Gill and Peter Bacchus are masters of their craft, Biodynamics, and I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time chatting with them after their recent workshop, held in Cromwell, New Zealand. These two are well-educated and switched on to life. They’re also in tune with the how important our relationship is with the planets, stars, earth, and the food we put into our bodies. Gill is the author of “Love Your Veges” [ed: “Veggies” for you Yanks] and Peter has authored “Biodynamic Pasture Management”. with the subtitle Balancing Fertility, Life and Energy.
YOUR FOOD SUPPLY #32: The Dynamic Duo Note: (This video series started 13 years ago, while listening to the audio version of the book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, when Amanda and I were driving across the U.S. and were seeing the effects of industrial farming in real time while listening to the book.Here’s that first entry Your Food Supply #1To see the whole series, click on the category “Your Food Supply” in the category section of this blog on the right of your screen.
What struck me was, not only how informed Gill and Peter were when giving their workshop and interview, but how passionate they are about “the parts related to the whole” (physically, spiritually, with the plant kingdom, and universe) , and how we are all interconnected. I also appreciated Peter’s awareness of the bigger picture when it comes to globalist and government overreach. He’s clued in.
Gill has a long practical experience of organic vegetable and herb growing, and learning to choose a vegetable-based diet to manage health issues. She has helped children create school gardens, grow and cook vegetables and helped create community gardens. Gill has a masters in science in Soil Science and Human Nutrition and is also the author of Food Full of Life. Peter was raised on a biodynamic dairy farm and later worked as a medicinal herb grower, developing large-scale composting business. He consults widely and has held leadership position in biodynamic farming organizations. The two live near Thames on the north island of New Zealand. They can be reached at p.bacchus@farmside.com.nz and gillbacchus@gmail.com Although they do have a web domain, their website isn’t up and running at the moment, however here’s Gill’s Facebook page.
This year’s workshop was held at Valda Muller’s Organic New Zealand Nuts walnut farm where Valda guided the workshop participants on a walk-around of her property, which is virtually all biodynamic. The workshop was created and managed by Su Hoskins, who is also has an amazing grasp of organic and biodynamic farming, who we’ll interview soon. Sue recently hosted the two-day workshop where the first day was near Wanaka, and the second at Valda’s in Cromwell. You can learn more about Sue on her Facebook page.
If you get a chance, read their books, and if you’re in New Zealand, by all means, attend one of their, and Sue’s workshops.
Hats off to both Kelvyn Alp and Hannah Spierer for sharing New Zealand’s year in review on the worldwide broadcast of the Alex Jones Show. The couple hosted the fourth hour of the show today, highlighting some of the more important events of the past year. This is important because Jones’ show reaches millions, and by sharing the antics here in NZ during the past year, the word gets out, and the NZ government, and Jacinda Adhern in particular, hate that.
I’ve been listening to Mr. Jones for years, on shortwave radio, before he was streaming on the internet. So it’s a full circle having our own Kelvyn and Hannah on the show, surreal in fact. The truth is getting harder to suppress – we’re living in interesting times! I’m fond of saying, often attributed to Mark Twain, “A lie gets half way around the world before truth has time to put its pants on.” But we’re catching up.
You can listen here on this ad-free audio file. And don’t forget to share.
David Trood, a world-class photographer was shut down during lockdown. All his work was based on taking flights worldwide. He was forced to rethink his life, and his role in relation to the mother earth. Here is a trailer to his story.
David Trood is a prize-winning travel and commercial photographer who pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling with his passionate narrative of people and nature.
He is a Hasselblad Master, and for almost three decades David has successfully completed thousands of editorial, corporate, and commercial assignments in over 40 countries.
David was born in Queensland and is now based in Australia and Denmark. He is a valued contributer at Getty Images and takes on freelance still and video assignments all over the world.
You can find out a bit more about David’s work on his YouTube channel here and at his website
Dean Craft, of Wanaka, New Zealand, shares a new discovery of using an automotive tool called a brake vacuum pump plus, a “Foodsaver jar sealer”. You’ll want to use canning/preserving jars, available in most grocery stores. This is a fast and easy way to preserve foods. We hadn’t heard about this until Dean popped by Mountain Spirit yesterday and showed us.
You can purchase the brake vacuum pump, in NZ, here:
John Sedon, owner of the Lost Boys Cafe in Hamilton NZ, has a stories to tell. He’s not just a cafe owner in tough times, he’s a confident, and maybe, even a healer of sorts. Hear his stories in these three segments.
PART 1 The crew at the Lost Boys Cafe – good food and coffee, and great people.Part 2, John Sedon, owner of the Lost Boys Cafe, Hamilton, New ZealandPart 3, John Sedon likes his coffee, but he likes being involved with life, and his customers even more.
During lockdown we had time to pick almonds. You don’t actually pick them, you use long sticks or PVC pipe, and wack them off the branches so they land on a tarp. Just don’t get hit as they fall. It hurts! Then the work of taking off the skin and cracking the shells begins. We’re still looking a good for a good almond cracker, so if anyone knows of one, let us know. Right now, we’re doing the cro-magnum technique of smashing them with a river rock. After they’re out of the shell, we’re ready to make almond butter, almond milk or even eat nuts! We have about 6 almond trees here at Mountain Spirit, and since the nuts keep well, unlike the sweet chestnuts we have, we’re able to enjoy them throughout the winter. @purenewzealand
Check out our new video which gives you an overview of what we’re up to, our goals and dreams to make Mountain Spirit a place where people can connect to nature, themselves and each other. The video was done by “The Master” *Ashley Leung. Ash did the ground work, all editing and production. Keep the good work Ash! Randall did the aerial footage, and Ash made magic with it.
*We feel very fortunate to have Ashley, his wife Autumn and their new daughter as family friends. We miss them them and look forward to their return to New Zealand.
Yesterday we had an interesting and serendipitous discovery of Cedar Circle Farms in East Thetford, Vermont. We had planned to stop by the Lebanon Coop after a spontaneous ride in our little Boston Whaler where we put in just south of Lyme, NH and headed north to where we didn’t know on Connecticut River. It was a hot afternoon, and after putting along we decided to give the 25hp Merc all she’d do, and skimmed along the calm waters. Never having been on the river before, we thought we’d do a little exploring, complete with our 1-yr old on board.
After about ten miles, we happened upon a boat landing on the Vermont side of the river, and decided to hop out and find out where we were. We met someone in the little village who told us we were in North Thetford. We happened to mention we were starting a juicing fast, and had to get back to Hanover, NH before the Coop closed. She responded with, “ Hey, why don’t just get back in your boat and head south again a few minutes to Cedar Circle Farm. They have a small boat landing and (more…)
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