Gardening, Nutrition and Oils: Part 1

Hi Everyone,

I have a good positive item for discussion that is not directly linked with aromatherapy but is linked in an indirect way.

As we move forward with the seasons of the year, those in the northern latitudes have already began to put their gardens to rest for the year. Those found in southern latitudes are starting to give serious thought to the deed. The information I share with you is taken from the works of Dr. William Albrecht and Dr. Weston Price; as well as my own knowledge.

In our last discussion we talked about clay and how the minerals are essentially attached to the clay particles. Minerals are inorganic by definition. One must not confuse this type of inorganic with the more traditional use of inorganic being derived from petro-chemical production. The inorganic that we are looking at is non biodegradable. What nature does in essence is a similar action, which is to weather away the larger particles and eventually make it into a water soluble form. This natural phenomenon takes place in the soil. So in simple terms you might see the soil as a stomach of sorts. Once the minerals are dissolved into the water, and in the words of Dr. Albrecht; "rearranged and aligned in the proper ratios and order so that the plant can then use the material for its growth and development." Once the plant has done its job, then we can use the plant for our good, as that is the only way that we can utilize the minerals.

So those of you that are familiar with a product known as PDM. Understand that is a product made by running water through a mass of decayed plant material, in a preserved state. The water leeches out the minerals and then that water is used in PDM. It is a reasonably good and effective way to utilize the minerals for the body. In your body you have to eat a plant product, then have your stomach break down and decay the plant material, carry out a leeching process and then your body can absorb the minerals that are contained in the plant being eaten.

Now as we learned in clay, we have various colors of clay. This is an indication of dominate minerals to be found in the clay. Various parts of the world, even from one local area to another, can contain various ratios of minerals or even a single, dominate mineral only. So it is with the various essential oils. We have the variation between the plants themselves and their characteristics but the very same plant can vary a great deal even when coming from close proximity.

Now in Dr. Albrecht's writings he takes a strict approach by saying that the only real way that the minerals can be taken up is through a plant. He gives a number of examples through out his writings to support his view point. For me personally, I think it may be  just the opposite way from what Dr Albrecht has written. In my experience in dealing with livestock, some minerals in their raw, inorganic form can and will help an animal; however, I am sure when compared to the same amount being utilized through a plant is far more efficient and effective.

Then we come around to Dr. Price's presentations. He traveled around the world and documented the effects of the proper usage of minerals on people, as well as the lack of minerals or a mineral in people's diet. One of his indications of a diet lacking in minerals is the observation of the middle third of a person's face, as observed vertically. The first sign to show the lack of minerals are the teeth. This is presented in buck teeth, weak teeth, cleft palate and a dish faced nose. Eye placement is also a factor according to him.

Albrecht's writings are mostly limited to the US and Canadian areas. He writes the best areas for electrical/radio waves transmission through the soil is centered around the 97th/98th parallels of the US. .He says as you go west the soil becomes more alkaline. This is due to the lack of water that breaks down and weathers the rocks, which results in the minerals. Then the minerals break down to be carried into the soil and on to the plant. As you move east of the 97th/98th parallel the soil becomes more acidic. This is because the more water, as in rain water, will leech the soil out and the minerals contained there are less concentrated as the amount of water increases. The exception to this is of course the Central Valley of California. This is due to the ocean. As the wind sweeps across the water, minerals are picked up and over time they are deposited in that area. The clouds then drop their water weight before they climb over the mountain range. Once the clouds make it over the mountain range they carry some water, but not enough to weather the rocks in a speedy manner. The winds carry the dust which contains various minerals and deposit those minerals across the great plains.

However, once you get over the mountains in California you then find the Great Basin. Here we have a lot of concentrated areas of minerals. One of which is the PDM source. Another source is a local company that mines and ships various concentrations of minerals. I have a friend that has 4 big rig trucks that has a dedicated route every week to haul these minerals out to Wisconsin for farming use.  Many times he has to contract with other companies to haul even more. He is not the only company that does that. So one would wonder why would you have to haul minerals out for use in an area that is lush and green and extremely productive? Well because the conditions are different. Those soils are dark and rich with high amounts of things like enzymes and other various forms of required plant growth materials, but lack minerals, that have been depleted in the farming process. So replacement of those is necessary on an on going basis.

Another way for the minerals to be returned to the soil is with fire. This is really a short cut in the process because the plant matter is burned away and the minerals in the plants are made available for immediate use.  At this point in the process Albrecht introduces an idea that is a real mind bender. He does not advocate the rotation of crops. He says that the plant material from the crop needs to drop where it was grown. He claims that the plants actually produce their own vaccines, so to speak, their own immunity through the use of the previous plant growth matter. He gives a long discussion and backs it up with facts to support his point of view.

So how does this apply to you? Many of you grow gardens or do container gardens. Many of you throw away the plant matter after you have harvested your crops from your plants. Another option would be to till the plant residue back into the soil. You would want to do this in the fall. This is so that it has time to break down and decompose before spring. A good nitrogen source will help in this process. Alfalfa is a very good source for this. Perhaps the simplest way to go buy a bag of alfalfa meal, which is ground up alfalfa or maybe even a bag of rabbit pellets to till into your soil.

This method is really pretty cheap and a natural form of a nitrogen source. The nitrogen will speed up the prep work of the material for next year. Of course you can get some of the "magic dirt" and use that in the process as well. Then as an alternative you can place all of the bio mass on a clear area of soil, and burn it. Basically cremate it, lol. Then along with the nitrogen source and magic dirt, place on the garden and work into the soil. It is always best to prep the soil for next spring, This fall. If you are confined to doing container gardening, do just this very thing, on a smaller scale. Everything else would be the same.

So how does this apply to essential oils. After all that is the purpose of this group, right?  I hope you can see the concept of Wild Crafted Plants. Then you have Organic production where the plants are not subjected to the non organics of petro chemical manipulations, but subjected to the inorganic of natural products such as minerals. One must keep the two versions of inorganic in their proper places.

Then we have the next form of where the plants come from and that is "farmed". Just because a plant is farmed, does not mean it is bad. Some farmed plants are of very high quality, yet others are of very low quality. Here one does everything possible to insure that no matter the source you do all that can be done to make sure it is of the highest quality available for that plant/essential oil offering.

So the question goes begging; Do Essential Oils contain Nutrition? Well the answer is yes and no. In the steam distillation of a plant, much of the minerals come over in the process. Actually the magic number is the molecular weight of the item. Generally anything under a molecular weight of 300 will cross over into the oil. Anything over that weight is usually too heavy to move over. Many of the petro chemical elements are under that magic number. This is why this is whole "pure" thing is so important in aromatherapy. Pure is referencing, in reality, the absence of the petro chemical elements.

Of course with some people, if it "ain't there", they add it to the oil. That is known as adulterating the oil. So if that nutritional element is under that weight, then there is a good chance it will be there in the oil. Now to add a curve ball to it, in the newer processes of obtaining essential oils, you have the Co2 and SCo2 extractions processes. In those everything comes over. However, those oils are considerably, as in way more, expensive than the steam distilled ones or the pressed types.

Then you have the pressed types, everything is there, pretty much, so I lean toward saying, yes they contain nutrition. The only sad thing is that I don't know if you can take enough of the oil to make a lot of difference nutritionally, unless you are using them in a homeopathic aspect. Here we would have another mind warping activity to learn about, and we will..

So lots of exciting things are happening with the oils as you learn more about them. So if you are in Leiann's school, please get with the program. Once you get those basics down, then we can move on to a lot of fun stuff. It is kind of like when I was in psycho school (Psychology), we wanted to hurry up with the brain stuff so we could walk Pavlov's dogs. The knowledge I am trying to convey to all of you is  not part of the school but is still important to know. But in order to get the school certified a long list of criteria is given but a lot of this soil stuff isn't. I think those certifying people would have a psycho melt down if it was included. It would be outside of their "construct" (box). lol. But even while walking the dogs, we still talk about the brain stuff. So..lol. there you have something to sleep on.
Again thank you for your support, time and interest. I appreciate all of you and working with you

Written by Kent King.