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IMO4 Pig Feed, LAB Without Milk, Disgustingly Cheap Microbes

Drake opens with the I Ching (Hexagram 40, Deliverance) then debuts my-pigs.com, a livestream where viewers can watch his pig Bebe and feed her papaya through a website button. Viewers in Seattle and Panama fed her live on air.

Questions cover KNF Protectors (LAB): using milk as a purification step versus rice wash water alone, which peaks with lactobacillus in three to seven days. He also covers mixing batches made weeks apart, and cleaning a motor-oil drum by dosing KNF Protectors 1:500 with sugar for a week. For IMO3, Drake suggests ground wheat berries, corn, or coffee grounds when dog food and mill run are not available.

He walks through the nine core KNF solutions and seven combined formulas, the solution calculator app, and how to premix a maintenance concentrate of food, cleanser, medicine, and structure while keeping Protectors separate until use. For bananas, he recommends fish-waste piles topped with wood chips, IMO, and LAB instead of digging holes.

Closing questions: soaking biochar in nutrients before adding IMO, using two-year-old fermented noni diluted in water, and the IMO4 recipe, 10% IMO4 moistened with maintenance solution, for feeding pigs and chickens.

Questions answered

  • 8:10 Does gathering IMO from above your farm's elevation hurt microbe survival? — No, coming down in elevation is easier on microbes than going up, so gather from higher, similar-climate ground nearby.
  • 11:15 Does LAB (KNF Protectors) have to be made with milk, or can cabbage work? — Milk is a purification step since lactobacillus outcompetes other microbes for the lactose; rice wash water, sauerkraut, kimchi, or fish amino acid also carry LAB.
  • 14:15 Do you teach KNF classes on Oʻahu? — Better to come see it working at the farm than to recreate it on Oʻahu, though he would help organize an event there.
  • 16:03 What can replace dog food and mill run as an IMO3 substrate in Panama? — Use whatever microbes will eat, such as ground wheat berries, corn, or coffee grounds, and check it under a microscope.
  • 19:50 How do you clean a 55-gallon drum that had motor oil in it? — Dilute KNF Protectors 1:500 with a little molasses or sugar, add to the drum, and let it sit a week to eat out the oil.
  • 20:35 Is it okay to mix LAB batches made two weeks apart, or use them one by one? — Keep them sealed and use the oldest bottle first rather than mixing them.
  • 21:10 Can you make LAB without the milk purification step since milk is expensive? — Yes, just use fresh rice wash water straight, which peaks with lactobacillus in three to seven days depending on temperature.
  • 22:49 As an absolute beginner, where should I start with KNF? — Start with KNF Protectors (LAB) and KNF Food; recipes are in the Recipe Book at knfsupport.com.
  • 25:50 Planting bananas in April, should I mound compost and apply IMO? — Yes, build a pile of fish waste topped with wood chips, IMO, and LAB, then plant into the mound instead of digging holes.
  • 28:07 What can be mixed into disgustingly cheap microbes for weekly spraying? — During the 24 to 36 hour peak window, mix in food, cleanser, medicine, and structure solutions to make a maintenance or leaf-growth spray.
  • 32:22 How do the KNF solutions fit together? — There are nine core solutions combined into seven general formulas for stages like leaf growth, blooming, fruiting, and maintenance.
  • 35:49 Can you premix all the KNF solutions ahead of time? — Yes, premix maintenance solution of food, cleanser, medicine, and structure for about a month, but add Protectors fresh right before use.
  • 41:20 Where's the recipe using IMO4 to make feed for chickens and pigs? — Add about 10% IMO4 to the feed and moisten it with maintenance solution.
  • 48:22 Should charcoal soak in IMO tea, or just in nutrients with IMO added after? — Soak biochar in nutrients first and add IMO after, so the microbes move into the char on their own.
  • 49:00 Any use for a two-year-old jar of well-fermented noni? — Dilute it with water and put it out to feed microbes in the soil.

Topics: lab, imo, imo3, imo4, disgustingly cheap microbes, maintenance solution, biochar, bananas, pigs, noni

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 Broadcast trouble, third try live
  2. 0:52 I Ching: Hexagram 40, Deliverance
  3. 4:30 my-pigs.com: watch and feed the pig pen online
  4. 8:10 Gathering IMO: diversity over efficiency
  5. 11:15 KNF Protectors (LAB): culturing and milk purification
  6. 14:15 Classes on Oʻahu? Better to visit the farm
  7. 14:55 Spray microbes everywhere; Brother Daniel Anthony
  8. 16:03 IMO3 substrate substitutes for dog food and mill run
  9. 19:50 Clean motor-oil drums with KNF Protectors
  10. 20:35 Mixing LAB batches; making LAB without milk
  11. 22:49 Where to start KNF: Protectors and KNF Food
  12. 25:50 Planting bananas: pile tech with fish waste and IMO
  13. 28:07 Disgustingly cheap microbes: what to add weekly
  14. 31:10 Solutions to mix into disgustingly cheap microbes
  15. 32:00 KNF solution calculator app
  16. 32:22 Nine core solutions, seven formulas
  17. 35:49 Premixing maintenance formula; keep Protectors separate
  18. 36:52 Feeding Bebe the pig papaya live online
  19. 41:20 IMO4 feed recipe; viewers feed pigs from Seattle and Panama
  20. 48:22 Biochar, old noni, and the office hours archive

Transcript

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

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