Dear Fellow Beings,
I'm primed and poised, ready for my fingers to box these keys until they claim a World Boxing Championship. I promise I won't be to delicate nor too obnoxious like this rooster caw-caw-CAWWWING outside the window. Morning sky is pink and a low mist hangs in the gardens. A full cup of Jo sits serenely next to me, awaiting my lips. Unlike the glass of orange juice that couldn't seem to take a seat enough to reach serenity. Unleash the beast, these 8 fingers are ready.
Sadly, I have not posted to this blog in over a month now, I apologize (if anyone actually cared... mom). There is much to say about the past month, but I will keep the older stuff short and sweet like Matt Frintner. Ha, I make myself laugh. The new stuff, well, I haven't gotten there yet so hold on. Seriously, HOLD ONTO SOMETHING... If you were to fall and then miraculously catch yourself because you were holding onto something... That means I saved your life. PERIOD. Ha, I made myself laugh again.
Upon my arrival into SeaTac airport I was greeted by a shiny, blue sky Saturn holding a big bearded little man, Frintner. He swept me off my feet, because I got into his car and was no longer on my feet, and we sped away into the starlight. We picked up a traveling companion along the way, a one Erin, and then our rainbow road journey began. We visited spectacles such as Portland. We then broke down our blue sky Saturn in Grants Pass, Oregon. We never really fixed her, just evolved her into a Nascar racing machine. Then, we stumbled into CALIFORN I A where the trees painted the sky. We stayed on a farm, met some beautiful, wonderful people and ate their vegetables. Then the journey continued.
Whew, side note: Even I'm bored.
We went to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco and it was PHENOMENAL. We read prison letters. Drank beer, then wine, then whiskey. We danced, laughed, pooped, peed, and played ninja. J-Funk was there, he is a genius of fun. All I'm trying to say here is this: If ever the chance, take it, no questions asked.
That was then, this is now. Well, no, it was and is already now, its just, that was then while in the now. But now that now is gone and its back again, it was then while in the now to the infinite power. I have to poop, be right back.
WHEW, I'm pooped. Ha, did it again.
I present the present with a lack of my presence, just words, but they are not like Christmas presents, so maybe don't get to excited.
Just fed the cat, the chickens are fed and roaming the yard, the dew is golden on the apple trees where a few last fruits cling to life. Animal Collective is coursing their sound waves through my brain trap and the coffee is almost out. There are few times in life for sadness, this is not one of those times. Grief makes us stronger, but laughter is the universal language.
"Knowledge is power, power is corruption, so study hard and get evil."-Someone. Biocharm Farm in little Ilwaco, Washington! Where the work will get done by the time your 6 year old goes to prom!
Jim, the owner, retired registered nurse, microbiology, chemistry, and business management degree holder, is imparting the "missing link" in food to me. Teaching me that the food we eat is basically garbage high in carbohydrates and sugar (the plants). That big agriculture farming techniques since the early 1920's have been destroying the most important part of our food, the soil. How bomb producers (companies) after World War I didn't need to make bombs anymore, so they made fertilizer. Ammonium Nitrate, EXPLOSIVE, has been the fix for your soil. Then the Dust Bowl happened because all the Ammonium Nitrate leached the life (microbiology) from the soil and turned it to dust.
There are three basic things that Jim teaches. Mineral balancing, biochar, and brix. At this farm we do not grow vegetables, we grow the soil. A plant can be only as nutrient dense as what it can take from where it grows, the soil. If you have the correct balance of minerals in your soil, you get an immense population of microbiology. Your soil starts to produce complex proteins that cannot be recreated. Scientists say there are 20 amino acids, the building blocks of life. A truly rich, good, complex soil has a protein count of something like 2.7x10 to the 130th. We can't test for things that will never be created again. If you put seeds in that kind of soil, you get the most nutrient dense food you can have.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cation-exchange_capacity
Mineral balanced soil. How, you ask? Well, You take 2 cups of soil from your garden and send it to a lab that does soil testing. It should only run you about $20 for a soil test. Once you get the lab results you say, what the shit-balls do I do with this mumbo jumbo science? Well, you need a goal to reach, you need to know what levels of what minerals need to be in your garden. You use the Base Cation Saturation Ratio you DUMMIES! That is super scientific stuff, study up on Dr. William Albrecht. OR, you could use this website
http://growabundant.com/ and they have the mineral table set up for you. You just plug into their spreadsheet and KABLAMO you have what minerals you need to put into your soil, and to what amount of those minerals.
Biochar is basically just carbon. A carbon life house for fungus. A woven net of life underneath your feet. It helps trap and keep nutrients from leeching into the water table. Has an opposite Greenhouse Gas effect on the atmosphere. Basically, just something that your soil needs to help keep the microbiology around so they eat the minerals and shit out wonderfulness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar
Brix is a way of testing your vegetables and fruits to see how nutrient dense they are. You can download for free a table of brix measurements where it has your fruits and vegetables and the scale of poor to excellent for the specific fruit or veggie. Say you buy a tomato from your grocery store. You get some of its juices and put them on a refractometer. Then that refractometer gives you a reading, say 7. then compare that 7 to your brix table of fruits and vegetables and 7 is Fair. Say you buy an organic tomato from your grocer. Do the same thing and your brix measures at a 11, which is good. The tomato would be better because they practice better farming by things life composting and no-till farming. which help bring the organic matter content of your soil up, so there is more microbiology and your plants get more nutrients. Unlike that other tomato from Big Ag. which is made with GMO's and the soil its grown in is pumped with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Last, you take a tomato, say, grown from this farm. Where the soil has been mineral balanced and is full of Biochar. The tomato reads 17 which is excellent. BOOM! Packed with nutritional content and if eaten, will boost your immune system. Will help with auto-immune deficiencies, tooth-decay. Prevent illness and disease from ever happening. MAKE YOU THE HEALTHIEST HUMAN YOU CAN BE.
Say you want a baby (ladies). Would you want to feed your growing fetus some GMO packed tomato that is full of carbohydrates and sugars and brought into the grocer on a respirator? It would be better to feed it organic vegetables other than Big Ag vegetables. OR, you could feed it an excellent tomato from a mineral balanced garden, where the plant is full of all the right minerals. It's packed with proteins that will never be remade, infinitely good for you and your fetus.
So, few people that have read far enough down here, I'm just learning how to save the world a little bit. It can be done, but it has to start somewhere. Inform yourself and others. Read authors like William Albrecht and the Intelligent Gardener by Steve Solomon.
Well, I feel like I just shit ranted a bit but I'm not sorry. Do what you want, the next blog will be less this rant, more what stuff I'm doing. It won't be a month either, I feel more "homey" here now, so idk that helps me write or something. W/e, you've got it. GO GROW BETTER FOOD!
Comment, ask questions and I will answer, maybe even science ones, Jim is hella smart so he will probably know the answer. Share this, forgot to mention ORGANIC, mineral balance, biochar, and brix with others! You're all good people and I kiss each one of you on the butt-cheek.
With all the love in feet,
Baba, as some say,
Joey "the rant tangent" Michels
