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Desert IMO Collection, Pasture Regeneration, FPJ Sugar Ratios

February 5, 2023 · by Drake Weinert

Drake opens with a mastitis remedy for his new milk cow: fermented feed with garlic, ginger, and honey, plus a hand-built milking stanchion while he waits on a milking machine. He is also grazing his Wagyu cows straight on the lawn and shares drone footage comparing his recovering pasture, dosed with fish and microbe piles, against a neighbor's overgrazed, pig-trampled, muddy pasture. Student Ben sends in a photo of clean IMO collected right in his dry Phoenix, Arizona backyard.

Drake describes pressing his own cane juice and making crystallized sugar by heating, skimming foam, and stirring as it cools, preferring yellow cane over purple. He says once sugar is refined there is no reliable home test for its source, though Demerara and jaggery keep more raw character. Master Cho is reported as sharp in mind but weakening in body while his son Young Song tours the mainland teaching JADAM, which Drake sums up as leaf matter rotting in a bucket plus a cheap pesticide of soap, sulfur, and boiled herbs.

On microgreens, Drake tells George to include lactobacillus in his trial since it holds back mold and is likely the biggest factor, more than the leaf solution itself. He confirms leftover lemon KNF food can ferment into vinegar once its brix hits eight to ten percent. Walking through Master Cho's slideshow, Drake explains fermented plant juice (KNF food) is best collected at the growing tips just before sunrise, ideally near Lāʻau Kūkahi, two days after full moon, and diluted about one to five hundred when applied.

On sugar ratios for KNF food, Drake says use less sugar up front for the osmotic extraction, then add more afterward to supersaturate and preserve the ferment. He closes with a viewer note that cobalt in soil may come mostly from insect urine and frass, and another viewer's trial showing IMO4 combined with JMS outperforms either one used alone.

Questions answered

  • 6:33 How to treat mastitis in a milking cow? — Ferment her feed and mix in garlic, ginger, and honey while hand-milking until the milking machine arrives.
  • 9:21 Can you collect IMOs in a desert climate like Arizona? — Yes, student Ben collected beautiful IMO right in his dry Phoenix backyard using a round basket trap.
  • 13:18 What does rotational grazing and pasture regeneration look like from the air? — Drone footage showed Drake's rested pasture greening up while his neighbor's overgrazed, pig-trampled pasture turned to mud.
  • 27:11 How do you make crystallized sugar from cane juice? — Heat the pressed cane juice, skim the foam, then keep stirring as it cools until it crystallizes; yellow cane works better than purple.
  • 29:06 Can you tell cane sugar apart from other sugars at home? — Not once it's refined to white sucrose, there's no reliable home test, though Demerara and jaggery keep more raw character.
  • 32:00 How is Master Cho doing? — Sharp mind, weakening body, his son Young Song is touring the US teaching JADAM while Master Cho stays in Korea.
  • 35:00 What is JADAM in a nutshell? — Mostly rotting leaf matter in a bucket for cheap inputs, plus his famous pesticide of soap, sulfur, and boiled herbs.
  • 37:47 Any advice on comparing KNF solutions on microgreens? — Include lactobacillus in the trial since it keeps mold down and is likely the biggest differentiator, not just the leaf solution.
  • 38:56 Can leftover lemon KNF food be turned into vinegar? — Yes, once the brix is around eight to ten percent, it will ferment into vinegar like anything else given water and time.
  • 41:54 Do salt and sand matter when fermenting seaweed into KNF food? — Not much for this kelp-type seaweed, and the salt from pressing it doesn't seem to matter either.
  • 44:20 When is the best time to collect plant material for fermented plant juice? — Snap the growing tips just before sunrise, since growth hormones concentrate there overnight and haven't retreated yet.
  • 46:50 What is the best moon phase to harvest for KNF food? — Lāʻau Kūkahi, two days after full moon, when sun and moon are both up and plants ooze the most sap.
  • 52:33 How much sugar should you use when making fermented plant juice? — Use less sugar up front, just enough for osmotic extraction, then add more sugar afterward to supersaturate and preserve it.
  • 1:03:33 Where do cobalt levels in soil come from? — A paper suggests cobalt comes mostly from insect urine and frass, relevant since B12 is a weak spot in vegan diets.
  • 1:04:34 What happens when you combine IMO4 and JMS on a field? — One viewer found areas treated with both IMO4 and JMS far outperforming areas that got only one or the other.

Topics: imo, fpj, knf food, rotational grazing, mastitis, crystallized sugar, jadam, seaweed, microgreens, moon calendar, master cho, jms

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 Count down
  2. 1:04 Intro and welcome
  3. 2:10 I Ching reading: return to the well of goodness
  4. 6:33 Mastitis remedy; milking stanchion
  5. 7:55 Using cows to mow the lawn
  6. 9:21 Desert IMO collection in Arizona
  7. 13:18 Drone footage of pasture regeneration
  8. 25:39 Integrated animal systems; rotational grazing
  9. 27:11 Making crystallized sugar for KNF solutions
  10. 29:06 Telling cane sugar from other sugars at home
  11. 32:00 Master Cho report
  12. 35:00 JADAM in a nutshell
  13. 37:47 Microgreens solutions comparison
  14. 38:56 Making vinegar from lemon KNF food
  15. 40:35 Master Cho's slideshow: KNF food, plants and seaweed
  16. 44:20 Master Cho's slideshow: KNF food, when to collect
  17. 46:50 KNF moon calendar for planting
  18. 52:33 Master Cho's slideshow: KNF food, how to make and use
  19. 1:03:33 Cobalt levels from insect urine and frass
  20. 1:04:34 Combining IMO4 and KNF food (JMS)

Transcript

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

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