bob day

I agree with Jay, that shortages because of extra demand do not represent some evil government or corporate plot.

There is a lot of fear about a true Fascist government style takeover , including me to a certain extent, I'm watching this current government quite closely, and more worried about the next election (or lack thereof) in the name of Public health. But I don't see the shortage of seeds as part of that, or changing the venue where seeds are bought and sold, and people that jump at every little thing as if it was TSHTF only make the situation worse. How many people bought seeds they will never use purely out of fear?

I'm glad Jay included the warning about only eating the older comfrey leaves, since plants like comfrey tend to protect themselves in early spring with alkaloids (somewhat  toxic to the liver) that fade as the plant produces more and more larger leaves.

I like the ideas of both being able to do traditional gardens, and being able to identify those wild foods that are always there in an emergency. Even better when you can find those traditional veges that will reseed themselves, spread around., and self garden.

Perennials also are a must, and I've noticed they don't hang around long in the nursery any more, but really, that's a good thing, it means more and more people are getting serious about being free of depending on the supermarkets for everything.

I was talking about the fear mongering video she wanted me to watch.

Watch critically

Notice that when he shows the picture of the seeds wrapped in plastic with the notice, the notice clearly directs those interested to go to the online store to purchase the items. He does not modify the scare that governments are deliberately starting a food shortage, with the obvious fact that seeds can still be purchased , you just have to use a different way to shop. That is fear mongering.(IMHO)

So if anything, I thought the comment she sent is born out of paranoia of the government (often with good reason)  but that spark  was being fanned by fear mongerers who take local aberrations and turn them into national disasters.

 I only replied to her that things were still pretty normal- business as usual here in VA, although that's not exactly true, cause our local store doesn't want you walking around in the store itself, but they will get stuff for you.

I have not noticed any banned areas in walmarts or the big box diy stores, and  seeds may be sold out, but not banned for sale.

Of course, come to think about it, seed packs would be a likely way to transmit the virus when i think about the normal way I might buy seed, cause I spend a lot of time browsing, reading individual packs and then putting them back as i look for the ones that are just right--lots of places for casual contamination there. And i have enough seed on hand that I probably won't buy any this year anyway.

I just got a note from a friend who suggested that there is a ban on selling garden seeds and that meat packers were closed.

I watched a bit of one of those fear mongering fake news sites and evidently there are a few places where garden centers have been closed.

Any such bans anybody else noticing?

Thanks for the tip, I had no idea the Nature Conservancy offered others that sort of help, My own efforts were put on a back burner with so much else going on, but I'll make an initial contact and see about getting the ball rolling.

I have seen so many references to taking Vitamin C and feel I have to speak out.

1000 mg of vitamin c is not a harmless supplement, in that purity and quantity it is a drug. What I was taught in my master herbalist class was that vitamin c in that dosage without the bioflavonoids normally associated with it in nature becomes a mutagenic agent.

A "truly natural" dose of that magnitude with the bioflavinoids would be the size of a golf ball (or more)     staying close to the RDA  somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 -200mg does the body good, more than that. who knows?"  vit c and cancer

Intravenous vitamin C may have some anti cancer effects, large doses of Vitamin c orally may mitigate colds, but the body can only put so much vitamin c into the blood stream anyway--about what you'd get for 200mg orally. More than that becomes expensive urine.

I was told Linus Pauling's wife was doing 2500 mg daily when she died of stomach cancer

In short, be careful with vitamin c, the actual research is shaky as far as positive effects, and in one of the most recent experiments with terminal cancer it seemed to shorten life span slightly.

There are so many things out there that have been engineered (by nature) to really do our bodies good and balance us out in emergencies, I would much rather rely on them than something out of a lab.

Oh, and I forgot one ingredient in the quick anti plague recipe I gave earlier, the amended recipe is strong(not sweet) onions, garlic, horse radish, ginger, cayenne in  a vinegar extraction--use it as a salad dressing every day. If one ingredient really puts you off, leave it out or minimize it, there's lots of good anti viral, anti fungal, anti bacterial agents there to go around several times. (also liver tonics, circulation helps, etc etc)

Thanks  for the thought, realtech wifi cards are a problem for linux and require use of a windows driver somehow integrated into the linux system--it has been a general problem with hp laptops. This particular one is about two years old  hasn't been used much, when I first bought it I started to do the windows install, and it had wifi working at that point, all I've changed was the hdd to a ssd although at one point I looked into replacing the wifi card with one more compatible with linux, but it never got any further than ordering the wrong card and then being forgotten by the supplier who promised to look for a compatible one.

I found one post on the mint forum that talked another guy with the same driver problemthrough to a solution that installed the windows driver as per the instructions, and I'm reasonably certain I did it right. but there are a couple variables that may be glitching the thing, one is finding the right antenna and the onter may be a slight difference from one real tech card to another, a matter of changing one letter in the commands, but like I said, it's a learning curve I'm still at the bottom of.

I do have a little usb wireless adapter, and theoretically have downloaded the drivers, but that is where my knowledge base ends.  I have no idea how to tell terminal to install the hardware or the driver, although the forum likely has that information somewhere, I just need to find it.

I'm a little like your friend, I'm happy with this wired connection and a long cord.  I may even take another cord into the other room so I can move back and forth--twt. In the meantime I'm also surveying the property, arranging for a forest mulcher so I can extend swales, and getting the place generally presentable so I can host Permaculture Classes.--not to mention gardens, perennials, fish.... what I mean is that this computer is way down on my priority list and I'll just do a little here and a little there--maybe I'll just get another computer with a friendlier wi fi card, put the other hdd back in this one , swap this ssd into the new one  and then rock on. I hear lenovos are pretty compatible.

I took what seemed to be the best advice here for my needs and reformatted the zorin with the new tricia- linux mint with the cinnamon desktop, and the same issue of no wi fi is still a problem,(although it did recognize the bluetooth immediately on installation, so I think I can use it with my phone as a hotspot.) but I have been working with  a network cable just to get the thing going and generally am doing very well.

I found zoom and linphone as substitutes for skype, both included as part of the original install, and activating them was easy

The mint support forum is awesome, and I found detailed instructions for a realtech wi fi card like mine, but so far no joy,

the learning curve is still there for the finer points of terminal commands and such, but the windows aspect is pretty straightforward and the other advantages can wait till I have time(and inclination) to play with it  

I hate Microsoft, and I'm grateful for this alternative--I even switched to duck duck go as my search engine to avoid so many ads and of course personal information collection which google is well known for. The fact that firefox was preinstalled was also a major plus in my estimation.

Hi, I'll just mention geopolymers,  search the donkey forum, there's loads of stuff there Karl is a primary expert, but there are several others playing with them as well. Interestingly enough, your original clay ash formula  has many of the ingredients of geopolymers in a somewhat more primitive form.

Let's start with the history of disease and move through to modern ramifications of factory farming  Pandemics---This is a long video (1hr) but it is full of all sorts of useful information.



Next, if you are buying herbs over the counter, be aware that most of them are bogus. herbal fraud   I mention this because with something life threatening even a well known herbal treatment will fail if the herbal supplement is weak or bogus.  here's a blog on the same topic  labeling fraud.

Echinacea is partially an anti viral but don't use it as a tonic everyday. It has  a unique class of harmless sacharides  that mimic viral coats and turn on the immune system--but the immune system will start to recognize these as harmless if used over longer periods of time.


Echinacea is a very easily recognized tincture--- If it doesn't make your tongue tingle and go somewhat numb, it's worthless ----find a quality or home made one that really works if you want more than just a placebo effect. Use this if you believe you may have been exposed. There are both glycerin and alcohol extracts, and teas will work to some extent, all parts of the plant are possible to use, but the root is generally the most concentrated. Tablets or capsules are a very poor way to use this herb in my opinion, but crush the tablet or open the capsule if you must use this form.


Dr. Christopher had an "anti plague" formula that was complicated and time consuming to make. It is probably the most effective one still out there  ANTI PLAGUE FORMULA

Here's a simpler formula, just about as effective-- strong yellow onions, garlic, horseradish, cayenne,, blend them all up in vinegar and put them on the counter and shake them every day --A dark jar to prevent light is preferred-If it's still there after two weeks (ie: you haven't used it all up as a salad dressing,)filter out the coarse sediment --- I use cheesecloth or a paint strainer cloth--

add other herbs to taste and make your treatment/prevention fun as you're eating your kale, lettuce, etc fresh from your garden

I know this has been said before, dairy is one food to avoid at all costs if your lungs are filled and you are having trouble breathing, not to mention the fact that dairy proteins are primary in confusing and misdirecting the immune system. Water, whole fruit and vegetable juices (with fiber) are the preferred nutrition during treatment of any disease.