Three weeks in and things are still looking pretty good out here. We finally managed to get off the Ranch yesterday to go to Fortuna, the closest, largish town to do some errands. It's actually very easy to stay here on the Ranch and the bumpy 45 minute ride is enough to deter me from going into town often.
Recently I've begun the very physical job of cleaning out and replanting herbs in the medicinal gardens that have a major overgrowth of weeds due to neglect. Vegetable production and caring for the animals of course takes priority here. Although I have very little horticultural experience, I'm learning some very interesting techniques for propagating plants. For instance, did you know you can just plant sticks in the ground? Really, you can. I always thought you had to put cuttings in water so they could develop roots first. Apparently here, because it's so wet, we can just plop them in and wait for them to sprout. Well it's not actually that simple but it's pretty close. At the ranch, we have several agricultural engineers from Earth University. They recommend first cutting the young branches so that there are at least 3 nodes that will be planted in the ground. Cuts are made diagonally so that water cannot collect on the top of the cutting and promote fungal growth. Lastly, the sticks are soaked in a mixture of sabila aka aloe vera and water for 10 minutes. Aloe vera apparently contains "hormones" that promote root growth. I'll let you know in a few weeks if this method actually works!
In addition to the garden work, I'm also making one of my infamous herb charts of the medicinal plants here on the Ranch complete with medicinal actions, how to prepare them for certain conditions, and hopefully color sketches for easy identification. There are soo many plants and trees around the property that are part of the reforestation project and while some are labeled, most are not. I'm in the process of developing a guided medicinal plant tour on the property that maybe ends in making your own tea or salve. There's so much potential for connecting the tourists to nature here and it's pretty exciting to be a part of it all.
The third hat I wear here is of course as the local acupuncturist and massage therapist. I've had some really interesting experiences already with guests, volunteers, and staff doing both. I've begun to learn techniques in indirect manipulation of tendons and muscles that have yielded amazing results. One day I was giving a volunteer acupuncture and moxa (burning mugwort) outside on the porch of a bungalow and while she was laying there, about 8 stingless bees flew directly towards the moxa box and tried to land on it. Stingless or not, it is still disconcerting to have bees landing on you during a treatment so I moved the box to see if I could lead them away from her. It only kinda worked. Because I felt the moxa was the most important part of her treatment, I just stood over her and swatted at the bees when they came close. I'm curious now if this has ever been documented before. I always thought insects disliked smoke but then again, we are in the jungle and anything could happen.
Another interesting phenomenon here is that the owner and several of the staff have come to me to help them stop smoking. I'm thrilled! I know they all smoke together and keep each other from really quitting. As a place that is trying to support wellness, I'm excited to start from the inside out. We'll see how long it lasts!
Thanks everyone for reading. Time for yoga!
Love, Adrienne
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Interesting Article:
ReplyDeleteWe see smoke because of its particulate matter. Other animals probably see it similarly. Thus, smoke columns appear to be an indicator to some birds that feeding opportunities are at their source. Black Kites in particular may travel long distances to feed on insects - like cockroaches and grasshoppers - being ‘driven’ along by the fire front. This happens every year in northern Australia. It has been beautifully illustrated in an article in Australian Natural History (Braithwaite and Estbergs 1987-88). An apparent oddity is that some Australian flies are attracted to smoke (Bickel 1996).
Perhaps everybody knows that European bees are subdued by smoke in commercial hives. It is an everyday practice of beekeepers. Smoking the hives takes the sting out of beekeeping! What is the active ingredient of smoke that calms the bees? This appears not to be known but it is thought that smoke interferes with the ability of the bees to smell (Visscher et al. 1995). Anaesthesia in bees, induced by smoke from burning hair, is apparently due to hydrogen sulphide (rotten-egg gas) (Wood 1983).
Strange as it may seem, smoke has been used to stimulate pineapples to flower. Way back in 1932 it was found that the active ingredient in the smoke was a chemical called ethylene (Bartholomew and Kadzimin 1977). It seems reasonable that the fire-stimulated flowering observed in other monocotyledons, like grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea spp.), might be due to the same cause. There is some evidence that this is so (Gill and Ingwersen 1976). For the South African Fire Lily, Cyrtanthus ventricosus - another monocotyledon - smoke stimulated the bulbs to flower but ethylene application failed to do so (see Brown and van Staden 1997).
In recent years, there has been considerable excitement in scientific and horticultural circles in the discovery that smoke stimulates the germination of a range of species (see Brown and van Staden 1997). Many Australian species, previously difficult to germinate, are now readily germinated using smoke or aqueous extracts of smoke (Dixon et al. 1995). Nitrogen dioxide has been implicated as the trigger for the germination of some North American species (Keeley and Fotheringham 1998).
Smoke effects on living systems may be due to particulates, carbon dioxide, ethylene, nitrogen dioxide and probably many other substances. It is a complex and interesting substance. Who knows what other ‘tricks’ it has to reveal?
Interesting Article:
ReplyDeleteWe have already seen that smoke consists of a wide range of chemicals - solid, liquid and gas. It may not be surprising then that smoke can perform some marvelous biological ‘tricks’ when it impinges on the lives of plants and animals. This letter is about a small bag of these tricks.
We see smoke because of its particulate matter. Other animals probably see it similarly. Thus, smoke columns appear to be an indicator to some birds that feeding opportunities are at their source. Black Kites in particular may travel long distances to feed on insects - like cockroaches and grasshoppers - being ‘driven’ along by the fire front. This happens every year in northern Australia. It has been beautifully illustrated in an article in Australian Natural History (Braithwaite and Estbergs 1987-88). An apparent oddity is that some Australian flies are attracted to smoke (Bickel 1996).
Perhaps everybody knows that European bees are subdued by smoke in commercial hives. It is an everyday practice of beekeepers. Smoking the hives takes the sting out of beekeeping! What is the active ingredient of smoke that calms the bees? This appears not to be known but it is thought that smoke interferes with the ability of the bees to smell (Visscher et al. 1995). Anaesthesia in bees, induced by smoke from burning hair, is apparently due to hydrogen sulphide (rotten-egg gas) (Wood 1983).
Strange as it may seem, smoke has been used to stimulate pineapples to flower. Way back in 1932 it was found that the active ingredient in the smoke was a chemical called ethylene (Bartholomew and Kadzimin 1977). It seems reasonable that the fire-stimulated flowering observed in other monocotyledons, like grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea spp.), might be due to the same cause. There is some evidence that this is so (Gill and Ingwersen 1976). For the South African Fire Lily, Cyrtanthus ventricosus - another monocotyledon - smoke stimulated the bulbs to flower but ethylene application failed to do so (see Brown and van Staden 1997).
In recent years, there has been considerable excitement in scientific and horticultural circles in the discovery that smoke stimulates the germination of a range of species (see Brown and van Staden 1997). Many Australian species, previously difficult to germinate, are now readily germinated using smoke or aqueous extracts of smoke (Dixon et al. 1995). Nitrogen dioxide has been implicated as the trigger for the germination of some North American species (Keeley and Fotheringham 1998).
Smoke effects on living systems may be due to particulates, carbon dioxide, ethylene, nitrogen dioxide and probably many other substances. It is a complex and interesting substance. Who knows what other ‘tricks’ it has to reveal?