Re: chickens
Answer, eradicate animal protectionists and bring back the fur trade. Leigh Hauter wrote: Allan wrote- I'd love to find a cure for foxes! The answer -a Great Pyrenees
Re: hey look at this
Dear Lloyd, It will be great to see how your experiment works out. No rain to talk of in the last front. Most of the mountain got under 2mm but we got 12 mm which dried up within 1/2 an hour of the sun coming out. Did you get any? Regards James - Original Message - From: Lloyd Charles [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 11:18 AM Subject: Re: hey look at this Thought some of you may be pleased that this crotchety ole, broadcaster addicted, non conformist - - - - - - - - ! Has finally attempted to do some proper BD We made a compost pile (WITH PREPS) and two BC pits last sunday - there was a mob of cows camped in our lane for a week - the gal that owns them is a cranky old thing but she loves those cows and has nursed them around the roads and backlanes for nine months of the drought, nice quiet cows with calves at foot, grazing on native pasture (dry grass at this stage), we got a trailer load of fresh dung the day they left - its an experiment - I guessed that the cattle had not been drenched or dipped for several months at least, probably not since they went on the road (there would have been no need of it) - our roadsides dont get sprayed much (nil in the last 18 months) - the compost pile is heating up nice already - so its looking ok for a start. The BC pits are the experiment - I've not made it before - did one pit with physical preps from the BD association (which were old but looked ok) but also stirred into the manure a set of radionically potentised preps - and seeing we had manure left we put another pit down using radionic preps only, stirred in and also inserted like you do with the proper preps. I guess there are several possible results 1 the preps were too old , radionics wont help , nothing will happen 2 the preps were old but ok , radionics wont help, we get one BC pit and some compost. 3 everything turns out real nice, there's very little difference between the two BC pits, and we have the start of a new idea. My energy and intent (of course) is focussed on number three Win, loose or draw, I will post the results of this on the list when its completed, (probably been done a dozen times already!) Cheers all Lloyd Charles
Vandana Shiva - In Praise Of Cowdung
From: http://www.zmag.org ZNet Commentary In Praise Of Cowdung November 15, 2002 By Vandana Shiva In India we worship cow dung as Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Gobur-dhan puja is literally the worship of gobur (cowdung) dhan (wealth). Cow dung is worshipped because it is the source of renewal of soil fertility and hence the sustainability of human society. The cow has been made sacred in India because it is a keystone species for agro-ecosystems -- it is key to the sustainability of agriculture. When Monsanto and biotech industry spokesmen parading as farmers presented me with cow dung at the WSSD in Johannesburg, I accepted their award as a tribute to organic farming and sustainable agriculture. The small farmers convergence at the W.S.S.D. with farmers from across Africa rejected GMO's, and chemicals and committed themselves to organic farming, and defense of farmers rights. They are freely choosing seeds they can save and technologies that are sustainable. Farmers organizations in India and in Africa are saying no to GMO's on the basis of their freedom to choose to be organic which means being free of genetic contamination that results from GM crops. Genetic contamination robs farmers of their freedom to be GM free. Patients and intellectual property rights on seed rob farmers of their freedom to save, exchange, develop seed. Farmers are treated as thieves and criminals for exercising farmers rights. The worst example is that of Parcy Schmeiser whose canola fields were contaminated by Monsanto's GM canola and he was sued for theft of genes. That is why those of us who farm organically and want to maintain our freedom to farm and uphold farmers rights are resisting the irresponsible corporations which are trying to own life on earth, including seed, contaminate our crops and food and have total control over farming and farmers. GM seeds and chemicals are a threat to farmers survival, a threat to consumer health and a threat to the environment. Farmers in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh are committing suicides because the costly seeds and chemicals from corporations like Monsanto/Mahyco have pushed them into deep, unpayable debt. The claims of Monsanto and its apologists like Swaminathan Iyer (who called me a Green Killer in the Times of India on 22nd Sept 2002, because I practise and promote organic farming) that GM can feed the world is totally false. Monsanto's Bt cotton has failed across India in its first year of commercial planting. In Khargone in Madhya Pradesh Bt is a 100% failure and farmers are demanding compensation. In Maharastra, the Bt crop has failed on 30,000 hec and farmers are asking for Rs. 500 crore compensation. In Gujarat, in Bhavnagar, Surendranagar and Rajkot Bt cotton has been destroyed by a heavy infestation of bollworm, the pest for whose control the toxin producing Bt. gene has been engineered into cotton. The genetically engineered Bt cotton is not a miracle, it is a fraud on farmers. In Rajasthan, the hybrid corn which Monsanto claims will give 20 -- 50 quintals per acre is giving 1.5 to 1.7 quintals per acre while demanding intensive water and chemical use, aggravating the draught and famine. The pseudo scientific claims of irresponsible biotech corporations like Monsanto are killing our farmers, our agriculture, our biodiversity. Organic agriculture is increasing farm productivity by 2 to 3 times, increasing farmers incomes, and protecting public health and the environment. That is why the Time Magazine identified Navdanya as a pioneer for the new century and stated that In India atleast, Navdanya sets an eco-friendly standard that agribusiness must show it can out perform. The challenge for genetic engineers is to create seeds adapted to particular locales that enable farmers to reduce, not increase, the use of chemicals (Time, Aug 26, 2002, Seeds of self Reliance, p 36) Monsanto and its lobbyists profit by selling and promoting poisonous, toxic seeds and corporate control. Movements like Navdanya celebrate biodiversity, farmers freedom and cow dung. The corporations and corporate spokespeople are getting desperate because people are seeing through their lies and deceptions. With organic farming growing worldwide, and the failures and non-sustainability of genetic engineering and chemical engineering becoming evident, the chemical corporate lobby is getting desperate. I view their personal assaults on me as a symptom of the desperation caused by the failure of non-sustainable industrial, corporate agriculture in removing hunger or improving farmers livelihoods. Sustainable systems are growing because they offer real solutions to the hunger and poverty crisis. And cow dung, biomass and biodiversity are at the heart of sustainability and the non-violent organic alternative to genetic engineering and chemicals. Ecologically the cow has been central to Indian civilization. Both materially an conceptually the world of Indian
Re: was Thanks now Eco Ag
From: Contactos Mundiales [EMAIL PROTECTED] Me too, if you'd be so kind? Teresa Seed Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: was Thanks now Eco Ag Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 15:51:39 -0500 Dear Liz: Could you please send detailed information about this external course on Eco Agriculture? Thanks a lot and best regards, Luis R. Calzadilla _ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Fwd: ANYONE CAN DO IT
Forwarded from Will Winter Having once beaten Thich Nhat Hanh in a fair fight, I later realized that the loss was entirely my own. Once calling Thich Nhat Hanh 'a coyote' in a public place, raising much outspoken ire in others, I came to find out from one of his teachers years later that Thich Nhat Hanh himself had very much enjoyed the image my rage had momentarily raised and was never disturbed by my inappropriate accusation. Enjoy. -AB Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 21:43:07 -0600 Subject: ANYONE CAN DO IT From: Will Winter [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients:; Looking at Your Empty Plate: My plate, empty now, will soon be filled with precious food. Looking at Your Full Plate: In this food, I see clearly the presence of the entire universe supporting my existence. Contemplating Your Food: This plate of food, so fragrant and appetizing, also contains much suffering. Beginning to Eat: With the first taste, I promise to offer joy. With the second, I promise to help relieve the suffering of others. With the third, I promise to see other's joy as my own. With the fourth, I promise to learn the way of non-attachment and equanimity. Finishing Your Meal: The plate is empty. My hunger is satisfied. I vow to live for the benefit of all beings. Washing the Dishes: Washing the dishes is like bathing a baby Buddha. The profane is the sacred. Everyday mind is Buddha's mind. Thich Nhat Hanh
Re: Macari Vineyard (?)
Looks like you've done a lot of good, hard work, Steve. I'm not sure what you were saying about not having enough help for spraying. Do you mean, aside from CT applications, spraying chemicals for pests? I'm very curious about the measureable results of your efforts. For example, what do your soil tests look like? Where's your organic matter at? How is it that you're getting away from herbicide useage? Have you experimented with peppers there for pest control? To what success? Thanks. I'm asking these questions for others who are interested in dedicating some start up vineyard acreage to bd practice. -Allan
Re: Search for results of Elaine's testing of bd preps
We should request that the agencies involved take a closer look at the use of chemicals at the same time they are examing the tea issue. Have them look at residuals and food quality as well as the effects on groundwater...sstorch In a message dated 11/13/02 9:54:03 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: David, I brought this up to our National Organic/Biodynamic Production Standards committee (Australia)and they have spoken with the CSIRO re research into this issue. David Matthews is an Ex Vet and knows all about this stuff, and has mates in the right places. Now we have to look at research funding, especially trying to get the Organic levies outof the non-organic sphere. But fear not, it is being taken seriously and wheels are in motion. I really appreciate the discussion happening on BDNow to help this issue along. Cheryl Kemp Education and Workshop Coordinator Biodynamic AgriCulture Australia Phone /Fax : 02 6657 5322 Home: 02 6657 5306 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: www.biodynamics.net.au - Original Message - From: D S Chamberlain [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 5:50 PM Subject: Re: Search for results of Elaine's testing of bd preps Hugh: I think that Frank has a valid point. Obviously poorly made compost tea can contain E.coli, the question is how do we stop it happening? Perceptions are everything, if it can be traced that someone got ill from compost tea then there are legions of highly paid people who will push the perception, right or wrong, that all compost tea is bad. No amount of huffing and puffing will change the perception once instigated, rumour and innuendo is the way that chemical companies fight and there's plenty of suckers out there willing to listen to them. Ideas anyone?
Re: What is Magic?
- Original Message - From: Hugh Lovel [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2002 7:16 PM Subject: Re: What is Magic? So sandy land can be good, even though I'd prefer clay. I bet you could grow good potatoes on your sand anyway. if anyone can put together a class, I'd like to see at least 30 attendees and go two days. I want to make $2,000 out of it, so with the hall and some catering, that comes to close to $100 per attendee. One of the frustrations I feel is that most people are so plugged into advertising and the pictures and totally engineered sales pitches in the major farm magazines. The picture looks so cool to have lemons wall-to-wall all bushy and green. But what is the point? Growing foliage or fruit? It's all so deceptive. The corn you showed me from in the past compared to the recent higher quality shows the true story, while, as you say the elevator doesn't pay any extra for the quality. That's pretty discouraging, knowing that if you grow responsibly you don't get(m)any breaks. I 'm going to have to plant the usual hybrids to see what kind of yields I can really get with them in terms of bushels, but that rankles because my main interest is quality, rather than quantity. They aren't the best corn strains. This leaves us at no winning development, does it not? But it is a win to KNOW we can do a different agriculture with homeopathics and radionics, despite the fact that the market doesn't give us much advantage. Our slight advantage is that we know we can get our nitrogen out of the air and can make rain in timely fashion. I hope it's enough. Best, Hugh Hi Hugh- Just a couple comments from your earlier reply. We know that sand is a difficult soil to work with and very easy to destroy. We've done that. But it also seems to be soil that really responds fast with some better treatment. As far as production on this soil it has really responded and we do feel that the production is better quality-excellent test weights, good storability, etc, and yes it is frustrating that the market does not care. That has led us back to bringing cattle on the farm. We intend to learn to put as much standing feed through our animals as we can. That includes planting oats as a green manure crop early in March and grazing before corn planting in May, grazing on cover crops planted behind wheat harvest, grazing some standing corn etc, etc. This system looks like it combines many good things. It can utilize green manure crops for both weed control and soil improvement as well as providing feed for cattle while they in turn are providing manure for the soils. And we are tending to view this place as a feed farm instead of a cash grain operation. Our conventional system in place of growing the grain, harvesting it, hauling to bins, storing, putting back into a truck, hauling to cattle feedlots, putting in their bin, putting into feed truck and feeding it, going in and scraping up the poor quality feedlot manure and adding more energy to compost it (in the rare few feedlots that try and do something with their manure) then putting it back into a truck and taking back to the farm to put into a spreader to put back on the field is totally insane. We are slow learners in this process of changing our thinking but it has become glaringly obvious that the cattle are a necessarey tool and hopefully if done right a profit center here. I know big money has a hold on the cattle market as well, but the numbers we run show us it can have potential if pursued carefully and is a huge asset in the soil builing process. We plant no GMO varieties, and have focused on running age pregnant cows that were very thin and destined for the hamburger market. Easy to do this year due to the drought-many folks were culling cows that would never been culled because they had no feed. These girls have lots of experience in calving and have come here onto our scrap feed (cornstalks, triticale in wheat stubble, alfalfa fields after freeze, etc) and look terrific. And they have left us the blessing of much manure. So we can't just focus on what the market does or doesn't offer. There is always always opportunity. As far as the rainmaking part, we are very intrigued. We have talked very seriously about getting it worked out to have you come out. Our area is very very dry. It is drier now than in the 30's dustbowl. Just wanted you to know we are thinking of it. We are off to visit Lloyd Charles in Australia (how exciting!) and will be gone for alot of December. Just wanted you to know we are considering ways to have you out. Thanks for your thoughts. Michelle Wendell
Fwd: [compost_tea] CT in The Washington Post
Thanks to Jeff on the CT list, here's the article that resulted from the long interview with Elaine Ingham during the lunch at Blue Ridge Center on Saturday at the BIODYNAMIC CONFERENCE this past October. Note how the conference, the garden, etc, have been written out of the story! Maybe Rodale owns the Post!! A Cuppa Made of Compost By Adrian Higgins In a Virginia field, 50 organic gardeners gather around Elaine Ingham for what is likely to be the weirdest cooking demonstration they have ever seen. Ingham's dark, bubbling brew is not from the garden but rather for the garden. Into a 35-gallon kettle of water she has thrown measured amounts of dried seaweed and an inky liquid called humic acid. We have got loads of good stuff going into the mix, she says, filling a nylon sock with screened compost and earthworm castings. Soon, this tea bag is submerged in the water and bombarded by bubbles produced by an air pump. This is neither high cuisine nor dark sorcery, but the latest innovation in the world of organic gardening and farming. Liquid fertilizers made from manures and compost have been around for centuries. What's new are the bubbling technique and specific ingredients, which cause the growth of beneficial microbes that displace and even go after all the bad spores and germs that prey on and kill plants. Spray the tonic on the leaves, and the bad bugs have nowhere to land, say advocates. Pour it on the soil, and you form a protective barrier for the root zones. Enthusiasts say that when used repeatedly, the tonic revitalizes soil and allows the cultivation of plants without the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Among the testimonials: roses that never get black spot; thick, green turfgrass; ornamentals of amazing vigor and health -- all without the use of environmentally harmful chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Organic farmers are using the tea to repair strawberry fields rendered lifeless by toxic fumigants. Growers of crops such as potatoes have seen greater yields using no chemicals. Some are even spraying it from crop dusters, said Ingham, a soil scientist and consultant to organic farmers. She heads a laboratory named Soil Foodweb Inc., based in Corvallis, Ore. An early pioneer of the technology, she is regarded as a leading light in organic gardening and farming circles. Not everybody is convinced. I have a lot of colleagues rather concerned about the hype, said Linda Chalker-Scott, an associate professor at the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington. We are all waiting for the science behind the claims. Ingham and other scientists who advocate the product say lab tests reveal three basic beneficial aspects of compost tea: plant nutrients; biostimulants such as enzymes and amino acids; and beneficial bacteria, fungi and nematodes (wormlike animals) that suppress disease and may also fight plant pests. Chalker-Scott said Ingham is an extremely good soil scientist, but her data have not yet been subjected to sufficient review by other scientists. One of the problems, said Chalker-Scott, is that every batch of compost tea seems to produce different results, making it difficult to conduct more definitive studies that might isolate the merits of one microbe over another. Another concern is that the brewer might inadvertently create a brew containing E. coli bacteria. Ingham says this is a valid concern but only if correct steps are not observed. Any compost containing animal manures should be thoroughly composted at 130 degrees for 10 days. Even then, the gardener should make sure that the brew remains aerobic and, in summer months, reduce the level of molasses to a teaspoon, she said. Alternatively, use compost not made with animal manures or use the earthworm castings, she said. They are sold in bags at garden centers. If the scientists are squabbling, gardeners, farmers and manufacturers of equipment and supplies are forging ahead. When it comes to to things in organic farming, in general the farmers tend to be quite a few years ahead of the scientists, said Steve Diver, an agricultural specialist with Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas, a nonprofit funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that provides technical advice to small farmers. He said the compost teas have yielded remarkable results. When it was used on a field of bell peppers succumbing to viral disease, usually a death knell in the vegetable garden, it not only stopped the virus in its tracks but also allowed infected plants to recover. This is absolutely mind-boggling that an organic approach was able to arrest a virus and get the crop to grow out, he said. Diver said if you were to look at a leaf through a microscopic hand lens you would see hairs so thick that they resemble a jungle. By coating all those surfaces with compost tea, the good microbes provide a barrier to any bad ones that want to feed on the plant.
Re: Macari Vineyard (?)
In a message dated 11/22/02 9:43:05 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Looks like you've done a lot of good, hard work, Steve. I'm not sure what you were saying about not having enough help for spraying. Do you mean, aside from CT applications, spraying chemicals for pests? I mean about good, competent, take control [not just a paycheck] kind of help. A licensed, vineyard manager with an applicators license. The tea is handled, we do that with some kids who learned to drive the tractors. I'm very curious about the measureable results of your efforts. For example, what do your soil tests look like? Where's your organic matter at? Organic matter has been slightly altered by compost applications. A great visual is colloids showing up when we hill up for weed control. We are also seeing earthworm activity in a sandy loam soil where there was none before. How is it that you're getting away from herbicide useage? We use hilling equipment and a Clements to knock the hills down with the weeds. The hoe is also a great tool with a good [wo]man attached to it. Have you experimented with peppers there for pest control? To what success? Have not done much work with peppers, have had moderate success with the milk and honey spray. Thanks. I'm asking these questions for others who are interested in dedicating some start up vineyard acreage to bd practice. Am I coming down to talk about compost teas etc for this??? Are you coming to Lancaster the 28-29 January for the viticulture workshop??? cheers, sstorch
Re: was Thanks now Eco Ag
Hi Teresa Try the uni's web site at www.oac.usyd.edu.au/ if you can't find what you are looking for there, let me know and I'll personally chase up your queries. The course leader is Kerry Cochrane. LL Liz on 22/11/02 10:34 PM, Teresa Seed at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Me too, if you'd be so kind? Teresa Seed
The New Convergence - 12/02 Wired Magazine
Not trained in philosophy, I found Don Cruse's essay, Critical Thought and Monist Causality tough to read, but it was well worth the effort. Then Jane Sherry said that according to the Mayan calendar, we only have 10 years left to bring together the material and the spiritual. It was encouraging after all that to read this cover article in the latest Wired magazine. Richard Kalin Hollis NH --- Wired Magazine- Issue 10.12 - December 2002 The New Convergence By Gregg Easterbrook The ancient covenant is in pieces: Man knows at last that he is alone in the universe's unfeeling immensity, out of which he emerged only by chance. So pronounced the Nobel Prize-winning French biologist Jacques Monod in his 1970 treatise Chance and Necessity, which maintained that God had been utterly refuted by science. The divine is fiction, faith is hokum, existence is a matter of heartless probability - and this wasn't just speculation, Monod maintained, but proven. The essay, which had tremendous influence on the intellectual world, seemed to conclude a millennia-old debate. Theology was in retreat, unable to explain away Darwin's observations; intellectual approval was flowing to thinkers such as the Nobel-winning physicist Steven Weinberg, who in 1977 pronounced, The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless. In 1981, the National Academy of Sciences declared, Religion and science are separate and mutually exclusive realms of human thought. Case closed. And now reopened. In recent years, Allan Sandage, one of the world's leading astronomers, has declared that the big bang can be understood only as a miracle. Charles Townes, a Nobel-winning physicist and coinventor of the laser, has said that discoveries of physics seem to reflect intelligence at work in natural law. Biologist Christian de Duve, also a Nobel winner, points out that science argues neither for nor against the existence of a deity: There is no sense in which atheism is enforced or established by science. And biologist Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, insists that a lot of scientists really don't know what they are missing by not exploring their spiritual feelings. Ever so gingerly, science has been backing away from its case-closed attitude toward the transcendent unknown. Conferences that bring together theologians and physicists are hot, recently taking place at Harvard, the Smithsonian, and other big-deal institutions. The American Association for the Advancement of Science now sponsors a Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion. Science luminaries who in the '70s shrugged at faith as gobbledygook - including E. O. Wilson and the late Stephen Jay Gould and Carl Sagan - have endorsed some form of reconciliation between science and religion. Why the renewed scientific interest in spiritual thinking? One reason is the cyclical nature of intellectual fashions. In philosophy, metaphysics is making a comeback after decades ruled by positivism and analytical theory of language. These restrained, empirically based ideas have run their course; now the pendulum is swinging toward the grand vision of metaphysics - someday, surely, to swing away again. Similarly in science, the pure materialistic view that reigned through the 20th century, holding that everything has a natural explanation, couldn't keep other viewpoints at bay forever. The age-old notion that there is more to existence than meets the eye suddenly looks like fresh thinking again. Meanwhile, decades of inconclusive inquiry have left the science-has-all-the-answers script in tatters. As recently as the '70s, intellectuals assumed that hard science was on track to resolve the two Really Big Questions: why life exists and how the universe began. What's more, both Really Big Answers were assumed to involve strictly deterministic forces. But things haven't worked out that way. Instead, the more scientists have learned, the more mysterious the Really Big Questions have become. Perhaps someday researchers will find wholly natural explanations for life and the cosmos. For the moment, though, discoveries about these two subjects are inspiring awe and wonder, and many scientists are reaching out to spiritual thinkers to help them comprehend what they're learning. And as the era of biotechnology dawns, scientists realize they're stepping into territory best navigated with the aid of philosophers and theologians. We are entering the greatest era of science-religion fusion since the Enlightenment last attempted to reconcile the two, three centuries ago. Look up into the night sky and scan for the edge of the cosmos. You won't find it - nobody has yet. Instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope's deep-field scanner have detected at least 50 billion galaxies, and every time the equipment is improved, more galaxies farther away come into focus. Space may be infinite - not merely vast, but infinite - encompassing an
Re: ANYONE CAN DO IT
Ok, I'm game, thanks for the cool piece by TNH, but now will you share YOUR story for our edification? I am having trouble getting my mind around TNH as coyote... JS From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 09:10:46 -0500 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fwd: ANYONE CAN DO IT Having once beaten Thich Nhat Hanh in a fair fight, I later realized that the loss was entirely my own. Once calling Thich Nhat Hanh 'a coyote' in a public place, raising much outspoken ire in others, I came to find out from one of his teachers years later that Thich Nhat Hanh himself had very much enjoyed the image my rage had momentarily raised and was never disturbed by my inappropriate accusation. Enjoy. -AB
Re: chickens
I also concur that chickens are the greatest. How the old blues song go. c is how you begin h is for what you've heard i the next letter in c is for the bird k is the filling in e is near the n and that's the way you spell chicken Yes the reds are great birds. Friendly moderate intelligence. Good tasting roasters. Old Sven was hawked-alized this year. He was six. A number of years back he flew out of the chicken yard crossed the road and came to the kitchen door to get me, in the dark mind you, because a coon had managed to get through the electric fence. He was a great bird but a poor lover - he'd stand on the hen looking to see who was next. We lost big Bertha this year also. She was the big hen Linda could pick-up for kids to pet. Goldy the Buff Orpington is getting better at it. They are also very friendly. I will plug having many heritage breeds, yes one needs to do ones part in keeping a good breed going locally. But that only takes one roaster and 5 - 6 of those hens. The variety are fun and great for the public to comprehend the vastness of agri Culture. For good press some polish babes are a must. Our Silver Crested Polish, Sarafiena has her picture in a national art book Back Roads of Wisconsin and prime bit of film on the local tube and just recently center page in a Wisconsin ag mag Agraview - (we had a very nice pic of ourselves in the full page spread and a small paragraph on BD.) She is one of the smartest animals I have ever meet. When she was 4 weeks old she learned eventualy taught a group of fellow chicks that if they listened for the snap of the electric mesh fence the had 59.5 sec to run through! Stay a way from the Iowa Blues unless you like though cockerrooses. When we butchered the roasters I joke their gonads would be bigger then their hearts - They Where! We had a pair of Speckled English Sussexxs gals who thought they'd go wild. The first one came home with 6 inches of snow. The second waited for the blizzard and had to swim to the road cut. We feed mainly whole grain. 2/3 wheat. It's at good price and generaly in better condition then barley which tends to have greater fungal infections. The barley I soak for a day and drain a bit and pour it in a plastic sled. The gals tend it till it is just to their liking and eat it up. I do this outside in warm weather, in the coop in winter. The wheat they eat readily strait. I feed meat and fat scraps weekly - more in the winter. Pumpkins all winter, with some nettles and confrey with hay. When they are laying heavy some Highland hamburger - I make $3 a dozen on the eggs. Yes more fresh greens from the co-op waste bin in the winter make huge difference. In Love Light Markess
Re: What is Magic?
Dear Lloyd, A visit to Australia by Hugh to show us how he fixes Nitrogen from the air would be a worthwhile thing, without anything else that we may be able to learn from being with him. KNOW we can do a different agriculture with homeopathics and radionics, despite the fact that the market doesn't give us much advantage. Our slight advantage is that we know we can get our nitrogen out of the air and can make rain in timely fashion. Of course the ability to make rain, whenever it is needed, would be worthwhile attending just to see how Hugh can make rain whenever he needs it. In the meantime we shall just have to battle along and take what the gods give us. Kind regards James
Re: Droughts and rainmaking
Dear Lloyd, That certainly would be something to break the drought over eastern Australia wouldn't it. Just a quick note on rainmaking. When that front was moving through NSW during the last AGM and you asked that everyone should hold their focus on making rain. Well everybody held their focus on what was wanted. It was a great result. It didn't stop raining in Ballina for weeks afterwards. If 100 people can break the drought around Ballina I'm sure that if we get our order right it may just be possible to squeeze a litle bit of juice out of the gods. It could be an Association venture organised by Cheryl. It should not be too hard to muster up a couple of hundred members to hold a particular thought for rain over Eastern Australia at the same time.. Maybe we could create the rain that we all need. It seems that there is some correlation between what happens in the northern hemisphere and what happens down under. seems as if it is not that long ago that our friends in the central portion of the USA were having their own problems with drought and high temperatures. James
Anionic water
An introduction to why we should drink anionic water-By Hugh Lovel Not many people have heard of Dr. Carey Reams' theory of biological ionization. Reams was a self-employed biochemist that 26 years ago lived 30 miles away from me near Cherry Log, Georgia. He taught agricultural classes right up until he died, but he'd also done extensive research into the biochemistry of aging and disease. Dr. Reams found that as people aged they built up a cationic burden of positive charge. This tends to deactivate portions of our DNA so that with age various biological functions tend to fail. Presumably this is even true of the Earth. Back in its youth there was not so much limestone. The age of limestone deposition followed the age of coal formation. but as lime was acquired from solar fusion, solar flares and the solar wind and deposited as sedimentary layers on the Earth a cationic build-up seems to have occurred. Reams tested foods to see which ones might alleviate this cationic imbalance. The only anionic food in hundreds and hundreds tested turned out to be fresh squeezed lemon juice. Since water commonly had a wide variety of cationic minerals in it the only water he found that was essentially cation free was distilled water. So for a while he operated a clinic that monitored fasting on distilled water with a little fresh squeezed lemon juice in it. This went a long ways towards balancing electrical charge, restoring health and arresting aging with many people. Reams was someone I knew, and I knew some of the people who took his fasting cure. I also had a lifetime association with a father who fasted on water, occasionally with a dash of fresh lemon, and I saw him recover from a couple of rather horrible diseases that way, though he died of pneumonia. The doctor who performed his autopsy questioned me at some length to see if I knew why his heart and arteries were as supple and clean as a three-year-old's, though he was 70. I told him about the water fasts, some of which had lasted as long as 28 days, which is an entire lunar month. However, this was more or less discounted. Most doctors can hardly imagine prescribing fasting. The majority of people in our world today know very little about the healthful effects of fasting. Yet on a few occasions I have found health through fasting when all else failed. However, on none of these occasions did I have distilled water and fresh lemon, so I haven't experienced a fast with anionic water. Nevertheless I can see there is good reason to believe Reams was on to something. However, passing water straight from the city water mains through a cation exchange resin would does not render the water anionic since the ion exchange resin simply substitutes sodium ions for the various other cations in solution. And water distillation results in electronically neutral water having a pH of 7. Now a Japanese scientist by the name of Okumura has discovered a new process involving crumbs of specially treated magnesium that restructure water molecules so that some of the hydrogen, the most fundamental of all cations, bubbles off rending the water left behind as much as a thousand times more anionic. The magnesium crumbs are marketed in the form of a small, inexpensive stick that can be placed in a water container and shaken so that anionic water is produced. This is something I think many people will enjoy trying. --HL Visit our website at: www.unionag.org
