmm?

However, many of us have never learned how to prepare them. Greens can be sautéed in broth or oil, baked as chips (kale), whipped into smoothies, juiced, chopped into salads, cooked with eggs, mixed into pasta, cooked in soups, added to rice and beans, and used as wraps. The options are endless! Start with simple recipes. Then each time you go to the market, pick up a new green to try. It is best to buy local, seasonal, and organic, or even better, grow your own! Soon you’ll find you crave your greens and wonder how you ever lived without them!

Tami is a Certified Holistic Health Coach.  She received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York; in association with Purchase College, State University of New York.  She has studied more than one hundred dietary theories and a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods. Drawing on this knowledge, she will help you create a completely personalized “roadmap to health” that suits your unique body, lifestyle, preferences, and goals.

To set up an appointment with Tami, call Harmony Farm at 937-667-8311

“Build it and they will come” has been exemplified at the farm. In the early years, “Harmony Farm” wasn’t listed in the phone book; new clients were introduced by word of mouth. The business soon grew out of its space and in 1990, the Heart Center was built with an office, apartment and two massage rooms that opened into one large space for workshops. Growth continued and in 2000 The Discover building was added, housing 10 rooms for body work and healing arts with the flexibility to open 5 of the rooms to accommodate workshops, classes and retreats.

With the passing of Bill in 2004, Barbara’s children and their families took on a more involved role in managing the business. The concept of providing a space for healing was expanded to the land and in 2006, organic and biodynamic farming practices began. In 2010 Harmony Farm achieved both NOP Organic certification and Biodynamic® certification through Demeter. In the coming years, people will be able to buy products made from herbs and flowers grown and used at the farm.

We invite you to join us in this year of celebration. Experience the people, the land, and the services.

“We’ve come a long way in 25 years and are poised for the excitement of what lies ahead. We envision Harmony Farm continuing through the generations”…Cheri Dinsmore, Daughter and President.

It is February, and many people have already made their New Year resolutions for 2012. However, I believe setting intentions is a continual process, not something that should just be done at the beginning of a new year, but something we think about every day. For, what we think about continually, we can achieve. Focusing on your dreams and goals every day, and taking small steps toward them, is the perfect way to bring them to life.

Visualize your intentions with as much detail as you can muster. How will you feel when you realize your dreams? Get in touch with those emotions. What will your increased abundance look like? Will you travel somewhere you’ve always wanted to go? How will it feel to lose 10 pounds? Or, have excess energy to burn? Close your eyes and see, hear, feel, and taste your goals and dreams!

Here are some additional tips to help make your intentions a reality:

1. Write them down and keep them in a visible place. Write them on colorful post-it notes and put them on your mirror, your computer, or the dashboard of your car. Creating a Dream Board (Vision Board) of pictures cut from magazines that represent the things you want to create in your life, can also be very helpful.  Put it where you can see it every day!
2. Find out where you are stuck. Are you in a stressful relationship that causes you to eat ice cream every night? Are you stressed at work?  Are you not getting enough sleep?  Are you too rushed in the morning to eat breakfast?  Are you too drained after work to cook a healthy meal or exercise?  Is fear stopping you from pursuing your dreams?  Once you discover the root of your behavior, you can find ways to address it.
3. Be clear about what your life would look like once you achieve your goal. Getting connected to the result of your action, will make you much more apt to stick with your plan.
4. Share intentions with a close friend, spouse, or coach. Speaking your intentions to someone who cares about you, and can hold you accountable, will make you less likely to give up.
5. Stay Positive. There may be setbacks and challenges along the way.  Look at each as an opportunity to learn more about yourself and strive to see the silver lining.  Find things to be grateful for every day no matter how difficult your situation.
6. Reward your successes! If you reach a goal, no matter how small, reward yourself with something special… a massage, a new pair of shoes, a movie, or an evening with a friend.

Big changes do not require big leaps. Permanent change is more likely to happen gradually than through one big restrictive plan. Allow yourself to climb the ladder one rung at a time. Remember you have the power to create the life you want, and what you focus on will manifest in your life!

Tami is a Certified Holistic Health Coach.  She received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York; in association with Purchase College, State University of New York.  She has studied more than one hundred dietary theories and a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods. Drawing on this knowledge, she will help you create a completely personalized “roadmap to health” that suits your unique body, lifestyle, preferences, and goals.She is certified as a health coach by the American Association of Drugless practitioners.  Additionally, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

To set up an appointment with Tammy, call Harmony Farm 937-667-8311.

My calendar says late January, however it appears that the weather gods didn’t get the message, as the forecast for today is 63 degrees.

Winter provides gardeners time for reflection and planning for the coming spring. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere on March 20, 2012, at 1:14 A.M. (EDT). On the first day of spring—the vernal equinox—day and night are each approximately 12 hours long (with the actual time of equal day and night, in the Northern Hemisphere, occurring a few days before the vernal equinox). The Sun crosses the celestial equator going northward; it rises exactly due east and sets exactly due west. Sounds like this would be a good time to calibrate your compass. What it tells me is that my “planning” window is closing quickly; spring is just 49 days away!

All the fields at Harmony Farm have been “put to bed” for the season. We still have garlic in the ground (straw covered) that will be harvested in the early summer. Beyond that everything is fair game for the deer and other critters at the farm. The warm weather extended the season and allowed us to harvest Russian Kale, Swiss Chard, Leaf Lettuces, and Turnips into early December.

This spring we will be adding another 500 lavender plants and harvesting (for the first time) from plants that were planted in 2008. Look for Harmony Farm Lavender in the GAIA gift shop in 2012. Our lavender is both USDA Organic and Demeter Certified Biodynamic®. To learn more about Biodynamic® Farming visit the Demeter website.

We expect to have another productive season of organic hay from the upper fields. In addition, we will continue to have a small organic/Biodynamic® certified vegetable garden this year, with more emphasis on medicinal herbs.

All this “planning” is great, but I must admit that I’m looking forward to more days of 63 degrees and the heat of summer. It will be here before we know it!

Rich Dinsmore

When we want comfort from tension or tight muscles, most of us seek warmth: a comforter, warming muscle balm or heating pad.

Warm bamboo massage offers this comfort. It provides soothing heat to relieve general muscle tension. The various sizes and shapes of the warmed bamboo sticks can be used to add varied depth of pressure, “untying” specific “knots” in muscles, providing muscle pain relief.

“The heat is not intense,” says Susan Nunn, LMT and a bamboo massage practitioner,” so even those who don’t like other hot massage tools enjoy warm bamboo. Other than the warmth, my clients say they can’t tell the difference between the bamboo and my hands!”

Warm bamboo is a new massage offered by Susan Nunn at Harmony Farm. Come try this unique and effective massage!

I started practicing yoga at age 44. There are many aspects of yoga that drew me in, but none more than the practice of going inward (Sanskrit term is sakshin). Because I had a good teacher, who focused on awareness, I quickly fell in love with the sensations I experienced when doing yoga. I learned to physically and mentally “see” what my body was feeling. In class, I often refer to it as “looking at yourself from the inside out”.

I am about to turn 60 and my body is aging. I have chronic conditions and some injuries that limit my physical expression so I adapt practice to right where I am on any particular day. That is how I encourage my students to practice: Go inside – ask “what do I need in this moment? What is my body telling me?” The body responds beautifully to this kind of attention. With practice it learns harmony – when to contract, lengthen, soften, move, and be still; when to breathe in and when to breathe out.

As the old saying goes, “change is inevitable”. Those changes can occur on a daily basis not just as the years go by. The beauty of practicing yoga is that as long as I pay attention (listen), my practice is enriched by self acceptance. It also gives me much gratitude for this almost 60 year old body that has served me well.

Lynda began teaching yoga in 2002. She received her teacher training at the Expanding Light in California. For seven years, she taught for the Wellness Program at the University of Dayton. Her love of yoga, and its many benefits, is obvious in her teaching style which is inclusive and nurturing.

Register for Lynda’s Morning Yoga at Harmony Farm, or call 937-667-8311.

We all have parents; most of us have spouses, children, brothers, sisters and friends. Along with births, deaths, marriage, separation and unity we have challenging and wonderful life experiences.

Along this way we have felt our compassion and nurtured someone and probably many. Think about how many people you have nurtured, children, parents, neighbors, friends, clients. Our nature is to be compassionate and nurturing. Sometimes as we nurture others we forget about our nurturing.

Over a decade ago I struggled through a divorce, with all the fear of abandonment and betrayal, sadness and grief. At this time was I able to nurture any one or even be affective in my work? I took a Healing Touch workshop and learned how to calm my emotions and clear my fears. I learned how to receive and nurture myself. I learned how to attract energy and use my hand in an intentional way, now, to nurture others.

Your life situation may or may not be as extreme, you may not be on an emotional roller coaster like I was, however everyone at times experience imbalances in life that render us to be less resourceful. This may be evidenced by catching a cold, feeling fatigued or experiencing some other illness. The lesson here is that the more we nurture ourselves the more we have to give to our loved ones or clients. We are nurturers and we are not going to stop nurturing.

Over one hundred thousand people have been trained in Healing Touch. The Healing Touch Program began as a nursing continuing education program and it is now open to all individuals desiring an in depth understanding of healing work using energy based principles.

Healing Touch is energy therapy where touch is used to restore the energy field (aura) and the energy centers (chakras). Touch is used to clear, balance and energize the energy system affecting our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. Healing Touch is based on a heart centered caring relationship between caregiver and receiver. The goal of Healing Touch is to restore harmony and balance in the energy system in order for the receiver to self-heal.

Healing Touch works on all ages and at any stage of wellness or illness.

About the Author: Daniel Snyder L.M.T. is a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner & Instructor, and a Licensed Massage Therapist. Dan works with special needs children & adults, hospital care, hospice, emotional & stress release clients. Dan is also a student at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. Please contact Dan about Healing Touch workshops. @ 513.221.1660 or daniel44@fuse.net