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IMO Animal Feed, Calcium Fixes, JADAM Pasture Revival

April 10, 2022 · by Drake Weinert

Drake opens with an I Ching reading on Hexagram 58, the Joyous Lake, then answers viewer questions. Blue-green mold on OHN ginger is fine, just cap it with vodka after the 3-5 day ferment. Fermented compost piles need bulk, 300 lbs works far better than 100-200 lbs. KNF Reproduction (water-soluble calcium) is fine to off-gas as long as it doesn't smell like rotten eggs. Can of Food has three categories: plant tips and shoots, unripe fruit and flowers, and ripe fruit. JMS and JLF should never be brewed into compost tea, just add them in at the end and never aerate.

Guest George, a beginner farmer with about 40 hectares and 100 goats, shares his no-dig garden beds built on cardboard and goat manure, mulched with straw, plus biochar he's making from an old roofing bin. Drake walks through storing finished solutions airtight once super-saturated, and recommends drenching diluted seawater plus disgustingly cheap JADAM microbes to rejuvenate George's roughly 24 acres of old pasture and plowed field, starting small before scaling with a boom sprayer.

Drake and George talk integrating IMO4 into goat and pig feed so manure comes out as ready-inoculated microbe pellets, and Drake shares his own practice of feeding most of his IMO4 to animals rather than spreading it on land. They cover a bucket heater to keep microbe brews near 18°C in cold weather, and a demo comparing two 35-gallon buckets of fish waste, one dosed with IMO4 and one plain, where the untreated bucket reeks and swarms with maggots and the IMO bucket has no smell at all.

Near the end, Drake reviews George's KNF Reproduction batches on camera: a milky top means leftover eggshell membrane wasn't fully cooked off, so skim it, strain through a t-shirt, and use that batch within a month. Finished calcium dilutes 1:1000, or 1:30 mixed with seawater, as a soil decompactor.

Questions answered

  • 7:00 Blue-green mold appeared on ginger during OHN fermentation, still safe to finish? — Yes, pour vodka on it to neutralize it; ginger only needs 3-5 days to ferment.
  • 8:38 Can fermented compost be made from a pile smaller than 300 lbs? — Bigger is better; a small pile doesn't give the core enough mass to heat up and react.
  • 9:50 Should finished KNF Reproduction hiss with built-up gas when opened? — Not necessarily, some off-gassing is normal, just make sure there's no rotten-egg smell.
  • 11:40 Are ripe oranges okay for Can of Food, or does it need citrus shoots? — Ripe fruit is one of three valid categories along with shoots and unripe fruit/flowers, and shoots can come from any plant.
  • 13:10 Can JMS and JLF be added into a brewed compost tea? — No, don't brew them together, add both in at the very end and never aerate them.
  • 20:30 White stuff appeared on exposed fish heads while making FAA fish amino acids. — That's normal, every batch of fish amino acids looks a little different.
  • 22:50 How should finished KNF solutions be stored? — Once a solution is super-saturated, store it under an airtight lid so it doesn't evaporate.
  • 23:30 How do you rejuvenate about 24 acres of pasture and plowed field with KNF? — Drench with diluted seawater to remineralize, drill in fish, and apply disgustingly cheap JADAM microbes.
  • 28:26 Are JADAM microbe solutions compatible with KNF for building the soil food web? — Yes, JADAM drenches feed anaerobic microbes deep in the soil while KNF works aerobically from the top down.
  • 30:00 How can KNF be integrated into raising goats and pigs? — Put IMO4 into the feed so the manure comes out as inoculated microbe pellets.
  • 46:00 How does KNF help with rising fertilizer prices? — Fertility can come from microorganisms and fermentation instead of energy-intensive chemical fertilizer.
  • 48:25 How do you make microbe solutions when it's near freezing outside? — Use a bucket or pipe heater to keep the water warm enough, around 18°C, while brewing.
  • 53:44 How do you prove to a skeptic that IMO actually works? — Split fish waste into two buckets, one dosed with IMO4 and one plain; the IMO bucket has no smell and no maggots while the plain one reeks and swarms.
  • 57:49 What do you do about smelly manure or pathogens on the farm? — Always mix manure with IMOs or KNF Protectors before use, never spread or brew it fresh.
  • 59:17 Why is a batch of KNF Reproduction (water-soluble calcium) turning milky on top? — Leftover eggshell membrane from incomplete cooking; skim it, strain through a t-shirt, and use that batch within a month.

Topics: knf reproduction, imo4, jadam, fish amino acid, ohn, compost, goats, pigs, pasture, seawater, water-soluble calcium

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 Intro and Welcome
  2. 1:38 I Ching: The Joyous Lake, Hexagram 58
  3. 6:25 KNF as Clean Earth Farming
  4. 7:00 OHN Ginger Mold and Fermentation Timing
  5. 8:38 Pile Size for Fermented Compost
  6. 9:50 KNF Reproduction Off-Gassing
  7. 11:40 KNF Food: Three Categories
  8. 13:10 Adding JMS and JLF to Compost Tea
  9. 14:25 George's Garden: Manure, Cardboard, Biochar
  10. 20:30 White Stuff on FAA Fish Heads
  11. 22:50 Storing Finished Solutions
  12. 23:30 Rejuvenating Pastures with KNF
  13. 25:57 Seawater and Cheap Microbes
  14. 28:26 JADAM and KNF Compatibility
  15. 30:00 George Joins: IMO in Animal Feed
  16. 46:00 KNF vs Rising Fertilizer Prices
  17. 48:25 Bucket Heater for Cold-Weather Brewing
  18. 53:44 No-Smell IMO Demo with Rotting Fish
  19. 57:49 IMOs and Protectors for Smelly Manure
  20. 59:17 Show and Tell: Calcium Troubleshooting

Transcript

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

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