Remember The Lorax.
When there are no trees, who is guarding our soils(i)?
Photo: View outside the office window this morning as a duststorm swallowed pedestrians walking by.
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(i) 'Trees: Guardians of the Earth', by Bill Mollison (1988)
We sent Transition Voice a postcard from Mongolia, and they decided to publish it!
Photo: Building a compost heap.
This afternoon Bek put the group through a compost-heap-building practicum (to get their hands dirty, the blood flowing, and create an experiential learning opportunity which they will replicate when working, in turn, with their students) at the experimental veggie plot he installed in his parents' family compound (in true permacultural-style, a multifunctional activity with multiple benefits - students will simultaneously be providing the labour to prepare the growbeds for this season's plantings).
Photo: Observation Log.
Before students depart the classroom, they create their own Daily Observation Log, in which their observations of the land around them will be recorded; an essential tool for any sustenance gardener, and even more essential for anyone serious about growing enough to bring their surplus to market. Again, this exercise has multiple functions:
When used dilligently, an Observation Log can greatly accelerate the grower's effectiveness and crop yields(i), aiding the user to discover nature's patterns expressed in the landscape around them, to see for relationships between plant species growing together (native localized planting guilds), and to read how natural forces have shaped the land so that each walk outside becomes a mental exercise in designing solutions for capturing, storing, and harnessing water, siting potential agricultural plots, and creating a cycle of constant learning from what nature has to teach.
The biggest obstacle standing in the way of using the Observation Log effectively as a tool?
It must be used consistently in order for it to work.
Simple, no?
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(i) Elliot Coleman, 'The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
Mongol-Kazakh food culture is predominantly dairy and meat-based, although Kazakh culture uses more vegetables, mostly in the form of pickled condiments. Each meal we have eaten has been based around meat (boiled, fried, in meatballs, dumplings, off the bone, in sausages) and a starch (potatoes, turnips, wheatflour noodles, imported rice), with some sort of shredded pickled vegetable salad (carrots, cabbage, capsicum, onions).
While a vast knowledge of preparing & preserving meat and dairy products exists, there is relatively little knowledge (beyond storing root crops in actively heated cellars) about preparing & preserving vegetables.
Photo: Cultural evolution: men typically do not prepare meals for the family.
A class lecture was given about the microbiology of our foods, main pathonogenic (E.Coli, Salmonella, and C. Botulisus) & beneficial microbes (Lactobacilus, and Saccharomyces), and the lifecycles and microscopic processes of succession which take place within our foods. Once a theoretical foundation was laid, a practical class was held to demonstrate food safety procedures, proper bottling technique, and how to initiate a lactobaccilic ferment.Tomato chutney was made with tomatoes, onions, and salt, then bottled in sterilized jars collected & re-used from the course kitchen. A lactobaccilic ferment was initiated using a basic sauerkraut recipie of salt, water, and cabbage (the same basic process is used to make kimchee, pickles, tsukemono, and many other traditional foods from many cultures). The sauerkraut was taken home by a student to ferment over the next few weeks, to bring back and share with her classmates when complete.These simple techniques could be used to extend the season's harvest through the cold winter months, boost nutrition (through lactobaccilic ferment), and create value-added food products which can be packaged and sold to local markets (niche markets could be created based on a family's secret recipie). If a family was able to produce sufficient surplus vegetable produce, and effectively preserve them to last the winters, they could feasibly meet all of their dietary needs by trading their food products for their meat & dairy product needs.As the Mongol-Kazakhs of Bayan Ulgii develop their own new & unique recipies for preparing & preserving their vegetable crops, adapting to changing climatic & cultural conditions, we will be witnessing the evolution of an ancient food culture before our very eyes:Photos: Masterchef Janibek prepares (and shows off) a bottled tomato chutney.
Photo: (L to R) - Tilyeubek Ye (ADRA-Mongolia), Matthew Lynch (The Asia-Pacific Center for Regenerative Design), and Dorgsurren 'Doc' Khoo (ADRA-Mongolia), at sunrise on the Barrens of Bayan Ulgii.
Apparently, there's no better icebreaker than a big fluffy hat which looks like an animal has wrapped itself around your head, because Oscar is impressed with the spectacle of my attempts to stuff the oversized furball into the overhead compartment above his seat, and we strike up a very interesting, and diverse conversation ranging from mining, agriculture, NBA All-Star weekend, the foreign investment climate in Mongolia, our respective homelands, Robert Kiyosaki, our current projects, Bank of -Evil- America, former Bank of America employees we know who are now involved in charitable work to atone for their time spent working for Bank of America, sustainable economic development, the amazing potential of the human mind, tsu-te-tse, and oh yes (I told you it was a diverse conversation): Regenerative Business.
Photo: Oscar Mendoza, half the current Mexican population of Mongolia and Co-COO of Frontier Securities.
I'll spare you the details of our rather schizophrenic conversation (which I can assure you, made perfect sense to the both of us, and was highly entertaining, even if only to ourselves), and share a quick story that Oscar told me about one of his billionaire acquaintances:Our conversation stumbled onto the topic of Robert Kiyosaki's definition of an asset: something which feeds you. Oscar Mendoza, (who must be at least somewhat financially savvy to have landed a job which requires him to work on deals containing so many zeroes the numbers sound nonsensical, almost Suess-ical), Co-COO of Mongolia's first and finest boutique(i) Investment Banking firm, commented: By the way I agree with Kiyosaki, even though every bank will probably tell you otherwise.He went on to tell me about his billionaire acquaintance, a very wealthy and ambitious, self-made Brazillian man who runs one of the world's largest Oil and Natural Gas companies (OGX). This man makes no secret of his desire to become the world's wealthiest man, and in the course of his dealings one evening, Oscar took it upon himself to suggest to gentleman that it might be quite a task to knock of the Mexican gentleman who sits above him on the Forbes 400, a billionaire who made his fortune in Telecom - he would be pretty difficult to knock off because his business model basically requires him to do little more than sit back and collect his revenues, now that the money has already been spent on building the infrastructure which runs everything.In comparison, the Oil Business requires huge amounts of money to research & discover a viable oil field, then even more money to develop & tap the field to create productive wells, and more money to extract, refine & deliver the final products. The Brazillian billionaire smiled, leaned in a little closer and said I'll tell you my little secret:When I want something to happen, every night before I go to bed, I spend 30 minutes in my thinking room, where I think in detail about exactly how everything will look when it's done. They said I couldn't build the largest shipping port in Brazil; but I did. They think I'm superstitious and crazy, and can't believe that it could possibly be so simple. They say I can't be the richest man in the world; we'll see. But I tell you this: my simple little secret, it works.
So there you go. Maybe it really is that simple: Think, and grow rich.
To think is to create.Thoughts are things.
Mind over matter.
We get what we focus on.
However you want to phrase it; think I'll give it a try. ...I'll let you know how it works out.
Oh, and in case you were wondering... the man he was telling me about, the Brazillian billionaire?
His name is Eike Batista.Look him up - maybe you can even try out his little secret for yourself.
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(i) Unlike the big boys (Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merril Lynch and the like), employees of most boutique investment banking firms live and work in the communities they serve, and therefore have an additional layer of accountability which simply isn't present with the big boys; when you live and work in a community, relationships are at stake, and you are physically present to deal the consequences of your actions, for better or worse, face-to-face.
