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Health care - the way it used to beOnce upon a time not too long ago, folks rarely became sick. Most grew their own food. Many had their own eggs and even folks in town would butcher a chicken now and then. Beef and pork was wholesome and raised on pasture. Folks consumed lots of lard and didn't stick up their noses in disgust at organ meats or blood sausage. Of course, they drank their milk raw from primarily grass-fed animals and would have laughed at any new-fangled notion that there was any other way to drink it. On that same note, they would have thought we were loosing our scruples if we were to describe a feed lot or factory farm or pesticides.On the rare occasion when folks did become sick, an old timer told us that his grandmother would go out to the pasture or woods and gather some roots, leaves or blossums, boil them and make the ill person drink it. The sickness would be gone shortly thereafter. My grandparents each had their own remedies they would use and wouldn't have been concerned that any of them weren't government-researched and approved, nor would they have lived in fear of their children being thaken away from them by the authorities when they treated them with their home-made remedies. Neighbors shared remedies and evne treated one another. No one sued anyone back then. They all knew what worked and didn't need any university studies to back it up. Sometimes, they would take a trip to the doctor and he would fix them up using his own methods, many were what we would consider alternative. There was no insurance. There was no licensing. There was no FDA. There was no government oversight. The cost of the visit never caused any of the folks to drop their jaw in disbelief or cause them to have to sell the farm, ever. The doctor would have no business if that were the case. In fact, sometimes, they would barter and trade without the use of any cash. No biggie. Food was traded for health care. Food was every bit as valuable as health care in those days. There was relationship-based accountability, not bureaucratic-based accountability. The community looked out for one another. They regulated what came into the community and determined whether or not they were genuine. If there was a quack doctor around, word got around very quickly and he was chased out of town quicker than a coon dog can tree a coon. On occasion, the doctor would make house calls. One elderly aunt told me she finally figured out that another baby was on the way when the doctor came to the house. Again, no insurance, etc. Services were paid in cash or somethign was traded. No paperwork had to be filed out and filed either. Another old time farmer told us there used to be sanitariums that had goat farms next door. THe raw goat's milk was considered essential to the healing of the patients. Again, no FDA, no USDA, no insurance, nothing. Patients left healthy and never in fear that they couldn't afford the treatment. If the treatment were unafforable, the sanitarium would receive no business. My grandparents cared for their parents in their home until their death. They considered their wisdom, their stories of old to valuable to miss. They welcomed their parent's good influence on their children. THey even strung a line from the house to the outhouse in order to help great grandpa find his way after he lost his sight. THey would have thought a "nursing home" was a home where breastfeeding women gathered (and would have thought that was a waste of time). If the government ever wanted to stop and regulate the way they gave and received health care, I would not be surprised if the whole commmunity tarred and feathered the poor soul who came to enforce it! Of any government oversight over helath care, they would have said, "God gave us brains, we have the right to use them." Reminiscing on the good ol' days of health, freedom and common sense, Lisa 12:24 - 2007-Jul-12 - post comment
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Description Sharing our thoughts, events, ups and downs, as we restore a once profitable farm to its former greatness as a Christian agrarian family. Home User Profile Archives Friends Lighthouse Farm Our DVD's for homesteader's Homestead Series e-books Lighthouse Farm Podcasts No NAIS Recent Entries - Pig-headed or chicken-hearted???? - Health care - the way it used to be - The Egg Hog - Back in blogdom after chasing sheep - Ode to Winter 2007 - Chicken and Hog DVD's are now finished!! - Video clip of the birth of a piglet - News about Haitian friends!!!!! - Authentic AgricultureTM - Welcome! - A Peaceful Night in the Pasture - Big Sale at The Old Schoolhouse!! - Rendering Lard - Hog Butchering Time - John Ray - Founder of Biology - A Breath-taking Field Trip - Fat and Sassy - Real Men Eat Quiche - Green Tomato Recipes - Harvest - Two Cents Worth on Pinching Pennies... - Cockle burrs and stinging nettle a blessing? - Gourmet Meals At The Farm Table - Seeds Worth Saving - Sweet cartoon - Commercial rice supply has been contaminated - Spermicidal Corn - Agricultural Science Fiction Horror Flick or Truth? - SImple Entertainment - "Gardening is like a treasure hunt!" - Pigs don't stink - Diggin' For Gold!! - Rain - a Blessing or a Curse? - My Sheep Know My Voice - er - Chain Saw... - The Old Farm Dog - An Alarming Nightime Visitor - Farming Magazine - A Pig's Nest - Meager chicken harvest - Bacon + Garlic = Piglets? - A Rare July 4th Tribute to Farmers - Fencing in more pasture - Three months on our new place.... - Blood suckers in Minnesota :( - Miss Bacon and Rocky Mountain Oysters - Sheep without a shepherd - Haying with my man! - Mink solutions, anyone? - Goat meets pig... - I Smell a Skunk... - URGENT!! Please forward!!!! - Did Adam Smell Like That? - Minnesota!!!!! - Problem solved - God is good - The Rat Trap and One Happy Girl - New Podcast - Farm Restoration - The Beginning - An Honorable Gentleman Has Died - Why teach our children about agriculture? - Cheap, Safe Food??? - New NAIS links worth reading - Old Tractors Never Die - A Lawyer comments on Constitutional Rights and NAIS - Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks - Big Bellies and Big Bags - Hosting Haitians on the Homestead - Minnesota, Here We Come (after we sell our house) and "the Chip" - And God saw that it was good - Greetings |