Monday, November 16, 2009

Garlic & Elderberry for Oink-Flu Blues. Update June 2013


Garlic & Elderberry
for
Oink-Flu Blues

Garlic, as antibiotic? Garlic elixir?

Only side-effect being garlic breath?

You’re kidding, right?

Actually, garlic eaten as infection-fighter and tonic immune-builder, is as old as pyramid building at Giza and the daily ration of Roman legionnaires. It’s way more interesting than just a frozen pizza option! Garlic heals, fortifies and builds strength.

We’ve lived an inside joke—pinch-lipped Puritans, who boiled veggies to death, looked down on later Mediterranean immigrants who ate garlic at ebullient, anti-oxidant-rich meals! Garlic-eating connoted Ellis Island late-comers, scorned by the entrenching WASP “Elites.”

The Mediterranean diet has since met the DAR, and we enjoy the gift of garlic-rich meals from Italy, France and the Middle East.

Given the pandemic buzz in our currently interesting times, has garlic deeper health potential?

You betcha.

Read on for in-house remedies* and elixirs.

(Yes, various capsules are currently available, but if not, what can be done at home?)

What if health care, as reigning BigPharma paradigm, just supposin’, what if health care were to break down?

19th Century MD remedy:

Interesting tidbit gleaned from the 19th century eclectic physicians about garlic and severe infections. This is pre-antibiotic info—an entire bulb of garlic was separated into garlic cloves, peeled, minced and mixed into lard. Lard was then readily available. Cold cream would serve as well.

The garlic remedy was then packed onto the soles (only) of the feet of a patient with high fever, flu, pneumonia, etc., the mixture covered, and held in place with socks. Within just a few moments the patient will have garlic on their breath.

The author observed this remedy put to use in a case of scarlet fever. Fever broke; the patient went into deep sleep and woke many hours later, smelly but well.

(This is mentioned as an anecdote, potentially worth noting if other help is not near, and should in no way be construed as medical advice.)

Garlic Elixir Recipe:

1c organic cider vinegar
1c organic raw honey
8-12 large cloves garlic, peeled

Plop above three ingredients into blender and liquefy. Pour into glass jar or two; cover with lids. Let age 5 days in fridge. Take 1Tbs daily in juice or water. An additional dose or two can be taken, in case of the “epizoodic”, as they say in the South.

Lingering Cough:

This garlic elixir is potent stuff, and astonishingly is reported as having cleared up hacking “Chemtrail Cough”, dating from heavy spraying this summer. Suddenly, deep lung crud is brought up by the garlic tonic, and months-long coughing ends.

Whatever one’s opinion or observations of the skies, locally many of us have been watching unmarked white jets spewing out dense something or other.

Emergency Room admissions seem to peak after heavy spraying—instances of respiratory distress, e.g., asthma attack, bronchitis, pertussis, pneumonia; also burning eyes, dehydration and flu-like malaise.

The jets generally fly in teams of 4 or 5, making repeated parallel passes and X’s overhead. I have watched through binoculars as dense spew was emitted from the tail section, not the engines, of unmarked planes, perhaps setting the jet contrail-argument into question.

Before each torrential, crop-destroying summer rain this year, we watched the jets at play. Some spews rained down oily and caused circular smog “rainbows” around the sun.

After one such LA-sky blanketing, the rain puddles on our local organic farm had a reddish oily scum and the air stank oddly of chemicals.

Anomaly? Dunno, but in-home garlic has been a useful resource. It’s not too late to fall-plant in many parts of the country.

What to do about garlic breath?

1) A whole clove (the spice, that is) in the mouth clears garlic smell. Clove is also anti-viral and not a bad idea when out and about. A small jar of whole clove in the glove compartment of the car could be useful, to pop a spice clove in the mouth before entry into snuffling, coughing crowds.

2) In India, cardamom seed is often chewed after a garlicky, spicy meal. Good digestive as well.

3) Fresh mint sprig chewed; ditto, good digestive.

Elderberry Elixir:

There’s pretty interesting medical data on elderberry as an anti-viral. Expensive syrups and capsules are available from Switzerland and Israel. The brand names are some variation on the botanical name of the plant, Sambucus (canadensis).

What can we do at home, more economically?!!

Elderberry Recipe:

1Qt or liter filtered water
1 rounded Tbs organic dried elderberries
1 rounded tsp organic dried ginger root
1 rounded tsp organic dried rosehips (or juice of ½ lime or lemon if available)

Bring water, elderberries and ginger root to simmer, covered. Set timer for 30 minutes. Tea will turn a gorgeous purple-plum color. Turn off heat. Add rosehips or citrus juice. Cover. Drink in 5 minutes.

A second, still yummy though weaker brew can be made when tea is drunk. Add another quart of water to plumped-up elderberries and ginger. Bring to boil; turn off and leave to steep. Nice to pour into a glass bottle and drink while out doing errands or at the office.

For additional good health home remedies, see: “Power-Up Immunity with Kitchen Probiotics”:
http://feastandfamine.blogspot.com/2009/05/flying-pig-flu-power-up-immunity-with.html

*The organic ingredients for the remedies can probably be found at your local health food store or food co-op. Being service-oriented, the store managers will likely be willing to order in product which represents a community good.

June 2013: Am updating the elderberry info with a recipe I like even better, concocted by True Earth Mama. Kudos to her! Given honey component, it's suitable for kids one year old and above, and yummy for adults as well. Here goes:

Ingredients (Organic):

2/3 cup dried Elderberries
4 cups water
2 tea bag of Rooibos tea
1 tsp of Cinnamon
2 T fresh or dried Ginger
1/2 tsp of Cloves
1/2 cup raw Honey  

Directions:

1. Pour water into saucepan and add all ingredients except for honey
2. Bring to Boil, Cover and Simmer for 45 minutes
3. Remove from heat, let cool
4. Pour through a strainer
5. When completely cool, add honey and mix completely
6. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator

Suggested Dose:

Take daily for immune support:
       ~ 1 tsp. for children
       ~ 1 T. for adults              
                                                               
If Flu comes on:                     
       ~ Take suggested dose every 2-3 hours until symptoms disappear.

The Benefits:

ElderberriesHigh levels of Vitamin A, B and C, high in antioxidants, immune system stimulate, helps with digestive system, anti-inflammatory.

RooibosFrom South Africa, this red bush is excellent for you.  Very high in antioxidants, lowers blood pressure, protects the heart, inhibits brain aging, improves immunity

Cinnamon:  Reduces pain linked to arthritis.  Contains fiber,calcium and iron. regulates blood sugar levels. Reduces cholesterol. 

Ginger: Anti-inflammatory, helps digestive issues, rids throat and nose congestion, reduces flatulence.

Cloves: High levels of antioxidants. Encourages healthy teeth and gums. Anti-inflammatory.

Raw Honey: Antibiotic properties which treats conditions like the cold, sore throats, indigestion and acne. Treats allergies, helps support and protect the growth of bacteria in our gut. Relieves constipation. http://www.trueearthmama.com/blog.html

Note to Readers:   
Yeoman Gardener has published a book,     
Wayfaring Traveler, 
Whale Rider of the Tide
www.wayfaringtraveler.com 
and Amazon Five Star reviews

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Barter Economy: Preparedness in Interesting Times


Barter Economy

Thanks to barter, I can post to my own blog again. Had been blocked, but never fear, from out of the world-wide-phone booth leaps a geek friend, cape billowing, to part the cyber-sea !!

Couple months back, a question from him, turned into a lengthy professional consult by me. 


Agreement—he would “pay” me with his skill sets. He would figure out the posting snafus, and make the writing experience more user-friendly. 

Result of barter arrangement: no money-burden; needs met; two clients well-satisfied.

Barter of goods and services, hello new economy, is an economy old as camel caravans, Cornish tin, Roman wine, attar of roses, cinnamon, silks, and Baltic amber… 


Though money was scarce, farm goods "bought" goods from sea and overland; harpists sang for their supper; tinkers bartered repairs. Younglings apprenticed to master craftsmen, or sailed for the New World in exchange for 7 years labor—things of value, or craft skills and labor as medium of exchange.

All this, without skimming of the money pot by the banking cartel of the Federal Reserve... Stay tuned as the predator class tries to muscle in on local economic solutions. Example?... Recent destruction of the silver- and gold-backed Liberty Dollar movement. 

If the US dollar
(the peachback "fiatsco" backed by nothing but empty promises to pay) is debased into oblivion, what then?   

Barter will survive, though the bankster, lobbyist and congressional gravy train may not. 


What do we have of value which we could use as a medium of exchange? What skills, what goods, what willingness will emerge from the derivatives-implosion dead ahead?

  • A cord of wood for x-bushels of apples?   
  • Childcare for groceries or meals shared?    
  • Tutoring in exchange for training in carpentry?    
  • Use of a commons-vehicle by neighbors who take turns doing errands for the community?   
  • Or digging and weeding a garden with a master gardener to learn how, and to share in harvest?
    We don’t yet know all we can do together.

    It’s Labor Day Weekend in the US, summer’s end, a time of County Fairs, farmers markets, picnics and yard sales. En route to the fair, I “hit” eight yard sales on a lightning scan for bargains.


    Interesting developments: glass canning jars from grandmother time are not being sold anymore: they’re being put to use to prepare for winter and uncertain times.

    BigBox gulag-shlock is being disgorged, in the “new” belt-tightening economy, but I watched people gravitating to useful items—kitchen pots, wool blankets, work boots, and exercise equipment to pull the plug on the couch potato era! Small amounts of fiat exchanged for something solid.

    In an odd echo from an earlier, cash-strapped barter reality, the dustbowl 1930’s, I had the strangest call this week—May amount to exactly nothing, but I heard from “To Kill a Mockingbird” yesterday!

    Do you remember Atticus Finch being paid with barter—sack of hickory nuts, mess of collard greens—for his legal fees?

    Same thing happened with my Texas grandfather. He was once deeded mineral rights to a property by a man who had no cash to pay for legal work that Granddaddy had done for him.  


    No money meant Grandmama sewed the children's clothes, patched, turned the cloth to the unfaded side and cut and sewed again.  Granddaddy tended not just his legal practice, but a big family garden, milk cow, egg-layers, smoke house for backyard-raised hams and bacon. A skilled woodsman, he brought home dove and quail.

    Money stayed tight for the family with nothing much coming in, but  barter of mineral rights, maybe wood split, a plucked chicken, things like that. 
     
    Mama used to laugh at her “oil money.” She’d get a couple dollars of royalties a year. Well, now an oil company actually wants to drill, and they’re trying to track down my cousins! May just be a dry well, or any revenue divided among a big family, but yesterday, I heard from my granddaddy’s time.

    So you never know about barter, but it may be coming, and we’ll turn our thoughts to what really has value, holds value… holds true.



    Note to Readers:   
    Yeoman Gardener has published a book 
    Wayfaring Traveler, 
    Whale Rider of the Tide
    www.wayfaringtraveler.com and Amazon reviews

    Saturday, June 13, 2009

    Cell Phones: If I Only Had A Brain, Cancer Update April 2017



    Cell Phones:
    If I Only Had a Brain 
     
    Breast Anomaly Anecdote
    3 April, 2017:
    A dear cousin was sent in for breast biopsy this winter, deeply terrified while awaiting the pathologist's report. It was her right breast, and despite having a cuz, moi, articulate about cell-radiation, she'd taken to tucking her cellphone conveniently into the right cup of her bra--while singing in chorus, gardening, cooking. She has asked me to post this warning. A family of geeks, they live in total EMF-surround. Mercifully she did not lose her breast to oncology protocols. But she does not store her cellphone by breast or ovaries anymore.
     
    Brain Cancer Update
    4 Oct. 2013:  
    300% increased brain cancer risk for long term users..This new [Swedish] study reveals that people who used cell phones and cordless phones for more than a year were at a 70% greater risk of brain cancer compared to those who used cell phones and cordless phones for a year or less. Those who used cell phones and cordless phones for more than 25 years were found to have a 300% greater risk of brain cancer than those who used cell phones and cordless phones for a year or less...

    Era definer: Cell clamped to ear; car, sidewalk, office, restaurant—stored next to nutlets, ovaries, purse, pocket and bedside table. Gotta do; gotta go, 24/7.


    We are connected; cell phones, towers, satellites. We are the brain-buzz, brain-fry generation and we be billions on the move. Connected to work, to friends, opportunities, news, and what else?


    What if, just supposing, cell phone technology were profitably unregulated, with not a peep about health effects over time?


    Not regulated? You mean, the US Congress has looked after its re-election coffers, and not the Commons? Well, knock me over with a peachback.


    So what’s the big deal? Telecom offers essential life tools and technology, right? And anyway, we don’t do long-term.


    Well, cell phones and cell towers and satellites a-beaming make for a big old biological experiment on all life, including us human beans. It’s like Mengele writ large, with Madison Avenue must-have come-hithers thrown in.


    Parents are urged by telecom ads to show their devotion, and do the right thing by their kids—provide cell phones in the interest of child safety.



    Safety?!!


    Check out this graphic from a 2003 Swedish study on young rats, age comparable to human teens.


    (Note that cell phones are called mobiles in Europe/UK.)

    Lower image shows brain after two-hour exposure to cell (mobile) phone frequencies.





    We’re talking not just buzz-brain, but brain damage. And not nursing homes, but the young. Studies are beginning to expose a plague of pediatric brain tumors, which have surpassed even childhood leukemia.

    Dr. Joseph Mercola, holistic physician and Doctor of Osteopathy, asks the following questions:


    “Do you suffer from any of these common illnesses and ailments, which have all been scientifically linked to cell phone information-carrying radio waves?


    * Alzheimer’s, senility and dementia
    * Parkinson’s
    * Autism
    * Fatigue
    * Headaches
    * Sleep disruptions
    * Altered memory function, poor concentration and spatial awareness “




    Taking Action:

    So, given the known unknowns in an unregulated industry, what can we do to exercise some personal common sense? If EMF exposure is not actually well-thought-out, not body/mind-friendly, can we limit exposure? (EMF = electromagnetic frequencies.)


    Robert O. Becker, MD wrote a warning for us: His book, Cross Currents, suggests we get a clue about EMF-saturation of home and work space. Some of his suggestions are included in a zinger pro-active list by Mike Adams of naturalnews.com:

    * Save cell phones for emergencies and use land lines whenever possible. Make sure cell phones are turned off when not in use, and avoid using them inside a car. When you do use cell phones, use appropriate air tubes and shielding devices: see RFSafe.com and LessEMF.com for available products. Keep cell phone chargers unplugged when not in use.

    * Do not buy cordless DECT phones, which emit a constant electromagnetic signal even when not in use.

    * Unplug electrical appliances when not in use.


    * Keep your bedroom free of electrical appliances, especially near your head while you sleep, use a battery-operated alarm clock rather than electric; unplug lamps.

    * Remember that walls, floors, and ceilings do not block EMFs when arranging your furniture.

    * Replace dimmer switches with regular switches to eliminate high-frequency radiation, or "dirty electricity," that can be hidden in your home's electrical wiring.

    * Avoid low-voltage halogen and fluorescent lighting (including the currently popular energy-efficient compact fluorescent lighting). Fluorescent lighting has been shown to cause migraines, and contains mercury, which is a hazardous material that can create huge health and environmental problems.

    * Avoid the use of appliances with variable speed drives, such as fans, heaters, front-loading washing machines and some furnaces.

    * Avoid the use of microwave ovens, hair dryers, electric toothbrushes, electric blankets, heating pads, baby monitors, and other electric products.

    * Use LCD
    computers and TV screens and avoid plasma TVs. Keep computer use to a minimum; keep unplugged when not in use.

    * Avoid areas with wireless networking (
    WiFi) - internet cafes, airports.

    * (Yeoman research: Minimize time in WiFi’d libraries, hospitals, schools, and now even churches. If you have WiFi at home, for goodness sake, unplug the thing when not in use, especially at night. Parents have reported their children having terrible nightmares, insomnia when WiFi is positioned next to or below child bedrooms.)

    * Walk barefoot on the beach or earth, or hug a tree. Wear shoes with a sole made from natural materials – all of this may help you release excess EMFs into the earth and ground your body.

    * If you are currently buying or building your own home, make sure you choose a home at least 5 miles from the nearest microwave or cell phone tower, high tension power line, or other radio and TV transmitters.


    Good sources for EMF related products include LessEMF.com, RFSafe.com, and CutCat.com. “


    Conclusion:

    Big stuff going on here, but there’s plenty we can do. For starters, we can do EMF-shielding in our offices and homes; it helps.


    What does that look like? Well, try affordable, cut-to-size screens for PC or laptop; an apron to wear over heart and vitals while sitting at the computer, both from lessemf.com. You get the drift. The solutions are not high-tech, and they’re not expensive. Stress and crummy health are what’s expensive.


    Getting our minds around even needing to do this is one big arghhhhh. EMF pollution is like air molecules, everywhere.


    But do we have to breathe it?


    Our tower/antenna proliferation on schools, homes, offices, churches, mountain tops, and even the sea bed is either vigorous industry in action (the Madison Avenue meme), or unregulated lunacy.

    If lunacy, towers, towers everywhere, and Telecom’s sweetheart deal with Potomac-Swamp-Legislators, may yet come under scrutiny.


    So, what’ll it be? Step right up—mice in a maze, or informed human beings? 



    Your Blogger does Kindle
    & Paperbacks:



    Useful Links:


    Electromagnetic Health News, including hotdamn local action: http://electromagnetichealth.org/category/electromagnetic-health-blog/


    Marblehead Mass. learns that cell phone tower placement is not a community decision: http://www.wickedlocal.com/marblehead/news/lifestyle/columnists/x1713654197/COLUMN-The-antennas-are-coming




    The Swedish Association for the ElectroSensitive, including links to latest developments: http://www.feb.se/index_int.htm


    Sunday, May 24, 2009

    Kitchen Probiotics, Candida, FluScare, Thieves Update Nov. 2014

    Power-Up Immunity
    With Kitchen Probiotics

    Whatever the provenance of the latest “Flying Pig Flu” scare, whether factory farm, careless vaccine maker, or Ft. Detrick, let’s have a pro-active chat: What life force-building foods and remedies strengthen immunity? Any still in use after centuries?

    Short answer: Yes.

    Long answer: Not served at McDonald’s. Not nuked (microwaved.) Not present in BigPharma anti-virals. Not delivered in hastily confabulated flu vaccines.

    Can-do recipes follow a little backgrounder on probiotics. Which are what? Think acidophilus milk, yoghurt. Also probiotic capsules from the pharmacy or health food store on recommendation of your physician, after a course of antibiotics.

    There’s way more, and do-able in your own kitchen, the down home equivalent of multi-vitamins. Useful info if store shelves come up empty.


    Age of Antibiotics meets Law of Unintended Consequences: 

    Probiotics are a big deal, hard on the heels of antibiotics for every sniffle, and antibiotic residues in non-organic meat, eggs and dairy products. Doctors initially prescribed antibiotics with good result for formerly catastrophic infections.

    Patients demanded them for everything. Doctors also prescribed them with a flourish.

    A pandemic of a quiet sort soon followed—both women and men bloated up with a yeast infection, called Candida.

    Unbeknownst to the medical profession, antibiotics destroyed everything in the gut, pathogenic bacteria and also the good guys, lactobacilli like acidophilus.

    Once that slash and burn clean sweep was accomplished, lactobacilli were no longer present to make vim and vigah B-vitamins gratis (hence post-antibiotic fatigue); nor ensure good digestion and elimination; nor suppress cancer.

    In Europe, the unfavorable result of using antibiotics is called dysbiosis, a dys-functioning of body systems, the whole body getting out of whack.

    Meanwhile, Candida has gone systemic in peoples worldwide. The yeast spreads in the body wherever it’s damp and moist—lungs, sinuses, whole digestive tract, urinary tract, reproductive organs.

    The resulting inflammation and infections may be treated with dose after dose of antibiotics, which are useless to combat yeast, and in fact encourage more yeast, and the growth of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

    Candida has rampaged in that no-man’s land called “iatrogenic” or doctor-induced, so no one has much to say about it. Now it’s understood in medicine that probiotics should be taken to restore health.

    Candida, Dieting, and Fashion:

    Candida causes out-of-control cravings for yeast-feeding foods, like sugar, pasta, pastries, chips, sodas, booze. Panic over post-antibiotic Candida bloom, the cravings and puffy weight gain, has unleashed generations of fad diets.

    Candida has even changed fashions for both men and women. Candida-bloat means unpredictable waist size, so fashions have become waist-less. Women wear over-blouses; men wear leisure clothes.

    One of my clients pitched a fit about having to wear elastic-backed “fat pants” whenever he went on a junk food tear. Predictably but maddeningly, his belly swelled up like a toad!

    And there’s good news?

    Yes. The good news concerns probiotics, rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes, living foods, which gradually displace Candida and its miseries.. The old nutrition regimen of impossible anti-Candida diet with revolting anti-yeast remedies really was not sustainable, not user-friendly. 

    Probiotics will eliminate Candida and bloat, reduce and eliminate cravings, restore vitality, and mental clarity. Gradually and sustainably, being the operative words.

    Quick-fix mentality wants it yesterday of course; understood. Probiotics actually deep-heal a body in chaos. Just as crummy health usually took awhile to establish, give yourself a break, and embark on a healing adventure, with life force-rich foods.

    Kitchen-Crafted Probiotics:

    KEFIR:

    A fermented milk beverage, similar to yoghurt, with even greater health benefit, and way easier to make! A no-brainer; can even be made with organic raw milk, which you cannot successfully do with yoghurt. This great kefir culture from Germany http://www.kefir.net/ comes with the news that it can be used seven times. 

    Psst: If glass jars, lids and spoon are steam sterilized each time, the culture can last for months before renewing with a packet of the dry starter. Superior benefits explained: http://www.naturalnews.com/024477.html

    Update, Oct. 2013: The easiest, oldest and best way of making fab kefir is with "kefir grains" which are more like globules. They are strained out and added to the next batch. The kefir is thick, nourishing and a good protector of intestinal and immune health. 

    Origin: Caucasus Mountains and a veritable treasure. The high dollar health food store kefirs are made with potent probiotic kefir grains.

    When I originally wrote this article, I had not located a good US source of the kefir grains. I  found one. The kefir grains are cultured on goats' milk. I shifted over to cows' milk which worked fine. I can now recommend: 
    http://kefirlady.com/
     
    KOMBUCHA:
     

    My favorite anecdote about this ancient beverage, a tea/sugar lactic ferment, comes from the Soviet Union—Siberia was not only gulag-central, but also a festering expanse of industry run amok, a big Super Fund site where people continue to live. Epidemiologists were dispatched to a particularly dismaying area of degenerative disease and high cancer rates.


    Something didn’t make sense.

    How could there be pockets of health in the midst of that man-induced wasteland? Researchers began doing studies. All the villages ate food grown on the same contaminated soil, drank contaminated water, and breathed the same contaminated air. What was different about the healthy families?

    While visiting one, a frustrated researcher was offered a beverage, which turned out to be kombucha. The families who still made it were somehow able to detox from the appalling surround. 

    To Make Kombucha,You’ll Need: 

    1 or 2 gal wide-mouth glass jar (Anchor-Hocking cookie jar is good.)

    2-4 c. Kombucha brew and “mushroom” from a friend. (Check health food stores and food   co-op's; also available on line. Look for kombucha made organically, and in glass. Plastic leaches toxins, including food grade.)


    1 oz organic tea* (see below.)


    3/4-1 c Sucanat, high in B-vites and minerals, or other organic sugar


    4 Qt non-chlorinated/non-fluoridated water


    An ounce scale

    Dairy thermometer useful, not absolutely necessary
    Rubber band to secure paper towels or clean dish towel over jar
    Space out of direct light for kombucha fermentation jar: in cabinet or covered w/ towel 


    Tea: 

    I suggest organic green and/or white tea (silver needle or white peony) for highest antioxidant content. Silver needle tea has excited interest among holistic oncologists, as it seems to assist the body’s immune prowess at dissolving cancers. It's also pricey.

    Some folks use black tea bags and white sugar and make good kombucha. The only anecdotal caveats about kombucha have involved black tea, however.

    Tea bags:
    Bulk tea is less expensive, and tea bags use the lowest grade tea, hidden in pricey packaging; caveat emptor! 


    Healing Herbs: 

    ¼ oz organic herbs, can be added to ¾ oz of organic green/white tea. Potential vitamin/mineral-rich organic herbs include: Nettles, calendula flower, honey bush, a tsp. of rosehips powder, acerola, or acai powder, hawthorn berry, papaya leaf 

    Papaya leaf, or paw paw leaf as it’s called in Australia, is an Aboriginal remedy for cancer. 


    Thanks to the notice of Harald Tietze, papaya leaves are being added to kombucha with reported good result. Tietze also has added hawthorn berries to kombucha brew as a heart strengthener. A Bavarian-born immigrant to Oz, medical herbalist, dowser, and Renaissance man, Tietze introduced kombucha to the Antipodes.

    May 2012 Kombucha Update:

    Given ongoing Fukushima contamination of Asian teas and other food products, I've been tweaking amounts of the following recipe to conserve. (Reputable suppliers are testing herbs and teas for radioactivity, by the way.) Am currently simmering 1 Tbs. each of dried elderberry, bilberry, gojiberry in the brew water before adding tea, and using: 

    1) a two gallon straight-sided glass cookie jar as brew vat
    2) a full gallon of tea/sugar solution, having steeped:
    3) 1/2 oz green & white teas
    4) 1/4 oz roibbos/honeybush & etc from listed suggestions
    5) 2-3 c. kombucha from last batch as primer 
    6) kombucha "mushroom"
    See how-to above for general weekly procedure. Good health to you! 

    While I was working on an organic farm in New Zealand, wwoofing, I was handed a goblet of something. “Doubt you know what this is!” I slurped down kombucha with a big grin. I thought I’d go my 6 month’s jaunt without tasting any!


    Kombucha is now an international treat and available in health food stores. My friends in New Zealand had flavored my goblet with black currant syrup--just short of divine. 

    Starting the Brew:

    Green and white teas are steeped at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit (84-94 degrees Celsius); they are more delicate than, say, Lipton’s. Bring 4 Qts water to temperature in non-toxic pot, i.e., enamel, graniteware, glass, etc. (not metal, not Teflon.) You may add a handful of dried elderberries and/or a few slices of ginger root before simmering.

    Quickly stir in tea, and cover to contain bouquet. Steep 25-30 min. Strain hot tea over Sucanat or organic sugar in 2nd pot. Stir to dissolve with wooden spoon. Cool pot of liquid to ~70-80 degrees Fahrenheit (~25 Celsius) in sink of cold water with a couple of blue freezer thingies. Set timer for 15 min. Pour into the clean wide-mouth glass jar when cooled. Add Kombucha tea starter and “mushroom.”

    It is an aerobic fermentation, i.e., it needs oxygen, so jar is covered with 2 thickness of paper towel or a clean dish towel. Store in cabinet, or cover with towel on counter. Do not jostle jar, as this makes many thin layers of new mushroom, instead of the solid gelatinous hockey puck!

    Container: 


    Some kombucha makers use a continuous fermentation, adding tea/sugar solution to a pot with spigot at the bottom. Am not sure about that, as the culture can get weird. I have replaced the mushrooms of a couple friends who’ve tried this. Seems best, to wash the fermentation jar between batches. Also kombucha is a live food, and can be killed by fumes of smokers, mothballs, or a gas leak. Doesn’t like toxic fumes.

    I have seen some kombucha sources recommending fermentation in food grade plastic, which gives me the quivers. No plastic is inert; it leaches. Kombucha helps draw toxins out of the body. What does it do with plastic? Starter mushroom and liquid, usually a meager amount, may also be supplied from some mail sources in a plastic-ziplock. Gag me with a spoon. Use glass.

    Finished Product:

    Start gradually, say, ¼ c kombucha mixed in juice, to avoid throwing yourself into detox. Eventually a larger amount is comfortable.


    The “mushroom” (actually a complex of beneficial organisms) makes “babies” above the old one. These can be shared with friends, and backup ones stored in glass jar in freezer. Fermentation usually takes 8-14 days in colder climates. In hot climates, it can take as little as 3-4 days.

    The brew becomes sparkly and tangy. If left too long, pH drops further, and you’ll have made kombucha vinegar. This can be used on salads, etc. Start a new batch for drinkable kombucha. 


    (I once tried to maintain kombucha while spending weeks in a tent. After spilling a 1/2gal jar across the bedding, I tried sealing the jar with a lid, which sealed out air, and eventually made vinegar! I of course had no way to refrigerate and slow the fermentation.)

    Kombucha can be mixed 1:1 with organic apple juice, a squeeze of lemon; yum. Pretty good for a one day fast, after you’re well accustomed to kombucha. Stirring in a small spoon of tamarind concentrate could help with detoxing fluoride. See:
    http://feastandfamine.blogspot.com/2009/04/water-water-flouride-part-2.html

    Some pet owners put a spoonful of Kombucha in pet’s drinking water. Kombucha is fed to race horses to increase stamina and help heal injuries. A horse breeder in Australia is quoted in Tietze’s book. He brews 15 liters of kombucha a DAY for his horses; says it cuts seconds off their race times.

    I brought kombucha to a stressed-out miniature pony, trucked, shaved, from hot Midwest to chilly New England. The little girl owner was in a lather about her half-dead looking prize critter. I was explaining about adding the kombucha to the drinking water, and we never got that far. Some of the kombucha had dribbled down the sides of the jar. Pony lips were all over it! The family started making kombucha.

    Links re medicinal properties and uses of Kombucha:

    http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kombucha.shtml
    http://balancedchijuice.com/kombucha.aspx
    http://www.gaiaresearch.co.za/kombucha.html


    SOURDOUGH:
     

    When commercial baking yeast was first introduced, physicians of the time warned that the quick rise yeast would create a less-digestible product than sourdough with poor health effects. Sourdough is a lactic ferment, which takes a day or more, and makes bread which keeps well and has marvelous texture.


    Starter can be nurtured at home, and just gets better. Immigrants to America brought generations-old sourdough starter with them as family treasure. San Francisco still has bakeries using starter dating from Gold Rush days. Sourdough starter how-to:
    http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm

    KIMCHI:

    Most fun as a team effort. (Translation: messy; takes time.)











    Ingredients:

    Harsch Crock*, 7.5 liter, scalded; Big non-metal pot; Wooden spoon; Kraut pounder(fun tool; see below)

    5-6# green cabbage, OR red cabbage (for ruby kimchi);
    3 Tbs Himalayan or “Real Salt”
    1-2 c whey from yoghurt or kefir, OR 1 packet yoghurt or kefir starter & 1-2 c. water
    1 Tbs each: crushed Coriander seed; Paprika; Red pepper flakes; Dulse flakes
    1+ tsp rosehips powder
    2 bunches spring onions, chopped, with green tops
    1-2 daikon, peeled, grated
    2-4 carrots, peeled, grated
    1 bunch red or green kale, chopped; & 2 broccoli heads, just florets, sliced
    2 apples, or 2 small turnips, peeled, grated
    1-2 bulbs of garlic, peeled, desprouted, chopped
    2-4 inches ginger root, grated

    Weigh organic cabbage after quartering and coring; slice thinly. Stir in salt & whey with wooden spoon in enamel or glass pot. Using lidded jar filled with water, or a great tool
    http://www.krautpounder.com/ pound cabbage 10 min. to release juice. Mix in other ingredients.


    Pack into crock. Lay clean outer cabbage leaves on top. Press down with stones. Cover; place crock in undisturbed spot; fill crock reservoir with water above two holes in lid’s edge; cover crock with dishtowel to keep out dust.


    Let work 4-6 weeks at coolish room temp. It will burp bubbles and eventually kimchi smell. Keeps months in fridge in sealed glass jars -- high in probiotics, vitamins, minerals and enzymes; a live food, a good digestive.

    P.S. Kimchi has a distinctive smell, some would say, stink. In Korea, it's served at every meal!

    *Harsch Crock http://www.wisementrading.com/foodpreserving/harsch_crocks.htm

    THIEVES VINEGAR:

    Recipe augmented, Nov. 2014
     

    Here’s a final in-house, anti-microbial, medicinal herb remedy, still sold in Europe since the Black Plague of the Middle Ages, speaking of pandemics. For juicy info about the Thieves immortalized in the name, and a history of vaccines, see my article Pandemic Jitters: Thieves Vinegar.
    http://feastandfamine.blogspot.com/2008/07/preparedness-in-interesting-times.html

    Recipe follows:

    Stock in the following --

    1 Gal. glass jar4 Qt. organic apple cider vinegar
    Funnel, non-aluminum
    To store finished product: brown, green or cobalt glass bottles

    Organic Herbs: 


    1 oz. oregano
    1 oz. rosemary
    1 oz sage
    1oz. thyme

    1 oz. nettles
    1 oz. lavender
    1 oz. lemon balm 

    1 oz. clove powder
    1 tsp black peppercorns
    1 Tbs broken cinnamon stick
    2 Tbs dried elderberries
    1-2 bulbs organic garlic, peeled, smashed or sliced through, any green (bitter) sprout removed


    Jan. 2016: I tweaked the recipe a bit to increase immune and anti-inflammatory oomph by adding:
    2 Tbs chaga
    slices of fresh ginger root, 3" piece, peeled

    Put herbs & garlic in gallon jar; top up with vinegar (it will take ~3 1/2 Qt. ) Cover jar opening with waxed paper and lid, or hold waxed paper in place with tight rubber band. (Vinegar fumes may otherwise corrode metal lid.) Or use a plastic lid.


    Let steep for 6-12 weeks, stirring once a week with a wooden spoon. Pour through strainer into large non-metal bowl or pot. Using non-metal ladle and funnel, pour into brown, green or cobalt bottles. (Well-washed olive oil bottles work well.) Store in a cool place, root cellar, or fridge.

    There are several versions of Thieves Vinegar. The above recipe is pleasant to take and can be effective for symptoms of cold, fever and flu, or to have on hand in the event of scarier scenarios. The aromatic vinegar can be taken daily as a tonic and preventative, or more frequently after onset of illness. 


    Take 1 tsp Thieves Vinegar and 1 tsp honey in a glass of water first thing in the morning (or, use 1 tsp maple syrup, which dissolves more readily.) Children could be given 1/4 - 1/2 tsp Thieves Vinegar in a glass or baby bottle of juice.

    "Thieves" helps restore and maintain healthy digestion and elimination, and can help protect travelers from the tiresome, lingering infections now so common after plane flights.


    So, have at it. Have fun making down home probiotics and a medicinal vinegar, all of ancient lineage and useful today. Some professional worriers feel that this new flu strain may get nasty in northern hemisphere winter, when there is less sunlight and the protection of Vitamin D.


    How about using the summer months for learning family and community can-do: Ace the making of high vitality foods which boost your innate immunity. Gain new/old skills-sets. Just for the health of it, my home to yours.

    top photo: herb wife's kitchen

    Yeoman's 2nd book!!
    now available
     Wayfaring Traveler, 
    Call to Adventure