Fungi Links (see GUILDS = ecological family of plants and creatures ... eg of Powerpoint presentation that I can do when giving a talk or course)
The Following is a brief series of presentations offering insight & some of the future ways that friendly Bacteria, Fungi & yeasts can be reinstated into creative food processing to produce excellent, high grade Nutritious foods. Also ways we might become, more as indigenous peoples were before we civilized them, custodians of an ecology in ferment. We are all within the womb of the Great mother, her Nature is one of reproductive abundance providing sustenance for all her creatures. May we serve her as Stewards and learn from careful observation to assist Nature in her great wonders.
Nutritional Ferment Session 1 Food Culture (Vegetables & home grown foods)
INTRO What is Culture?
So Culture is a bit of a mystery to me and many people I talk to. Yes then of course we all do have an opinion. Folk whose cultural roots are deeply traditional know and feel its essence innately. Though they seem to be at a loss for a way to describe their cultural uniqueness, ‘like it just is… you know?!’ But NO I didn't get it & so I had to pry and search more.
So a definition might help clarify: Culture =‘Tillage, the rearing of plants, improvement, refinement, development, laboratory culture.’
The root word here is Cult … its definition will also shed light; Cult =‘Worship, to devote oneself to a particular thing, religion or person’.
Tillage as in Agriculture, rearing plants is Cultivation; the planting of seeds, grafting & cuttings. Horticulture is the growing of trees and forests; again agriculture. In the lab Petri dish we culture bacteria, yeast or fungi. We can devote our energy to plants Floriculture as a flower grower, Viticulture wine growers.
Personally I love to elaborate and reassemble these meanings; join & braid them together.
My version of Culture has come to include growing particular groups of foods, growing people and animals and ecosystems. The key is in the nurturing and careful consideration of the best ground for the seed, best environment for animals and children to be raised in. As a family we bring our breeding and cultural values, as foods from our ancestors into our daily life. We are devoted to the creation & refinement of a life with style. This is about the spiritual experience of everyday life. Certain moral and ethical values are gathered around a culture often these take the form of rituals. Many ancient cultures connected the fertility of the land with sexuality and human fertility especially the progeny of the king & queen. They were often seen as divine manifestations of the God & Goddess of the land in a sacred union that manifested abundance.
In the laboratory the bacteria, yeast & fungi are certainly devoted to reproductive abundance & growth on whatever nutritious growing medium is available
Sow also in the guts of this is our inner fermentation. Our inner flora & fauna of the intestines are yeast, bacteria & fungi.
HISTORY (of how circumstances guided me on my path)
Many years ago whilst hitching through Europe I was thinking what “Alchemy” really was to me. Within minutes as synchronicity would have it, I was in a car with an astute man who asked ‘What has Alchemy to do with Culture’. I allowed him to elaborate and answer his own question. I was all ears. He explained that the bread, wine & cheese were the essence of most cultures; being cultured & fermented foods. The bread unlike the mono cultured white bread of today with always the same culture was made as a sourdough ferment that evolved and grew for years. Likewise the milk was cultured and fermented as yogurt or as cheeses. The wines also now mono cultured were always the same and monotonously predictable. The old wines by the discerning palate could be identified as a certain grape from a specific winery and even the year and winemaker. So of I went, on with my hitching. The very next ride had me the overnight guest of a wine maker chemist who actually still made wines in the old way. He was struggling with the new cheap wines and the mono cultured preferences of this modern age. Being a chemist myself & not a drinker at all, I found this whole sequence a tasty and palatable curiosity of life; luring me onward with more questions than answers. Yet I was still then young looking for answers, yet to learn the wisdom of the Quest (ions on the Alchemical way).
For those of you who recall that great classic by ‘Pink Floyd’ and can identify with feeling like, just another brick in the wall. The monoculture inside makes us all perfect bricks all the same, each in its place. Fermented cultured foods are ever changing & evolving enabling us to responsively adapt. Cultured foods buffer & assist us in assimilating the stresses & circumstances of daily life. We can accept change and uniqueness knowing that we are not bricks in a wall; we are creatures capable of extraordinary flexibility.
A few months later whilst still traveling in Europe I was told of an extraordinary book that I knew would help me digest this new Alchemy of nutrition. The book was in German. This man had an English copy that he gave to a friend 20 yrs ago, which he said I could have. I would have to go to England to get it. So I attempted to purchase a new copy but found it was out of print. As I was in England and passing nearby I decided to drop into the address given me, and see if this book was still with his friend. The woman who opened the door greeted me warmly and told me the man, her husband had died in an accident 18 yrs ago. The book was on a shelf, and she handed it to me saying ‘it’s yours’. Extraordinary as these events were, the book “The Nature of substance” by Rudolf Hauschka proved to be very nourishing indeed for me as this alchemical journey unfolded another stage. This book embraced a view of a living chemistry where elements are in a constant dance of transformation. The subtle energies of nature vivify and ensoul matter. Living Nature is full of spirit, radiance and qualities that are hard to weigh and measure.
Did you know there are over 6 million species of Fungi and that science is only familiar with only 50,000 of these! The fungi yeasts and bacteria are the micro organisms that are responsible for transformations in the fermentation and culturing of food.
There are mushroom loving cultures all over the world. Most white Anglo Europeans, Irish, American & Australians are myco-phobes( we ‘fear mushrooms’ as poisonous deadly and have banned them). Most indigenous and tribal folk ate and used mushrooms as food & medicine. The medicine man & Shamans used them to cure and used them in rituals as doorways to the divine, to the spirits.
Most of these so called primitive peoples were more aware that the land, plants and animals were divine and sacred. All life was connected. Like the mycelium that is a web an internet that connects us all. This reverence seems essential as a respect that we feel and radiate into our world for us to take our place as custodians. The many thousands of varieties of fungi are activated by unique specific environmental circumstances of temperature, moisture & soil pH. The fungal spores may land on plant, animal, soil or human. We may breath them in eat them in our food or pass them in a kiss, a cough or in sex. All these fungi are the vegetation that bacteria can feed upon. So as travelers we venture into other cultures, eat their foods (oft times taking their foods new fermented bacteria & fungi back inside our gut) & drinks learn their horticulture, make love with the men or women and take home with us a whole host of symbiotic flora & fauna. These can be beneficial if we can assimilate & adjust in a healthy manner and return them home in a palatable way that others can also digest.
The gut of most animals, insects and creatures is colonized with an extensive flora (fungi) & fauna (bacteria).
So at the top of the food chain we so called civilized, humans abolish our gut flora & fauna with antibiotics. The number of antibiotics in milk is very high. The number of preservatives in our commercially saleable foods is such that many people when they die are actually so well preserved that they are almost embalmed. The body refuses to decay. The natural fungi on the skin of fruit and veggies will remain if washed in rainwater but will not if sterilized with chlorinated tap water. These fungi are captured specifically to aid the digestion when eaten by creatures. It also then incubates the seeds in the gut flora & fauna of the animal or human host; so that when the seed is excreted it will be actively supported by the correct fungi and bacterial root chemists that aid germination in a viable manner optimizing the plant survival. Then we play our part actively reseeding our own food chain. We are ecologically responsible for our humble part in natures Guild (a family of bio organisms) of which we are an integrated part.
Some highly prized edible mushrooms include Nameko, 4 varieties of Oyster mushrooms, Hen of the woods (Maitake), Trumpet royal, cinnamon caps, brown & white clamshells, Pom Pon Blank are served on the top restaurants of Europe & Nth. America.
Around many fungi are a host of bacteria swarming & feeding especially as the fruits pass maturity and enter into decay. Bacteria & Fungi eat each other and as they excrete the other will be provided with fertilizer soup. A Gourmet feast of bacteria & fungi droppings are found in the soil HUMUS a soup that Gnomes (earth spirits said in folklore) feed to the young roots & seed children as they awaken from winters sleep in spring.
Session 2 Horticulture (tree culture)
--food trees
--forests & fungi (truffles)
--fungi, bacteria & roots
--Medicinal fungi
--Kamboucha, a fermented tea fungus that grows on tea. First you will need to get a mushroom to place on some tea. The best tea to use is green tea known for its healing virtues. However with all herb teas the medicinal qualities are enhanced as they ferment the sugar in the tea and create enzymes & a healthy, natural broth of nutritive chemistry supporting digestion.
Much of our food comes from trees (Nuts, Fruits and seeds). Many other resources that we humans use are tree or plant born timber for housing, oxygen we breathe, fiber and fabric of our clothing, many craft and household utensils.
Truffles are an edible fungi found around the base of Chestnuts & oak trees. The truffles are relished by both humans & pigs. The pigs are often leashed and used like sniffer dogs to locate the truffle fruits under the leaf litter. The truffle is mycorrhizal to the roots vastly extending the foraging capacity of the tree roots through the soil domain. The mycorrhiza are the fungal hyphae the white tendril threads seen in mushroom spawn. These threads that associate with plants trees & forests tend to wrap themselves around the root hairs as a transparent gelatinous sheath that sometimes actually penetrates into the cells of the root. The roots provide sugars and get minerals; a rich trade taking place from which both gain enormous benefit. This symbiotic relationship of fungi & their bacteria with their host plants. Once this relationship was thought to be a rare wonder but it is now being acknowledged as the Norm, that is most plants fungal symbiots and only weeds seem to be the exception. This means weeds too play a role in re-colonization of an ecosystem. The weeds thrive and create elements that are missing in the barren ground. After a succession of weeds, each mining & manifesting new & special nutrients & minerals, a great foundation of good soil is prepared for other plants. The weeds die out when the soil i too rich in the minerals they create for them to be able to live there. Thus they are a medicine for the land damaged by having had its green mantle of vegetation removed that has led to desertification.
Many Australian native species are hardy survivors of environmental extremes and poor soils (nutrients): these plants are aided in their enduring well being with the assistance of the many diverse fungi & bacteria. These trees have long been a source of bush tucker & bush medicines.
These fungi can produce Phosphorous for the plants. There is often Nitrogen fixing bacteria present in some species. The fungi & bacteria feed on each other as they live & die, each benefits from the others wastes. The fungi & bacteria are a vast lattice across the forest & bush floor, an absorbent sponge of leaf & bark litter that can store rain and dew that falls, and acts as an insulating mulch slowing evaporation, storing the moisture for roots.
Leaves have fine hairs said by some to be antennae that seem to capture fungal spores in the wind. Some are washed to the ground with the rains to fall mostly on the outer drip line on the plants periphery where the new roots grow. Some fall attached still to old or dying leaves to create a mulch with bark.The fungi & bacteria work with other micro organisms as a food chain that breaks down litter. The Fungi are the base of the food chain the very start of it. One fungi starts decomposition then a second will step in then a third, an efficient and intelligent series of recyclers. The mushrooms that grow on wood and digest the cellulose most efficiently can act in a similar way in our digestion aiding our assimilation of cellulose.
The Fungi seem to actively transmute some elements into others. They do this by a process of cold fusion using water. More detailed information on the transmutations can be found in the work of Louise Kervan ‘Biological Transmutations’. A brief review of some transmutations seems to suggest that elements that are just beside each other on the periodic table can be made with the addition or subtraction of a hydrogen proton to the nucleus of the element to make the next element or the preceding element. Also in the first rows of the periodic table the addition of / or the subtraction of the 16 nucleons of the Oxygen nucleus (8 protons & 8 neutrons) can raise or lower an element a full octave on the table of elements. Below are some examples;
23 1 24 39 1 40 Atomic Number = Number of Nucleons
Na + H = Mg, K + H = Ca,
11 1 12 19 1 20 Number of protons
23 16 39 24 16 40 At Number & Number of Nucleons
Na + O = K, Mg + O = Ca
11 8 19 12 8 20 Number of protons
The fungi were the key in being able to break water and fuse the nucleons of hydrogen or oxygen to an element or to even pull out an hydrogen or oxygen nucleons from an element. Another sequence that was found to occur in nature was on old monuments where the silicaceous stone that is ill swells and becomes gyspsum or the carbonate of lime. (Silica becomes Calcium). There is also a microbial disease of limestone that has a formation of a silicaceous crust. The fungi present on these monuments are related to the Aspergillacae family with other moulds; microscopic algae; bacteria; Actinomycetes that act half like bacteria and fungi both.
40 12 28
Ca - C = Si (Silicaceous crust on limestone)
20 6 14
28 12 40
Si + C = Ca (Gypsum on Silicaceous Stone)
14 6 20
So it would seem that this kind of natural alchemy that the fungi seem to excel with is prolific in most of nature’s kingdom. The hundreds and thousands of different fungi are wind born across the globe where they land on the outside of everything and then seem to get inside everything as well.
The ELDER trees of some 1-200yrs life span have had the wind harvest of the a eons to collect hundreds of species of fungal spores. These wash down to the drip line of the tree and allow the tree to extend and cross link its root structure with other plants to share nutrients. This ancient pragmatic collective wisdom can be passed onto new seedling trees by taking a handful of soil from the base of the elder tree and mixing this into the potting soil of the new seedlings tube stock. The youngster then has a constitutional soil web support system working at many levels. Instead of being all alone struggling to make connections & acquire nutrients. It will connect literally in very real terms via the root hyphae web to all the nearby plants in a sharing of resources. The trade link corridors of the mycelium & mycorrhiza transport goods and special orders of nutrients required via the soil internet.
Some mycelium eats dead wood stumps, logs & branches. Others grow on the leaf litter and bark mulch, the spongy carpet floor of the bush or forest. Some are parasitic on living wood and can end up killing the tree or plant.
A new edible mushroom being researched by the dept of forestry in Australia is 'Tricholoma Matsutake'.
Medicinal Mushrooms
Via the vast kilometers of mycelium threads we can acquire our greatest gift…. Connection & union with others. This happens in plants in the soil or inside humans & animals by creating symbiotic relationships that facilitate food & waste exchanges. The immune system is enhanced when our warrior protector cells in the blood (the T cells) are stirred up, by the Cytokins in medicinal mushrooms, to communicate with other cells in our body & blood much more efficiently. Then we are healthier and the networks of our social exchanges, relationships & families will also improve in quality & be healthier. It’s all about the quality and diversity of these sacred connections within the soil, within us that allow and then permits the magic of health to reflect outwardly into manifestation in the world.
· This team of mushrooms (Maitake, Reshi, Zhu Ling & Yun Zhi) demonstrate the ability to protect the cell from radiation damage and can be used in follow up treatment to repair damage caused by Chemo or Radiation exposure.
· Many mushrooms are anti tumor forming acting as a preventative medicine. But if you have the big C the mushroom may actually eat the tumor. You see as Dr. R. Steiner once said of cancer that it is a growth that has withdrawn from the body organization (organism). It feeds on the body as a host, the mycelium kind of insists via the T cells on reconnection to the organism or you get disassembled so to speak. The mycelium insist on a reassertion of a dynamic leadership that has the organ (with Cancer) itself take charge over the independently rampant replicator chemistry of Cancer cells in a unifying manner.
· Most recently noted as an exceptional source of Stamina, endurance & longevity is the Cordyceps Sinensis the caterpillar mushroom. This is several times more potent as a concentrate of the mycelium spawn and is commonly known of as Viagra. It should be noted the ancient Chinese respected that physical strength and sexual potency were often linked hand in glove. An increase in both was & is essential to good health. An overabundance & correct balance of energies leads to longevity
· We of the west tend to sensationalize the loss of sex potency; this desire to reacquire this vital energy of sex is very real and important. It is not just vanity sex was & is a source of regeneration. Bliss, ecstasy & rapture tone heal & renew us, confirming & affirming that we are loved and connected to another. The mushroom is the reproductive organ of the web of life. Thus it must augment lifes' connection.
The Chinese put it this way: the best 1/40th part of food is distilled to create blood; from this the best 1/40thpart of blood distilled creates Jing (Sexual essence). If you are strong & healthy the extra energy becomes sexual. So a potent libido can show a robust vitality & constitution, it has the extra glow & fullness.
It would seem that the fungi in a creatures gut can aid the host building incredible resilience into its immune system. This also sustains the fungal habitat in the host by insuring the hosts robust health & survival.
Session 3 Mushroom Cultures
--Edible mushrooms
--fungi soils & microorganisms
So here is another Myth that may shed some more light on ecological relationships of animals, plants and humans.
‘The tortoise kills a Tapir by biting its testicles. A jaguar comes along and intends to have a share. The tortoise goes to get fire wood and the jaguar steals the carcass. The tortoise as revenge manages with the help of some monkeys to climb a tree. When the jaguar later returns the tortoise positioned just so, falls on the jaguars head killing it. The tortoise makes a flute from the jaguar’s thigh bone. He goes around playing teasing melodies with his new flute.’ In other tales we are told that the tortoise is a fungus eater and also a master of honey (honey is also a fermented food). In yet another fragment an important key was that the tortoise was seen to have bees flying in & out of its anus. Strange stuff indeed. The tortoise a master of honey is itself sweet meat perhaps in ferment also. To get wood for fire is to increase the rotting and ripening process that is occurring in the Tapir’s digestion of both fungi and rotten fruit. The tortoise is like a head, the scull its shell and the brain the sweet meat within. The jaguar is the solar lion king that is chased around & around a tree before being killed (this is another story yet linked in very significant manner). The sun’s daily circling of the earth and earths yearly orbit about the sun create the day/night & seasonal cycles. This consciousness of the present moment and of time day to day, year in year out, this is the jaguar. The tortoise is the brains fermented wisdom able to reflect on the passing of the years with patience & a degree of foresight. The tortoise can compose and perform humorous musical tunes. The thigh bone of the jaguar has its coiled spring & its powerful rhythmic gait that the tortoise masterfully allows to spring fourth as music, honeyed sound.
Back a moment to Honey that fermented stuff was often brewed to make beer by the Indians in the skin of a jaguar. So then the jaguar cooks the raw meat of the tapir in its solar womb where it gestates, stews the fruits & fungi yet again. Another tale mentions that jaguar’s grandmother tries to pass off her dead son’s liver as a tree fungus. Perchance this is the same tree fungus that the tortoise ate before he extracted the bone flute.
So the whole system has a rhythm; fungus out of the ground then into tapir with fruit & seed; then into jaguar, then into tortoise and up the food chain. Each time the nectar & fruits sweet honey is fermented and assimilated over & over again in ever more refined organs of assimilation.
Mushrooms are the fruiting body of mycelium. The mycelium consists of vast chains of hyphae (thin threads like silk) that can extend for miles in very small or large areas. They go through soil and mulch (consisting mainly of leaf & bark litter). Often thought to be part of natures recycling system, the fungi actively engage in the decomposition of organic waste from plants and animals. The fungus seems to be the very base of the cycle where decomposition & assimilation of nutrients from decaying matter are regenerated into new life. The food chain & nutrients flow from fungi to bacteria to micro organisms to worms to rodents to predators…or up the plants into fruits, foods or medicines for human or animal consumption.
Some mycelium can actually penetrate into root hairs and then into the cells becoming mycorrhizal (that is symbiotic relationship between fungal hyphae and root hairs). The root provides sugars to the fungi and the fungi provide hundreds of miles of extended root surface area to access the water moisture and nutrients in the soil. The fungi also keep pathogenic fungi at bay creating an immunity and resistance to diseases, creating healthier plants and stronger root systems. The chemistry of the fungi is not well understood, but it does seem to take up and provide phosphorous and exchange excess nutrients from other plant roots as well as feed swarms of bacteria rich in nitrogen. The bacteria are consumed by the fungi and fed to the roots. Some bacteria are nitrogen fixing as well, capturing nitrogen from the air or synthesizing it from carbon monoxide. The mycelium as root extensions aid the plants survival through drought, bush fires and harsh environmental stresses. This web can extend itself vastly each winter or after rains to quickly avail the plant of fresh nutrients in the soil. The same rain washes down the spores of the wind delivered fungi to the outer edges of the tree canopy, the drip line of the tree. This is where the roots harvest the dew fall from fog and moist damp laden winds. The tree collects many diverse spores that have differing preferences in temperature, moisture and soil type. These many different types of mycelium can harvest nutrients from grasses, shrubs, trees and soils that enhance survival and viability for the plant.
The waste products of all the bacteria & micro organisms, Collembola, Mites, springtails, worms, Grub’s etc. is fertile glue that cements soil particles together as humus. Humus is what makes for good soil structure.
Good soil structure has a lot of micro sites where air/gasses can be in contact with the moist areas of the soil particles. The greater the surface area where air & water/soil can interact the richer the chemistry can be in its breathing rhythm to support the micro environs and ecology. This is where yeasts, bacteria (aerobic & anaerobic) & fungal hyphae as the vegetation (flora) of the site can grow in abundance to feed and increase the colonies of micro organisms (the on site animals or fauna).
Some mycelium eats dead wood stumps, logs & branches. Others grow on the leaf litter and bark mulch, the spongy carpet floor of the bush or forest. Some are parasitic on living wood and can end up killing the tree or plant that hosts them.
So the fruiting bodies of some of these mushrooms are edible for us humans.
Some of the food mushrooms are the common field mushroom found in any supermarket, there is the Swiss mushroom, Enoki, and Oyster mushrooms also now available in city supermarkets. Shitaki can be found fresh or dried in most Chinese supermarkets along with several less well known mushrooms that are often added to soups. Included in these shops is dried wood fungus that cooks up like seaweed. Reishi and Cordyceps can also be found as medicinal mushrooms in the herbal medical dispensaries of these oriental shops.
It is important to note here that this our western culture uses very few roots in our diets. Let’s see now carrots, beetroot, ginger, parsnip, sweet potato & spuds. Most indigenous & eastern cultures use a lot of roots. Many roots are medicinal & can be foods as well. Now what is important here is that fungi specifically mycelium attach to roots and the symbiotic relationship in the outer ecology may also be relevant even essential in our gut. So to eat diverse roots in combination with diverse mushrooms (In season varieties of both) would have us reflect the great mirror wisdom of Mother Nature. As above so below.
In Zinc deficient soils here in Australia the ecto mycorrhizal fungi Glomus fasciculatus can be inoculated onto the roots of Peach seedlings to improve their uptake of Zinc.
Dr Rudolf Steiner was a prominent Austria scientist, artist, philosopher & lecturer of the earlier half of the 20th century. He started the Anthroposphical society, re discovered Biodynamic agriculture & created a spiritual education system known as the Waldorf schools. Anthroposophy (the wisdom of man) expressed a thoughtfulness very similar in some aspects to Alchemy. Dr Steiner’s work teaching in the area of Spiritual science & medicine, indicated that the root part of plant nutritionally feeds the head, the stem nurtures the spine, the leaf the body itself & the flower the sexual organs. If we are to see the truth here that appropriate nutrition for each individual part of the body is essential for health (Health being an overall balance). Then how can we who profess ourselves one of the most intelligent of races to have existed in our most evolved civilization, and pride ourselves on our thinking, thoughtfulness and depth. How can we not do some real thinking about how we nourish our thinking organ, the brain? Our psychosomatic illnesses are as prolific as is our preference for junk food. We are perhaps one of the most disconnected civilizations on this planet due to the lack of fungi and fermented /cultured foods. Without our inner mycelium hyphae like internet, that interconnects the cells within us to the over all guidance & wholeness of the human organism. We are disorganized as individuals unable to even cooperate to make the health and wellbeing of our planetary environment a priority. I might even suggest that we are almost cancerous rogue cells; parasites endangering the health and well being of humanity & this planet as a whole??? The older ancient ways of nourishment can be gathered and reinstalled where appropriate; with a new culture and a hope that we can re-assimilate ourselves into a humble position as custodians of this planet. To enable us do this thinking we need first to feed our brain diverse roots and fermented foods rich in yeasts, friendly bacteria and a wide range of fungi & mushrooms. This will help us establish a new richer cultural & nutritional base for a healthier diet nurturing mind, body & soul.
Fermentation is an Alchemy that can convert low quality foods that are carbohydrates & sugars into high quality foods consisting of protein, amino acids (that are transformed into proteins) & enzymes.
Enzymes are much misunderstood. Their role as a catalyst is to aid in the digestion & assimilation of foods. The body usually rich in its own enzymes is often exhausted when asked to digest overcooked, processed, packaged & fast food, for many years.
There are some other edible forest mushrooms these include the Boletes, Suillus, Morchella & Lycoperdon species. Two notable local SA versions are Suillus Luteus & Suillus Granulatus. Another great local mushroom is the ink caps (Coprinus Comatus). I have found also ‘Lactarius Deliciosa’ abundant at mid winter in the pine forest under story in SA.
Session 4 Ecology (Nature cultivating Eco systems)
--examples of food chains
--seed activation by gut flora & fauna of animal
--creatures cultivating fungi as food
Is Fungi food for animals? Yes! Pigs, many rodents, possums, wallabies & kangaroos, bilbys, bandicoots & Potaroos all partake of this nutritious tucker. Some make it a huge part of their diet up to 30% with many of these species. The Potaroos can consume up to 60% fungi (Truffle like & above ground mushrooms as well). In other countries foxes, deer and squirrels have been found with fungi in their gut.
In Australia we have hundreds of species of truffles; very few have the culinary appeal to human palates. Most of these are mycorrhizal to trees and essential to arid bush land stamina & endurance.
The female Potaroos in captivity when fed a diet of exclusively fungi were found to grow larger, they bear robust young and provide more milk
Here is an example of a ‘Guild’ (this might be thought of as a team of plants, insects, fungi & creatures that make up a kind of ecological family of interdependent species: each with its specialized talents, skills & contribution).
The Tasmanian Bettongs has been observed to consume a diet high in truffle like fungi that grow at the base of Acacia Delbata & Eucalyptus Tenuiramus. Some invertebrates like Coleoptera & worms have been found to contain fungal spores in their castings. A species of dung beetle (Othophagus) lives on the back of these bettongs and some kangaroos & wallabies. The dung beetles grasp emerging dung and fall with it to the ground to quickly bury the faeces. Laboratory tests found the fungal spores difficult to germinate, yet after passage through the gut of the Roos or Bettongs there was rapid germination of several mycorrhizal fungal species (these being another mycorrhizal family of root relatives). So the fungi needs the bettongs gut to gestate the spores and the Bettongs gestation is enhanced by the fungi eaten, providing an energy boost as well. The reproductive fertility of both are intimately linked. After a bush fire the bettongs are found to prefer foraging near the roots of the burnt trees. Perhaps the fire ripens the truffle fruits, on the roots, a foot or so down. The droppings are spread and then buried by the dung beetles. Germination will occur after the rains that soon follow a bush fire. The fungal spores, pollen & ash will seed the rain clouds.
The ash makes the soil alkaline and this allows the unburnt seeds in the newly opened husks to restart the ecosystem. The fungi with faecal pellets and seed will be covered with a new fall of dying leaves. The soil too acid with thick layers of bark & leaf mulch before the fire prevented seeds from germinating. Now the soil pH with ash & rain is ideal for a restart. All things are linked.
So this is a guild….The bettongs, kangaroos, wallabies, dung beetles, mites, truffle like fungi, Acacia & Eucalypts pollinating bees & insects, birds, worms, mites & invertebrates in the soil (birds & insects can also feed on fungi and plant fruits aiding in their dispersal).
Here is another guild pair the Agouti and the brazil nut. The agouti’s sharp teeth are made for chewing open the cannon ball pod that contains the individual Brazil nuts. The subterranean creature buries and stores some of its stash of nuts. When old store rooms are abandoned the Agouti’s droppings, rich in fungal spores will be moistened when flooded by the next heavy rains. A new tree germinates in an ideal ecological niche. Here the Agouti is the gardener planting the Brazil nut seed for the old tree as thanks for food provided by the tree.
Another step in digestive assimilation of indigenous cultures is to re view their wisdom. When harvesting grain with an occasional grasshopper, these folk would leave it in the grain and grind it, into their flour. The sense here is to go past our aversion and come to know what experience had already taught these folk long ago. The gut flora (yeast, fungi & bacterial colonies) in the grasshopper’s intestine (being rich in cellulase, the enzyme that aids assimilation of cellulose) would be a valuable digestive aid in their own alimentary canal and thus would be beneficial in the bread itself.
It would appear paradoxical that while many Australian herbivores convert plant biomass into animal protein, they are not physiologically capable of utilising a feedstuff largely consisting of plant structural polysaccharides. In order to achieve this outcome many herbivores have developed an enlarged portion of the gastrointestinal tract that acts as a fermentation chamber. This is most highly developed in ruminants, where the fore stomach has enlarged to form the rumen. In the rumen, plant material is fermented by a complex microbial ecosystem to yield volatile fatty acids and microbial cells which satisfy the majority of the animal's energy and protein requirements respectively. This ecosystem comprises protozoans, bacteria, viruses and fungi. Details on the Gut-inhabiting fungi
I observed another key in nature’s cycles of regeneration. The Elephants in Africa were pushing down the last big old Acacia trees remaining in a near desert landscape. This at first appeared destructive yet on closer examination the elephants ate the last leaves and seeds. The ants, monkeys and many other animals ate the seeds that seemed as if they were not very capable of sprouting. But from the Elephants rear, its dung was the key. There was 99% germination of that seed from the dung. This would be spread as the creature walked of across the landscape.
In burnt out area of bush Acacias are the pioneer plants (as are all weeds). These are often used by nature as they are quick fast growing trees inviting birds and some animals that bring more seeds, fungi and manures to revegetate barren landscapes. The fungi if not eaten as a fruit by the elephant can often be on the leaves and seed pods of the acacia itself carried by wind born spores, and as such will be awakened in the fermentation chamber of the elephants gut. The chyme with the seed and its symbiotic partner is about to hit the deck, with luck, it will fall near the ants who are the gardeners doing the planting for the elephant. They love the high protein ring firmly attached to the acacia seed & sow take it below into their nest.
The Quandong is an Australian bush peach and a bush tucker plant with a hard round seed. It is said to germinate well from Emus dung. There will be fungi on the ground or spores on leaves, which the Emus eat as it browses the bush. The Quandong as a plant must establish its roots on the roots of another host plant. The best way for it to link would be to have the necessary mycorrhizal web of hyphae i.e. fungi!
Another New Zealand Tree having a red fruit has a red truffle like mushroom fruit like the fruit of the tree above. Some folk may think this is to trick the Kiwi or other animals that eat the fruit into eating the fungi as well. I don’t feel that the animals are tricked as they are all nose. The fruit’s smell and the aromatic truffle are quite individual fragrances. The animals eat both with relish. The tree provides both root fruits and branch fruits. As these fruits are overripe & on their way to rotten when they fall. They are further rotted and ripened in the animal’s inner cauldron where both fruits actually meet. The stew that is brewed within their chyme is again fermented & gestated in the realm of the underworld.
In Mythology… As the Sun journeys through the underworld (as it goes under Gaea) it was likened to being in the womb of the Goddess Pluto (later she became a male god). The sun’s energy was likened to a heart seed planted deep in the heart of Mother Nature. The vegetation Goddess Demeter who is everywhere evident as the green mantle of vegetation, especially in the trees & forests, was seen in her immature form as Corn or Persephone. It was she who was abducted and raped by the male aspect of the goddess, who seeded her. She then went for 3 to 6 months below the ground, to gestate, pregnant we are told. The Egyptians hold as most Sacred the golden scarab a Dung Beetle. The scarab was said to take the sun on its underworld journey of rebirth. The Sun called sol, was also linked to the soul & its journey to rebirth. The solar soul force is alive and cooking in the chyme of the gut’s passage. Assimilation was a rite of passage for the vegetation grass, leaf, seed & spore (symbolized as Persephone).
Poor Persephone raped and devoured torn from the plant and sunlight into the animal’s interior: through the underworld, to emerge with the dung beetle and be buried yet again before germination and deliverance back to delight in the sun. The Scarab was a symbol of regeneration.
Some species of ants are known to create compost piles. Army ants strip all vegetation (rape) and cultivate a single pure strain of mycelium fungi as their main food. They also eat other insects. In the Australian out back, ants build large piles of compost gathering all vegetation from a large area around their island nest. The fungi and seeds gathered are planted. Eventually when abandoned & flooded, these islands become sites of regeneration and future habitat for new life. The many different species of seed are all cross linked with the mycelium internet and act like a supermarket food chain to all the roots of the newly awakened seedlings providing nutritional broth from the compost and the Gnomes who feed roots and seeds as they first awaken.
Going smaller into the symbiotic families there are mites that live on beetles. The tiny spider like female mite has a cage between her legs that carry fungal hyphae. They can climb off & infect any appropriate growth medium usually the wood in which the beetle lays her eggs. As the beetle larvae emerge and tunnel, the hyphae covers the walls of the tunnels with the fungal mycelium. Mites are often associated with fungal diseases of plants but probably only infest weak unhealthy tissues that are dying anyway. Many insects can see in the infra red part of the spectrum. When plant tissues are weak their I.R. light fades making them appear to be dying and so this attracts the recycler insects.
Fungi & Insect Associations Many insects have cages of hairs that carry either fungal spores or fungal hyphae ready to plant into a host medium (wood, plant or another insect). The insect will then lay her eggs into a nursery of the fungi. Insects carry spores and hyphae in the barbs between their abdomen & thorax or special organs near the ovipositor (egg laying organs) so the Hyphae & egg are planted as a symbiotic pair. Nature is sow ever meticulous in her care of her offspring.
Session 5 Culture today & its future
--human flora & fauna
--Probiotics & available food ferments
--Biodynamics & fungi
--Mining enrichment bacteria
--Cultural adaptation to constant Change
In Myths from South America Indians there is a tale about the sweet desire for nectar & luscious fruits.
We are told that … ‘the tree Spirit, Daevavoi, feeds on the trees resident serpents that eat macaws. These birds also residents feeding on the nectar of flowers & ripe fruits. The Spirits wife is a tapir a creature similar to a pig that forages on truffle fungi and over ripe fallen fruit. The Tapir wife cooks the captured pythons her husband stuns when he beats on the trunk with a wooden club.’ The desire for nectar, ripe fruits & honey’s sweetness is often a metaphor for the sexual hunger or sensual arousal. Honey is often a seductive offering to seduce a young maiden. Honey is a fermented food itself regurgitated from the bee’s stomach. The South American forest honeys were often partly fermented and there were many & varied nectars, some from quite intoxicating flowers. Add to this the native Indians tendency to ferment the brew into a beer. Then the villages would party: not much has changed!
The Macaws relish these tasty sweets and as such represent our sensory appetite. The gaudy color of the birds is matched by the floral petals display & the sweet intoxicating scent of nectar. Our senses reel as the serpents of desire and the python of hunger ravish the macaws and devour them, savoring their sweet flesh. The tree spirit, Daevavoi, feeds and is fueled by the spiraling currents of the electric eel like energy fire that comes from the Tapir's womb at the base of the tree. It is she who cooks the serpent stew in her womb. Is she in ferment and ripe herself. Tapir is certainly the reproductive and regenerative part of the tree spirits Ecology; its ability to extend itself and grow other young trees in the forest. She would void the seed with the fungal spores of the truffle. The hyphae awaken in a symbiotic sheath surrounding the seed in her dung.
Agri Culture is about growing & culturing food plants. It is ancient. It is time we integrated new technologies and ancient wisdom from diverse cultures. These farming techniques are gathered and developed in what is now being taught as Permaculture.
This was originally meant as Permanence in Agriculture.
Permaculture tries to plan, design & establish poly Cultures that are suited to the individual terrain, human & animal inhabitants. It plans to grow on site many or all the food, fiber and shelter needs of all the creatures present; in such a manner that it emulates a natural ecosystem. There is also a deep reverence for allowing nature to be our teacher. This makes us respond with actions based on what we have been taught. We put our knowledge & observations into practice to see if we can grow our wisdom in an abundant rewarding environment that our children & future generation can appreciate. We may then consider our humble position in our world as Stewards or Custodians of this land and our fellow creatures.
Biodynamics is one of the strongest components of the organic farming movement in the world. Invented or resurrected by Dr R. Steiner in the 1920’s, Biodynamics aims at using non chemical fertilization and the use of special preparations that are used as a ‘medicine for the land’.
Without going into too much detail one of these preparations uses cow manure placed into a cow horn. The horn is then buried over winter, dug up in spring, mixed with water & churned for an hour in a rapid stirring vortex. Having been through the very long wise digestive tract, the manure is rotted & ripened in an extraordinary manner. Dr Steiner directed our attention toward the way the cows eyes are turned inward as if in a deep meditation on its cud. He pointed out that in a deer the animal uses a huge amount of its metabolic energy creating blood to form its antlers each year. The deer is supremely alert and sensitive to its environment. The cow seems almost asleep as if dreaming in its digestion. The horn there he suggests reflects its consciousness back from the cows head into its digestion. So when we place manure into the cow horn we can further the process of digestion to make a potent medicine.
Now this manure contains yeasts, bacteria & fungal spores of many kinds. The process of placing this into the horn would again place the manure into an airless anaerobic environment. The anaerobic bacteria, yeast & fungi stew & consume all the vegetable grasses & seeds in the chyme whilst in the horn & the cold earth. Worms, microbes & tiny beasties eat and may also add their own assimilations & wastes to the brew.
The potency of the mix is probably based on spore saturation with bacterial & yeast colonies infesting each spore. When the sweet smelling substance that emerges from the horn in spring, is sprinkled into water it is thoroughly churned for an hour, then sprayed on the land as a homeopathic medicine. Viktor Schauberger spoke of Austrian farmers singing in strange harmonic tones as they stirred water adding a pinch of a mysterious substance. Dr Steiner who knew V. Schauberger probably also had seen and adapted this ancient practice to modern farmers who asked for a healthier more natural way to farm. This medicine used in both spring & autumn would increase micro organisms in the soil & used in conjunction with mulching & composted manures it would build up the organic matter & thus improve the soil’s fertility.
This potent mix of fungi & micro organisms were primed intestinally within the cow and the Earth, then given back to the wind like most fungal spores.
The BD (Biodynamic) medicine is an essential component of renewal & healing Agri-Culture.
Fluvic acid as a product of organic matter as it breaks down is said to be a very powerful electrolyte that contains every element in the periodic table (all the known elements). This means that when given to a body it helps the bodies fluids boost the charge in those fluid solutions. Thus they then are able to circulated this charge to all cells of the body. Researchers found that an Amoeba that had lost its charge integrity on its cell walls fell apart into many small globular parts. When a charged electrolyte (Fluvic acid) was added a remarkable thing occurred, the amoeba reformed from all its disintegrated parts, and went on living again. These researchers repeated this many times with the same result, resurrection. They then suggested that it may be the same with all cells that they do not inevitably have to die. The charge potential on the cell walls when recharged to the correct potential may mean the cell can live indefinitely, forever?? This Fluvic acid may also be rich in bacterial & fungal spores & wastes as is the substance Humus in soil. Again this suggests that Humus rich organic or BD soil will grow healthy plants full of charged potency that came from the roots humic/ soil connection. When we eat charged alive Vital food grown in healthy robust soil we optimize the conditions for our own healthy charge within. Our cells then become more dynamic and empowering to us. We are what we eat!?!
There is another aspect of fungi & bacteria that can also help us clean up mining sites.
The microbiological process for the removal of metals from solution can be divided into 3 categories (a) the adsorption of the metal ions onto the surface of the microorganism, (b) the intracellular uptake of the metals & (c) the chemical transformation of metals by biological agents.
Microbiological mining started out with thiobacillus ferro-oxidans that leached copper from low grade ores. The bacteria attack the ores with enzymes. They seem to create an acidic environment like in volcanic lakes; the thio bacteria are high in Sulfur and can make sulfuric acid that dissolves the ore’s metallic contents. The thio bacillus can also attack other sulfide ores like Sphalerite (ZnS) and Galenite (PbS) and so can concentrate & extract Zinc & Lead.
Specific Bacteria Known to actively Transmute Elements & Bioaccumulators
Bacillus Subtilus 168 Gold Also
Thiobacillus Ferro-oxidans Iron
Sulflobus Breirlyi Iron & Molybdenum
Pseudomonus Aeruginosa Uranium
Beer Yeast & Rhizopus Arryhizus Ur extracted waste Water
Sphaerotilus Leptothrix & hyphomicrobium Manganese
Sphaerotilus Leptothrix & Gallionella Iron
Algae Spirogyra, oscillatoria, chara& rhizoclonium Mo, Se, Ur & Ra
Algae Synechococcus Cadmium
Actinomyces Streptomycin Calcium From (Si + C)
Laminaria Algae Iodine
Kelp on Schist(Sn) & sandstone Bromine
Pseudononas extracts radioactive Mercury
Micrococcus Urea & urobacillus duclausi eat Urea
Silico bacteria
These next 3 sets of bacteria flourish in the presence of their stimulant metals & so may also be capable of transmutation into a safer environmental situation where these metals are contaminants.
Micrococcus luteus & Azotobactor spp. Lead
Chlamydomonas reinhardi Mercury
Methylobacterium spp. Tungsten or Molydenum
Spirogyra, Rhizoclonium, Hydrodictyon
and Cladophora. Lead
Microorganisms ordinarily take up some ions that are necessary for cellular activity. The transport systems for the ions are dependent on both temperature and energy. Examples of trace substances that are readily transported into the cells of microorganisms are magnesium (Mg++), calcium (Ca++), potassium (K+), sodium (Na+) and sulfate (SO4--). Although the mechanisms by which the cells assimilate the ions are highly selective, substitutions are possible. For example, the negatively charged chromate (Cr04--), selenate (Se04--), vanadate (VO4--), tungstate (WO4-) and molybdate (Mo04 --) ions can be transported into the cells of some microorganisms by the system that ordinarily carries sulfate ions. for More of natures bacterial tranmutators
Some bacteria & fungi become encrusted with Manganese; another called iron bacteria deposits iron on the bacteria’s twisted stalks.
Many microorganisms synthesize specific chelation compounds that immobilize heavy metals.
Algae also accumulate metals. Some of the metals that can be accumulated as soluble ions are molybdenum, Selenium, uranium & radium.
There is a metal binding agent in the protein metalothionein that is high in sulfur-containing amino acids, within the microorganisms.
I see great scope for some very efficient environmental repair to happen in a commercially profitable manner.
Paul Stamets on his web site www.fungiperfecti.com
Tells of a demonstration where he cleaned up oil and hydrocarbon polluted soil with Oyster mushrooms. The heavily polluted ground was pilled up and inoculated with mushroom spawn and after 4 weeks the tarp covering was withdrawn to reveal many oyster mushrooms. All soil hydrocarbons were reduced by 95% and no trace of the pollution could be found in the mushrooms either.
He does warn though that most mushrooms can take up heavy metals and concentrate them. So if you know these pollutants are present do not eat the mushrooms. E-coli and many other pollutants can be removed from contaminated water by allowing it to flow through mulch with a thick mycelium web growing in the wood chips. This is an easy way to create a great natural safe filtration system; & heal and repair damaged environments. Other methods of environmental repair can be found on his web site.
Summation; The idea & reality of a mono culture life is the same old brick in the wall; conformity is all that is required. This is totally a unacceptable & unfulfilling existence. With a multi cultural diversity of foods from all over the world, we then are as a new culture in ferment. We will be capable of assimilating all life experiences that occur, for everything is always new. Rarely is one day like another it’s more an adventure & a wonder to behold. A present that is in all ways fully appreciated as a divine opportunity & a gift to each of us.
So the ecosystem in the gut of humans seems to have researchers accumulating evidence that gut bacteria play a very real role in a number of chronic & some fatal diseases. The gut bacteria may even shape our immune system. The human gut is teaming with microbes; the gut contains several hundred species of bacteria, some viruses and also yeasts.
There are so many bacterial cells in your gut that they out number the cells in your body by a factor of 10. The bacteria compete with each other for space & food. The 2 key genera are Lactobacillus (lactic acid bacteria) & Bifidobacteria, these make lactic acid & chemicals that can lower the pH of the gut & kill some other species. Yet to date ¾ of the bacterial species in the gut are still unknown.
There is a European ‘EU Human Gut Flora Project’ that aims to determine the links between food, intestinal bacteria & human health & disease. The bacteria we encounter as infants can dictate how our guts and immune system develop. A newborn picks up bacteria from its mum. When a babe is breastfed the Bifidobacteria become dominant. Other bacteria clostridia, bacteroides and streptococci flourish in the babies gut when fed formula milk. Breast fed babies usually have less gut problems.
Probiotics is the addition of these beneficial bacterial strains to the gut. Eg Yogurt, Kefir, yakult, Yoplait probiotics & more commercial varieties will come. Prebiotics is adding foods to the gut to increase the natural bacterial populations. When we use both ‘prebiotic’ foods & ‘probiotic’ bacteria together this is called a ‘Synbiotic’. This can vastly increase the survival of the bacteria as they pass through the stomach’s acidic terrain.
Here are some of the beneficial bacteria within specific areas of the gut.
The Stomach has Lactobacillus, streptococcus, staphylococcus, enterobacteria & yeasts. In the Duodenum / Jejunum there are Lactobacillus, streptococcus, staphylococcus, enterobacteria (E-Coli), yeasts & bifidobacterium. In the Ileum / Caecum there are Lactobacillus, streptococcus, staphylococcus, enterobacteria, yeasts, bacteroides, bifidobacterium & clostridium. In the Colon there are Lactobacillus, streptococcus, staphylococcus, enterobacteria, yeasts, bacteroides, bifidobacterium & clostridium plus Eubacterium, peptostreptococcus & fusobacterium. The concentrations of bacteria keep increasing by a factor of at least 10 to a 100 fold as we move from each stage of the gut to the next.
The Chinese called the Small intestine ‘The dragon / serpent guarding the precious jewels’.
There is nothing more precious than our Health.
Session 6 Poisonous Mushrooms & Fungicides
- Mycophobes (people who fear of mushrooms)
- Fungal diseases
- Poisonous toadstools
- Fungal control of insect pests
Now there a some dangerous mushrooms but lets be realistic and be careful of believing the mycophobes and giving into fearful superstition. I would guess that the witch hunts of the middle ages that were persecuting the herbalists and healers are still active in some of the Pharmaceutical industry with its over cautious influence upon the AMA & medical profession as a whole: there will be dire warnings in this area. Why if genuine healing results?
Some mushrooms or toadstools contain alkaloids that affect consciousness. Some of these are drugs and in concentrated forms are toxic. It is safer when we pay for expert dispensing of the correct amounts for specific ailments.
There is also the fact that the pharmaceutical industry itself profits from the many forms of penicillin moulds that are the basis of many of our modern antibiotics. The unfortunate side effect that can be devastating to real health is that the intestinal flora & fauna are knocked out (Killed). Seldom does the medical profession think to recommend replacing the flora and fauna with Probiotics, yogurt or ‘Grainfields’.
The fungi can create powerful anti fungal chemicals that prevent other competing fungi from invading the host gut organism. These healthier mycelium hyphae create enzymes and feed yeasts & bacteria benefiting the host organism and boosting the immune system immensely. The host then doesn’t need to use its own enzymes for digestion and can so direct its own enzymes toward regeneration & house cleaning through out the host body. It’s not in the interests of the pharmaceutical industry to tell you cheap natural sources of these powerful drugs; nor of any of the side effects that result from the excessive refinement that often removes other chemicals in the plant that balance and work in a natural synergy with the active component of the plant from which the drug is made.
A dangerous local mushroom that might be mistaken as an Oyster mushroom is ‘Pleurotus nidiformus’. This mushroom glows in the dark.
Microorganisms can be used to control other living plants or insects. Bacillus thuringiensis controls the larval form of the Lepidoptera (butterfly). Some fungi have sticky hyphal loops that snare and feed on nematodes whilst some nematodes can feed on plant pathogenic fungi; and the rust fungus is used to control rampant blackberries in Australia.
Another example of Micro flora being used as Biological Pest control: the soil fungus Metarhizium has 3 species that can kill a wide range of insects. These produce millions of tiny spores that attach to the insects body, where they germinate, producing a hold fast tube that, by secretion of enzymes can penetrate the insects shell. Hyphae spread through the inside of the insect eventually the mass kill the host.
Articles & book references to Transmutation of Elements by Microorganisms
Biological Transmutations Article with extracts from L.Kervans Biological Transmutations & Chris Illert's "Achemy Today Vol 1 & 2"
‘Microbiological Mining’ (an excerpt only) By Corale Brierly clbrierley@email.msn.com
This Book "Evolutionary and Revolutionary Technologies for Mining" (2002) by Corale L. Brierley
GUT-INHABITING FUNGI OF AUSTRALIAN HERBIVORES
Microbial Mineral Recovery by Henry L. Ehrlich, Corale L. Brierley (Editor) Hardcover, 454 pages List: $68.95 http://www.ela-iet.com/ie08000.htm
There are a group of bacteria classed as chemolithotrophs. These bacteria operate through the exploitation of various chemical reactions. They are responsible for generating "acid mine drainage" emitting from abandoned and active mine sites. Aside from their intrinsic application (for bioleaching of ores), many of these bacteria have metabolic systems that can be exploited for the biodegradation of man-made chemicals (PCBs, Chlorinated Solvents, Pesticides, etc.) that are recalcitrant to the activity of what would be termed "normal" bacteria. The book does a good job of discussing the phenomena of biosorption, i.e. the process by which bacteria can remove heavy metals from water.
http://www.engineergirl.org/nae/CWE/egdir.nsf/0/0E3B8F577B0C03D2852569EA0004219E?OpenDocument
Microbes in Geology Au bacteria
Microbes in Geology2 Gold Bacteria
BIO REMEDIATION
Bioremediation: Microbes and the Earth’s Immune System
Environmental microbes cleaning up toluene & harmful chemicals
Cleaning up Radiation
186) Transmutations of radioactive isotopes?
MYCOPHAGY (Mushroom eaters Human & Animal)
Best Edible Mushrooms for human consumption
Fungi Basics Australian Government
Australian Gov Fungi Mycorrhiza
Australian Gov Fungi Truffle fungi in Oz
Australian Gov Fungi Truffle animals
Australian Gov Fungi dung fungi
Soil enhancement with Mycorrhizal & fungal Hyphae
http://www.biostimulants.com/ root growth stimulant
Homeostatic soil organisms against disease
Pine Forest Fungal Inoculation
HUMAN HEALTH
Cellular regeneration attributed to Fulvic acid electrolyte a product of organic matter as it breaks down in the soil. Present in most organic or Biodynamic soils as humus. Get our soil back to healthy and them 0ur health also shall right itself’
Human Gut Flora & Fauna ( = Fungi & Bacteria )The fungi are the plants & vegetation whilst the bacteria are the animals feeding there on Ayurveda healthy diet, our mouth & gut Bacteria
New Scientist Article “It’s a Jungle in there Daphne Chung” A LIST of the good bacteria essential for good health in the Human Gut. Our own inner 'Flora & Fauna' www.newscientist.com 24April 2004
'EU Human Gut Flora Project" in Australia Patricia Conway her Contact details Dr P. Conway Senior Lecturer, School of Microbiology and Immunology University of NSW Sydney NSW2052 Tel:(02)93851593 Fax:(02)93851591 Email: p.conway@unsw.edu.au
GUT-INHABITING FUNGI OF AUSTRALIAN HERBIVORES
Great site for more info on fermented foods is Sandor Katz's site . A book on "Wild Fermentation" and also a twin CD set.
Commercial Probiotic sites
Primal Defence Probiotic
Grainfields Australia for some great liquid & powder form of Healthy bacteria. The liquid has 9 or more good bacteria normally found in the body that are often diminished with stress and need replacing.
Another Probiotic name is 'Mend BioBubble' with 200 different strains of bacteria. Good to add these to the Homebrew as the seed starter. The most dominant & beneficial strains will create a powerful teams of great biobugs for the home made stuff. 'Mend BioBubble' is available at Nutri-tech Solutions or in Sth. Australia at LawrieCo
"The Permaculture Book of Ferment & Human Nutrition" the foods of the Future By Bill Mollison creator of Permaculture