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Eggshell, Bone + Vinegar = Hens Laying, Sows in Heat

Master Cho Han-kyu, interpreted by Kim Chang, Founder of Korean Natural Farming (Janong)

Spoken in Korean. Translated to English and checked line by line.

A fire smoking on the stone pit outside the hall, Friday 3:14 pm.
A fire smoking on the stone pit outside the hall, Friday 3:14 pm.
Egg yolk oil cooking on a camp stove on the porch steps, Friday 3:14 pm.
Egg yolk oil cooking on a camp stove on the porch steps, Friday 3:14 pm.
The group gathered around the egg yolk oil stove by the porch.
The group gathered around the egg yolk oil stove by the porch.
Blackened, charred bone pieces laid out on cardboard on the lawn, Friday 3:45 pm.
Blackened, charred bone pieces laid out on cardboard on the lawn, Friday 3:45 pm.

Video of this visit will be added to the members' archive. The transcript times below match that recording.

Drake interviews two Kohala farmers, then the camera catches the outdoor egg yolk oil demo. Back in the hall, Cho talks about egg yolk oil, then turns to Reproduction (WCA) from eggshells and Structure (WCP) from burned cow bone: why each dissolves in vinegar, and how he uses them for flower buds, hens that stop laying and sows that won't come into heat.

What they found

The question

How do eggshells and bone become calcium a plant or animal can use fast, and what does Cho do with them and with egg yolk oil on the farm?

How they tested it

Friday afternoon, after the hands-on making outside: the tape opens on Drake's porch interview, then a short clip of the interpreter, Kim Chang, cooking egg yolk oil at a camp stove. From 5:01 Cho teaches at the front with two big jars on the table: eggshells in vinegar (Reproduction, WCA) and charred cow bone in vinegar (Structure, WCP). He holds up the eggshell jar at about 17:00 to show the shells rising, and the bone jar at about 25:30. A flip chart with Korean notes stands behind him but isn't readable, and there are no slides or handout here.

What was compared
  • Egg yolk oil (outdoor demo) — From the interpreter at the stove: start with one dozen eggs, go to two dozen once you're good at it; she does 36 eggs at a time at home. Cook until the eggs look done enough to eat, put them in a bowl, run an immersion blender over them, then put everything back in the pan 'to make it really fine' and keep cooking. About an hour; longer in wind. The tape never says whether only the yolks were used.
  • Reproduction (WCA), eggshell in vinegar — Cho: eggshells in vinegar. Eggshell is alkaline, vinegar is acid; they react, and the calcium in the shell dissolves into water-soluble calcium. Shown in the jar. No ratio or timing given on this tape.
  • Structure (WCP), cow bone in vinegar — Cho: cow bone holds protein, starch/carbohydrate and fat, which can't react with vinegar, so burn the bone first. What's left is calcium (phosphate), which is alkaline; in vinegar it dissolves. Shown in the jar. No ratio or timing given on this tape; his recipe book gives charred bone : BRV = 1:10, about 7 days.
  • Hens that stopped laying after a molt — Cho: 'that's when you give this'; the interpreter says WCA and WCP together. No amount; Cho says he'll explain feed-making later.
  • Sows that won't conceive or come into heat — Cho: mix WCA and WCP and shake them into the drinking water; add Medicine (OHN) with it so the effect comes fast. No dilution given on tape. His recipe book gives WCP at 1/500 in drinking water for pregnant or ovulating livestock.
Results
  1. Start egg yolk oil with one dozen eggs; a batch takes about an hour

    Interpreter at the outdoor demo: one dozen to start, two dozen when you're good at it, 36 at a time at home. Cook until done enough to eat, blend with an immersion blender, back into the pan. Longer in wind.

    ▶ 4:00

  2. Egg yolk oil on a livestock wound heals it quickly

    Animals that fight and get hurt: put egg yolk oil on the wound.

    ▶ 5:16 As spoken

  3. Give it to crops and lots of flower buds set

    'I'm not a doctor... but from my experience growing crops.' Cho says 'this'; the interpreter says 'these two' (WCA and WCP). No rate or timing given.

    ▶ 14:22 As spoken

  4. A hen 'has a period every day'; a molt is like one that comes all at once, and she stops laying

    When all her feathers fall out she stops laying. That's when you give it: hens that had stopped start again, and the laying period gets longer. No amount; feed-making comes later.

    ▶ 14:55 As spoken

  5. Eggshells rise and fall in vinegar because alkali meets acid

    Cho holds up the WCA jar. Eggshell is alkaline, vinegar is acid; they react and the shell's calcium dissolves into water-soluble calcium.

    ▶ 16:52

  6. Press egg yolk oil with a loving heart; after a fight with your spouse the oil won't come out

    'These things aren't dead. They're all alive.' Not in words like ours, but living cells talk to each other.

    ▶ 24:18 As spoken

  7. Burn the bone first: protein, carbohydrate and fat block the vinegar

    Cow bone is living bone. Burning removes protein, carbohydrate and fat; what's left is calcium, which is alkaline. Vinegar (acid) then dissolves it into water-soluble calcium (phosphate).

    ▶ 25:36

  8. Sows that won't conceive or come into heat: WCA + WCP shaken into their drinking water

    Cho says they come into heat (발정). No dilution given.

    ▶ 27:56 As spoken

  9. Add Medicine (OHN) with WCA and WCP and the effect comes very fast

    They're nutrition that has to get into the blood, so circulation has to be good for them to be absorbed.

    ▶ 28:18 As spoken

Hold it loosely
  • No dilution, ratio or amount is given anywhere in this session. The rates in the treatments come from Cho's recipe book, not the tape.
  • The tape is three clips with long unrecorded gaps (about 28 minutes after the interview, then about 1 hour 40 minutes after the demo). Cho's part starts mid-sentence.
  • For flower buds and hens, Cho says 'this'; only the interpreter says 'these two' (WCA and WCP together).
  • The outdoor demo doesn't say whether only yolks were used; Cho's earlier teaching uses yolks only.
  • Cho also lists human uses of egg yolk oil, WCA and WCP, including how fast people absorb water-soluble calcium, and doctors who came to ask how he made it; these were not tested and we don't repeat them as advice.
For your farm
  • Burn bones to charcoal before they go in vinegar, so protein, carbohydrate and fat don't block the reaction.
  • Watch the eggshells rise and fall in the vinegar: that's the acid and the alkali reacting.
  • Cho gives Reproduction (WCA) and Structure (WCP) to assist crops in setting flower buds.
  • When hens molt and stop laying, Cho gives WCA and WCP to assist them back into lay.
  • For sows that won't come into heat, Cho shakes WCA and WCP into the drinking water with Medicine (OHN) to assist circulation.
  • Make your own egg yolk oil, starting with one dozen eggs; Cho uses it on livestock wounds.
  • Make the solutions in a calm, loving frame of mind. Cho says they're alive.

Next to Master Cho's teaching

  • Agrees

    Burn the bone to remove protein and fat before the vinegar His recipe book says the same: burn boiled bones to charcoal at a low temperature to burn off organic and fatty matter, then 1:10 in BRV. It also gives WCP at 1/500 in drinking water for livestock that are pregnant or ovulating, which fits the sow advice here.

    Cho, Natural Farming Agricultural Materials (Recipe), p. 65–66

  • Agrees

    Eggshell (alkaline) and vinegar (acid) react, and the shells rise and fall The book gives the same reaction: calcium carbonate and acetic acid give off CO2 slowly, and the fluffy, floating shell is that gas.

    Cho, Natural Farming Agricultural Materials (Recipe), p. 60

  • Agrees

    WCA works faster with OHN, and sets flower buds Janong says WCA's power 'can even be strengthened by mixing OHN' and that it 'strengthens the flower bud'. Here Cho gives circulation as the reason, for livestock drinking water.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2003), p. 132

  • Unclear

    Egg yolk oil is made from yolks only His DVD seminar fries yolks only, in a dry pan, until the oil separates. The outdoor demo here talks of cooking 'eggs' and blending them, and never says the yolks were separated.

    notes: cho-dvd-seminar — Egg-yolk oil

“We only differ in kind. Everything on earth is made from the same sunlight, air, soil and water.”

▶ 5:56

“If you've had a fight with your spouse, the oil won't come out.”

▶ 24:18

“These things aren't dead. They're all alive.”

▶ 24:51

“Not in words like ours, but living cells talk to each other.”

▶ 25:02

In this talk

  1. 0:00Interview: two Kohala farmers on what stuck
  2. 2:15Outdoor demo: tasting and making egg yolk oil
  3. 5:01Egg yolk oil: livestock wounds and other uses
  4. 11:10Eggshell calcium: why water-soluble is fast
  5. 14:22Flower buds, and hens that stop laying
  6. 16:45Why eggshells dissolve in vinegar
  7. 17:45Doctors come to ask how he made it
  8. 23:06Press the oil with a loving heart
  9. 25:28Cow bone: burn it first
  10. 27:56Sows in heat, and add Medicine (OHN)

Transcript

English translation, checked against the Korean as spoken.