As a clinical microbiologist and immunologist, I support the theory that eating "dirt" can be a good thing. Casual exposure to our earthly surrounding has been a factor in our evolution for hundreds of thousands of years. The sudden secession of exposure to our environment cannot be in our best interest. However, I would draw the line at suggesting that exposure to intestinal parasites is always a good thing. As to the use of antibiotics; all modern physicians are trained to refrain from treating with the shotgun (broad-spectrum) approach, however care of the individual always comes first, which often necessitates this approach. The real issue is that the use of antibiotics selectively creates resistant strains of pathogens and other organisms. IE, the only organisms left after treatment are those which are resistant to that treatment. Over time we create multiply resistant organisms like Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus.(MERSA)Wide spread use of tetracycline in the 60's and 70's, in the poultry industry, was responsible for much of the loss of this drugs effectiveness. Best regards, Phil
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 10:24 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Community_garden Digest, Vol 646, Issue 2 Send Community_garden mailing list submissions to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.commu nitygarden.org or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to [email protected] You can reach the person managing the list at [email protected] When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Community_garden digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Fwd: A Little Dirt Is Good for You (Diana Liu) 2. Re: Fwd: A Little Dirt Is Good for You (George Campbell) 3. Re: (SCL: 6) Re: FW: please read this report; additional info on biochar (George Campbell) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:11:29 -0800 (PST) From: Diana Liu <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Fwd: A Little Dirt Is Good for You To: [email protected] Cc: community garden <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" Thanks Judy for correcting my mis-statement about polio.? It just that in public health, we used?this as an example.? So did we think that breast cancer only occurred in upper middle class white females.? Of course, as I work in the public health field long enough, generalizations really don't work when people are affected. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. - Lao Tzu ? ?Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.? - Winston Churchill ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ? --- On Wed, 1/28/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Fwd: A Little Dirt Is Good for You To: [email protected] Cc: "community garden" <[email protected]>, [email protected] Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2009, 7:07 AM #yiv1185458085 p {margin:0;} My dad used to say, "You need to eat a peck of dirt before you die."? May have been some wisdom in that.? But I disagree that polio rarely hit the poor.? I lived through one of the biggest epidemics in the 40's and lots of poor kids got it then and even some adults.? My friend Tim's mother died and Eugene who was in my third grade class lost his year-younger sister. Judy ? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Diana Liu" <[email protected]> To: "community garden" <[email protected]>, [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 9:50:34 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Fwd: A Little Dirt Is Good for You Wow!? I am sure some other MDs?the Public Health field would be up the arms about this.? However, there is some truth to it.? Wasn't polio a rich kid's disease?? Poor kids rarely get them.? Isn't it also true that we don't want to abuse anti-biotics because it will kill the beneficial micor-organisms in our system?? Of course, just like we look at invasive plants, they themselves are not really invasive, but they become invasive there is an imbalance of nature. ? Anyhow, I am learning so much from the Garden!? :-) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. - Lao Tzu ? ?Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.? - Winston Churchill ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ? --- On Tue, 1/27/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [Community_garden] Fwd: A Little Dirt Is Good for You To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 8:59 PM I always knew playing in the garden was good for me... > Personal Health ?http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html?em > > Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You > > > By JANE E. BRODY > Published: January 26, 2009 ..."In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with "dirt" spur the development of a healthy immune system. Several continuing studies suggest that worms may help to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma." ... > "The typical human probably harbors some 90 trillion microbes," [Mary Ruebush] wrote. "The very fact that you have so many microbes of so many different kinds is what keeps you healthy most of the time." ... > Dr. Weinstock goes even further. "Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt, and not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat," he said. He and Dr. Elliott pointed out that children who grow up on farms and are frequently exposed to worms and other organisms from farm animals are much less likely to develop allergies and autoimmune diseases. > Also helpful, he said, is to "let kids have two dogs and a cat," which will expose them to intestinal worms that can promote a healthy immune system. > _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.commu nitygarden.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communityga rden.org/attachments/20090128/2a9077cb/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: ?http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.comm unitygarden.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communityga rden.org/attachments/20090128/db57daa6/attachment.html> ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:16:05 -0500 From: "George Campbell" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Fwd: A Little Dirt Is Good for You To: <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> Cc: 'community garden' <[email protected]> Message-ID: <8f5af72983ef48bfaf7879c423bb5...@monster> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" "...eat a peck of dirt..." I would choose the healing dirt from El Santuario de Chimayo in New Mexico...maybe get "two bangs for your buck" ... -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 10:07 AM To: [email protected] Cc: community garden Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Fwd: A Little Dirt Is Good for You My dad used to say, "You need to eat a peck of dirt before you die."? May have been some wisdom in that.? But I disagree that polio rarely hit the poor.? I lived through one of the biggest epidemics in the 40's and lots of poor kids got it then and even some adults.? My friend Tim's mother died and Eugene who was in my third grade class lost his year-younger sister. Judy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Diana Liu" <[email protected]> To: "community garden" <[email protected]>, [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 9:50:34 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Fwd: A Little Dirt Is Good for You Wow!? I am sure some other MDs?the Public Health field would be up the arms about this.? However, there is some truth to it.? Wasn't polio a rich kid's disease?? Poor kids rarely get them.? Isn't it also true that we don't want to abuse anti-biotics because it will kill the beneficial micor-organisms in our system?? Of course, just like we look at invasive plants, they themselves are not really invasive, but they become invasive there is an imbalance of nature. ? Anyhow, I am learning so much from the Garden!? :-) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. - Lao Tzu ? ?Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.? - Winston Churchill ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ? --- On Tue, 1/27/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [Community_garden] Fwd: A Little Dirt Is Good for You To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 8:59 PM I always knew playing in the garden was good for me... > Personal Health ?http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html?em > > Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You > > > By JANE E. BRODY > Published: January 26, 2009 ..."In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with "dirt" spur the development of a healthy immune system. Several continuing studies suggest that worms may help to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma." ... > "The typical human probably harbors some 90 trillion microbes," [Mary Ruebush] wrote. "The very fact that you have so many microbes of so many different kinds is what keeps you healthy most of the time." ... > Dr. Weinstock goes even further. "Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt, and not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat," he said. He and Dr. Elliott pointed out that children who grow up on farms and are frequently exposed to worms and other organisms from farm animals are much less likely to develop allergies and autoimmune diseases. > Also helpful, he said, is to "let kids have two dogs and a cat," which will expose them to intestinal worms that can promote a healthy immune system. > _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.commu nitygarden.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communityga rden.org/attachments/20090128/2a9077cb/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: ?http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.comm unitygarden.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communityga rden.org/attachments/20090128/99e3e6d1/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.commu nitygarden.org ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:24:14 -0500 From: "George Campbell" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] (SCL: 6) Re: FW: please read this report; additional info on biochar To: <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> Message-ID: <6d98db9dbac84b7998eb9360fd45b...@monster> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" It is quite amazing how many of us became only recently aware of biochar, and I have been reading a great deal of literature on both gardening and energy fronts. I suspect it will not remain under the radar for long. My first realization of it was about two weeks ago, when a friend from Minneapolis was traveling with his family in Colombia SA (his wife is Colombian) and he e-mailed me about there search for a finca on which to grow fair-traded, organic coffee. He mentioned their desire to utilize biochar. I suspect he was not aware of it prior to farming considerations in a lesser developed part of the world, which is where its origins can be traced. I am still trying to get my head around the issues of toxins, pollutants, feedstocks, and energy in/energy out issues. What had its origins many 100s of years ago in lands and times much different than today, as a basic way to restore soil, may or may not have a vital place and role to play in the current environment...??? -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chris Reid Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 6:15 PM To: [email protected]; George Campbell Subject: (SCL: 6) Re: [Community_garden] FW: please read this report;additional info on biochar On the biochar (which I did not know about before this conversation), one thing that is not clear to me is what happens to any heavy metals that are within the plant mass used as stock for making the biochar.? Are there certain waste stocks that, due to heavy metal content, are not appropriate for biochar? Does the amount of heavy metal per acre increase when waste is converted to biochar and is put down?? In other words, if the biochar concentrates the stock and therefore the heavy metals and isthen applied at more concentrated levels than the original plant waste such as corn stalk mulch lying on the field, do repeated applications raise the heavy metals levels? I ask this question because when researching wood ash, I discovered that the heavy metal content can be quite variable, depending on the heavy metal uptake by the trees used to make the wood ash.? While heavy metals often can be "sopped up"(adsorbed) by organic matter, they do not go away. A farmer or gardener with soil tests who knows his soil's heavy metal content and therefore knows the plant material/waste? grown on it is in a very different position than someone obtaining bio char? from someone else's waste products.? If making biochar or applying it concentrates heavy metals, that would be a good thing to understand clearly in managing this material. Chris Reid --- On Tue, 1/27/09, George Campbell <[email protected]> wrote: From: George Campbell <[email protected]> Subject: [Community_garden] FW: please read this report; additional info on biochar To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 5:49 PM Hope all this helps.it is a topic of great interest to me, so please keep the topic going. _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rebecca Oglesby Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 4:19 PM To: George Campbell Subject: Re: please read this report Hi Jeff, We have tested a variety of feedstock and they all generally reduce to 30% of the original weight once converted into biochar. So, the biochar is about 1/3 the weight of the feedstock. We have designed a machine to take a wide variety of biomass. Certain materials will require some pre-processing, which will be studied during the feasibility testing for that feedstock. THe best materials are ones that have a good nutrient content (chicken litter, peanut shells) and high lignin content. We sell all the biochar we make during scientific experimentation. THere is a high demand for it right now because its nearly impossible to find and isn't on the market yet. There are many scientist who need it for field trials and experimentation. We currently sell it at $5 per pound. This rate will go down as biochar becomes more widely available. Please visit http://www.egenindustries.com/ for more information on pricing. Kindest Regards, ~Rebecca On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 3:15 PM, George Campbell <[email protected]> wrote: And another.what is the ratio of feedstock to biochar? _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rebecca Oglesby Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 2:55 PM To: George Campbell Subject: Re: please read this report Hi Jeff, Thank you for the article. There are many points in it that I agree with. There are many problems with using plants and trees for fuels, especially if those plants are taking space in land we need for food sources. As a company, we will only sell our equipment to small farms that have an agricultural waste that can be used as a feedstock to make biochar and energy. For instance, we have tested corn stalks and chicken litter. We are very adamant about not placing our machines in situations that would promote deforestation. This will be one of the biggest challenges for our philanthropic projects. I hope this answers your questions. Here is a letter that we send to people interested in Eprida, it might help explain what we do: Thank you for your interest in Eprida. We are very excited about the new developments happening around here. We are currently wrapping up design on new pyrolysis units. These innovative new units will convert a wide variety of waste biomass into energy and biochar, two valuable co-products. We focus on using waste materials as a feedstock because competing with food production just doesn't make sense. We have tested a variety of materials including local peanut shells, southern yellow pine, corn stover from Iowa, and chicken litter from Oklahoma in our pilot unit. The experience and data gained from these experiments contribute invaluably to the design of the new pyrolysis units. The new units in design will process up to 1 ton per hour of biomass with a similar bulk density of wood chips. We make this distinction because a ton of corn stover is much more voluminous than a ton of wood chips due to the density of the material. This size plant is perfect for small farming applications as well as small production facilities. We are also developing a smaller lab unit that will be deployed all over the world to conduct biomass testing and process up to 25 kilograms of feedstock per hour. In order to assure the quality of the biochar as well as the quality of the feedstock as an energy producing material, testing must be conducted. For instance, a sample of the feedstock must be tested to determine the mass balance, the energy balance, the biochar composition and value. Additionally, since we plan to make these units available to everyone with minimal processing of each individual feedstock, special materials handling testing must be conducted to assure that any necessary pre-processing is minimized. Continuous feed units require a great deal more engineering than batch systems in order to successfully run a variety of feedstocks through. Aside from customized material handling protocols, the 1 tph units are fully automated and easy to use. Just keep them loaded with feedstock and they will do the rest of the work for you. It will have a fully functioning controls system that will allow remote monitoring and high-tech alarm systems that can ring your cell phone to alert you of any problems. The units will be designed to have a small footprint although they will not be portable at this time (yes, we hope to develop a portable one in the future). The biochar produced will be ready to incorporate directly into your soil or ready to package and sell to other farmers. Using the biochar locally on your own land is a great way to return the nutrients to your soil. If you find that you end up with a surplus of biochar, you should look into the Eprida marketing program. Using the Eprida brand to market your product will notify the buyers that your biochar is up to standards. The Eprida stamp guaranties that the product was created using our quality assurance program. The benefits surrounding the Eprida brand will grow as more and more research is published by third party researchers that use our char for testing. Preliminary reports from several different researchers indicate that our biochar has beneficial properties that other char lacks. Additional benefits such as organic certification and marketing carbon credits will be easier. More details on the Eprida marketing system will be available soon. Kindest Regards, ~Rebecca Oglesby On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 9:00 PM, George Campbell <[email protected]> wrote: I would love to have your opinion on this report and how it applies to your process.I am so interested in Biochar, etc. but need to feel comfortable as regards forest utilization issues. Thanks Jeff Campbell http://pressroomda.greenmediatoolshed.org/sites/default/files/Forest4Fuel08. pdf -- Eprida, Inc (706) 534-5414 ext 645 Australia Contact: (+61) 03 5441 4110 (office) http://www.eprida.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *Disclaimer* This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company. Finally, the recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The company accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. -- Eprida, Inc (706) 534-5414 ext 645 Australia Contact: (+61) 03 5441 4110 (office) http://www.eprida.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *Disclaimer* This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company. Finally, the recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The company accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.commu nitygarden.org End of Community_garden Digest, Vol 646, Issue 2 ************************************************ _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
