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Chitosan from Shrimp Shells, RTK GPS Base Station, Subsoil Farming

Drake set up a free RTK base station on the Big Island, giving GNSS accuracy down to the millimeter for agricultural drones and centimeter-level positioning for anyone nearby in Hilo, Keaʻau, Pāhoa, Paʻauilo, and Honokaʻa. He compared it to other RTK networks he found from the Czech Republic to Saskatchewan, and explained why the correction keeps a spray drone from drifting into trees or missing the field.

He also cultivates IMOs that digest chitosan by mixing shrimp shells or insect frass into IMO 3 and IMO 4 batches, and pointed to Master Cho's original recipe: roast crab or shrimp shells, dissolve in brown rice vinegar at a 1-to-10 ratio, then dilute 1-to-1000 to spray. He also covered diluting vinegar down to a normal 4 to 6 percent acetic acid.

Other questions: whether Trichuris suis, a natural whipworm in the pig gut microbiome, needs managing with more IMOs; whether persimmon fermented plant juice is worth making (yes); whether FPJ can be made from tumbleweed (untested, likely too dry); and why Drake keeps spraying microbes on every part of his farm, which sits on old sugarcane subsoil with almost no topsoil left.

Along the way: Sunday's I Ching reading on Keeping Still as a Mountain, a riff on Abraham Hicks and letting go after you ask for something, plans to localize KNF material into Portuguese and other languages, the Gaia theory and why the Biosphere 2 dome failed, and dates for the next Hawaii farm trainings in November 2023 and January 2024.

Questions answered

  • 31:19 Why won't the KNF app work on Android? — Drake apologized, said he has to recompile it since Google tightened Play Store rules since the app first went up.
  • 32:59 Can chitosan be extracted from fish scales? — Probably yes — the scales are already in KNF FAA when you use the whole fish.
  • 35:26 How do you cultivate IMOs that digest chitosan? — Add shrimp shells or insect frass to your IMO 3 or IMO 4 batch so the microbes select for chitosan digestion.
  • 37:17 Should Pure KNF material be translated into other languages? — Yes, but Drake wants real localization with local collaborators, not just a direct translation.
  • 54:28 Are there farms near you that don't apply microbes? — Yes — he's surrounded by conventional sweet potato farms that till, spray chemicals, and still get high yields.
  • 57:02 What percentage should I dilute vinegar to? — Dilute it down to about 4 to 6 percent acetic acid, the same as regular vinegar.
  • 59:36 Has anyone made FPJ from tumbleweed? — Not that Drake has heard of; he guesses it would come out too dry.
  • 1:00:09 Are there spots on your farm you no longer apply microbes to? — No — his land is old sugarcane subsoil with almost no organic matter, so he keeps applying microbes everywhere.
  • 1:03:33 Can you use cooked shrimp or crab shells to make chitosan? — Yes — roast the shells and dissolve in vinegar at a 1-to-10 ratio, same method as KNF reproduction, then dilute 1-to-1000 to use.
  • 1:05:58 Is water-soluble phosphorus (WSK) necessary? — No, it isn't one of the nine core KNF solutions, but it still works if you want to use it.
  • 1:06:40 Any reason not to make fermented plant juice from persimmons? — None — Drake says it would be excellent.
  • 1:07:12 Should I worry about Trichuris suis (whipworm) in pigs? — It's a natural part of the pig gut microbiome; keep it balanced with good, active IMOs.

Topics: chitosan, imo, fpj, rtk, gps, jadam, vinegar, subsoil, pigs, persimmon, climate change

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. 1:06 I Ching Reading: Keeping Still as a Mountain
  3. 8:02 RTK Base Station for Millimeter-Level GPS
  4. 24:10 Natural Farming Mimics God, KNF Includes JADAM
  5. 26:06 Abraham Hicks and Going With the Flow
  6. 31:19 App Not Working on Android
  7. 32:55 Cultivating IMOs to Digest Chitosan
  8. 37:23 Translating KNF Literature into Other Languages
  9. 41:16 Cranky Ex-Subscribers
  10. 42:50 Joseph Gyovai's YouTube Channel
  11. 44:12 Climate Change, the Biodome, and Gaia Theory
  12. 53:53 Pure KNF Foundation Sponsors Office Hours
  13. 57:02 Acetic Acid Percentage of Vinegar
  14. 58:06 Year-Long Weekly Spraying Experiment
  15. 59:36 Making FPJ from Tumbleweed?
  16. 1:00:09 Farming in Subsoil: Too Many Microbes?
  17. 1:03:33 Making Chitosan from Shrimp or Crab Shells
  18. 1:06:40 Persimmon FPJ
  19. 1:07:12 Trichuris Suis in Pigs
  20. 1:10:05 Hawaii Farm Training Nov '23 and Jan '24

Transcript

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

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