Professor, as Edmond Szekely was affectionately known to his student and friends

is the author of the famous “Essene Gospel of Peace.”His work on health and well being is known by seemingly so few and yet has had such a profound impact on everyone who aspires to greater health, peace of mind and understanding. You will find many websites appearing to represent him and his teachings. I assure you, none of them with his permission. The Gentle Angel who he entrusted with his lifes work, some 90+ books, was told to never become involved in the internet. For better or for worse, She has remained offline, though fortunately for many, she allowed certain books to be sold through certain sites, understanding many would never experience Professors work if they could not find and buy it on Amazon.com. Personally, I buy books directly from Her, His Widow – and I would like to share with you that I have been more than honored to have many long conversations with her about Professor – a relationship that began when I bought my first 3 complete series of his works. She knew why I was buying 3 sets – to give them away. I am that moved by Professor and what he has shared.

Among Professors seemingly countless accomplishments and experiences, he started the now, largest and most well known healing center in the world  - Ranco La Puerta. He gave this over to his now x-wife/x-widow (not sure how that works) who took the retreat to a very elaborate level. His life story and the story of the origins of Rancho La Puerta can be read in his books “Search for the Ageless” Volumes 1 &2. If you are like me, and wish to buy directly from the Woman he entrusted with His lifes work – you can snail mail a letter to

I.B.S. international

Box 849, Nelson, BC

Canada V1L 6A5

Send ‘Swallow’ (like the bird) a letter telling Her you want a brochure. Be sure to tell her Michael from Detroit says hello. I don’t get a kick back in case you are thinking this way – I would not dream of accepting it. It is reward enough to share with you the profound Man I met when I tapped into these works.

Professor advocated the consumption of wheat grass not only because of it’s dynamic nutrient content but because

1.it was so easy to grow

2. it was so full of life energy

3. it was living food

Professors core teachings and methods of healing were based on what he called ‘The Essene Bio Genic Way of Life” – basically,

1. Raw living foods

2. Sun and water (lake, river, ocean) bathing

3. Exercise and fresh air

4. Meditation and Healing Arts

So, I started growing wheat grass for the nutrient bump and also because He advocated a meditation wherein you sit with the tray on your lap – at the peaker growth stages, and rest your hands on the grass. It was his experience that the energy field of the plant would increase your energy field during the sitting. It works. I promise you. Try it.

So I use the hard red wheat berry and sometimes the softer white. I have noticed little difference  in germination rates or in taste. I am sure there is a nutrient level difference, but none that I can yet measure.

Right here you can see the difference between the red and white berry. Red on the bottom, white on top.  You can buy either online or at your local organic food place. They are cheap – don’t buy the kits – those are expensive.

Ok, now you bought the berry and you soak it over night in purified water. I sometimes forget and end up soaking them for 2 days. If you change the water after each day, this is ok, but I do notice a loss of germination rate when I soak them 48 hrs in the same water.

I guess how many I need for my tray – and I always  end  up  right. You will  too.

I like to use clay bowls for this sort of germination rather than glass or plastic. It is said plants grow better in clay pots. I am highly inclined to agree, yet, I am happy too to grow my wheatgrass in plastic trays for the time being.

Soil. I use an organic compost mix I bought from a local feedshop. Picking the right soil for your wheatgrass is very important. Since this is your little tray of Vitality Power you want the soil to be as electric as can be. Hopefully, as time/money allow, Indi will be offering our own soil mix for this specific purpose for those who may be struggling to find a really dank soil.

When I get my soil, I put it into a big plastic container and mix in Azomite, Green Sand and a little bit of Kelp. I do this to add more trace minerals to the soil. Kelp, though it has a nitrogen component, is also a great plant derived source of minerals, whereas Green Sand and Azomite are trace minerals not yet assimilated by a plant. So I am adding 3 vehicles of trace mineral supplimentation. I am fairly liberal with the mix and there is no ratio for me to share here. I do, though, allow the soil to sit for a several days after blending – it feels to me like during this time the components in the soil begin to relate to each other and active more microbial activity. I do not, I repeat, I do not ‘fertilize’ the wheat grass, per say. In fact, I like to slow down the growth process of the grass as much as possible because I feel, and yes, I am not certain – I have never measured this – but I do feel strongly that the longer the growth process, the more the plant is assimilating the nutrients in the soil.

Ok. so you have bought your trays (3), bought your soil, mixed in your trace minerals, soaked your berries and now you pack the soil into the tray and dump your berries onto the top of the soil in the tray. Using your hands to spread it around, pat it down and watering the tray with purified water – it is now ready to be placed into a dark area for the seed to continue to develop. You will see little white growth tips shooting up while the roots begin digging in. Once I see about 80% of the berries kicking into action.

I place my tray in my bookshelf and cover it with cardboard – creating a dark, moist environment for the berries to continue germination.

You can see here that my germination rate is not so hot – because I forget about my soaking berries and they sat in the same water for 2.5 days. Still, this tray will fill 80%. As soon as the white growth tips see light, they begin turning green. Indirect light is all I use to grow wheat grass. This window area recieves ZERO direct sunlight. The more indirect the light, the slower it grows – it is a balance, and you will figure it out.

Here is where I grow my grass. I use 3 trays, because every 5th day I start a new batch – so I always have a fresh tray to be chewing on. Here you see 2 trays – and one is in the book shelf getting ready, one is at peak and one is expiring.

Here you see where I have cut the grass and where it is growing. You can buy a wheat grass juicer like I did years ago – but I found out it is sort of a pain in the ass. Instead of juicing it, now I just cut the grass, stick it in my mouth and chew until it is totally juiced. Easy, fun and quick.

So to recap.

1. Soak your berries

2. Spread them on your super soil

3. Let them sit for a few days in moist, dark area

4. Bring them to indirect light

5. Cut, chew and give yourself and your loved ones a living nutrient boost.

The flavor should be sweet. When it is sweet, you have succeeded in your trace mineral absorption. When it is sweet like candy, this means the sugars are being generated which means you are getting a more nutrient dense grass experience. If it is bitter, then play around with your trace mineral blend until you find the sweet spot. Good luck – please comment on any tips you may like to share.

Growing wheat grass makes your indoor living space more beautiful and luminous. It is a very inexpensive way to consume living nutrients and it is a beautiful partner for quiet meditation. It is also a fun and educational experience for you and your kids, if you have kids. Big thanks to Professor for his Life’s work and I hope this post brings more health and well being to your life.

If you live in the Metro Detroit area and would like Indi to come out and help you set up your own indoor garden, feel free to contact me. Wheat grass among other indoor plants, can be used in a highly visually pleasing way as well as for simple productivity.

Michael

If you know someone in the Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor area wanting/needing our services, please pass this flier/site along. Thanks!

The Botany of Desire

I just watched this film last night and I wanted to share it with you. This is a very well done film outlining the idea that perhaps plants are using us to the same extent that we use them and that they have developed traits and capacities in order to ‘convince’ us to propogate their species. The idea itself is novel, to most, and presented stunningly well. I am very picky about movies and this one is worth some hot chocolate,  dried mango and a warm friend to snuggle with on a winter night.

Here is what I have understood about the ROCF (Royal Oak Community Farm).

1. It is on school property

2. Profit’s go mainly to the royal oak school system

3. Executive management fee’s are unknown, not in place, or simply not considered at this stage

4. Food will be sold locally in royal oak

5. So far 1 job has been created – which is 1 more than we had.

6. The long term vision is to use more school land(s) to propogate this model.

7. Fundraising activities are in place but currently no 501c3 is.

It is awesome to see more and more energy and attention being moved to producing food locally and I applaud David for his work here. That being said, I am personally concerned with the model he has in place given that an undisclosed, yet substantial amount of profits are going to public schools…which…already recieve state and federal money from YOU and I…and statistically, they waste it. There is something for me about this that feels like the bank bail outs. If this program was aimed to fund local schools so they could turn down federal dollars and thus directly control their education locally…I would be ALL for it. As it is, I personally rather see Mr. Baldwin profit from this endevour than a school. Let me explain…

1. I can sit down with Mr. Baldwin and have a discussion with him about how he spends his money in the community. You cannot do this with school boards and get anywhere. They are not going to change their educational model…that much has been proven. More useless tests, less time outside, less time to eat, more stress, less to no art, less to no music…UGH! Music, Art, Play – take it all away and you wonder why your kids hate school, dislike learning and are not inspired?….!!!

2. I personally rather see individuals or families profit than ‘institutions’

Here is another idea for school farms:

1. Hire a private company to work with the school to design a farm/education model for the students at that school. Transition existing school landscape expenses in the direction of said farm – thereby saving money via transforming it’s direction.

2. The children learn to grow food, eat healthy, run a business and care for their environment/bodies.

3. The farm is intergrated into the schools educational program. It is a farm for the students, by the students with only support and guidance from the outside.

4. The school stays a place of education and does not become a source of competition for other local business.

Now, clearly I am biased in my opinion here given what I do for a living – and still what I am saying makes sense. Schools are paid for by You and I to provide education for our children and our greater community – which, we know for sure they are failing at – but that is another topic. There is no reason that schools should be in the business of competing against local business – which is EXACTLY what the ROCF model is doing.

My children go to Royal Oak public schools. I would LOVE to see a farm at their school that THEY work on, learn from and help grow. There is no way I would support a farm being built on their schools property that profits the school board while my kids get 20 minutes a day to play outside and 15 minutes to eat lunch…which is what our crap school model has told us is part of their ‘education.’ This may sound harsh and angry and it is.We have gone to the moon but we have not figured out children need to spend 50% of their time playing, running, outside, in the open air? Absurd.

Giving money to the public school system is as bad as giving money to banks -yet without looking any deeper into it it feels nice to think you are supporting a “School” -which – the very word in our mind relates to education, higher learning and a better life – yet, in fact, this is not the case.

Here is another idea for Mr. Baldwin:

1. Assist in connecting for profit local companies with cheap land within the city to farm. Let those businesses profit from school land with the conditions they must provide a comprehensive educational model for that school and those kids as part of getting the free land and water. Mr. Baldwin, as owner of the Royal Oak BUsiness Association would then be not only helping provide local restraunts with cheap local food, but also providing local farm business with cheap land to grow that food. That, to me, is a win win win. As it is now, the school board profits, Mr. Baldwin profits and a few restraunts will possibly benefit from the food – but the farmer moves from being self employed to becoming an employee for a school baord and Mr. Baldwin. Better still, Mr. Baldwin could assist in connection said farmers to said schools as consultant/guidance for developing functional educational farm models for the school.

Quick Recap.

1. School Farms? - AWESOME IDEA – for education and run by the students along with consultant/advisor support – within the community.

2. School Farms that profit the school board, are not integrated into the cirriculum, whose food is not going into the cafeteria and whose presence essentially is but eye candy for children staring out of windows in a dull and boring classroom?…NO THANKS.

It is important that we critique each other in a positive way. I love what David is doing in terms of raising awareness and generating energy around local food. Love it. I love that he is making something happen – love it. I do feel the long term effect of the current model he has is detrimental. I have explained why. I would love to hear your take on this.

Remember, small business is the HEART of the American experiment. Without it, we all end up employees. My grandfather started his company fixing toilets and went on to help build Nuclear Power Plants. He always told me growing up “Michael, it is better to be broke and work for yourself than to work for someone else.” True or not – the spirit of that comment is something I really value and is a way of living I advocate for myself and my children. I feel if the ROCF model succeeds and is expanded it will hurt small farmers – NOT help them. I do not see how this position can be argued otherwise…please enlighten me if I am missing something here.

I leave you with a clip from one of the luminaries of our time talking a little about education.Be warned, there is some heavy langauge in this clip.

Lastly, it is a good thing to have food growing around us – no matter what the details of the matters are – so long as this farm is producing organic food – without the use of GMO or any kind of chem – then it adds to our food security. This article is made to stimulate thought and to encourage investing our time and energy in the ‘best’ direction. I support David’s efforts, will continue to post on his farm and am an advocate for local food. I simply feel the model he has set up could be improved upon a great deal. This is not an attempt to discredit anyone – I have lots of bad ideas as many of you know. I am excited to see how Mr. Baldwins vision develops over time and I hope this sort of input will assist in refining the vision of the new world we are all actively building right now.

Love,

Michael

Hello!

Check out this great article on my goji plants in HOUR magazine. READ ARTICLE HERE

Thank you Alexa for yet another awesome article on my work! Alexa has written about my companies over the past 9 years several times – thus, in my mind, she is the most talented writer in the city right now! lol

I took the plants from SEED to BERRY in 2 seasons while over wintering them in pots TWICE! What this means is this plant is Extremely hardy. At night I would have dreams of a berry colored woman telling me secrets about how to grow the plant, what it needs, how to prune it, how to transplant it and how to make it sing. I prefer this story more than how I really figured those things out

So – your goji’s by the end of this year would be multi-stem and around 4-6ft high depending on when we start growing them for you. All of the plants we did grow are being kept for production and experimentation. Sadly, half of my goji crop died last year due to a rare landscape disease commonly called ‘divorce.’ So we are taking orders right now to start growing your goji hedge. These plants express a luminous, shimmering silverbluegreen presence with airy long branching, similar to forsythia or red stem dogwood. This plant can be left to grow wild, or pruned into geometric hedges. It can even be grown as a vine.

I have read that the bark is anti-bacterial. The leaves taste AMAZING and are great in salads and tea. The berry is worthy of rolling around in naked. This is an exceptional plant. Get your order in.

Check out the first video we did on the goji last spring. Word JP! Thanks for being there with me on that one.

How I got turned on to growing Goji -

So have you gotten one of these phone calls ‘Hey Old Pal! Wow, I really missed your voice, it has been so long – hey, there is this new business…’ Yep…lolol…you know the rest. Well there is a company selling Goji Juice and they are using an MLM format and selling this juice for around $30 a bottle…yes THIRTY. So, 2 ‘friends’ of mine call me a few years ago trying to slang this thirty dollar kool aid on me because it is ‘Goji’ juice and Goji has this and that and blah blah blah. Well, it is true, the berry has been used in Ayurvedic, Tibetan and Chinese medicine for a long, long time and has numerous dynamic benefits. So, their initial call got me very excited about their product – A. because I trusted them and B. because I loved the berry and new of it’s benefits. Well, as I looked into this ‘wonder’ product I found out that in fact less than 10% of the drink is Goji Juice and of that 10% it is 100% reconstituted juice – meaning they dried the berry and then rehydrated it and then made the juice….Can you think of a single wine maker that would dehydrate a grape, rehydrate it and then try to make wine? BS. Total BS. At the end of the day, this product was $30 pear juice with goji flavor and worse, they claimed it was A. Raw and B. Organic yet could not produce any paper trail to substantiate. Despite their ruthless sales efforts which succeeded in showing me they were without decency, at least in this regard, I stayed farrr away from that goji drink racket and decided to instead start my own Goji Racket- get the real thing, real fresh, really organic and really cheap. In my own findings, the best place on the internet to get dried goji’s is www.gojiberry.com talk to Julie and tell her Michael from detroit sent you along. 100% of my berries from her sprouted. I don’t get any kick backs or anything from her…yet…lol…but I get a kick out of knowing I can bring more business to her. They are family owned and operated and her husband is a Tibetan Medicine Practioner. Worthy of all capital first letters.

So, in short, beware of expensive goji drinks, BS and people who are too friendly or over complimentary just prior to a sales effort (aka – BS).