Healing the Land...
and Ourselves

Like humans, soils and ecosystems are individuals. We all can heal. Different people, like different ecosystems, require unique solutions fitted to the situation. There are some universals like clean water is healing, and there are ways to trap and store water with good management. We in the US have the worst health outcomes at the highest price tag in the world. This is largely a product of addictive processed foods which TPTB recommend we eat. Western society as a whole is ill. Seeking profit above all else has promoted a divisive culture (you're with us or against us) and has broken or at least damaged our social bonds.

I enjoy seeing people improve ecosystems. For much of human existence we have used and degraded our environment. However, recently there have been many examples of reversing the degradation and restoring natural systems in a variety of environments. Let's look at some projects...
Natural sequence farming: How Peter Andrews rejuvenates drought-struck land | Australian Story (29 min)

Is "natural sequence farming" the secret to restoring our water-starved continent? For more than a decade, two farmers have shown that parched landscapes can be revived. And finally, Canberra's listening. Australian Story explores the potential solution to Australia’s drought crisis.

How This Woman Totally Reversed China's Desert - From Sand Dunes To Green Forests (13 min)

A miracle is taking place in one of China's 4 major deserts, called the Mu Us Desert also referred to as the Maowusu Desert. Here an unbelievable effort has taken place, For the first time in History a man-made desert has totally been transformed, 80% of the Mu Us desert has now turned into a green forest. Amazingly this Desert has now officially reached the tipping point that it can no longer be called a desert, since the control rate of desertified land has reached over 90%. This unbelievable effort covers an area of 42,200 square kilometers, which used to be completely devoid of trees and farmland, now it has become a green oasis, where farming is happening again. This remarkable restoration story is a perfect example of how it can be possible to bring life back to barren land and it would not of been possible if it wasn't for the ingenuity of one woman named Yin, a peasant who lived in a remote part of the Mu Us desert, who spent 35 years of her life regreening the desert. This transformation was no easy feat, due to the tough weather conditions, storms, shifting sand and other difficulties such as the hard working conditions, inconvenient transportation and inadequate funds. In the beginning very few saplings survived just a mere 1% but over time Yin managed to increase the success rate up to 70%, She did this by working tirelessly trying different techniques until her efforts paid off, eventually the government took notice and started incorporating her methods in huge afforestation projects in the Gobi desert. The total transformation of the Mu Us Desert is truly an inspiring story of how a backyard experiment became the catalyst that inspired others to fight back against the sand and successfully turn deserts green again. In this video we will show you how this incredible woman managed to turn the desert into a thriving ecological park that is bursting with biodiversity, having planted well over 300,000 native trees and plants with a least 1000 different species we will also look at the ingenious techniques she used to make the desert turn green again.

Restoring dry land in Tanzania | Global Ideas (7 min)

Sustained droughts are making farming near impossible in Tanzania. The soil is to dry for planting. The organization Justdiggit wants to alleviate the situation by planting trees in a way that encourages moisture collection. Not only do the trees grow better, the soil is can recover in their shade.

How Spain is Turning it's Deserts into a Farmland Oasis - GREENING THE DESERT PROJECT (9 min)
Spain is home to The Tabernas Desert, known as mainland Europe's only desert. Shockingly scientific research suggests that Spain is set to become completely desertified in the next 80 years, right now 31.5% of Spain is already affected by desertification and 18% is at high risk of becoming irreversibly desert. This is due to the increase in temperatures, droughts, and less precipitation has made southern Europe vulnerable to problems such as “lower food production, soil infertility, decreases in the land’s natural resilience, and reduced water quality” as the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has pointed out in its report "Combating desertification in the EU."
The Iberian peninsular was once covered in ancient oak forests, and over the last centuries was completely deforested for timber use and overgrazing livestock. Currently 16 million hectares of land is used for Intensive industrial agriculture which is rapidly eroding the soil further.
However Spain has been making some remarkable restoration developments turning large areas suffering from desertification into fertile land. This transformation is a major accomplishment considering Spain’s semi arid regions only receive 11 inches of rainfall per year.
We are going to tell you how and why Spain is turning its deserts into bio-diverse ecosystems and fertile farmlands
In this episode of our Greening the Desert Series we will be exploring one of Spain’s many remarkable restoration projects to re-green the desert and turn it back into fertile land.

How This Woman Turned Arizona's Desert into a Farmland Oasis (7 min)
Southern Arizona is known for its desert climate, with very hot summers and mild winters. This climate has meant the region has been a hub for agricultural growth for thousands of years despite the fact rainfall has always been relatively low. It's Arizona's rivers and aquifers that hold groundwater which have supported the state’s now $23 billion agriculture industry. In terms of revenue generated, Arizona's top five agricultural products are cattle, calves, lettuce, dairy products, cotton, and hay. In total, farmland makes up about 35% of the state of Arizona. Farming in the desert has been a challenge for Arizona’s modern farmers, who grow water-intensive crops like cotton, alfalfa and corn for cows. It's estimated that these farms use nearly three-quarters of the available water supply to irrigate their crops.

The Colorado River system, which supplies 36 percent of Arizona's total water use has experienced extensive drought conditions for the past 19 years. This has resulted in Lake Mead dropping to historically low reservoir levels. More than one-third of Arizona’s water flows up the Colorado River to Lake Mead. This year an intensifying drought and declining reservoir levels across the Western United States has prompted the first-ever water supply cuts to Arizona farmers.

Extensive droughts and dwindling water supplies have wreaked havoc on the once prosperous farms that could endure the arid conditions. Arizona has also become one the fastest growing states in the last decade, as result there has been a demand for tree lined neighborhoods, golf courses and lawns, all of which require vast amounts of water. As we keep consuming the ancient groundwater, without it being replenished, water tables drop and rivers start to dry up.

However over the last 30 years Arizona has been turning this around, in this video we will show you how a low cost innovative water retention system is being used in the desert, turning the dry landscape into a fertile carbon sink stretching over 100,000 acres and we will show you how this system is recharging the aquifers, by improving water retention by at least 28% which has helped to increase biodiversity, turning the desert back into a farmland oasis. Thanks to Valer Clark Austin and Josiah Austin restoring the watershed in the Chiricahua Desert in Arizona and Mexico.

Permaculture swales results after 7 years.

We designed our projects to be in harmony with nature.
We are committed to mimicking the patterns and relationships found in nature and applying them in many aspects of creating our realities.
We are not 100% self-sufficient but we certainly left behind our city rat lifestyle.
From our well, our water is pumped with solar energy. We produce solar electric power and feed it back to the grid. Our water is heated by the solar system.
We even manage to have a few seasonal crops.
But most of all, we have created an arboretum.
Applying permaculture principles really works.
Our home is constructed from brick, rock, and non-toxic finishes. We also opted for long-lasting, nearly maintenance-free building materials such as cement, steel, and aluminum.
Building a homestead from scratch according to the principles of eco sensibilities was, and continues to be a challenging but rewarding adventure. It requires learning many skills, uncompromised commitment, and deep respect for nature’s rules.Every day, the results surprise us with awe and never-ending, often taxing lessons. This lifestyle requires to be able to get up and keep going even when everything and all around are advising to quit.
We now know that the health of the soil is essential to our own health, and the health of plants and animals. We also now deeply respect all who grow food and understand the "language" of their land and the animals they keep.
The paradigm shift in understanding the interconnectedness of all living things and building our own resilience is the most welcomed side effect from following the path we chose 15 years ago.

Description
20 years ago we liquidated our life in the States.
The American dream was literally killing me.
It was the last call to rewind, regroup, rebuild and restore.
First was a coast city, then a NowhereSpot, a stone throw from the ocean accessed only by boat.
We experienced hurricanes and earthquakes of great magnitude, learned to read tides, watch the whale migrations and heard the jungle rhythms.
But the mountain nostalgia crept back on us. Eventually we opted for the Sierra Madre high desert where we fell in love with a neglected 3 hectares on a hill near a small dwelling.
Brick by brick, shovel by shovel, step by step, we keep creating our reality.
The surprises constantly leave us breathless from both the awe and endless challenges.
We keep learning a lifestyle that is drastically different from the inherited familiarity of large cities.
Here are snapshots from our life from where we keep finding more and more meaning without a deliberate pursuit for it.

5 Most Epic Earth Healing Projects! (13 min)

Project 1: Arvari River Restoration
Project Website: https://tarunbharatsangh.in/
Footage from Ashok Meena: ashokcinematographe@gmail.com

Project 2: The Chikukwa Project
Footage used is from the documentary "The Chikukwa Project"
Trailer: • Chikukwa Permaculture Project
Purchase DVD: https://us.permacultureprinciples.com...

Project 3: GRAVIS Jodhpur
Project Website: https://www.gravis.org.in/
My 3 part video series on this and other Rajasthan projects:
• Resilient Rajasthan part 1: Climate Change Impacts
• Resilient Rajasthan part 2: Watershed Permaculture
• Resilient Rajasthan part 3: Region Wide Water Harvesting

Project 4: The Loess Plateau
Footage from "Hope in a Changing Climate" by John D. Liu:
• Hope in a Changing Climate - by John D. Liu (2009)

Project 5: The Paani Foundation
Project Website: https://www.paanifoundation.in/
Thanks Paani Foundation for use of drone footage.
My videos on the Paani Foundation's work:
• India's Water Revolution #1: #1: Solving the Crisis in 45 days
• India's Water Revolution #2: The Biggest Permaculture Project on Earth!

Bonus Project: Regenerative Resources
Project Website: https://regenerativeresources.co/

There is a natural relationship between soil health and our health. The soil ecosystem is a living matrix of all sorts of organisms much like the lining of our gut...the gut microbiome. Many of you read "The Soil and Health" several years ago. Our health is linked to that of the land.
Charles Dowding and Dr. Eric Berg discuss links between soil and health as a positive state (30 min)
Health from the soil. An idea that's been around for a long time, but with no agreed way to measure it. How can we quantify biological interactions? In this case, clues are in the links between microbial interactions between soil and our bodies.
Nutritionists are now uncovering how the microbiomes of soil and our bodies are strongly linked. Body health can come from soil health. We discuss how to enable this and also ask, what is health?!
00:00 Introduction
00:34 Introducing Dr Eric Berg
02:06 What is health?
03:33 Dr Berg explains the importance of the microbiome
05:41 Defining soil
06:55 I describe my dig/no dig beds trial
07:50 Dr Berg talks about the benefits of eating plants grown in healthy soil
09:42 The health issues from synthetic fertilisers and hydroponic growing
11:42 Dr Berg explains a new test he is going to be doing on the biochemistry of a plant, and talks about a plant’s microbes
14:28 Watering vs. raining for giving plants moisture
15:37 More on NPK fertiliser - an experiment described in the book ’Soil, Grass and Cancer’
18:00 More on growing hydroponically
19:04 We discuss the book ’Nutrition and Physical Degeneration’ - about not eating processed food, and eating some fermented food
20:39 ‘Health from the land’
22:53 Soil being linked to health
24:01 How/where to access food grown in healthy soil, ‘living soil’, and how to create the demand for it
28:36 Outro

So these restoration stories span the globe. We have the ability to reclaim degraded ecosystems. Sadly it seems TPTB are working in another direction to control farms and your access to them...
Robert Barnes speaks about food control in the US...

The entire show is interesting and worthwhile. The food control discussion is only about 10 min.

Farms Being Shutdown; We Must Resist | Alex Newman
Across the globe, we are seeing a coordinated war on small farmers in the interest of "sustainability" and "development," says Alex Newman, journalist, author, and educator. Large global bodies are explicitly wanting to reshape the global food system, and governments are shutting down small farmers. We must resist by supporting local farmers, he says.
Time Stamps:
3:15 Food security
8:20 Flights, food, & clothing
17:40 Resisting
25:00 Sound money

Reclaiming food and medicine with John Campbell and Aseem Malhotra. (28 min)
Time stamps:
0:36: The conference 'Reclaiming Food and Medicine' aims to address corporate corruption and global disease by promoting healthy food choices.
4:42: Metabolic syndrome is the physical manifestation of insulin resistance, diagnosed by looking at five particular factors.
8:38: The video discusses the affordability and acceptability of cigarettes, the impact of marketing on unhealthy choices, and the prevalence of ultra-processed food in hospitals.
12:44: The best dietary pattern to combat chronic inflammation and insulin resistance is a low carb Mediterranean diet, cutting out ultra processed foods.
16:31: Tom Watson discusses being targeted by a government dirty tricks campaign for promoting good evolved science.
20:57: You don't need to spend hours in the gym to optimize longevity and health.
24:27: Optimal mental and physical health are interconnected and should be managed together for the betterment of society.

We've been miseducated about what we should eat to be healthy. We're told what to eat to make big food (and therefore big pharma) more money. Most chronic diseases in the west would go away with a proper diet.

The Corruption of Our Nutritional and Medical Guidelines |Dr Chaffee (90 min)
Our guidelines aren't just wrong, they are corrupt. Even though Coca-Cola alone spends 11 times the amount of money on nutritional research than the NIH annually, it's not just the the Big Food companies behind it. Behind it from the beginning, and even founding some of the largest Big Food companies such as Kellogg's and Sanitarium Foods, lies another entity who has influenced the guidelines, the WHO, the McGovern Report, and even the curriculum of nutritionists and Lifestyle Medicine doctors. To find out more about these shady dealings and why you cannot trust even what is taught in nutritional science classes at major universities, you won't want to miss this presentation!
Most of this information was originally uncovered by Belinda Fettke, who you can follow and watch to go even deeper down the rabbit hole here

Many people are embracing a carnivore diet. Especially those who have chronic issues.
Carnivore Diet Transformation: How I Lost 100lbs in 7 Months! (22 min)

I ONLY ATE MEAT FOR 99 DAYS- Carnivore Diet UPDATE- The Biggest Lesson YOU Need to Learn (37 min)

He Only Ate Meat For 1 Year and This Is What Happened! Carnivore Diet (1 hour)

The Ultimate Carnivore Diet For Women By 4 Carnivore Experts 2023 (34 min)
The Carnivore Diet is different for women than for men. Women have different hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, so the way we do things is a little different.
I spoke with 4 Carnivore experts, Dr. Elisabeth Bright, Dr. Lisa Wiedeman, Kelly Hogan, and Dr. Robert Kiltz. The most interesting takeaway is that women benefit from following high-fat Carnivore fat. Also, women should fast differently for more optimal Carnivore results.
Fat is very nourishing to our body, brain, and hormones, and when we get enough fat, like 70/30 or 80/20, this will allow our body to lower inflammation and easily lose body fat.

I SHOULD HAVE SAID THIS MANY YEARS AGO. (20 min)
Notes and other videos under the clip.

CARNIVORE Diet (Beginner's Guide) All You Need to Get Started - 2023 (22 min)
The Carnivore Diet is nutrient-dense and non-inflammatory, it will give you better physical and mental health. Follow the simple steps and tips in this video to begin to see immediate and sustainable results. Share your results and share this video with those suffering from chronic disease.

Now I'm not carnivore, but if I had chronic issues it is the diet I would try. We do eat meat or fish most everyday, and compliment it with our garden veggies. Our trick is fasting. We typically eat two meals a day in a 6 hour window. At least once a month we do a full three day water only fast.

If I was to offer diet advice it would be to eliminate sugars and sweets...and seed oils. These are the main ingredients in processed foods, which to my mind should be avoided like the plague. Eat real food. Supplement with Vit. D3 and K2, Omega 3 oils, a magnesium supplement, and perhaps Vit. C.

Another health hack is the sauna. The dry heat baths improve health and increase lifespans.
Sauna Benefits Deep Dive and Optimal Use with Dr. Rhonda Patrick & MedCram
Sauna use as a lifestyle practice to extend healthspan

• Sauna use mimics physiological and protective responses induced during exercise.
• Repeated sauna use optimizes stress responses via hormesis and heat shock proteins.
• Sauna use appears to reduce morbidity and mortality in a dose-dependent manner.
• Frequent sauna use may protect against cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disease.
• Sauna use provides a means of preserving muscle mass and countering sarcopenia.

I'm trained as a soil scientist. I know how to heal degraded land. I'm a self taught nutritionist, and lost a good deal of weight and improved how I feel by literally years. These are things we can do for ourselves...healing and improving our garden soil, healing and improving our gut microbiome, creating a fruitful environment for ourselves and family. Most weeks, this column explores the actions of those in power who are not interested in us nor our needs. They want to dictate to us what they think is best. We have to go our own way to optimize our own health. Even if you don't have a garden nor the inclination, you can still get to know your local producers. If there is a crack down on these producers, you could help one another survive what may be coming. I find it curious to see the billionaire class buying farms....like they know how to farm? I think they are preparing to produce food for themselves if the need arises, or at a minimum control what is grown and how it is grown.

I hope you all find yourselves in a food secure community in good health and feeling well! I feel fortunate to be in that situation. Have a great Sunday! As always share any stories on your mind....the conflict in Israel is a biggie, Ukraine remains front and center, pushing for a war with China remains an insane US obsession, and so on. Or ask about any of the stories I covered today.