(NaturalHealth365) Doing things for our bodies that offer long-term benefits is something every one of us should entertain. One of those things is to eat fruits and vegetables that can ward off cellular damage and nervous system failure. Thanks to a study done by a prominent university in the United Kingdom, a tiny berry is making big waves in the health community. That berry is the humble cranberry.
Cranberries are not just for Thanksgiving anymore … a new study shows that cranberries offer incredible neuroprotective benefits. Researchers at the University of East Anglia have just discovered that eating cranberries may slow cognitive decline and improve memory function while also improving cholesterol levels.
Are you concerned about the quality of today’s food choices? Does the increasing cost of food leave you with no choice but to buy more processed food? Or are you concerned that the next storm is going to take down the grid for a period of time? Foraging for food is your answer!
EdibleWildFood.com offers courses, plant walks, workshops and other unique experiences tailored to the needs of your group. Learn the wonders of natural foods, the tastes of wild plants and the delights in our forests.
(NaturalHealth365) I’ll begin this article by stating the obvious: I am not a dentist, and I don’t pretend to be. However, I talk with women all over the globe every week about breast cancer – as I coach them on my program, which involves the ‘7 essentials’ of breast cancer prevention and treatment. One of the fundamental questions I ask them is: “Do you have root canals?”
I ask them this because I am passionate about helping others create vibrant health and educating them on how to get there. And when it comes to root canals, there is mounting evidence to suggest a strong correlation: root canals – which fill your mouth with toxic chemicals – can increase your risk of certain types of cancer.
Growing mushrooms can be complicated- but it doesn’t have to be! In this video, I go over one of the simplest methods of growing mushrooms that pretty much anyone can do at home. All you need is: + A 5 Gallon Bucket + Aspen Wood Chips (even from the pet store!) + Oyster Mushroom Grain Spawn Happy growing! Check out the full article here: https://freshcap.link/bucket-tek-yt Check out our new growing blog: https://learn.freshcap.com/growing/ Learn About Functional Mushrooms: https://learn.freshcap.com/mushrooms/
A tip that I was given, which I am going to try myself this spring, is in regards to curly leaf in stone fruit such as nectarines and peaches in the spring.
You simply place a quarter a teaspoon of Condys Crystals (potassium permanganate) per litre of warm water with one mil of Raingard and spray the trees and the soil underneath in spring prior to leaf show and every 10 to 14days later for the couple of months when the disease is active..
The lady gardener that told me swears by it for control.
The potassium permanganate is a oxidizing agent that kills fungi, the Raingard prevents the rain washing it off for up to 14 days.
It is during rain that the disease attacks, lifted up onto new leaves by the splashing water.
Potassium permanganate is locked in the film of Raingard which slowly breaks down under UV.
The potassium permanganate is neutralizing the spores of the curly leaf disease as they come in contact.
You will need to spray to keep the newest leaves protected, as well as the existing ones as they grow larger, so depending on growth rate spray every 7 to 14 days.
If you try this method this year please let me know the results.
Another gardener uses the same on their roses with great results starting with a spray in winter after pruning and a 2 weekly spray during the season of the foliage and soil as required.
A lot of gardeners have glasshouses or tunnel houses to extend the growing season of tomatoes and other plants.
Some grow in the soil in the glasshouses where others will grow in containers.
Soil in a glasshouse can harbor diseases or what we call pathogens. These love a chemical/acidic environment where they can thrive.
Beneficial microbes and fungi love a alkaline, chemical free environment so the use of chlorinated tap water, chemical sprays along with herbicides are going to create problems for your tomatoes and other plants.
Chemical sterilizing the soil with Basamid is no longer an option since the chemical was banned.
I have in the past suggested potassium permanganate with salt as a soil drench but this takes out both the beneficial and the bad.
Some gardeners dig out the soil and replace it with new soil which is not only a lot of hard work but you cannot be sure the new soil will not have its own problems especially weed seeds.
A new product called Terracin is the natural way to clean up soil diseases.
Mix the Terracin at 2ml per litre of water and apply to one SqM of moist soil.
Or mix at 20ml to 10 litre to water over 10 SqM of moist soil.
Terracin uses a combination of a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens BS-1b, a beneficial soil microbe and the enzymes, bacteriocins, secondary Metabolites & signal molecules from the fermentation of Enteroccocus faecium to suppress a broad range of fungal pathogens.
During the next 3 weeks keep the soil moist (not wet) with non-chlorinated water.
After 3 weeks we need to feed and build the populations of beneficial microbes so we apply Mycorrcin to feed them.
Once you have done this its a matter of not using chemicals in the glasshouse including chlorinated water.
A Special filter can be attached to your hose to remove the chlorine which is the same as what I have been using for several years.
The next problem in a glasshouse is the sheltered environment which is very good for insect pests to breed.
During the growing season you have to keep them in control with the following: sticky yellow whitefly traps, Neem Tree Granules, Wallys Neem Tree Oil and Wallys Super Pyrethrum so they will not get completely out of hand.
Fumigating the glasshouse at the end of the season to kill all the pests that are harboring over in cracks and places means a clean start in the new season.
Wallys Sulphur Powder is available for this purpose.
This is ideal for fumigating a glasshouse in winter when there are no crops growing. (May dehydrate and kill plants so empty the house first.)
If you have plants that you are going to pull out anyway then leave them in the house when you burn the sulphur which will kill the pests on them rather than take them outside to affect your other gardens.
To use: Close all vents in the glasshouse.
Place an amount of sulphur onto a steel hearth shovel and light. It is hard to light unless you have a very strong flame.
You can aid this by putting a little mentholated spirits on part of the sulphur and light that.
Once it starts burning it is hard to stop.
Place the burning sulphur in the middle of the house and leave immediately.
Close the door and let the sulphur fumes do their job. Leave house closed for a few days.
The amount of sulphur burnt will depend on size of the glasshouse.
For a house 2.5m x 2.5 m burn about 50 grams of sulphur.
I did this last winter after cleaning all the plants out of my glass houses and once outside it was a sight to see so many whitefly and adult psyllids beating up against the glass trying to escape.
Likely burning sulphur safely in out buildings for cluster flies in winter would be a good way to control them also.
Hen houses for mites when the hens are locked outside then later air the house and dust Sulphur powder over the perches and floor.
You can make a big difference to your soil, gardens and plants by using Bio Marinus™.
Bio Marinus™ is manufactured by the enzymatic hydrolysis of fish offal, blended with humate, seaweed and biology including Bacillus subtilis, Trichoderma, mycorrhizae fungi etc.
Designed to provide a high quality, cost effective fertiliser.
At only $15.00 a one litre container that includes a range of beneficial microbes…. it is high value at low cost.
Biologically active soils have the ability to retain moisture and release nutrients ensuring greater production, faster rotation and more rapid recovery from stress. To build a healthy biological soil we need products that can feed living organisms.
Biological fertilisers increase nutrient availability and feed important soil organisms, such as earthworms and microorganisms (fungi and bacteria) – all essential for plant and soil health.
Soil health and soil fertility requires much more than NPK fertiliser.
Without the right biology, plants and animals cannot reach their full potential. Biology is essential for the recycling of nutrients and the fixing of atmospheric nitrogen.
Drench your soils now with this great product and see the difference in the health of your gardens this spring.
You can Super Charge Bio Marinus™ by adding some molasses or unrefined sugar to your soil drench mix.
This feeds the microbes and explodes their populations. Caution if adding do not store in a sealed container as the populations will balloon and even explode a plastic container.
Add the molasses dissolved in some hot non chlorinated water then add the Bio Marinus™ and use immediately.
If you have Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) that can also be added to the brew for even greater results. END
For those that are interested there are BITS ( Items they likely don’t want you to think about)..just email me and ask for them
Our waterways planet wide are now highly polluted and no longer safe to drink. Consequently, the water that’s fed to us in the town supplies is replete with chlorine, fluoride and other additives to prevent us getting sick. However, there is a long term sickness cost to that. Only 40% of NZ rivers are safe to even swim in now. The Manawatu river is the MOST POLLUTED river in the southern hemisphere. Someone got trench mouth from ingesting that river water. It’s contaminated with spirochetes that cause leptospirosis & lyme disease among other things (all in the article of the last link there). They’ve been polluting our waterways for the past century basically and continue to do so. We can no longer eat what remains of the food in our waterways … the whitebait’s nearly gone, birds are declining, eels are dying. All in the name of profits for the few.
Having trouble identifying 4G/5G wireless antennas in your area? Here are some examples of what they look like (photos at link, be sure to read comments there for each photo):
“Who should decide how we integrate new technologies into our communities, especially technologies that may be hazardous?
Should it be telecoms, whose primary interest is in making a profit for shareholders?
Or should it be our local elected officials, who know our communities and whose primary interest is the health, safety, privacy, security and well-being of citizens?”
Supporters of NZ’s conservation by aerial poisoning have commonly defended their position with the statement “Look at the science.”
Most of the published science on conservation in NZ is accessed readily, appearing in the NZ Journal of Ecology (NZJE). A browse through the issues from the last couple of years reveals glimmers of hope for ecological management, plus some not so nice things. The following is a quick run through.
Freshest news from Landcare is the observation that ship rats climb up and carefully drink nectar from mountain flax flowers; their furry faces probably transferring pollen between flowers (Donald & Dhami, 2022).
Landcare is now thinking rats might compete for nectar and pollinate “on a widespread and under-appreciated scale.”
Also from Landcare is “Do mice matter?” (Watts et al., 2022). It concludes they do.
When other mammals were fenced out of a reserve, mouse numbers rose and apparently reduced numbers of wētā, caterpillars and other invertebrates, potentially having “catastrophic” effects. Then when the researchers got rid of the mice, unexpected things were noted: non-native earthworms seemed to move into the depleted ground faster than native earthworms, and an extremely high number of beetles appeared in one area.
Stoats and Rats
Studies of alpine-dwelling stoats by researchers from several organisations (McAulay et al., 2020; 2021) supported previous findings that rats are stoats’ preferred prey. Fifty-five stoats were caught in traps laid above the tree line in Fiordland, Mt Aspiring and Nelson Lakes national parks. Stomach contents and stoat tissues were analysed to find out what they had been eating.
At the Fiordland and Mt Aspiring sites the stoats were living on small mammals (e.g. rats), topped up with insects and plant material. There was no bird material in their stomachs, and it was estimated that long-term, small birds made up less than 2% of the diet. In contrast at Nelson Lakes (where there were no rats) stomachs contained small birds (estimated as 15 -26% of the long term diet) and also skinks (19-57%).
The authors warned that when and where ship rat numbers are low, stoats are more likely to eat threatened species. Also that individual stoats have their own feeding habits, so generalisations cannot be made from narrow observations.
On islands where introduced mammals have been eliminated, things have turned out badly for several bird species. Miskelly et al. (2021) (from Te Papa Museum and the Department of Conservation (DoC)) studied birds on 38 Fiordland islands, where Norway rats or stoats were removed several decades ago. Seven islands left unmanaged provided an experimental control. In the absence of rats or stoats, robins have flourished, seemingly aggressively ousting other species, including grey warbler, silvereye and tomtits.
“Robins flourished—ousting other species”
The authors warned that killing off predators to achieve “restoration” can cause declinesand disappearances of native bird species. So far then, it seems much is being learnt about ecology that challenges NZ’s Predator Free conservation goal to wipe out mustelids, rats and possums (Predator Free, 2022).
Many Questions
There are many questions: how to deal with increasing mice, once their predators have been killed off; how do our long-naturalised mammals fit into current ecology; what about the results from the Fiordland islands, where it appears that taking away the introduced predators reduced the diversity of birds?
Also challenged within these first few papers is DoC’s insistence on aerial poisoning of alpine zones, to “protect” rock wren and kea from stoats. The stoats are likely to not be eating any birds! Plus the poison is toxic to birds and a very broad range of other creatures. It is not reliable in controlling stoats which shift to eating birds if their rat prey is gone. So the alpine animals may suffer a double-whammy: poison, then hungry stoats. DoC’s idea that stoats must be killing off bird species comes from hunted down, marked and monitored nests. But the monitoring itself makes the nests prone to desertion and predation.
Contributions from DoC to the latest NZJEs include an addition to a large pile of studies on nesting and survival of rare birds wearing radio telemetry gear (Steffens et al., 2022). This gear, ironically, makes birds much less likely to nest, markedly increases energy expenditure and causes fatalities.
Something seems amiss in the animal ethics screening of DoC experiments.
Attempts to improve monitoring appeared in the University of Otago’s study on robins, whose nests were observed from a distance to avoid disturbing them (van Heezik et al., 2020), and trials by various researchers on remote monitoring of kiwi, using their calls (Jahn et al., 2022; Ellis & Marsland, 2022). The latter authors had animal welfare and other concerns about the transmitters DoC routinely uses on kiwis’ legs.
As with DoC, a lack of ethical oversight was apparent in a study from Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP). Nichols et al. (2022) killed 20 rats by feeding them 1080-poisoned food, to make bait for stoats. Since, there has been a change: now they humanely kill their rodents then make them poisonous by injecting them with 1080.
Many articles concerned aerial poisoning using 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate).
Bomans et al. (2021) from Victoria University monitored bird calls before and after aerial poisoning operations realising however that calls did not reflect bird numbers, because survivors might call frequently, e.g. for mates. Dilks et al. (2021) (from DoC and Lincoln University) used trail cameras, baited with rabbit meat and an egg, to record animals before (spring) and after (summer) an aerial poison operation. With no experimental control they could not conclude much, except that all common small mammals were seen far less afterwards. Morriss et al. (2021) (mainly Landcare people) “gathered observations” on deer mortality rates after aerial poisoning, which were highly variable and it was concluded formal research was needed.
Rats Rebound
Two studies demonstrated the classic rat population response to aerial 1080 poisoning, with numbers rebounding within several months and reaching higher levels than before poisoning began (Bell et al., 2021 (mainly people from DoC); van Heezik et al., 2020 (mainly from Otago University)). To gain better control, Nichols et al. (2021) from ZIP aerially poisoned twice a few months apart, spreading baits at extra high density, and managed to nearly get rid of all rats, stoats and possums. Monitoring of any other creatures’ survival was only “incidental”; a grave omission since the authors propose this super-poisoning might become more common as NZ strives to become Predator Free.
Rats are especially well equipped, through their lifestyle and physiology, to withstand a 1080 poison war.
An oncoming weapon for beating nature is genetic modification, and there’s no shortage of interested parties lining up. Inwood et al. (2020) are people from Scion, Landcare, the Environmental Protection Agency and four universities wanting to work on topics such as gene editing to make rats infertile. That idea had been put to bed by a NZ Royal Society review (Dearden et al., 2017) as too dangerous, because modified rats might escape to overseas ecosystems where rats were actually important!
Habitat Importance
Encouragingly, Walker et al. (2021a; 2021b) from Landcare stressed the need to preserve habitat, stating its loss and modification “is a principal, ongoing cause of indigenous biodiversity decline.” Echoing this was Landcare’s study on kereru, for which forest seemed to be a limiting factor (Carpenter et al., 2021).
Long ago, ecologist Dr Carolyn King pointed out “conservation of species is conservation of habitats”.
How good things might have been if DoC’s head scientist Graeme Elliott had listened to Dr King and focussed his career on the observation that mohua, needing tall forest trees on valley floors, were suffering from habitat loss. Instead, stoats were blamed for the mohua’s decline, leading to rampant stoat trapping, followed by rats getting out of control and eating the mohua, then the onset of aerial poisoning to quell rats.
Perhaps the Predator Free movement might yet face up to ecology.
Unfortunately, as restated in the NZJE (McGlone et al., 2020) there is a history of dysfunction whereby conservation management in NZ has departed from science.
The science indicates a need for careful studies and saving habitat, rather than mindless interference and indiscriminate poisoning.
Footnote: A fully referenced copy of this article is available at this link.
New Zealand has for many decades waged a war against predators. Currently there are a number of anti-predator campaigns, often using public money in big spend-ups on futile aerial poisoning exercises. In addition, in the end, the blanket operations run counter to the impassioned aim of exterminating predators (e.g. rats) and instead cause major disruption to food chains and serious damage to the ecosystem. For example there is Predator Free 2050, and Zero Invasive Predators, the latter jazzily known by the acronym of ZIP. The zealous programmes have earned international recognition.“Time” magazine which proclaimed “Rats, Possums and Stoats Beware! New Zealand Goes to War Against Invasive Pests.” But the programmes are like the 1837 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. At one stage in the fable, the wise man serving the Emperor thinks “What!” “Is it possible that I am a fool? I have never thought so myself. No one must know it now if I am so. Can it be, that I am unfit for my job?”Those questions should be asked of those who champion Predator Free 2050 and ZIP – people from Prime Ministers to central and local government politicians, local bodies, naive unquestioning media whoop as investigative journalists, extreme green groups and even unprincipled “scientists” following the money trail of funding all pursuing the dream of exterminating New Zealand’s predators. However the reality is the dreams are running against the way Nature behaves.
Predator Role Wildlife mangers overseas are increasingly regarding predators as an important part of a healthy ecosystem. In 2014 Al S Glen of New Zealand’s Landcare Research and Christopher Dickman of Sydney University co-authored a book on “Carnivores of Australia” and in a chapter “The Importance of Predators” said “to maintain or restore functioning ecosystems, wildlife managers must consider the ecological importance of predators.” This is hardly a new idea. Charles Elton, an Oxford ecologist, first conceptualised food webs in the 1920s, speculating that wolf removal would result in over-population of deer on which wolves preyed. The notion was taken up by others such as highly respected conservationist and author Aldo Leopold. Predators tend to remove vulnerable prey, such as the old, injured, sick, or very young, leaving more food for the survival and success of healthy prey animals. Also, by controlling the size of prey populations, predators help slow down the spread of disease. Predators will catch healthy prey when they can, but catching sick or injured animals is more likely and helps in the formation of healthier prey populations because only the fittest animals survive and are able to reproduce. In addition, predators help to reduce the negative impacts that their prey may have on the ecosystem if they become too abundant or it they stayed in one area for too long. Biologists have recognised predators like cheetahs prey on grazing animals like antelope, it keeps the prey population moving around (in fear) and prevents overgrazing in any one area. As a result, more trees, shrubs, bushes, and grasses can grow, which then provides habitat for many other species.
Predator Removal Dangers If carnivores were removed from an ecosystem, what would happen? Herds of grazing animals, such as antelope, would grow and grow and result, in large herds overgrazing their food source, and as the food disappeared, the whole herd would begin to starve. Caroline Fraser writing for the US’s Yale School of the Environment said experts “beginning with aquatic experiments, have amassed considerable evidence of damage done to food chains by predator removal and have extended such studies to land.” Predators are simply a part of any ecosystem’s food chain. New Zealand’s native falcon prey on other native birds such as tuis and bellbirds. Blue duck (whio) prey almost entirely on aquatic invertebrates, mostly caddisfly larvae. Kiwi prey on worms. When animals of a predatory nature are introduced such as rats and stoats were to New Zealand, they go through a “boom and bust” phase before their populations settle down to a relatively static state. Unfortunately, native prey species can become drastically reduced or even extinct as a result of the predator “boom”. The critical aspect of managing this situation is avoiding predator “booms”. Consequently,the fervour and haste which the Department of Conservation and local councils applies with toxins is reckless and fraught with ecological danger.
Disastrous Outcomes Large scale poisoning with eco-toxins such as 1080 and brodifacoum may heavily reduce predator numbers initially but with a few short years, the outcome is disastrous. The science is there to show the resurgence in predator numbers and subsequent wrecking of the food chain. Wendy Ruscoe in a study published in Landcare Research’s publication 2008 showed aerial dropping of 1080 will temporarily knock back a rat population but due to the rodent’s amazing reproductive capacity, the surviving rats recover rapidly and within 18 months, are two to three times greater than before poisoning began. A 2007 study by Landcare scientists Graham Nugent and Peter Sweetapple showed rat numbers recovered within 18 months and at the two year mark, rat abundance could be four times greater than before poisoning.
Stoat Prey The disruption to the naive ecosystem ripples further. A major prey for stoats is rats. When rat numbers are reduced by 80% – 90%, the stoat deprived of its major food source, invariably switches prey to birds. But later as rat numbers surge and boom and pass original numbers, stoats enjoy a virtual banquet of rats, breeding increases and surges and then explodes.The well intentioned but ignorant predator extermination programme usually using 1080, has merely stimulated, within a few short years, major population explosions of rats and stoats. Attempting to poison-away rodent surges in beech-mast years is the ecological equivalent of farting against thunder. All this does (if anything) is delay the inevitable, as the fast-breeding ability of rodents will eventually allow population growth to match the food source. Rather than benefiting the birds and overall ecological health, there is massive ecological disruption by the man-induced mega rat and stoat plagues.
Ecological Damage That is not counting the birds and insects and other invertebrate organisms killed by 1080 as research demonstrated, by DSIR scientist Mike Meads, in the 1980’s. 1080 was originally patented as an insecticide in 1927. Examples are many of human interference directly or indirectly into Nature’s food chains resulting in profound consequences. In a classic 1966 experiment, biologist Robert Paine removed the purple seastar, Pisaster ochraceus — a voracious mussel-feeder — from an area of coastline in Washington state. Their predator gone, mussels exploded in numbers, crowding out biodiverse kelp communities with monoculture. Less than a decade after Pisaster, marine ecologists James Estes and John Palmisano reached the astonishing and widely reported conclusion that hunting of sea otters had caused the collapse of kelp forests around the Aleutian Islands. With otters reduced to low levels, the prey (sea urchins) stripped the kelp forests. When otters eventually returned, they regulated urchins, allowing “luxuriant” regrowth of biodiverse kelp communities.
Toheroa Decline In New Zealand, the decline of the toheroa shellfish was attributed unofficially to heavy over-fishing of snapper which preyed on paddle crabs which in turn preyed on toheroa. With the heavy decline in snapper, paddle crabs proliferated and almost obliterated toheroas. New Zealand has a long history of an obsession with attempted extermination of predators. In the 1950s acclimatisation societies managing trout fisheries blamed freshwater eels and shags for perceived declines in trout numbers. Bounties were paid out on eels. It had little effect. Ironically the best trout fishing rivers had healthy populations of both trout and eels. Eels simply removed the sick, the old or the unwary thus making for a quality trout population. The concept of being ”predator free” or “zero predators” has no ecological justification, except in limited circumstances on smaller offshore islands and “mainland islands”. Even in islands where predators may have been eliminated e.g. Secretary Island in Fiordland, the success is short-lived and temporary as animals can and do swim from the mainland to recolonise.
Playing God It seem incomprehensible that an agency such as the Department of Conservation and the Predator Free 2050 and ZIP concepts should go unquestioned in the light of the understanding internationally of the dangers of playing God with predators..But the ‘fly in the ointment’ is human nature. For example a scientist in DOC arguably has a vested interest by way of employment and a handsome salary. Similarly with any consulting scientist attached to Predator Free 2050 and ZIP. For others of zealous nature, as some humans are wont to be, it becomes the pursuit of “The Impossible Dream.” For politicians it’s good P.R. to declare war on the baddies, no matter how pointless and damaging that might be. The sad outcomes are the gross misuse of public funds and more tragically the profound ecological damage that often occurs in the pursuit of that “Impossible Dream.”
Tony Orman has spent a lifetime in the outdoors observing and reading about it and Nature. He has had some two dozen books published, mainly on fishing, deerstalking, conservation and rural life.
Garlic cloves are traditionally planted on the shortest day of the year (which is getting close; the 20th June) to be harvested on the longest day 21st December.
Any time from mid-May to mid-July is good for planting your garlic cloves..
There are ample good reasons to grow garlic; from its health benefits to the aromatic flavoring and taste that the gloves give to your meals.
You could not have garlic bread without garlic!
Garlic used to be an easy crop to grow before the dreaded Garlic Rust struck everyone about 3-4 years ago.
The rust has made garlic growing for commercial and home gardeners much more difficult but there is a solution that I developed and used last year called Cell Strengthening which is
achieved by getting good amounts of silica into the plants while they are growing.
More on this soon.
Planting your garlic cloves around this time and what you harvest 6 months later will depend greatly on what you do at planting time and during the growing season.
The best place to plant is in a sunny sheltered spot. Garlic loves frosts so no protection is needed.
Soil preparation: Garlic prefers a friable soil so that its roots can penetrate and the bulbs can swell easily.
I loosen up the top soil with a rake or hoe to make a fine tilth.
Then sprinkle BioPhos, gypsum, Wallys Unlocking the Soil, Blood & Bone, Sheep Manure pellets (Or chicken manure if you have it) and Wallys Ocean Solids over the area and rake it in.
I then place the cloves about 6cm apart into the soil with their points facing the sky.
Then I cover the cloves carefully with purchased compost such as Daltons or Oderings so that the cloves are covered and buried about 25mm under the compost.
I then sprinkle some Unlocking your soil over the compost.
When the first leaves from the cloves appear above the mulch then make up the Silicon and Boron Cell Strengthening Soil Drench mixed with water and give each plant a drench
over the foliage and into the root zone.
You will repeat this again about a month later.
What we are doing is getting a good amount of silicon into the soil which will be taken up by the roots of the garlic because of the boron additive.
With the foliage up you can now start a spray program by mixing the Silicon Cell Strengthening spray with the Silicon Super Spreader together into a trigger spray with water.
I like to add Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) to this spray for its many benefits.
The spray once made up keeps well and you only need to shake it each time prior to application over the garlic foliage.
Spray regularly while the garlic is growing once or twice a week.
Now is the time you will apply a mulch over garlic.
Garlic loves mulch and mowed leaves are ideal.
There are ample leaves around at this time of the year and these can be run over with a rotary mower and the resultant shredded leaves layered over the compost.
Alternative would be either pea straw, weed free grass clippings or more good compost.
Make a mulch layer about 5cm thick.
After this keep the area between the garlic bulbs free of weeds.
When the foliage pops through the mulch you then spray regularly with the Silicon Cell Strengthening spray with the Silicon Super Spreader.
Once a week or more often it you are passing.
The Silicon and Boron Soil Drench comes in a 500 mil bottle used at 10mils per litre to cover one sqM of area. (Shake well before using)
The Silicon Cell Strengthen spray is in a 250mil bottle mixed at 5mils into one litre of water with one fifth of a mil of the Silicon Super Spreader added per litre.
(1 mil into 5 litres of water with 25 mils of Cell Strengthening spray) A 1mil pipet is supplied for measuring.
Alternative you can obtain a 500 mil bottle of Cell Strengthening Spray with the spreader already added.
Used at 5 mils per litre of water. I make up the spray in a one litre trigger sprayer and leave it where the garlic is growing and give it a shake and spray.
Using the above products last season there was no sign of any rust during the whole growing time and harvested rust free. (Products are available on our Mail Order web site)
The silicon cell strengthening products are ideal for tomatoes, potatoes and other plants affected by the psyllid. The spray can also help control curly leaf disease on stone fruit.
Traditionally harvesting of garlic is on the longest day of the year ( 21st December).
It is better to wait harvesting till after the all leaves start to go yellow, which often happens around mid-January.
Harvesting earlier might mean the bulbs aren’t as big as they could be.
Harvesting later might mean the bulbs split, or in extreme cases start to deteriorate.
To harvest, use a garden fork or something similar to loosen the soil, and just pull up the plant up gently by its base.
After lifting leave the leaves on, because during the drying process the goodness from the leaves goes in to the bulb, increasing its size and making it even more yummy and nutritious.
Clean off the dirt from the bulb and dry it for a few days lying on a dry surface in a dry area such as a carport, then store it by hanging in a dry place out of the sunlight.
Tying clumps of five or ten together by the leaves and hanging under a carport or shed roof works well.
When dry, the plant tissue is very absorbent and will even absorb moisture from damp air and turn mouldy.
Once nice and dry I prefer to store the bulbs indoors in a cardboard box in a dry room or shed where condensation is not a problem.
If you would like to find out the history of garlic there is an excellent web site at:
Black aphids are about the only pest to have a go at your garlic as these aphids prefer onions, shallots, garlic and lettuces.
As soon as noticed spray with Wallys Super Neem Tree oil with Super Pyrethrum added. END.
There are some very interesting BITS if you would like to know about what commentators are asking/saying, then email me and ask for them. Phone 0800 466464 Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
Why the FDA and the EPA aren’t set up to protect us from contaminants in the food we eat.
In July 2017, The New York Times ran a story titled The Chemicals in Your Mac and Cheese. Researchers, the article explained, had found plasticizers—known as phthalates—in the popular kids’ food. Fewer than two weeks later, the Timesreported that traces of the herbicide glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, had been found in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Several people asked me: Should we be worried? My answer: Yes, we should, but not just because researchers found plasticizers (which are chemicals that make plastics more durable) in our mac and cheese or herbicide in our ice cream. We should be worried because these kinds of environmental chemical contaminants are literally everywhere, in nearly all our foods. We know they exist in these two foods because researchers specifically looked for them. Roughly 9,000 environmental chemicals on the market end up in our foods, including food additives, colorings, flavorings, pesticides, and food-packaging chemicals. Even though they are ever-present in our environment and our bodies, many are never thoroughly tested for safety—and some are never tested at all.
When we think of vegetable gardening, we’re often convinced that FULL SUN is the only way we’ll be successful. This couldn’t be more wrong! There are plenty of shade friendly plants that will thrive in 2-5 hours of sun. On top of that, there are some plants that won’t LOVE being in shade, but will TOLERATE it, which allows you to squeeze out even more harvests from spaces you might typically ignore in your garden.
An observing alien species would ask itself, “Why is humanity destroying ALL of their food sources?” In this special Ice Age Farmer broadcast, Christian has a candid conversation about the overwhelming number of attacks on our food supply. With crops unplanted and with more food facilities burning down, the media runs stories about “food fire conspiracy theories.” And it’s not just chickens — the state is also killing deer and fish in the name of stopping diseases. Start growing food now. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.iceagefarmer.com/2022/05/…
In India the kernels of the Neem Tree are collected and cold pressed to extract the Neem oil which is used to control insect pests in agriculture and our home gardens.
The Neem Oil is not a poison so unlike chemical insecticides it does not poison the pests, the environment or the user.
Instead it acts as a deterrent and has the ability to prevent insect pests from feeding making it an anti-feedent and when a small amount is consumed by pest insects feeding on the plants sprayed with the oil they stop eating and starve to death..
Recently EPA came across an overseas study that suggested that the active ingredient in Neem Oil could be harmful to aquatic life.
Apparently there are other studies that show it is not but EPA has taken the precaution of having all brands of Neem Oil to be re-registered and while the applications are being scrutinised the Neem Oil brands cannot be marketed in NZ.
That is the reason the Wallys Super Neem Tree oil is currently removed from sale while our application is being approved.
Neem Granules and powder which in India are called Neem Cake does not have that problem and is used as a soil conditioner, fertiliser and pest deterrent.
The only difference between Wallys Neem Tree Granules and Wallys Neem Tree Powder is the particle sizes.
The powder is uniform size particles about 1-3mm where the granules is a mix of powder up to lumps about 30mm in size but mostly about 10-15mm.
The powder is ideal for using in the planting hole for seedlings, on the lawn and on smaller containers.
To deter carrot fly you sprinkle the power with the seeds when sowing and later when the tops are up about 4 to 5 cm you side dress the row with Wallys Neem Tree Powder.
It is fast acting, breaking down and needs to be reapplied about every 2-3 months.
The larger particles of Wallys Neem Tree Granules are slower to break down giving a much longer protection period of about 3 to 5 months.
This makes them ideal for placing in the root zone of larger plants, roses, shrubs and trees.
I have been pleased with the effects that have happened when used on the soil surface in the root zone of citrus trees.
An application sprinkled from the trunk to the drip line cleans the tree of all insect pests within a few weeks of application.
I had a Lime growing in a container that was attacked by scale insects with a lot of ants over the plant collecting the honeydew the scale was peeing out.
A handful of Wallys Neem Tree Granules onto the growing medium and within a month no ants and no scale.
A couple of months ago a lady gardener from India living now in NZ told me how she has beautiful roses free of pests and most diseases and looking very healthy.
The secret she told me was to put about a handful of Neem Granules into a bucket of water.
Stir occasionally and then take the water and pour over your roses.
A natural food and deterrent bit like the article I wrote a few weeks back about mixing Apple Cider Vinegar with water and spraying over fruit trees.
If you are going to try the Neem Granules into a bucket of water I would also suggest you make it even better by adding a little Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL).
It has taken us 6 months to get a container load of Wallys Neem Powder/Granules from India to New Zealand because of all the upsets in the supply chains and lock downs.
Normally it would have only taken 6 to 8 weeks.
I asked my India supplier because the delays are so long now to arrange a second container.
I asked for that 3 months ago and they are still trying to find a shipping line to bring it to NZ.
Why is this the case?
Which apparently applies to both New Zealand and Australia, as our Governments make them stand off shore for long periods of time before they can dock into our ports.
While waiting to dock they use up fuel and have to pay their sailors wages for doing nothing.
A few gardeners have told me that using Neem Powder or Granules in their vegetable gardens has deterred cats from fouling the gardens.
Apparently the cats do not like the smell of the Neem.
This may work for some cats and be a deterrent but I have not had sufficient feed back to say it is greatly successful on most cats.
If you find by using it in gardens that cats stop fouling please let me know.
The product Wallys Cat Repellent which is naphthalene flakes works on about 95% of cats.
We are trying to bring a shipment from India but so far not having any success so out of stock.
None of the shipping lines want to handle it so trying to air freight it here if they can find a plane to bring it to NZ.
My advice to all you readers currently is to plant up food crops into any available ground and stock up on essentials as a world wide famine has started and things are not looking good.
Have an ample stock of vegetable seed varieties that you like to grow and store the packets opened or unopened in a glass jar sealed with a lid in your fridge.
Also seeds for growing sprouts which can be grown all year round for good nutrition as not subjected to day light hours like our vegetable crops for growth.
Have on hand a supply of MBL and Ocean Solids which a small amount of both can be added to the water that you use to do your sprouts to increase their mineral content.
There is an old saying ‘Prepare for the Worst and Hope for the Best.’
If you want a ‘Bit more’ information on current happenings email me.
A timely and amazing doco that is well worth the watch if you are wanting to grow your own food. A necessity with the current, increasing (& planned) shortages. Little weeding or watering. It will revolutionize your gardening! EWR
Back to Eden Gardening Documentary Film – Learn how to grow a regenerative organic vegetable garden the best and easiest way! Grow fruits and veggies with less labor, less watering, fewer weeds, and an extremely abundant harvest! Paul Gautschi, featured in the documentary Back to Eden, has popularized the use of free wood chip mulch from tree trimmings in vegetable gardens and orchards. Discover the regenerative organic gardening movement that has made millions of people worldwide love growing their own food by watching the film, streaming online for free!
FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/backtoedeng… FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BackToEdenGa… Back to Eden shares the story of Paul Gautschi and his lifelong journey walking with God and learning how to get back to the simple, productive organic gardening methods of sustainable provision that were given to man in the garden of Eden. The food growing system that has resulted from Paul Gautschi’s incredible experiences has garnered the interest of visitors from around the world. Never, until now, have Paul’s organic gardening methods been documented and shared like this! You will walk away from Back to Eden Film with the knowledge of how to plant an organic garden and how to grow your own food. Back to Eden gardening is the best gardening technique!
For those of you who don’t know, VAERS can be downloaded for analysis from here, and the SYMPTOM file contains up to 15 different reported adverse events (AEs) per VAERS_ID. Typically, 5 symptoms (or AEs) are reported per VAERS_ID.
Below is a Table that show the top 80 AE entries in each respective SYMPTOM column. I don’t know why I chose 80. No reason. I highlighted some alarming AEs in red. Also, no specific reason for picking them.
Note his logic: “We didn’t know then that COVID’s really just a flu; so it was pretty scary that the world, including the United States, didn’t go on alert nearly as fast as it needed to.”
And yet, funnily enough, Dr. Fauci, of all people, did know that COVID is ‘kind of like flu,” as he noted in February, 2020. So Gates’s “experts” weren’t in touch with Dr. Fauci?
I am often asked about how to control populations of slugs and earwigs in gardens without using the usual chemicals.
This is particularly important in food growing gardens as we do not want to have poisons in the food we are eating.
You may not realise it but both earwigs and slugs do provide benefit to your gardens as they prefer decomposing plant material to living plants
so if you are clean and tidy and there are no rotting plants available then they will do damage to your growing plants.
When you are weeding if you leave some weeds on the soil to break down naturally then the two pests will become assets.
Sprinkling lawn mowing clippings onto gardens is another way of using what many consider a waste product to benefit.
One precaution with that is if the lawn grasses are seeding as you would then be putting a lot of new grass weeds into your gardens to germinate later.
If the slugs and earwigs (You can include with them slaters or as some call them wood lice) are a real problem then you could try the following.
I learnt about this method a long time ago and have often suggested to gardeners to use it.
What you need is some strips of 3plywood or similar about 250-300mm long and about 150mm wide.
These are laid down on the soil in areas where you are having problems with the pests.
Now you take a trigger sprayer and mix two parts bleach to one part water.
During the day you fold back the slats of ply onto their far edge and see what is hiding under them.
If you have some of the pests you wish to control simply give them a spray of your bleach and lay the ply back down on top of them.
Repeat the same process regularly until you have the pest population under control.
Slugs and snails cannot tolerate copper as it makes them dehydrate and die.
If either pest comes into contact with copper they will not pass over the barrier it creates.
So this can be used to protect seedlings from being their evening meal.
I suggest placing untreated sawdust around the seedlings you wish to protect then spraying the sawdust and seedlings with Wallys Liquid Copper and Raingard added.
Much safer than using toxic poisons to kill them and better for the safety of your pets and wild life.
There is another slug like pest which is commonly called the Cherry Slug or Pear Slug as it feeds on these trees during the summer period when they are active.
They start about November to December in most areas and can be seen as a small black slimy slug on the foliage which they are eating.
If you do not treat this first generation then in January to February there will be a second large wave of them and damage will correspondingly increase.
The best solution is to spray the foliage with Wallys Liquid Copper with Raingard added as they can not handle copper either.
Another one that can be used for snails and slugs is the mineral iron.
There is a slug and snail bait on the market that uses chelate iron as the killing component which means it fairly save for pets and wild life.
You can make a slug and snail bait yourself by soaking bran in a solution of sulphate of iron and water or if you have available use chelate iron.
Add to this yeast which is what attracts the pests and they will eat the bran which now contains iron and die as a result.
There is one pest that you will never gain complete control of if they are in your area and that is ants.
Many of the ant baits on the market are only effective for a little while as the ants become bait shy to them realising that the bait is what is killing them.
Many years ago I found a very old formula that ants never seem to wake up to the fact it is killing them.
We call it Granny Mins Ant Bait and the container has a combination of Borax and Boric Acid with the recipe on how to make it up.
The product is very inexpensive selling for about $7.00 and you just dissolve the jars contents in hot water and add the required amount of sugar and honey. It makes just about a litre of bait.
Stir well and place the mixture in small jar lids wherever you see ants.
Top up the lids as they empty till there is no more ant activity.
The bait should only be used outdoors and if you have any concern for pets then put a small amount of liquid ant bait into small jars and lay then on their sides on the ground.
The small amount of ant bait used is not likely to be harmful to pets but better safe than sorry.
If ants are inside your home then the easy most effective way is to set up one or more of those insect cans that release pyrethrum spray every few minutes.
As long as that can is operating and even for a few weeks after it has emptied no ants will come into that area.
They detect that there is pyrethrum around and know it is not good for them.
Cockroaches inside your kitchen are a curse for some people and the easy way to control them safely is to sprinkle Borax powder behind the fridge and stove.
Only use in safe places such as these two areas so it is well away from food stuffs and pets.
The cockroaches walk though the borax powder and being very clean insects they clean them elves of the powder which kills them.
Products mention are from Wallys Range of products and can be found in some garden shops or by Mail Order on www.0800466464.co.nz
If there is an interest in some non gardening news email me for the Bits that the media does not like you to know such as 3 waters anti-democracy.
Former TV1 presenter Liz Gunn interviews Winston Peters on the two year trespass notice issued to him recently by Trevor Mallard. A frank and honest discussion that reflects how many NZers are feeling right now about current events and the direction our country is taking. EWR
BlackRock and Vanguard are taking over centralized food production technologies and will have near-total control over the future food supply in America
Growing my own fresh fruits and vegetables is one of my favorite pastimes. I love to harvest the sweet bounty of my labors. Sometimes growing your own food is a requirement for survival and not just a pleasant hobby.
Can I grow food inside of my home? Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, herbs, lettuce, and greens can all be grown inside of your home with a little bit of knowledge, the right supplies, and some tender loving care.
My adventure in growing food indoors began this year when the pandemic hit, and I realized that I needed to up my game when it came to growing our own food. I am not new to the home production scene, but suddenly I was driven to make it more than a hobby.
“The Food Bill” resurfaces again (also here) … some things are introduced ‘gradually’ a hallmark of Fabian Socialism… gradualism. So the Bill looked fairly benign to the folk who 100% trust & don’t bother to look deeper. However you need to examine it within the context of our diminishing rights and freedoms that began around the end of last century with those several notorious plane crashes into buildings. More links to info (historically) in this article … https://envirowatchrangitikei.wordpress.com/food-bill-nz/
Important to know about Codex Alimentarius. Codex Alimentarius is United Nations (UN), WHO (World Health Organization) and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) way of making sure the industry get more protected and that you the consumer get food with more toxins and less nutrients. It has everything to do with international trade and nothing to do with food safety.
– Codex Alimentarius is not about consumer protection. – Codex is designed to protect the industry (read: Pharmaceutical, Chemotherapy, Biotech, Agrobusiness, etc.) by eliminating natural health products and treatments, and by allowing insanely high residuelevels of toxins. – Codex is unscientific because it classifies nutrients as toxins.
FreshCap Mushrooms
Ice Age Farmer
Dana & Sarah Films
Environmental Health Watch NZ 
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