The Free Radical

I’ve touched on this before. I think last year’s Report was titled ‘Eat Dirt and Live!’ Spring is traditionally the time for deep cleansing, so it might seem somewhat counterintuitive to suggest eating dirt as part of one’s cleansing regimen. However, the dogs insist that is so.

And just for the sake of closure from more recent Reports, it appears that all three of the dogs have now gotten their fill of coyote poop. There’s still plenty more of it scattered about, but the dogs will only carry the occasional turd around in their mouths, seemingly saying “You dare me to eat it?” Invariably, I say “No!” and they don’t argue anymore… and then spit it out. Apparently, it was just a brief phase… to harmonize with coyote energy (?) Maybe.

But this dirt-eating thing is a fairly regular occurrence, especially after the long winter months when the ground is thoroughly frozen. And they eat quite a lot of it, actually.

Lhasa likes the dirt at the first lookout best. Sitka and Toby prefer to wait until I get to the second juniper from which I always pause to pick a handful of ultra-delicious fifth-dimensional juniper berries. (I always have a pocketful of them too! Even now, as I’m typing this…) And if we go to the Mesa, all three will usually pause in their shenanigans in order to take a few precious mouthfuls of dirt… and then they look at me like Uter from the Simpsons with his filth-eating grin.

Did you know that certain soil bacteria when present in the gut not only vastly improve digestion and nutrient absorption but also increase the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin level in the brain? It’s true; there’s a direct link between gut flora and cognitive function. (But be careful with that information; even suggesting such a link in conjunction with all of the disruptive modern poisons we call food and medicine can land you in a position where the authorities will hire a hit-man-journalist to discredit you, ruin your career, and ultimately take away your license to practice being human.)

I guess the bottom-line here is something I’ve stressed many times before; it’s not about eradicating offending germs from ourselves and the environment; rather, it’s about cultivating the presence of all of the beneficial microorganisms which, in turn, will keep the offenders at bay– just ask anyone who understands composting, home-brewing, pickling or culturing vegetables like sauerkraut and kimchi. Sterilization, pasteurization and disinfecting are not often our friends– except in very unnatural circumstances.

Food for thought…

…and this is not. Sitka still has an uncanny knack for finding dead things, but at least she doesn’t insist on eating them so much anymore. Dirt = good; dead things past their prime = not so much.

Now I think I’ll go brush my teeth with clay.