Modern foods are deficient in key nutrients and living microbes. A common phrase is:
Overfed and undernourished.
Our bodies are intelligent and sense this deficiency so stores excess fat and the wrong fat in the wrong place is the underlying cause of the modern epidemic of chronic, non infectious diseases.
Gbiota Inputs – Organic Waste, Manure and Rock Dust
Now look at the Gbiota system. Our basic inputs are organic waste, manure and volcanic rock dust. All cheap, readily available and sustainable.
The microbes, particularly the fungi, break down the rock dust making a whole spectrum of minerals bio-available while also enhancing our gut health.
This is all embedded in the soil blood which is full of a broad spectrum of both minerals and living creatures. If allowed to become stagnant this would soon become a stinking mess full of harmful pathogens.
But the system of flood and flush with pulsed irrigation ensure that this always remains fresh and applying from below and allowing the soil blood to wick up means that the soil where the plants roots are growing never becomes saturated, just moist – Goldilocks moisture.
What Is Soil Blood?
I start by collecting all the soil blood that has drained out from the boxes. I call it soil blood as it does the same job for plants that blood does for us, transport nutrients and cells to where they are needed.
It is dark brown and if you look at it under a microscope it is full of the weirdest creatures.
I collect this up in a box and add water.
Flood-and-Flush Irrigation Cycle
I then twist all the swivel tubes into the up position.
I then calculate out how much liquid to apply by diving the size of the box by ten. Most of my boxes are 30 litres so I know I need to apply about 3 litres.
Typically I water twice a week, my be less in winter but at least once a week.
I pour my diluted soil blood into the compost tube which flushes the soil blood and any lose compost particles into the base of the bed so it floods.
It can’t flood higher than the height of the swivel tube so any excess liquid just overflows out of the swivel tube. This sometimes happens when the plants are very small. Soil blood is valuable so I may put a container to catch any overflow.
The liquid will now wick up to the plant roots so they are kept moist not wet.
This is the key to the Gbiota system. We want to breed beneficial microbes but if the soil is too wet we will breed harmful microbes.
When I flood the base of the bed all the stale air in the base is expelled.
I wait for a period for the liquid to wick up to the plant roots, at least one hour but a day is not too long.
I now rotate the swivel tube into the down position and catch the soil blood in a bottle.
If the plants are growing fast and I have not watered for a while there may not be any water draining out.
This process is called flood and flush. Flushing is important so I now know that I need to water more frequently. If I water twice a week this rarely happens but I like to check that I am getting the flushing action.
This is how I breed beneficial microbes without breeding the harmful microbes so when I eat the plants I am enhancing my gut health.
I can tell it is working as a healthy gut is intelligent so sends out hormones to make me feel satisfied so I don’t want to keep on eating.
Foliar Spray
I have a big problem with insects attacking my plants.
I have used pyrethrum sprays which do work but I really don’t want to use any toxic chemicals. Just because a chemical is natural does not mean it is harmless, there are lot of things in nature that can kill us or our gut microbes.
I am running trials by taking the soil blood I collect, just adding a drop of bio-degradable detergent and spraying onto the leaves of the plants.
This does two things, the dilute detergent washes the wax of any creepy crawlies and so they die and the the soil blood is teaming with microbes which can now enter the plants through the foliage as well as the roots.
I am still in trial mode but this seems t be working well, so I mention for people who want to try.
