We have Turkey Tail Mushrooms around here. One look at them and you can easily see why they are called that. Here's a picture of some growing out of an old oak log I have sitting around:
There are several mushrooms that are said to "tonify qi" according to Chinese Medicine and Turkey Tail Mushroom (Trametes versicolor) is one of them. Andrew Weil, MD, spoke of just this regarding cancer patients who'd received radiation and chemotherapy which leaves you weak (with a compromised immune system when chemo is involved). A seven year study showed amazing results. I'll put a link to that article below.
Other mushrooms he speaks of that are known to have similar properties are Chicken of the Woods (Grifola frondosa) which grows out of oak trees. Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum) are another. Interestingly all of these grow right here on our property. Below are pics of each:
http://www.drweil.com/...
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Let the "Drought Wars" begin. Now that Governor Jerry Brown has order water rationing statewide for the first time in California's history, the fallout is beginning in earnest. Agriculture uses 80% of all our water while cities and towns use 20%. We do have water thirsty crops growing in deserts. Jerry Brown has ordered that municipalities use 25% less water, but has left implementing that to each of the 400+ water districts. There are no water restrictions for agriculture or fracking or any industry including bottled water (which uses over 800,000,000 gallons per year).
Jerry claims there is no reason to curtail water use for those that use 80% of all the water. Weird, no? Well he is in a big bind. He has been given a shitload of money by BigAg and also is in the terrible spot of defending what his father caused in the 1960's which was to build the California Aqueduct which takes water from northern California to the deserts of central and southern California to grow crops. Back in the 1960's this really made sense, but in the long run it's created our current situation and Jerry has to defend his family's legacy.
Well the drought wars are being fought in our local newspapers just as they are across the state. An editorial in the local Chico newspaper yesterday said it's about time homeowners "shared farmer's pain." OK where I live is major almond growing territory (as well as walnuts, olives and every kind of fruit including kiwis). There has always been a very conservative bias here and one that puts farming interests first. But farmers have not had any water restrictions and won't again this year.
There are parts of the state where farms were fallow last year (400,000 acres) but that was due to those places (mostly the western San Joaquin Valley) having only surface water supplies. There just wasn't any water for those with "junior water rights" to surface water. Any farm that had wells used all the water they wanted.
This being the case, many farmers from the area where I live have sold their surface water to those in central and southern California because they are making more money doing that than they could growing crops. BUT, they are also then pumping water from our aquifer and putting that into the surface water systems to be sold to those farmers as well. No control over farmers using aquifer water results in exactly what you'd expect any smart person to do...game the system to make money. They sell their surface water, which is regulated by the Federal Government, but then also sell aquifer water which is not regulated at all.
In the editorial they admit that almond growing uses 10% of all the water in California, but they defend that by saying that's only three times as much water as Los Angeles uses and 50% of LA water goes into lawns, gardens and swimming pools. They claim only farmers are in touch with the reality of the earth, sun and water which they use to grow things to eat while city folks think food comes from stores and water comes from their faucets.
As far as I'm concerned that's creating a straw man argument and here's the rub. California grows 80 percent of the world's almonds. Most almonds grown here are exported. More than 450,000 acres of almonds are grown in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys stretching 400 miles between Bakersfield, CA and Red Bluff, CA. Almonds are California's #1 export crop with over 6,000 almond growers providing 100 percent of the domestic supply while also exporting to 90 nations with Germany getting 25 percent followed by Japan at about 12 percent.
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In our local papers there is a war going on in the editorials as well between people that believe in climate change and those that say it's a total hoax, of course. Oh it gets nasty. Climate deniers are a verbally nasty lot. They write into our papers calling those that believe in climate change as being "hate-filled, slur-mongering green thugs" and "local left-wing commie femmes." I'll leave it at that, but it's getting really ugly.
Below is a picture taken 2 weeks ago (March 15) of Stony Creek near Hamilton City, CA which is about 10 miles west of Chico, CA. Stony Creek stopped flowing!!! The picture isn't the best, but what it shows are thousands of Salmon, Perch, Bass and Carp that are dead and rotting in the sun. This picture was taken right next to almond and walnut orchards. This was mid-March!!! Climate change is not a hoax. This is serious folks. This is really, really real!
What do you want to kibitz about tonight?
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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