Not for human consumption

Posted on by Roger Jarman

An interesting thing happened a few weeks ago and it got me thinking. I had a craving for a glass of milk. I haven’t drank a glass of milk in probably 30 years, but suddenly I felt like having a glass of milk. Not just ordinary milk though, I craved something I had never had before. Pure, raw milk and I felt an urge to try it.

I don’t even like milk so I suppressed the urge for a few weeks but curiosity got the best of me and I began searching around me for a place where I could buy pure, raw cow milk. I was in luck, I found a farm not twenty minutes from my house. Off I went.

The farm was amazing, they had a small grocery shop and restaurant, and arts and crafts event on the weekends and even a petting zoo. Being there for the milk I went to the refrigerated area and found milk, whey, yogurts, cream, different cheeses butters and more.

I went to grab a yogurt and a few other thing when I noticed a label saying “not for human consumption”. I thought it was odd, what type of animals are eating yogurt if not humans? Then I noticed this phrasing on all of the dairy products including the milk.

The same dairy foods that have fed the entire human race since the dawn of existence (or at least farming), which is raw dairy, is no longer safe for human consumption? Interesting.

I’m all for simplicity, and trying to source the root cause of things is something I enjoy. How could a food source which has been a staple of humanity for thousands of years no longer be safe to consume?

There are several culprits as to why the labelling is on the products, though it certainly isn’t factually true that raw dairy isn’t for human consumption. Quite the opposite indeed.

While I used to enjoy all the processed foods and fast foods in my younger years, I have since learned a lot about foods and what is actually good for us and not. The simple answer, pure, single ingredient foods are good, beef, dairy, fruits, nuts and so on. Processed foods are not so good to down right bad, (ever seen a paragraph of ingredients on a label?)

Take a look on your next trip to the grocery store, in about any isle in the center of the store, pick a random item up and check the ingredients.

One thing that I’ve learned is particularly bad for us, which is championed by many are seed oils. Vegetable oil, corn oil, and so forth. Here a great article which sums up the oils we consume very well.

Going back to raw milk and simplicity, as my intention isn’t to get into a full-on history of food, but make a more focused point. In today’s day and age there is information everywhere. The downside is a lot of it is garbage. The sad part is most of the garbage is fed to us by those who we should be able to trust the most.

Food started changing during the industrial revolution, people started moving to cities and the availability of fresh food and dairy became difficult as refrigeration and transport wasn’t what it is today. As things shifted, people began creating new products to cover the smell/taste of food on the bring of expiration. Things like ketchup where created to enable people to stomach the meat which was nearly rotten, but which was available.

Over time, people kept adding things to plug holes or make something better. Today we’re dealing with an explosion of obesity because we keep adding fixes to the symptom of the problem, while never addressing the actual problem.

If we all ate whole foods, un-processed foods and spent some time in the sun each day we would experience a renaissance of health in this country. Like most things in life, the answer is very simple. Executing it can be more challenging.

My point in all of this is this. We have to question what we are told by the “experts” and have to be responsible for ourselves and our families. When something a simple and pure as raw dairy is “not for human consumption” it means there is a much, much larger problem we’re not addressing.

If you’re looking for better food sources, here is a link to a great website where you can search for a farm near you. Supporting those farmers and small business owners in our communities is how the world has worked for millennia, and returning to this foundation in our modern world yields some cool results.

Finding the good all around us.

Posted on by Roger Jarman

As the old saying goes, life is often stranger than fiction. Most of us can relate to this through our experience, and these last few years have hammered this principle home!

There is a silver lining in all of it, where we experience bad, there is also good.

I firmly believe everything comes with a lesson, and if we can find it within us to learn the lesson, nothing is wasted. I will be the first to tell you, there are times where you simply won’t see or understand what good (or lesson) can possibly come from a situation.

I can also tell you in my experience, sometimes learning to deal with the pain of an event is the lesson. When we can resolve ourselves to stand in the harshest of times, we will be prepared for the next evolution in our life.

If you think of love and fear for a moment, I’ll provide an example of finding the good, the lesson in everything. Love and fear are two opposites of the same emotion. In fact, ALL of our emotions, the entire spectrum of what we feel stems from either love, or fear.

Pictures this, If this emotional spectrum was a line, a dot on the left side is fear, a line connects to another dot on the right which is love. Exactly where does love end and fear begin? At the halfway point you say? Now measure it, what emotion specifically is the zero point between the two?

On paper you can pinpoint a dot. In reality there isn’t a single emotion which separates the two, just a grey area which bleeds into each other. We all have a different opinion on this, a different emotional spectrum by which we judge it.

It’s the same thing with cold and hot, large and small, fresh and stale. All open for interpretation as to where cold becomes hot, large to small, fresh to stale.

Both sides of the spectrum must be present and accounted for in order for it to BE.

Now apply this concept back to life. If a thing happens and we perceive it to be bad, then by nature there has to be an opposite effect. We can’t have love without fear, or hot without cold. What I perceive to be bad is a blessing to another.

Using this simple tool in my everyday life I can shift my perspective on anything which happens around me. I can take the “bad” thing and try to understand the opposite of it, which is equally real.

When I can see the opposite, I can often learn the lesson and grow from the experience. When this happens, it’s no longer a “bad” thing but a blessing and needed event to teach me a lesson about something.

When I learn, I appreciate and stay in a focused and grateful state of mind. There is always good in the world, no matter how dark it may seem. While we don’t always have the ability to see the good in the moment, knowing it is there helps to light the way.

This is an important step in growing mentally and spiritually. The more we can practice this the more we see how this world works FOR us, instead of against us. No hustle and grind required.

A dose of simplicity

Posted on by Roger Jarman

If 2021 was a bit nuts, what I can tell so far of 2022 things are going to get even more interesting. From my own experience things are moving at lighting speed, and everyone I speak with can relate to this hyper-speed pace.

I’m not sure where the first three months of this year went, though I do know one thing. A major lesson I’ve learned through the fire is this; Be in the moment, focused and intuitive in action.

We’re all familiar with the terminology of “living in the now”, “being present” and the importance of such things. I’d like you to think about how often you truly apply these concepts to your life. I am all about living in the ‘now’, being in the moment. I can also tell you I stress about the bills, how to cover payroll, overhead, where I’ll find business to keep my staff sustained and active in the coming months.

If you’ll notice I’m quite contrary in my thinking. If I’m all living in the “now”, how can I also stress about the upcoming expenses and challenges? I imagine this conundrum sounds familiar.

Here’s what I’ve learned, and it can translate universally. Get your shit done in the moment it happens.

From the mundane to the mountains, tackling the challenges which arise on a daily basis, as they arise, has a funny way of creating results which roll over. For me it all starts with a theme I’ve implemented in my life a few months ago. “with love in my heart…”

“With love in my heart I talk to this upset customer.”

“With love in my heart I take the garbage out.”

“With love in my heart I have the difficult conversation with a loved one.”

“With love in my heart I cook for my family.”

I have practiced (and still am practicing) being in each moment, experiencing each moment, with love in my heart. In those instances I don’t feel the love, or cannot conjure it within me I step back and evaluate why I am doing it.

I have made a choice to do/be those things which I can do with love. Those things I cannot, I am shifting out of my life in some way. Through delegation or outright removal. By using this simple filter in my life, I can be in each moment, present and focused.

The past is unchangeable, the future depends on what we do in this moment.

If we are unfocused and thinking stressing about the future, we will experience uncertainty and stress. When we drill down and focus on those things we love, in the moment, actively and passionately, the future takes care of itself.

If you’re thinking to yourself, this is great for you, “but I have all these chores to do and nobody helps me”, “that’s great but I have kids and they’re a handful”, “my boss is a jerk, I wish I could like my job”.

Perhaps you should evaluate your perspective. At least you have a home, and clothes, and dishes to maintain. Many people don’t. You’re kids can be a lot of things, and they take you as an example. Are you being a good example for them?

What is your bosses motivation for being a jerk? Getting the job done or simply to feed their ego? Being pushed by a boss can be a great thing, while also being very uncomfortable in the moment. Perhaps it’s time to start looking for a new job while you still have one. You do have a choice, as long as you give yourself the choice.

Living in the moment is something we all understand, yet few of us actually practice it. And it is a practice, which we can (and do) fail at often times. The more we practice enjoying, loving the thing we are doing in each moment the easier it gets. When things seem like they’re spinning out of control, take a moment to breath, and be grateful for the opportunity to be stretched by a new challenge.

Life really is simple, yet often the simplicity is the hardest thing to practice.