← Back to Office Hours
Office Hours

Cal-Mag From Jade, Lime and Land, Butyric Acid in Chicken Feed

May 11, 2025 · by Drake Weinert

The I Ching reading opens with a lesson on steady, gentle influence: real change comes from consistent direction, not sudden bursts. Drake gives a Pure KNF Foundation update. Members meet at 2pm Hawaiian Standard Time on Zoom for a KNF structure session and a research check-in.

Drake recaps a booth he ran at a Chocolate Festival. He brought a large drone that drew a crowd, and ran water-soluble calcium (eggshells and vinegar, bubbling in a jar) to show people a natural farming solution up close.

Chat questions: whether butyric acid harms chickens the way it harms cows (small amounts are fine in poultry diets, though a whole ferment gone to butyric acid turns gross), and whether lime regenerates land. Drake says no. Lime gives a quick nutrient extraction and leaves the soil poorer. Indigenous microorganisms build the biology that actually regenerates soil.

Also covered: tilling only once (build your furrows first, then start soil foundation work), feeding chickens bamboo early and cut-up rye once they're bigger, making cal-mag from limestone with bones and vinegar, and pulling cal-mag out of jade rock using a BMW (bacterial mineral water) machine.

Questions answered

  • 12:44 Does butyric acid harm chickens as much as it harms cows? — In small controlled amounts it's actually beneficial in poultry diets, but a whole ferment gone to butyric acid turns gross.
  • 14:59 Would lime regenerate the land? — No — lime gives a quick nutrient extraction and leaves the soil poor; use indigenous microorganisms to build soil biology instead.
  • 17:14 Can you till your tractor just once? — Build your furrows first, then start doing soil foundation work.
  • 17:46 When should chickens get rye versus bamboo? — Feed them bamboo early, then cut up rye once the chickens get a little bit bigger.
  • 18:01 Can you make cal-mag from limestone with bones and vinegar? Does it work? — Drake said you could try it.
  • 18:33 How do you get cal-mag out of jade rock? — Put jade rock into a BMW (bacterial mineral water) machine.

Topics: cal-mag, jade, bmw machine, lime, soil regeneration, butyric acid, chickens, tilling, furrows, wca

KNF Office Hours is a free live Q&A every Sunday at 9 AM HST. Bring your question to pureknf.org/learn/questions or join live.

In this episode

  1. 0:00 I Ching: steady wind, consistent direction
  2. 6:16 Member Zoom, KNF structure and research check-in
  3. 6:59 Chocolate Festival: drone, water-soluble calcium demo
  4. 9:08 Chat greetings and Bitcoin Cadets joke
  5. 12:44 Butyric acid in chicken feed
  6. 14:59 Does lime regenerate the land?
  7. 17:14 Till once? Build furrows first
  8. 17:46 Chicken feed: bamboo early, then rye
  9. 18:01 Cal-mag from limestone, bones, and vinegar
  10. 18:33 Cal-mag from jade in a BMW machine
  11. 19:13 Common sense over advice

Transcript

Auto-transcribed with Whisper. Click any timestamp to play from there.

Share