“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly
meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
Ecclesiastes 1:2
What if I could speak
all languages
of humans
and of angels?
If I did not love others,
I would be nothing more
than a noisy gong
or a
clanging cymbal. What if I could prophesy
and understand all
secrets
and all knowledge?
And what if I had faith
that
moved mountains?
I would be nothing,
unless I loved others. What
if I gave away all
that I owned
and let myself
be burned
alive? I would gain nothing,
unless I loved others.
Love is kind and patient,
never jealous, boastful,
proud,
or rude.
Love isn’t selfish
or quick tempered.
It
doesn’t keep a record
of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the
truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive,
loyal, hopeful,
and trusting. Love never fails!
1 Corinthians 13:1-8
Late December 2013, I was riding the shuttle bus
heading to work in the Vail Valley. I
was sitting next to a ski instructor who was flipping through a picture book. In contrast to the white mountains of
Colorado, I happened to notice some tropical looking fruit trees in the
pictures so I asked him, to show him that I could identify one, “Is that a cashew
tree?” He answered something to
the effect of, “Yes it is! This one is growing on my neighbors plot next door
to my farm in the Philippines.”
Over the next few days I continued to see him on the bus and I continued
to ask him random questions about his farm. One morning, as I was snacking on some banana chips, I started
the conversation with him by asking, “Do you guys make banana chips on your
farm?” “We sure do!”, he exclaimed. He then explained how they brush the
pieces of banana with lime juice so that they hold their shape for when they
quickly fry them in coconut oil. I
was intrigued. The last time I saw
him on the bus he gave me his card, told me how to find his book, and then
invited me to do an internship at his farm. Again, I was intrigued.
My parents, three siblings, and I lived
in a small agricultural community in central Nebraska on the edge of a
cornfield and just down wind from a putrid smelling commercial pig farm. I didn’t grow up on a farm like my
parents did, but my hometown was surrounded by cornfields -- miles and miles of
conventional farms growing genetically modified corn and soybeans sprayed with
pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. The grain is harvested and shipped to feedlots or chicken
farms to quickly fatten livestock.
The corn can also be used to manufacture plastic, whiskey, or ethanol. All that to say, except for some sweet
corn or possibly popcorn, food in these farmer’s homes very seldom come
directly from their multi-acre mono-crop farms. Even most of the food in our grocery store is shipped over a
1000 miles from various locations around the globe. Almost everything about this government subsidized farming
culture confused me.
I do not claim to be an expert on the
subject of agriculture or nutrition.
My primary purpose in writing here is to inform the reader of what I was
exposed to during the first four months into my internship. For the sake of wordiness and repeating
too much of what others have written, I will reference books and other forms of
media for you to peruse if you are interested. Knowing that there are many controversial issues within
agriculture and nutrition, I reiterate, I am writing this to inform the reader
of my experience. Although, I will
share my current views of modern agriculture in order to contrast it with the
natural farming methods I was exposed to.
My secondary goal is that you would see the benefits of natural farming
and join me in growing nutritious food or creating an eco-village
somewhere. I will begin by sharing
a bit of my background, I’ll then do my best to summarize what I have learned
during my internship, and conclude with how this knowledge will effect my
future plans.
Around 1990 my dad read ‘Fit for
Life’ (1985) by Marilyn and Harvey Diamond. He, along with many others inspired by the book, immediately
decided to change his diet, which in turn, caused him to change our diet. One day he sat us all down for a family
meeting and announced, “We are going to change the way we eat!” He later shared with me how he
remembered our pouty faces as he informed us of our new menu of nutritious
foods like salads and whole grains -- and no more cheese filled hotdogs! For the next 10 years of living at home,
almost every meal included a lesson on nutrition or how to chew your food
properly for a good digestion -- I especially remember the on-going lesson on
not using too much Ranch dressing and to stop nuking your food with the
microwave. Others included: ‘If
you can it or cook it, you kill it, and if you freeze it, you lose 30% of the
live enzymes’; ‘the whiter the bread, the sooner you’re dead’ adage, and
eventually the microwave oven had to be disposed of. His, and soon after, my mom’s continual enthusiasm for
nutritious food and fitness became contagious for the rest of our family.
In college, I remember having many
difficult discussions around the cafeteria table concerning the farms that are
producing most of the food we eat in America. As any thinking human should do, I started asking questions
about the quality of the food in the grocery stores and in our schools. Could it be lacking nutrition or even
unsafe to eat? Is raw milk unsafe
to drink? Is USDA organic food
more nutritious than conventionally grown food? Are conventional pesticides harmful to humans or the
environment? The more answers I
found, the more I became concerned with modern chemical farming methods -- and
I don’t mean air-conditioned tractors and combines, but simplistic NPK
mentality, genetically modified organisms, and synthetic chemical inputs
instead of age old natural farming methods.
I have learned that even certified
organic food could be low in nutrients or even contaminated with residual
chemicals from previous years of spraying on the land. One of the USDA’s requirements is that
farms must be chemical free for three years in order to be certified
organic. But these chemicals are
not going to break down in 3 years.
Another reason organic might not be better is if the farmers are only
substituting pesticides and herbicides with ‘organic’ brands and not paying attention
to the level of nutrients (brix reading) in the plants. They are monitoring the inputs but no
one has to monitor their outputs.
They could be organic by neglect.
They might be growing food without chemicals in nutrient deficient
soil. Ideally, getting to know a
farmer and the farming method used on the farm and then buy your food directly
from that farm or, of course, growing your own food is even better.
I wish I could simply say that the
farms that use GMO technology do agriculture one way and natural farmers do it
another way, but I believe it is necessary to inform people of the controversy
concerning this new technology that has become such a world wide industry. I didn’t hear about genetically
modified organisms (taking genes from one species and putting them into the DNA
of another species) until my late teenage years. I suspect that GMO’s were not a household term 10 years ago
because GMO food was snuck into the grocery stores without the consumer’s
knowledge. Why would they have to
tell us? They didn’t have to and
they still don’t. The FDA’s policy
allows this because ‘the agency is not aware of any information showing that
the foods created from these new methods differ from other foods in any
meaningful or uniform way.’ (FDA Federal Register
Volume 57, Section VI – 1992)[1]
But there are
many scientists who disagree with this statement or even outright call it a
lie. This is why you sound like a
conspirator for even hinting that GMO foods are unsafe for human
consumption. However, the vast
amount of information coming from sources that do not make money from this
technology has convinced me that GMOs should be avoided, both for the sake of
your body’s health and for the health of the environment. If you are interested in the history of
GMOs and why they were created, the documentaries I suggest later on are good
starting points. There is also a
lot of research on the health effects of GMOs. If you would like to look
into these things further, Dr. Arden Anderson PhD has an informative seminar
speech called ‘Soil Nutrients and Human Health’ and Jeffery Smith, author of
‘Seeds of Deception’, has a presentation called ‘Don’t Put That In Your Mouth’
that is also worth listening to.
(I’ll post the links for the downloadable audio files in the footnote.[2])
Primarily, agriculture should be
about feeding people nutritious food, not just merely filling their stomachs
with calories or farmers filling their pockets with money. According to Dr. Ross Welch PhD, the
lead scientist and plant physiologist at the United States Plant, Soil, and Nutrition
Laboratory (USDA/ARS) farmers should think of themselves as nutrient providers.[3] It is sad to think that there are
farmers that do not even know about the quality of the food that they are
producing, they just buy the recommended chemicals and spray. According to the big company selling
the seeds, pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, the sold out farmer is feeding
the world the most safest food with a sustainable system that builds
communities around farms. Oh yes, and
they sure like to mention how sustainable they are. Well, actually they need the farmer’s business in order to
remain sustainable. They are only
‘so-called’ sustainable because those conventional farmers are dependent upon
the company – they couldn’t exist without each other. Check out the documentaries listed below for a clearer
picture of what is happening in the world with modern agriculture.
Until recently I was unaware of the
few small organic farms (farms that do not use synthetic chemicals or
genetically modified crops) in the area where I grew up. My dad’s backyard organic vegetable
garden was one of the few that I had seen. Therefore, being exposed to a fully functioning organic farm,
like the one I am about to write about, was like walking into an entirely
different world. I found myself on
a farm that truly operates to serve the community (socially equitable), benefit
the environment, is economically sustainable, and most impressively, the pig
pens did not stink!
This grand discovery, that I am
thankful to God for, came about in the summer of 2014. I accepted the ski instructor’s
invitation for a four month internship in the Philippines on the island of
Palawan in the city of Puerto Princesa City, at Aloha House[4],
an orphanage on an organic farm located on a hill overlooking Honda Bay to the
east and Mount Beaufort to the west.
The internship started with a 3 day
intensive training led by the executive director of Aloha House Inc. and the
author of ‘Sustainable Agriculture In the Tropics’ (2011)[5],
Keith O. Mikkelson, the ski instructor.
During those 3 days, my group was given a farm tour, hands on training[6],
a history of organic farming, and an overview of many different types of natural
farming methods from around the world.[7] In short, Keith (2011) quickly introduced
us to ‘almost’ everything their ministry does to better serve their on-site
orphanage[8]. The farm is a large part of Aloha
House’s ministry because it provides highly nutritious food for the developing children
who often come in sick and malnourished.
The farm also helps bring in funds to help run the orphanage – i.e. buy
diapers. On the fourth day, the bonus
day, we were introduced to the nutrition side of the ‘indoctrination’.
If you want to know how I have been
indoctrinated or want to be indoctrinated yourself, short of becoming an intern
at Aloha House, start by reading Keith Mikkelson’s (2011) short book that I
referenced above and then watch these (somewhat dated) documentaries: ‘Food Inc.’, ‘Future of Food’, ‘The
World According to Monsanto’.[9] Nutritionally speaking I have been
highly influenced by Sally Fallon[10],
her presentations of Dr. Weston A. Price’s[11]
discoveries, and her informative
cookbook “Nourishing Traditions” (1999). Thanks to these discoveries I have
gained a great appreciation for animal fats (because of the fat soluble
vitamins, A, D, E, and K), liver, and other organ meats, only from grass fed and/or
organic feed fed livestock. Additional
Weston A. Price Foundation seminar speakers such as Joel Salatin[12]
from Polyface Farms in Virginia, Jerry Brunetti[13],
and Dr. Arden Anderson[14],
(just to name a few) have changed the way I view farming and nutrition. I also feel it is necessary to include
Aldo Leopold in this list of influences for his ‘Land Ethic’[15],
other writings, and work he did.
How did I respond to this research?
Well, I did and continue to do, more
research. In Charles Walter’s 2003
book, ‘Eco-Farm An Acres U.S.A. Primer’, he explains that proper nutrition all
starts with ‘feeding’ the soil. If we feed the soil which feeds the plant then
ultimately it feeds the animals and humans nutrient dense food.
Microbes (See Mikkelson’s [2011] book.)
We
feed the soil because the most fertile soil is alive, teaming with micro-organisms. (Walters 2003, p. 81) A large percentage of the microbes in
nature are neutral, they are neither harmful or beneficial. But they end up following the majority either
the beneficial or harmful (pathogens) microbes. The natural farmer’s job is to ensure there are more
beneficial micro-organisms than pathogens, while the conventional farmer kills
them all with high sodium based unnatural chemicals.
Beneficial micro-organisms cannot
thrive without organic matter to feed on and a suitable ‘house’ to live in. The
organic matter we use at the Aloha House farm includes charcoalized rice hull,
fermented rice wash, inoculated rice bran, copra meal, manure, fermented kitchen
garbage, seaweeds, fish emulsions, compost, weeds, crop residues, etc. The microbes go to work for the farmer
to brake down the organic matter into easily accessible nutrients and minerals
for plants. It
has been amazing learning about this unseen world and how much the microbes do
for the plants.
According to Mikkleson (2011), plant roots secrete substances such
as carbohydrates, amino and organic acids, and active enzymes. Microorganisms use these secretions for
growth. During this process, the
microbes also secrete root
dividing hormones, antioxidants,
amino acids, nucleic acid, a variety of vitamins, and other hormones. Phototrophic
bacteria helps
synthesize the sunlight. The
phototrophic bacteria can be applied as a foliar spray -- they live on the
surface of the plant’s leaves.
As many natural farmers can tell you,
it can take years to build fertile soil, but if you inoculate your soil with beneficial
microbes then you can jump start your soil and turn years into months. The Aloha Farm uses a product that was
first created in Japan called EM-1® (Effective Micro-organisms). The microbes are in a dormant state in
the bottle until they are released into the environment. We ‘extend’ the EM1 by giving the
microbes molasses to wake them up and feed them – the process takes one week
before they are ready.
EM
Extended (EME) Ingredients
45 ml. EM1, 45 ml. molasses
1
liter of non-chlorinated water
We add the EME and fermented rice
wash to our compost to help break down the organic matter more quickly. A twelve month waiting time can be
reduced to three months or even three weeks if turned to add oxygen regularly. The entire farm is sprayed with the
beneficial microbes once a week with a backpack sprayer and a pump and hose. The leaves of trees are sprayed as a
foliar spray. All of the livestock
live in an EM environment – that is why the pigs do not stink. We even put a little in their water as
a pro-biotic or pour it down drains and toilets to treat septic tanks .
IMOs
One of my projects, inspired by the
Korean Natural Farming method, was to harvest indigenous micro-organisms (IMOs). I used cooked white rice in one foot
(30 cm) lengths of bamboo and placed it on the floor of an old growth forest. Four days later it was furry with
yeasts and molds. That was our
IMO1. We then mixed it into
molasses (1:1) and stored it in a clay jar, never plastic (as the Korean
Natural Farmer Master Cho says), with a non-soy inked piece of paper for a
cover. One week later it can be
labeled as IMO2. We then strained
it, bottled it, and added 500 ml to 2 sacks of rice bran, IMO3. It got steaming hot over night; the
active microbes were really loving it!
Although, we did make a mistake with our extra IMO2. When we stored it in our plastic bottle
(was that the mistake, Master Cho?) we didn’t leave enough head space. The bottle blew it’s top and spilled into Keith’s shoes that
were nearby (which created a whole new IMO!). We then went on to making IMO4 by adding soil (1:1). Finally,
we completed the project by making an IMO5 by adding fermented manure (1:1). You can then use these for different
applications around the farm to add to your soils fertility.
All that to say, EM-1® will get you
more than just the yeasts, and molds.
It has the lactic acid bacteria group and the photosynthetic group as
well. The producers of EM-®1 also
have these groups balanced in proportions with the others so that they will
thrive symbiotically when they are released into the environment. Seeing EM-1® at work on the farm has convinced
me that EM-1® can save you time and money and knowing how to make your own is great
in case in the unlikely event that EM-1® ever becomes unavailable.
Now that I have given you a bit of my
background and introduced the foundation of natural farming, building fertile
soil, I’ll move on to summarizing what I have learned during the Aloha Natural
Farm internship.
Instead of rewriting Keith’s (2011)
book on the 10 fundamentals I will merely list them here in no particular
order.
1.
Companion
planting (intercropping)
2.
Crop
rotation
3.
Cover
crops
4.
Legume
usage
5.
Mulching
6.
Green
fertilizers
7.
Compost
8.
Insect
Habitat
9.
Minimal
Tillage
10.
Animal
Integration
To be continued…
I just finished my stabilized rammed earth house project.
Here is the first video of my progress: http://youtu.be/-XzSQxXones
I will soon expound upon the
following aspects of the internship (while spending more time on the aspects
that are not in Keith’s [2011] book): the 10 fundamentals, anaerobic and
aerobic compost (double vortex compost tea brewer), mineral mix (mineral rock
crusher), bokashi, bokashi mudballs, fermented kitchen garbage, fermented plant
matter, egg and bone extract, fish amino acid, aquaponics, animals on the farm
(pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, cows, water buffalo) allowed to express their
distinctiveness throughout their life and for their ‘one bad day’ the farm’s
implementation of low stress culling procedures, vermicast (T.H.M. [Top Harvest
Method]), farm made potting soil, stabilized rammed earth building projects,
EMAS hand pumps, rocket stoves, thai charcoal kilns, lumbering and milling, raised
grow beds, whiz bang chicken plucker, whiz bang cart, homemade soaps and
cheeses, permaculture, herb spirals, bio-gas, bio-dynamics, Italian Pompeii
dome pizza oven construction, and of course, carnivorous plants such as
amorphophallus and pitcher plants.
All this to say, I have become a
lifelong student of the many processes I was exposed to. Visit us at Food Web Gardens in Ord,
Nebraska to see all that we have implemented from the education we received
from Aloha House. I am grateful to
God to have something to offer with the work of my hands that enriches the
local community, heals our land, and offers a substantial livelihood.
Or visit us at our Facebook page... https://www.facebook.com/foodwebgardens
Or visit us at our Facebook page... https://www.facebook.com/foodwebgardens
[2] "Soil
Nutrients and Human Health" by Adren
Anderson, PhD, DO. “Don’t Put That In Your Mouth.” by Jeffrey
Smith.
[3] "Agriculture
as a Tool For Better Health" by Dr. Ross Welch
PhD (Audio file). Here is a
website that has a short bio of his credentials and research interests:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=9445
[4]
One of the definitions of Aloha is love.
[5]
Links to a free e-book copy of Keith’s book and more information about the
Aloha House can be found at www.alohahouse.org.
[6]
The hands on training included the following: compost, compost tea, raised
garden beds, animal feeds, fermented plant extracts, eggshell and bone
extracts, fermented rice wash, fish emulsion, minerals from the rock crusher,
soil blocks for the nursery, extended Effective Micro-organisms, used a broad
fork, and built a stabilized rammed earth wall and rocket stove.
[7]
Here is a list of the types of
natural farming methods that I have been introduced to: Nature Farming,
Permaculture, Organic Farming, Bio-Dynamic Farming, Biological Farming, Korean Natural Farming, Kyusei Nature Farming, Demeter Biodynamics, F.A.I.T.H. Gardening, French
Raised Beds, Farming God’s Way,
Keyline Design, SALT Farming, Sustainable, Square foot
Gardening. I only heard of Organic
Farming before interning here at the Aloha House.
[8]
Keith informed me that in the Philippines an orphanage is called a ‘children’s
home’ because they say that every child is a child of God. Therefore, if you call them orphanages
you might be corrected by those who persist on calling them children’s homes. But if you then ask, “So, it sounds
like an orphanage. Is it?” They will say, “Yes.”
[9]
Most of these can be found on Netflix or YouTube. They are all a little dated now. I remember watching them years ago. It is good to be aware of what is
happening in our world. In my
opinion, the documentaries are heavy on the ‘evils’ of the chemical industry
and light on what to do to change things.
[10]
Here are links to Sally Fallon’s presentations, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4. Audio
for Part 1, Audio
for Part 2, Audio
for Part 3.
[12]
Emancipating
Traditional Foods Seminar Speech (speech starts at
5:15). We also enjoyed his
‘Polyface Farm’ DVD.
When Bub has made it west, where will he head next? Da na na.... there is only one frontier left. Space.
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