Honeychick Homestead

Homestead, Health, and Happiness

Author Archives: Jennifer


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A Perfect Match: Chickens and Cover Crops

This may sound silly to non-homesteader’s or gardener’s  – cover crops make me HAPPY!  I like that they build healthy soil that feeds my fruit trees and it’s a yummy treat for my chickens.

Last fall I was finally successful getting cover crop seed in the ground at the right time (September or October), before our rainy season started. I didn’t get the entire orchard covered but I got about 1/3 of it seeded.

The cover crop I planted is a soil builder mix and it contains bell beans, peas, various types of vetch, and oats.  I picked this one because it fixes nitrogen and my soil is in desperate need of more nitrogen! It also chokes out weeds and provides a wonderful habitat for beneficial insects. Of course, I could just put fertilizer down but it is expensive and doesn’t help build long-term soil fertility. Healthy, fertile soil that will nourish my trees keeping diseases and pests at away is what I want!

Besides being an excellent “food” for my trees, once established (5-8 inches tall), I let my chickens do the “dirty work,” and turn in the cover crop. They love the green goodness and all the bugs and grubs it brings to the soil. Take a look a the progression of this season’s cover crop. Continue reading →


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After Infusio – McKenzie’s Two Week Update

Wow, McKenzie’s Mom was super about getting me this update exactly two weeks after she finished treatment, thank you so much! Things have been busy so I’m just getting time to publish it a month later, I hope you find this detailed information helpful!

Treatment dates: January 11 – January 22, 2016

Was the administrative staff in Frankfurt helpful?

Our experience at Infusio was great! All the way around.
Michael (administrative director) & Helena (Wife & Naturheilpraxis) were on vacation. So felt we hit the jackpot, as their replacements were … Dr. Phillip Battiade (founder), Sarah Whitney (naturopathic doctor-Beverly Hills) and Daniel (CEO) ran the office.

Did you feel the doctor and nurses handling your care were competent care providers?

Absolutely, amazing! Nadine (nurse), Sarah, and Phil handled McKenzie’s care. And we honestly couldn’t have been better taken care of.

Was it easy to communicate with everyone at the clinic?

Very easy…everyone spoke great English. And if there were any language barriers at the boarding house Daniel graciously took care of it for us.

Were any questions and/or concerns you had during treatments addressed?

Yes, everyone was always on hand and available.

Did you have any type of bodywork? If so, which type?

McKenzie had reflexology and Slimyonik Lymph treatment or as we called them Cirque Du Soleil pants! Because that’s just what they look like! But they help assist in detoxification. She also had thymus treatment for balancing the bodies immune system. Continue reading →


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My Late, One Year Update!

Hello there! I am so sorry I’ve been missing in action on my blog for over a month! After returning home from a 30 day cross-country road trip on January 1st, I had a jam-packed January that included:

  • A surprise visit from my best friend from Michigan
  • A visit from my sister and her boyfriend
  • A “family” reunion trip to Oahu, where we met up with friends that live around the U.S. 
  • Celebrating my husbands birthday in Oahu  

I spent the month of February playing catch up on laundry (6 weeks of dirty laundry is no joke!), homework, my first therapeutic nutrition assignment (it was intense and I have five more to complete!), more homework, getting our income taxes done, more homework, getting prepped to list our previous home that we can finally sell, and MORE homework!

I wrote the first draft of this update at the beginning of our road trip in early December. I finally had a moment to review it for grammar and spelling errors. Thank you for your patience and here’s my one year update:

It’s December 2015 and I’ve made it past the one year mark since having treatment at Infusio. I still have ZERO Lyme or co-infection symptoms.

My official “anniversary” date was October 17, 2015. It was quite an uneventful day, I thought about having a party to celebrate but realized that was kind of silly! I’d rather focus on celebrating my wedding anniversary (October 16th) during that time of year 🙂

I’ve been thinking a lot about what to write in this update, especially since I don’t have many health related things to share; so in addition to an update on my health, I’d like to share some encouraging words I received from a friend a couple of months ago.

First, let me start with my overall health. “Stable” is the word that continues to pop into my head. It’s been nice to feel good almost ALL of the time! For years, I’d been used to having random issues flare up almost daily. Not having random things occur is really amazing, it is nice to feel “normal.” It has changed my life for the better! Continue reading →