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Disgustingly Cheap JLF & JMS, IMO Tumbler, Charging Biochar

Drake opens with the disgustingly cheap recipes: JLF (Jadam Liquid Fertilizer) made by packing a barrel with mixed grasses and weeds, adding water and a handful of microbe-rich soil, and letting it sit two weeks or more before drawing off the liquid. Fresh grass gives more nitrogen; grass dried a day or more turns more carbonaceous. He covers a protozoan infusion (dried grass soaked three to five days) for protozoa-poor soil, and how to quietly hand a skeptical neighbor KNF protectors for tomato wilt instead of lecturing them.

Farm talk moves to a homemade IMO tumbler idea (a square wood box on an old car axle) versus an industrial auger that moves through a shipping container to turn large batches of IMOs. He warns never to get JADAM solutions on skin or in the mouth since they carry disease-causing organisms and must be diluted well before use. Other listener questions cover bamboo powder in pig feed (about a tenth to a third of the ration) and fermenting cow dung as a cheap chicken feed.

Later he walks through smell-based troubleshooting: JMS smells sweet early from good worker microbes and turns to infant-vomit or rotten-egg smells once zombie fertilizer microbes take over; LAB should smell sour like the liquid above yogurt or fresh sourdough, and a curd cap can sit on top for weeks without spoiling the liquid below. He also answers questions on reusing two-month-old premixed OHN, nigari versus C90 for tofu, and why too much fuel (FPJ) causes plant overgrowth. He previews the Pure KNF Foundation's map-based directory for finding nearby practitioners and points listeners to Josiah Hunt's biochar videos on his channel.

Questions answered

  • 21:08 How do you make disgustingly cheap fertilizer (JLF) from dried grass for a food shortage? — Pack a barrel with mixed grasses and weeds, add water and a handful of microbe-rich soil, let it sit two weeks or more, then draw off the liquid.
  • 23:32 What's a protozoan infusion and when do you need one? — Soak dried grass in a bucket of water for three to five days to grow protozoa, then spread it on soil that's short on them.
  • 25:10 My tomatoes died from wilt and my neighbor thinks KNF is voodoo — what do I do? — Give him KNF protectors (lactic acid bacteria) without over-explaining it; a low-key 'try this' works better than a lecture.
  • 30:12 How much bamboo powder can go into 100kg of pig feed? — Roughly a tenth to a third of the feed; watch out for adding too much silica.
  • 30:56 Is there a cheap feed source for chickens? — Ferment cow dung — Master Lee demonstrates it in Drake's basic poultry videos.
  • 31:58 Is it safe to get JADAM solutions on your skin? — No — don't put it on hands or face or swallow it; it's full of disease-causing organisms, so dilute heavily before use.
  • 33:39 Why does my cheap microbe brew (JMS) smell like infant vomit? — You waited too long — the good sweet-smelling worker microbes already peaked and zombie fertilizer microbes have taken over.
  • 37:36 How do I find other KNF farmers near me (Stockton, CA)? — Pure KNF Foundation is prototyping a map-based directory at pureknf.org once privacy and terms of service are finalized.
  • 42:00 How do I charge biochar and how long should it soak? — Check Josiah Hunt's biochar videos on Drake's channel — Josiah is the real expert on charging biochar.
  • 1:03:52 I finished my first batch of LAB — what should it smell like? — Sour, like the liquid above yogurt or fresh sourdough; a curd on top can sit for weeks and the liquid below stays fine.
  • 1:05:42 I premixed too much OHN and it's been sitting two months — keep using it? — Yes, keep using it since OHN is expensive to make, as long as it wasn't pre-diluted with water.
  • 1:06:29 What is nigari/bittern and is it good for tofu? — It's the leftover minerals after chloride is removed from sea salt; Drake prefers a product like C90 over it.
  • 1:08:13 Is too much 'fuel' (FPJ) bad for plants since they make their own nitrogen? — Yes — fuel adds amino acids, not just nitrogen, and too much causes overgrowth, obesity, and pest problems.

Topics: jlf, jms, imo, lab, ohn, protozoan infusion, biochar, tomato wilt, bamboo powder, cow dung, fuel, nigari

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 I Ching Reading: The Marrying Maiden
  2. 7:59 Life on the Farm; Robot Weeder Idea for the Food Taco
  3. 11:54 JLF and JMS Recipes for a Food Shortage
  4. 12:45 Hawaiian Words for Fungus: Akua, Pepeʻau, Mea
  5. 15:30 Homemade IMO Tumbler vs Industrial Auger Turner
  6. 21:09 JLF From Dried Grass: Nitrogen vs Carbon
  7. 23:32 Protozoan Infusion for Protozoa-Deficient Soil
  8. 25:10 Tomato Wilt and Talking KNF to Skeptics
  9. 30:12 Bamboo Powder in Pig Feed; Fermented Cow Dung for Chickens
  10. 31:58 Do Not Put JADAM Solutions on Your Body
  11. 33:39 JMS Smell Timeline: Worker vs Zombie Microbes
  12. 37:33 Finding Other KNF Farmers; Foundation Directory Prototype
  13. 42:02 Charging Biochar; Josiah Hunt Resources
  14. 52:10 Sharing KNF on YouTube Without Chasing the Algorithm
  15. 54:12 Sugar vs Molasses for Preserving and Activating
  16. 55:34 Protecting Your IMO Box From Animals
  17. 58:54 Homemade Brown Sugar From White Sugar and Molasses
  18. 1:00:19 How to Search Within a YouTube Channel
  19. 1:03:52 First Batch of LAB: What Should It Smell Like?
  20. 1:08:08 Fuel, Nitrogen, and Amino Acids for Young vs Older Plants

Transcript

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

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