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LAB for Laundry, Mulching to Stop Evaporation, Coconut Sprouting

Drake opens with an I Ching reading on the family and the clan, then reflects on September 11 and why growing your own food is a path to sovereignty. He answers a viewer question on using natural farming to maintain a forest farm, citing his own place and Post Up Media's farm as examples, then plays a video of Master Cho mulching a persimmon orchard in Korea with corn and rice stalks to stop evaporation and cut soil salt. Drake mulches with cut wild grass instead, using a sickle bar mower.

Several questions cover LAB (lactic acid bacteria). It kills shoe and foot odor and works as a laundry additive at about two tablespoons per load; Drake recommends skipping detergent and using soap, like Dr. Bronner's or Jadam-style oil-and-lye soap, since detergent is hard on waterways. Tyler reports a Chardonnay block with chronic mold had none this year after three foliar sprays of leaf/veg juice and LAB.

On propagation, Drake says to sprout coconuts with the husk on, marking the top with an X to keep the same orientation, then soaking 12 hours in seed-soak solution, with seawater helping too. On fermentation, thick plant juice (FPJ) that's too sugary to move should not be diluted with water, since that activates and rots it; he suggests 30-50% sugar by weight of material for a better mix.

The back half is a tour through old hard-drive footage: teaching kids to grow taro and cassava at a school garden, the Let's Grow Hilo street-planting project, a micro-brewer build, and drone flyovers of the farm showing where fish and IMOs were buried in the fields. He closes by pointing out the pig pen and chicken coop up by the barn, a short walk from the house.

Questions answered

  • 13:12 Has anyone used natural farming techniques to maintain a forest farm? — Yes, Drake runs his own place as a forest farm, and points to Post Up Media and Washington Agroforestry as other examples.
  • 19:50 What mulch stops evaporation and high soil salt? — Master Cho cuts corn or rice stalks into a 1.5-inch mulch layer; Drake prefers cutting wild grass with a sickle bar mower.
  • 26:17 Can LAB fix stinky feet and shoes? — Yes, put lacto in the shoes and use it in laundry too; it kills odor and helps with foot fungus.
  • 27:48 What dilution of LAB should I use for laundry? — About two tablespoons of LAB straight into the wash, and you can also spray it on shoes.
  • 29:08 Is it okay to use detergent along with LAB? — No, skip detergent since it harms waterways; use soap like Dr. Bronner's or homemade oil-and-lye soap instead.
  • 43:50 Does LAB help stop vineyard mold? — A Chardonnay block with chronic mold had no mold this year after three foliar sprays of leaf/veg juice and LAB.
  • 44:48 Can moldy fruit be used to make plant juice? — No, use fresh material; fruit that's already rotten won't break down into a good ferment.
  • 45:25 How do you germinate a coconut? Do you remove the husk? — Keep the husk on, mark the top with an X to preserve orientation, and soak 12 hours in seed-soak solution; seawater helps too.
  • 47:03 My plant juice is too thick to ferment. Can I dilute it with water? — No, leave it thick; adding water activates and rots it, so use 30 to 50 percent sugar by weight of material instead.
  • 1:03:08 How far is the pig pen and chicken coop from your house? — They're up by the barn on the property, a short walk from the house where Drake tends pigs and chickens daily.

Topics: lab, imo, plant juice, mulching, chop and drop, coconut, seed soak, forest farming, vineyard mold, laundry odor, persimmon

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. 1:41 I Ching: the family and the clan
  3. 4:30 9/11 reflection and sovereignty through farming
  4. 11:30 Plant a garden; grow food that outlasts you
  5. 13:12 Forest farming with KNF
  6. 16:37 Persimmon farm video from Korea
  7. 19:50 Mulching to stop evaporation; chop and drop
  8. 26:17 LAB for foot and shoe odor
  9. 27:48 LAB dilution for laundry
  10. 29:08 Skip detergents, use soap
  11. 30:30 Teach others to make LAB; IMOs keep mold in balance
  12. 33:10 Old KNF videos from Drake's hard drive
  13. 43:50 Vineyard beats mold with LAB
  14. 44:48 Using moldy fruit for plant juice
  15. 45:25 Sprouting coconuts with the husk on
  16. 47:03 Thick plant juice, don't dilute
  17. 49:16 Micro-brewer, old farm photos, Let's Grow Hilo
  18. 56:50 Drone footage; burying fish and IMOs
  19. 1:03:08 Pig pen and chicken coop distance
  20. 1:06:52 Thank yous; long live the Natural Farmer

Transcript

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

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