People may talk about wanting to do things differently, but how few seem to follow through. A good example of someone who strove to make a difference by growing his own food naturally was the late TV and movie actor, Eddie Albert. He was a great advocate of organic gardening and farming. Not only did he believe in eating organic foods whenever possible, but he grew much of what he ate.
Even though he lived in Pacific Palisades, California, prime real estate on the coast, he had a large hedge around his property that kept neighbors from minding about the garden he grew on his front lawn. On my first visit there, as I walked to the front door, I saw sweet corn growing on the right-hand side of the walkway.
He once told me that with property taxes and other expenses figured in, his sweet corn cost him about $20 per ear of corn. But knowing where and how it was produced and being able to harvest and eat it fresh from the garden made it all worthwhile. And either way, whether he was growing his own vegetables or grass to be mowed, his taxes would still have to be paid.
It was a pleasure to know this man and to have had the opportunity to work with him on several agricultural projects. We spent a number of days together over the years from the mid-1970’s until shortly before his death. He was extremely interested in agriculture, especially conservation and growing foods using natural principles. I first met him when his doctor recommended that he have me take a look at an olive tree in his backyard which wasn’t doing well.
The tree, which had special meaning because his children grew up playing in it, had been in decline for several years, we tested and treated the soil around the tree and in about six months, it began growing again. This was the beginning of numerous opportunities to work together to promote natural agricultural principles. I’m still grateful to the late Dr. Joe Walters for introducing us.
Dr. Walters, an allergy specialist who lived in Sherman Oaks, California at the time, was an extremely knowledgeable and health conscious medical doctor. Our first meeting occurred as I was beginning to work for clients on the west coast as a soil fertility specialist in the mid -1970's. At the time, Dr. Walters was 70 years old, and I only had the privilege of knowing and working with him on improving his organic garden soils for two years. But what he shared from his vast store of knowledge on human health became an inspiration for my work, and continues to be yet today.
If memory serves me correctly, at age 55, after several heart attacks, having one lung removed, and suffering from numerous other health related issues, Dr. Walters was given 6 months to live. The best doctors he knew said there was nothing they could do. His wife, with a Ph.D. in nutrition, worked with him in his practice. They had helped many patients solve their allergy problems through nutrition.
Now, unless he could solve his own health problems through nutrition, he wasn’t expected to see 56. He lived to be 72. From that time on, though educated as an M.D., Dr. Walters told me he never prescribed a drug to help someone get well because it could all be done through nutrition.
When I met him, he grew his own organic vegetables, told every patient to eat only organically grown foods, as he and his wife did, raising as much of their food as possible at their home in Sherman Oaks.
They had 1500 patients, many very well-known at the time, coming from all over the world for advice on staying well. That was his practice, not just treating health problems, but showing patients how to solve them and avoid new ones. He was in his office from 6 to 6, six days a week, always with a full schedule.
The first encounter with Dr. Walters was through one of my clients whose young daughter had been given only six months to live, but was healthy again and doing well after two years with Dr. Walters help. He hired me to take soil tests and make appropriate recommendations for the doctor’s organic gardens as a gift of appreciation.