illustration Annouchka Galouchko
“Each one of us is an ecosystem with an estimated trillion other microscopic organisms living in and on us at any given time.
~ Microbiologist Susan Perkins
And these organisms, collectively known as our microbiome,
contain about 300 times the number of genes that our own genomes express”
”Hold on to what is good, even if it is a handful of earth” says an Hopi Prayer. I realized only recently, the importance of these words, much wiser than I had anticipated.
As soil is abound with thousands of species of micro-organisms so do our guts harbour a rich variety of organisms. Likewise in our guts as in our soils, toxins produced by an imbalance of good and bad bacteria can lead to many diseases that can affect future generations.
Mother Nature in her Wisdom has developed ways to protect us. As an example, fermented foods are potent chelators, meaning that they detoxify while providing large amounts of friendly probiotics. Organic cabbages grown without the use of chemical or artificial fertilizers or insecticides are naturally covered with lacto-fermented bacterias. When the salt is added to the chopped cabbage, it stops putrefactive bacteria from multiplying. As the lactobacillus start multiplying, they produce lactic acid which as a natural powerful antiseptic, will be preserving the sauerkraut from pathogenic microbes for up to five to six years when covered by its own juice.
“Understanding the simplicity, complexity and perfection of cultivating
~ Vandana Shiva
a chemical free and thriving agricultural environment
comes from listening to the true teachers:
the soil, the plants, and the incredible biodiversity living within.”