kane Abbott

here it is a few years latter

I built this herb garden as below, out of rocks .
It was simple,  i lightly sheet mulched the site and built the rocks on top , in a spiral shape , then filled it with well drained compost, that i mixed with old potting soil. Note : i live in subtropical inviroment, with quite high seasonal rains, drainage is important. It took a while for the circle to settle , only regrets :planting mint in it, ah well. But there is rosemary, sage, thmye lavendar, spearmint, mint and strawberries, this spiral has been in the garden for 5 years now and is ready for some attention.

LivingWind wrote:
Well I eat some raw milk and raw honey each day anyway so I guess I'm doin fine. The drink sounds just 'okay'.. I'll take a pass. Kombucha on the other hand can be tasty at times.

So the drink doesnt' meet your preconceived ideas of palate.... remember this a probiotic, not a fruit punch, this is taken for medicinal reasons and all considering taste remarkably good.
Also a great way to use up all that by product whey thats left from making bio-fert , breads , cheese etc. Waste not want not. As permaculturlist we have phases of abundance, if we can learn to best optimise and make use of these times, we can insure good health and further abundance. If you have access to lots of milk and honey you would be crazy not to give this go, take those pro-active steps to take responsibility for you own health and well being, and don't be afraid to try new things.

LivingWind wrote:
I think I'd rather just eat some quality yogurt honestly. This doesn't look terribly good, even though it may be good for you..

Okay you do that living wind, good for you mate , enjoy your yogurt, hope its pleasant enough on the eyes for your consumption..... if you have ever consumed honey mead it looks very similar in colour (or beer), if the colour amber is un pleasant for you to look at you could always close your eyes , it certainly doesn't taste bad. Much higher pro biotic qualities then yogurt, very usefull in strengthening the immune systems after anti biotic s or illness. Anyway i just thought id share it with you guys i thought someone might be interested in this recipe and possibly find this usefull, love to hear feed back from someone who has actully made it...

'Honeymoon"

As part of the TrustNature  "food for free" initiative, i would like to share with you the following recipe. This recipe was shown to me by Paul Taylor (www.trustnature.com.au), who originally learned it from Eugenio Gras (http://COAS.com.mx). Many thanks to these guys for their work and their shared knowledge.

Honeymoon has revitalising benefits for the mind body and soul. It is gluten free and used to promote health and well being.

Pro-biotic reduces stress and help balance the intestinal micro flora, it enhances the bodies ability to absorb calcium and the synthesis of B vitamins. Also helpful in rebuilding and strengthening the immune system and aiding in digestion. Honeymoon works on an essential level to reduces stress, promotes well being and some have said that it can even be a mild 'love potion'. In larger amounts in can be know to cause a slight euphoric feeling … "what is it" ?,  Its a cold fermentation made from whey, water and honey. The ingredients are blended and left to ferment in the fridge. The process is relatively simple to make,  and takes a month to complete, lasting for many moons after.

This recipe makes abut 6 litres of pro-biotic, the ratio is 1/3 Whey 1/3water 1/3Honey,. The secret to this recipe is the use of raw ingredients. It is essential the ingredients are raw and should not be substituted for manufactured replicas.

Ingredients:

-6ltrs of raw milk (avoid the cream)= about 2lts of whey
-2ltrs of raw honey
-2ltrs of rain water


Process:

Note: be mindful about breathing or sneezing into the ingredients so you do not contaminate the process. Use all practical caution so as not to contaminate the process, normal kitchen practices should result in a quality pro-biotic. The cold whey process is essential, this does not work with buttermilk whey or cooked cheese whey etc.

STEP1- Place your milk into a sterile jar, sterilisation can be achieved by boiling your equipment.
Note: Do not drop glass directly into boiling water as it will crack.

STEP2- Place lid firmly on the jar to avoid contamination and allow it to separate at room temperature.- This will take 4-5 days depending on conditions,  once milk is curdled use a strainer to carefully siphon off the whey. 
Note:The whey is the clear/yellow coloured fluid, without the milk solid, (which looks like white jelly, can be used for making bread).Cold whey is made at room temperature not warmer than 25C or cooler than 15C for best result. 

STEP3- (Only begin this step once milk has separated and whey is collected).-Dilute your honey down with equal parts of your warm rainwater and mix until completely dissolved.
Note:When making this i would suggest you use rain collected directly from the sky, no need to heat the water excessively  (not over 50 degrees!).

STEP4- Add whey to the diluted honey water, gently mix, put the lid on firmly and place elixir in fridge to ferment for 30 days. Remember: 1 part cold whey, 1 part rain water, 1 part raw honey.

Further Notes:

The solution is kept in the fridge because, it is a cool ferment selecting for the optimal pro-biotic, through process, temperature and ingredients. This cold fermenting results in a white layer on top of the pro-biotic, a clear amber centre, and a thin white layer at the bottom of the jar. These 3 layers should start to become evident within 5 days of it being in the fridge.I  would recommend you undo the lid every few days to allow gas build up to escape. Though the amount of gas is minimal, there are some discrepancies to be found in natural ingredients. The final result is a amber to yellow coloured liquid, may have a very low alcohol content, is slightly sweet in taste and very pleasant to drink . When consumed the brew is gently shaken to mix in the 3 layers. A daily dose is 100 ml but as much as 200ml can be taken, although you may experience a somewhat pleasant euphoric feeling.
Serve chilled.

Kane Abbott

pubwvj wrote:
What non-loggers fail to understand on forestry is that the low grade wood pays over the course of decades to manage the forests so that high grade wood can be harvested later. Making paper, wood chips, pellets all uses the low grade wood. The even smaller particles are left in the forest floor. The action of the skidders and dragging logs stirs up the forest floor litter which is a good thing as it promotes growth. All of this is assuming a sustainable long term forest farm. Farming is the ultimate in long term cropping. We do sustainable forestry as part of our farm.

The best carbon sequestering for wood happens when the logs are made into furniture, lumber for home building and other durable goods. That keeps the carbon out of the cycle longer - decades to centuries.

I have read that our forests are soaking up 1.4 tons to 2.6 tons of carbon a year. They also take in a lot of dust, smog and other pollutants produced by the cities as well as providing beautiful views and attracting the tourists during fall foliage season.

All that said, the fields being grazed by livestock are even better at soaking up carbon AND nitrogen. We apply no fertilizers yet our fields are gradually improving in fertility over the years because we carefully plant legumes and the livestock are spreading manure and urine. Inputs come in the form of the whey and other 'waste products' we get to feed our livestock. We buy and feed no grains and use virtually no petroleum - about 100 hours a year on the tractor which is fairly small.

The reason pastures do better when grazed is that the grazing knocks the plants back to a higher growth rate stage instead of letting them go into the dormant seed stage so early. Careful management of the fields through manged intensive rotational grazing makes this work very well.

Despite the fact that the fields can sequester carbon faster I would not want to have just fields. The mix of forests and fields is idea. It is along the margins where the greatest biodiversity occurs.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

  I agree walter carefully manged pastues and forest working together , with the people and the inviroment.

LivingWind wrote:
Yeah, one big gotdamn racket I tell ya. I really like the idea of collectively greening the desert in western Australia to combat the rest of the world's doing... It would take years and years, and much petrol power to do it, but it sure is an intriguing endeavor.

Where already collectively mining it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAB3KP0KLj4
Note Paul explains towards the end of this composting video , how this method can be applied to the home garden, it explains the wire mesh technique thoroughly.
The wire mesh system or lasagne style seems to be the most commonly used practices for quality small scale production of compost... i hope this video helps, all the ingredients can be substituted  for what material you have , but its in important the ratios and technique stays the same.
Composting is an art, it takes a few goes to get it right but its very rewarding , so don't give up on a negative experience.

Off course you wouldn't run out and chop down your forest to stash more carbon, you would have to be completely mad,(can't see the forest for the trees) , the point is if chemical farming was banned globally we would sequester more then double the worlds green house emissions.
The tax is not about carbon, it about tax, and the goverment looking like their taking action against climate change, whilst making money. The corporations are suppose to see this as a cash incentive to become greener but they simply pass the cost of the tax onto consumers, or lie to us.... cheers for the small english lesson dale,  your giving me flash backs, i hope you got the point and didnt get lost on the e and a thing...?

i m not sure how that is possible....hmmm  ,fuji water claims to be off setting more carbon then it produces, by planting rainforest but these figures are based a futuristic estimates that they have not yet reached.  In other words they claim to have planted a whole rainforest but they have only planted a small part  , and still have a carbon neutral label.