I come to this concept of the value of soil-based micro organisms in a roundabout way.

I saw only one site offering them in capsules and, bingo, all I had ever noticed on gardening, gut flora, digestion, and so on, gelled.

Eureka!

Now, of course, I see that many have studied and practiced...long before me.

My task is to read this whole forum, and all the links, to see what I have not yet thought of.

The approach I have taken so far is the "Playing in the Dirt" format...and the "Sez Who?" research analysis method.

In other words, the "What's Out There in the Garden?" school of thought.


I see there is nothing to be feared from 'parasites' found on garden vegetables/fruit, because we can easily pick those up in a zillion ways, anyway...and I depend on the body's immunity to vanquish those, in any case.


I believe the work of the Japanese gentleman who prefers NOT to till the land on which we grow our food...to protect all the soil micro organisms available, from exposure to the elements.

AND, he plants (scatters) TWO compatable crops together...one to ripen and be harvested before the growth of the second.


I think the best foods, today, grow on trees and bushes, simply because they are not likely tilled, therefore the soil micro organisms may be more complete...if not sprayed.

Manure, of one kind or another, may contain anything that was given to the animal which pooped it...including man.

Green manure, made by growing crops of vigorous weeds right on the food fields, may be helpful, as long as they are NOT tilled in...and were NOT genetically mutilated seeds in the first place.

Nature never leaves soil bare...nor should we. All the creatures that live there, run for cover, or die. We just don't know what we are losing.

I read that more than 400 beneficial varieties of bacteria may live in our guts. I wonder how many kinds are left since all the attacks on our soil.

Fields of one kind of crop are for OUR convenience, or the convenience of machines.

Then the produce must (?) be shipped...breaking the cycle of rebuilding the soil...and leaving our poop to the mercy of the sanitation folks, who pump it as quickly as possible into the oceans...mixed with whatever 'processed foods', medications, and chemicals are popular these days.

If the oceans are dying (see the work of Sylvia Earle and others), and the aquafer (ground water) creatures are mutating (from urban run-off), something is wrong.

Water covers 2/3 to 3/4 of the Earth's surface. Poison the water and we die. Poison the air, and diminish the oxygen, and we die. 70% of the oxygen available used to come from green-growing things in the oceans. 30% from the green-growing things on land, and from melting ice.

And, [yet] water IS oxygen...H2O.

The Swiss have been measuring the worldwide oxygen levels since the 1930's, I haven't been able to find the current readings. When it is down to 6%, we die. The last I heard was 15%...with the air in some cities at 10%. (I believe the oxygen levels in the 1930's were at 36 - 38%, and that was AFTER the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.)

Oxygen, NOT gasoline, is our most expensive fuel. No combustion takes place without it...internally or externally.

So, how fond are we of breathing?


Plants are our mothers and fathers. Soil micro organisms are our servants.

Here's how I think it works...

...Minerals are the building blocks of life. They are the elements necessary, in the right proportions, to make everything else.

...The Earth has shifted and heaved for billions of years, pretty well mixing all the minerals it contains, into rock...the best of which, for our purposes, is volcanic rock and ash...because all the little holes in it allow in the water which carries soil micro organisms to break down the minerals, fastest.

(Volcanoes also mix minerals very, very well.)

...Soil micro organisms then carry the minerals to plant roots...and into groundwater and drinking water.

...PLANTS then decide which minerals to take up, and how much of each!

...PLANTS balance the minerals needed for life, even converting some substances to different uses when the appropriate substances are not available.

...Our distant forefathers decided which plants were good for food, according to the plants in their region, and according to which didn't hurt them.

They also ate, first, from the wild...and moved on when the supply didn't last.

They ate meat, too, which was just the same food chain with the extra step of nutrition on four feet, or wings, or fins, etc...everything pooping or composting right in place.

I'd also like to point out that OUR forefathers are the ones who got it right...the ones who got it wrong weren't ANYONE'S forefathers.

...Then along came advertising, to tell us what to do. ...For whatever reasons the advertisers, who paid for it, had in mind.

I think the information we get on the 'grapevine' is far better than anything promoted for money. Words for money just leaves too much wiggle-room. Anecdotal information is more trustworthy, I think.


So, if I can get more soil micro organisms from the wilderness, by living as close to it as possible, or by composting wild 'wastes' for my own garden, I think I can be healthier...especially if I don't wash anything off except grit.

(Someone said that tooth enamel is regenerated by exhaled breath meeting saliva. I like that idea very much...but I still don't like chewing grit...so I'll remember to only bathe my garden veggies, a little, in a BASIN of water, hoping to get micro organisms clinging to the skins.)

(See Eliot Coleman's gardening books... http://www.fourseasonfarm.com for info on composting from the wild. I add the thought that the few shovelfuls of dirt should be dirt from the wild, carefully handled to preserve as many of the wild micro organisms as possible.)


I've noticed that some people can work circles around me, and I don't think I'm lazy...tired, perhaps, or some depressed, but not lazy. Enthusiasm for life should be equal, person to person. What is making the difference? Our opportunities are equal, starting from scratch, whether as children or as adults...so why would some feel so darn awful?

I don't think the difference is psychological...I think it is physical...what each body has been able to do with the minerals, mineral salts, and the micro organisms we have.

I also think that 'fat' people are just not eliminating as they should...whether that be from the bowels, lungs, kidneys, or skin...which eliminates more than the other three systems, combined.

Humankind has survived on mineral salts from micro organisms for thousands of years, each generation adjusting to the circumstances in the area and food supply where they live.

Advertisers and book-learned 'experts' can do better? I think not.


That's my basic thinking on the subject.


Do you see any flaws?

And, who is studying the soil micro organisms as found in nature, without naming them...NOT those found in bottles? ...The unscientific way.


Fledgling


Oh yes, I think there are deposits of mineral salts that have been through plant balancing in ancient times, around the world. I think they might be our saving grace, PLUS adding in the widest variety of soil micro organisms we can get on our tongues and skins...especially our skins because they are so efficient in passing every single mineral in and out, in balance, with no need to 'calculate' on our part.

And I think there must be an element of mind, placebo effect, or somesuch, to well-being, as well.