Jerry Brunetti went to see a doctor for an MRI, after back injuries from a car accident in the late 1990’s were plaguing him and causing him pain. Much to his surprise, after the MRI, Jerry learned that he had Non-Hodgkins Lymphona, a type of cancer that attacks the lymphatic system. Jerry had a tumor in his abdomen. The car accident, it turned out, saved his life.
Brunetti is founder of Agri-Dynamics, of Martins Creek, in northern Pennsylvania (a company which provides consulting and holistic products for livestock and animal health, and soil consulting). Although he had many experiences in his childhood that he believes contributed to compromising his health, he did not feel sick when he received his diagnosis. He had already spent his adult career as a consultant, working with farmers to improve their soils so as to grow more nutritious forage, feed, and crops. By then, nutritious and healthy food had become an integral part of his personal and professional life.
As a result of his Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma diagnosis, he was given six months to live. Jerry rejected the prescribed aggressive chemotherapy treatment in favor of a holistic approach. As Jerry explains – “Traditional chemotherapy is designed to shrink tumors. I wasn’t interested in shrinking my tumor. I was interested in my entire immune system. I wanted to live.†And so Brunetti embarked on a largely holistic approach, in keeping with his life-philosophy. Through Jerry’s alternative detoxification approach, coupled with his strict (and ongoing) regimen of complete nutrition (including nutrient dense foods and beneficial fats and proteins), Jerry was successful in curing himself of his lymphoma.
It is now 11 years since Jerry was first diagnosed. Jerry’s bout with cancer solidified his belief in nutrient dense foods as the solution to curing and managing chronic diseases which plague our society. He believes farms should be treated as our “FARMacies,†and that folks should start viewing diet as a critical disease-management component of a healthy lifestyle. “This is not hippie, tree-hugger, granola-crunchy stuff that I’m talking about,†Brunetti asserts. “It’s all in the conventional medical literature. Doctors just don’t always know where to look for it.â€
Soil, Brunetti believes, is at the core of his nutrient-dense diet crusade. Developing farms that produce wide varieties of produce rich in vitamins and minerals is a crucial step to curing what ails us. Jerry hopes that farmers and consumers across the nation will begin looking at whole organ-ism agriculture, starting in the soil.
The Northeast Organic Farming Association, Massachusetts Chapter is proud to introduce Jerry as its Fall Advanced Growers Seminar speaker. This two-part seminar, to be held on Friday and Saturday, November 5th and 6th at the Barre Congregational Church, presents a practical and integrated approach for improving human health through improving the health of our soils. Friday evening’s talk from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, “The Medicine that Starts in the Soil,†will emphasize what people can do through diet to improve health. Saturday’s full day seminar from 8:30am to 5:30pm, “Soil as a Super Organism,†will illustrate practical techniques that farmers and gardeners can employ to realize Hippocrates’ directive, “Let food be your medicine.”
The seminar is applicable to growers, nutritionists, medical practitioners, and health-conscious consumers. The registration cost for the seminar is $30 for Friday and $100 for Saturday. Members of any NOFA chapter or MOFGA also receive a discount of $5 for Friday and $10 for Saturday. Registration information and further details at: http://www.nofamass.org/seminars/fallseminar.php.
For more information about the NOFA/Mass Advanced Growers Fall Seminar with Jerry Brunetti, please contact Ben Grosscup, NOFA/Mass Extension Events Coordinator at ben.grosscup@nofamass.org, or call (413) 658-5374.
