Gabriel Howearth - Six Months Later

Dear Friends,

Up until now my health progress has been reported by my wife Kitzia and my doctor and friend, Dr. Karen Ferreira. And today, it is my pleasure to be able to report to you my progress since I have been at my mother Maria's home in Grass Valley in Northern California. As my right arm, from the shoulder to the tips of my fingers, is still affected by my illness, I am writing this report with the help of my mom.

First of all, I want to take this opportunity to personally thank all of you wholeheartedly for your support and prayers for my rapid, gentle and permanent recovery. I know your good thoughts and prayers have been an important part of my healing journey.

By now most of you are familiar with my health situation. For anyone who is not, my life was suddenly threatened while my family and me where living temporarily in the town of San Pancho, Nayarit, just north of Puerto Vallarta, to escape the hurricane season of Baja California. At the end of September the temperature was sweltering, so my 5-year old son, Aloe, and I went swimming. Soon afterwards we both developed severe earaches. Aloe's infection cleared up in a couple of weeks; whereas mine led to meningitis and pneumonia. I was, for a brief period, in a coma, subsequently unable to walk, speak, and swallow, so I had to be fed through a feeding tube. The extensive injury to my brain and nerves was substantial, and was accompanied by intense mental states. The pneumonia I experienced while hospitalized also took its toll, as did the powerful antibiotics and other medications I was given. After a three week hospital stay in Puerto Vallarta, I completely eliminated the meningitis and pneumonia and was well enough to be released to our temporary home north of that city. By the end of November I was finally able to swallow solid food and fluids, so my doctor decided it was time to remove my feeding tube in early December.

Unbeknownst to us, in early January '09 the house we were renting, and particularly the room where I spent my days and nights, developed an infestation of mold, which led to a further infection of my sensitive lungs. Once the mold infection was diagnosed, my friend, Dr. Ingrid Naiman, was contacted, as she is a well-known expert on mold infections. Kitzia developed a schedule and dosages on index cards that would properly treat the infection. Shortly thereafter it was decided it would be best for me to leave that area of Mexico and recuperate at my mother's home in Grass Valley, California. Fortunately for me, her home sits high on a knoll and is free of any molds. I have been here since late January. Once Ingrid prescribed the proper herbal tinctures to eliminate the mold infection, my mother generated a schedule of when to administer the proper dosages. I am very grateful to my friend, Dr. Ingrid Naiman, who has kept me supplied with all the medicines I needed to clear my lungs of the mold. Without her knowledge of the proper treatments for this infection, my mother would not have been able to give me the care I so desperately needed to rid my lungs of this debilitating infection. Dr. Naiman and Dr. Ferreira also advised my mother on the special diet I should follow, as well as giving my mother all the moral support she needed. This incident set me back, after having improved from my initial illnesses, for at least a couple of months - January and February.

At the end of February my brother Bob drove me to Ashland, OR to celebrate my birthday at Dr. Christopher Daugherty's home. It was wonderful to be able be with so many great friends I have known for a long time, some even for over 30 years. While in Ashland, my long-time friend, Dr. Gerry Lehrburger arranged for me to be examined by two neurologists, two throat, nose and ear specialists and a treatment with an excellent acupuncturist. One of the neurologists said, after examining me, he thought what I needed most to heal completely was to regenerate the conductivity between my skin and nerves. During my visit, Dr. Daugherty began treating my right shoulder, arm and hand, by soaking with Epson salt water and massage, as my arm and hand are not able to function normally. Since that time my mother has continued the treatments on a daily basis, and massaging both in the water and with oils. Because my thumb and my little finger are unable to straighten out on their own, my mother is placing a ball between these two fingers. My three middle fingers are not bending properly, so she massages these to try to loosen the muscles and tendons, thereby increasing their circulation. All during this time my massage therapist, Monique of Grass Valley, has been working on rotating my shoulder and upper arm, so now movement in this area has visibly improved. Another discomfort is some residual numbness on the lower right side of my face, from my upper ear to my throat and tingling on the left side of my body. I have been advised that these discomforts will disappear in due time. I am still experiencing discomfort because of my diminished hearing in my right ear, which my ear specialist stated is at 40% hearing ability. Fortunately, I have full hearing in my left ear.

Now, physically, I am doing amazingly well. To strengthen my legs I exercise on my mom's stationary bike and four times a day, I do my isometric exercises to all the muscles of my body. I can walk now without my cane, sometimes a little wobbly, but, hey, because of my fear of falling, especially down stairs and on uneven terrain, and hurting my right arm, I hesitate to walk at a regular pace. My speech is back to normal, although at times I will slur my words a little, because of the numbness of the right side of my face. My mother loves to cook, so I am eating wonderful organic food abundantly available here in Grass Valley, and taking all kinds of excellent supplements.

I know I am fortunate to be able to stay in the States, in the loving presence of family and friends, a necessary factor in my complete recovery. I believe I have come a long way. My illness nearly claimed my life, and at times it did not look promising my recovery would ever be quick or complete. Since then, this journey has been one of self-reclamation on all levels. I am a new man or rather I am peeling away the old obscuring layers, revealing my true self. For the many of you who knew me as a seedsman and a driven workaholic, giving my all for the sake of the planet, well, I am still dedicated to my life mission of educating and working to ensure that future generations will have plenty of healthy food to eat. Only now, as a result of my amazing healing odyssey, I have been transformed. My profound love and appreciation for my wife and family has deepened immensely, and I am taking a much more relaxed and joyful approach to life. Every day I am grateful for all my blessings.

Please continue to remember me in your prayers. Thank you for your caring and especially all of you who contributed to my healing. Those individuals who saw me through my worse days and responsible for my progress reports on my ongoing recovery were: my wife Kitzia, my mom Maria, my brother Bob, and my friends Dr. Karen and Antonio, and Dr. Ingrid Naiman. Forever I am grateful!!

Thank you for your prayers, blessings, considerations and donations. To continue on my healing journey I will need ongoing physical therapy, acupuncture and perhaps cranial sacral work, and of course an ear surgery. All of these treatments will aid in my complete recovery - the use of my right arm and hand, the numbness of the lower right side of my face and tingling of my body's left side, and hearing in my right ear. When my right arm and hand are back to normal, I will then be able to regain my balance and the ability to walk and run normally. I look forward to the day I can dance with my wife, play and run with my young sons, hike in the Rockies with my daughter, play my music, write my book and educational articles. If you wish to make a donation towards my recovery, you may contact me at seeds.forever@gmail.com, or directly deposit into our shared Wells Fargo account. For this information or if you need a Tax ID Number, also contact me at the above email address.

As I continue to improve please stay tuned for more updates. I will try to include some of my teachings on sustainability via learning to save seeds and create bountiful gardens for the security and health of generations to come.

Seedfully sprouting diversity, Gabriel

BACKGROUND:

Gabriel Howearth, Botanist, Landscape architect, Seedsman

Founder of Buena Fortuna Botanical Garden, in Baja Mexico (preserving 3700 plant species of the tropical and dry tropical regions of the world), he is the president and co-founder of Siempre Semillas AC, a Mexican NGO whose main focus is to preserve seed diversity by teaching and planting. Gabriel with his personal seed bank collection of a living genealogy of plants containing many rare, endangered and exotic species of forgotten and little known food sources of great nutritional, cultural and genetic value he was an original Co-founder of Seeds of Change, the foremost GMO free organic seed company in the U.S. and half of the world.

Currently he is working with several ecological organizations in Central and South America and has been available to travel worldwide to teach about organic seeds and ways to preserve our genetic seed purity locally in order to contribute to global change in positive ways.

Recent consultations include:
Professional Consultation for "Dreaming New Mexico" towards a food & energy self-sustainable State by the year 2020; an ambitious and well supported project, initiative of Bioneers with the participation of a number of NGO's, Farmers, Indigenous Groups, Schools as well as Governmental support.

Professional consultation in Southern Oregon helping organize local seedsman and farmers work towards helping its people in the bioregion become seed and food self-sufficient - beyond sustainable.

In the early stages of developing a Polycultural- Permacultural landscape Design for state of the art Ola Brisa Eco Community in Todos Santos, on the Pacific Coast side of Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Some of his previous works include research with Sonic Bloom sound frequencies and music and pyramid enhancement for seeds and plants with documented success written in very popular books: "Secrets of the soil" and "The secret Life of Plants" by two famous authors/researchers Peter Tompkins and Christopher Byrd. The results of this research show how certain frequencies and music really work to greatly enhance plant growth production, yield, nutrition, flavor, quality and germination power of seeds especially enhanced by the combination of the use of Mayan pyramid seed enhancers.

He has traveled around the world and worked with many indigenous people to develop and increase diversity in organic farming and gardening. He has 30 years experience teaching and practicing permaculture, seed saving, biodynamic and organic agriculture.

QUOTES:

"Gabriel Howearth is a botanist, landscape architect and "seedsman," is the co-founder of Buena Fortuna Botanical Garden, in Baja, Mexico, and the president and co-founder of Siempre Semillas AC, an NGO whose main focus is preserving seed diversity through teaching and planting. Gabriel, an original co-founder of the company Seeds of Change, has traveled around the world working with many indigenous people to develop and increase diversity in organic farming and gardening, and has 30 years' experience teaching and practicing permaculture, seed saving, and biodynamic and organic agriculture." - from the Bioneers website

"Gabriel Howearth is an old friend of mine. His world-class biodiversity collection in Baja you have heard me speak of many times... He's a pioneer species of the seed-saving activists, he's an heirloom of the global heirloom movement, a botanical super-freak, designer and all around mad-scientist for humanity..."
Quote from the (r)evolution, L. Santoyo