Many Uses of Stinging Nettles

Technically it is still winter but spring is filling the air and that always means one thing to me...almost time to harvest stinging nettles.  It may still be a little early but this warm spell has got me itching to get out to the woods.  When I was in herb school this is one plant I got to know very well.  After drinking a quart of nettle tea every night for 2 weeks, I watched my skin and hair glow and my energy sore.  Nettles is definitely a healing plant so if you dont know about it, learn more and if you just forgot, now is the time to use your green allies for spring cleansing and rejuvination! 

I just recieved a wonderful recipe from a friend that has been passed down for generations from her grandfather in Germany.  I can not wait to try it out.  (Thanks Anna!)

Stinging Nettle Liquid Manure?

Stinging nettle liquid manure has balancing and healing properties, stimulates growth and chlorophyl production. Worms love soil that is fertilized with this manure.

-Use the whole fresh plant cut in pieces. (possible to use dry plants as well) 

-Prepare a plastic, ceramic, or wooden pot or barrel (no metal pots).  Put in as many plants as you have.  Add enough water so that the plants are covered (best if you have rain water or use water that has been standing for a couple of days in the sun), cover with a piece of chicken wire to avoid small animals from falling in.  Dont fill the pot to the top because the liquid will foam during the fermentation process. Let the pot stand in the sun for about 2 weeks. Stir at least once a day. 

-A smell will develop and might offend your nose, so dont keep it too close to the house.

-The process has finished when the liquid has a dark color and doesnt foam anymore. Now you can cover the barrel with a lid. Dilute the liquid 1:10 or if you have used a small pot with a lot of nettle plants, 1:20 and water your garden with it.

-Other herbs to try: Symphytum/ Comfrey - lots of protein, the liquid manure is rich in nitrogen and potasium, good as tomato fertilizer (Symphatum can be combined with stinging nettle to make the manure)

-You can use all sorts of herbs combined: chamomile, mint, majoram...... try experimenting! You can also add some manure from chickens or cows (without the straw) or ripe compost.

-Use the liquid manure on your compost - that is the safest way. Otherwise make sure that you dilute it enough and dont spray over plant leaves but water the soil.

There are so many uses for this extraordinary plant. 

(Feral Kevin has an inspiring clip on juicing fresh nettles, www.feralkevin.com.)

You can try making nettle soup...

or nettle quiche...

If you are not familiar with this plant, get more ideas and learn how to harvest by clicking here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9ZdKdhKfcw. 

Happy foraging!

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The stuff they say about Ebola Part V of many

I am quite happy with the resounding impact these last Ebola posts have had on the many people who have been commenting on LinkedIn or just popping in for reading the blog. This proves that Ebola is not only viral on the field, its also viral on the web. 

Today you are about to be gobsmacked with the lively daily news concerning vaccines to be tested. Especially with the fact that there are a few who state they can cure it. Its for you to criticise and for me to offer you the opportunity to have a go on the stuff they say about Ebola:

Do you believe the United States of Africa Health Organisation (AHO) can save Africa from Ebola? [Access here]

"I have developed Ebola vaccines in the same way as I have developed for HIV and Malaria Vaccines. At the moment I am looking grant for Malaria vaccines to do animal Module with partners in South Africa and I have published and present my paper 2013. For HIV vaccines I am awarded to present and publish my paper on November 2014. I have sample vaccines for Ebola Virus to do animal module via chimpanzees. I would like to ask you that if you know any Research Institutions, CDC, WHO, UN and AU whom are dealing with Ebola vaccines research and development, I Dr Zelalem Kiros willing to do an agreement to solve this problem with expertise. "

Ebola Outbreak: Thailands Siriraj Hospital Creates Antibody 

Treatment for Deadly Virus [Access here]

"A Thai hospital has claimed to have successfully developed an "antibody treatment" against the Ebola virus that has killed over 3,000 people in West Africa this year. Siriraj Hospital at Mahidol University doctors state they have developed a formula that will trigger antibodies to fight the disease. The development could lead to a treatment applied after infection, as opposed to a pre-infection vaccine, to stimulate the bodys natural immune system to fight off infection."

Lesson #5 - Some report a breakthrough, some report a cure. But data is what helps us make a judgement.

Image taken from [http://www.techtimes.com/articles/11829/20140802/u-s-wants-to-test-ebola-vaccine-on-humans-by-september.htm]

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The stuff they say about Ebola Part III of many

Beefing and Marburg are the very first lessons from a plethora of arguments dividing opinions throughout the web, whenever Ebola is the hot topic. And Ebola is indeed the hot topic of the moment! I have been covering the cacophony that emerges on a daily basis all over the web, but focusing my attention on the variety of forums on LinkedIn. Some experts and other plebeians who just like me enjoy knowing more have helped keep the fire burning, and kept this subject lively and modern, That is to remain untouched until the BIG media companies find something else tremendously scary and decoy our attention to a fresh focus of interest. For the time being, I am still learning with the stuff they say about Ebola, and I hope you feel the same way!

Social Data for Ebola Surveillance [Access here]

"Anonymized data that revealed the geographical movements of 150,000 mobile phone users in Senegal is being used by Swedish nonprofit Flowminder to help predict how travel might shape the spread of Ebola. “If there are outbreaks in other countries, this might tell what places connected to the outbreak location might be at increased risk of new outbreaks,” Flowminder cofounder and Executive Director Linus Bengtsson told MIT Technology Review."

Can a person catch Ebola if::: [Access here]

"...if micro hand-sanitization dispensers, where passengers can clean hands without leaving their seat as much as they want, would be well received by passengers and crew? Surveys of 1,826 passengers and crew overwhelmingly agree. Airlines choose to distance themselves from addressing the problem."

"The sanitizer formulation is nonflammable, and much softer on the hands. We also have a moderately alcohol based formulation that is FAA approved; however, our surveys indicate passengers and crew would be more resistant to using the alcohol based product."

Lesson #3 - When a window of opportunity opens, they mean business!

Image taken from PSA: Samsung Wave Shipping with Virus [http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/02/psa-samsung-wave-shipping-with-virus/]

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The stuff they say about Ebola Part I of many

This post isnt supposed to throw fire at anyone for their beefing; there is no wrongdoing whatsoever in these statements. This is just a mere review on the different opinions on Ebola that have been populating discussions throughout the many different LinkedIn groups. Whenever possible I try to explore both sides of the story to keep balance or some sort of equilibrium between schools of thought. I decided to collect the most interesting statements and they are hereby listed for your own enjoyment and learning:

How the Ebola outbreak turned in to a racism and responsibility debate [access here]

The news has sparked an ethical debate over equality of access to medical care and racism as two white Americans were given potentially life-saving treatment [ZMapp] denied to hundreds of Africans.

"...there are parallel questions over “the ethics of rushing forward with experimental [drugs] that haven’t been put through any clinical trials and whose safety and efficacy are unknown.”

Debate erupts on repurposed drugs for Ebola [access here]
Eleanor Fish is frustrated. The immunologist at the University of Toronto in Canada thinks she knows how to help save the lives of people battling Ebola—but nobody seems interested. Fish believes health care workers and people exposed to the virus should take Infergen, a synthetic interferon ? that she has studied extensively and that has been used widely to treat hepatitis C and several other diseases. Pharmunion BSV Development, the Ukrainian company that makes it, has offered to ship 60,000 vials to Africa for free.

Just a month ago, WHO said it would be unethical and unwise to use such interventions at this time (Science, 25 July, p. 364). But the treatment of two U.S. patients who contracted Ebola in Liberia with an experimental antibody cocktail called ZMapp has shifted public perceptions, says Armand Sprecher of Doctors Without Borders in Brussels. 

Scentists show how Ebola disables initial immune defenses [access here]
"Our study is the first to show how Ebola viral protein 24 defeats the signal sent by interferons, the key signaling molecules in the bodys early response to Ebola virus infection," notes Christopher F. Basler, Ph.D., professor of microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and an author of the newly published paper. "These newfound details of Ebola biology are already serving as the foundation of a new drug development effort, albeit in its earliest stages."

Lesson #1 - Scientists do beef too.

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Magic of Many Hands

"The softest thing in the universe overcomes

the hardest thing in the universe."

-Tao Te Ching

This week we had a little garden work party.  Only our second but I am still amazed at how fast work gets done with more help.  A few friends built raised beds in the former location of the chicken coop with hog fencing, filling them with composted manure, straw and soil.  Meanwhile many little hands (about 8 kidos) weeded the garden, thinned carrots, and played hide and seek.  We concluded with a meal and lots of laughter.  What can be better than that?  Thanks again you guys!

The pumpkin patch is now complete, we just have to decide what to plant in the new beds.  More potatoes?

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The stuff they say about Ebola Part II of many

Hello everyone, I am still working on this series of effervescent debates that have become viral (spot the irony?), not only throughout LinkedIn but basically everywhere Ebola is the main topic. Because I find the topic extremely interesting and the plethora of diverging opinions, panic attacks and hysteria, strong generators of chaos, I realised there is a need for intervention!!! My intervention is simple, to just present, whenever possible, both sides of story of this long tale of stuff they say about Ebola. Moving on...

Drug Cured 16 of 16 Monkeys with Viral Ebola Relative [access here]

"An experimental drug saved the lives of 16 of 16 monkeys with the Marburg virus, a killer near-indistinguishable from Ebola, just as symptoms broke out, said a new study. Thomas Geisbert, senior author of the new Science Translational Medicine study, said treatment with an siRNA molecule, wrapped in a lipid nanoparticle, saved macaque monkeys even when administered on Day 3 post-infection, when animals began showing symptoms. All control animals who did not receive the Tekmira Pharmaceuticals drug— TKM Marburg— died between days seven and nine. SiRNA keeps the virus from replicating by binding to messenger RNA."

"There is some dispute, however, over the main attraction of TKM Marburg; that is, the claim that it works as the first symptoms appear. While the Geisbert team reported that on Day 3 their monkeys began to show symptoms, Tulane University tropical disease specialist Daniel Bausch disagrees. Bausch left Sierra Leone in July, only a few days before a Tulane colleague—Sheik Umar Khan— contracted Ebola while treating patients, and later died. “Average incubation time in humans is eight to 10 days. Less in monkeys, but still greater than three days,” Bausch, who was not involved in the Science study, told Drug."

Lesson #2 - Marburg is a viral disease first identified in 1967 in Marburg,former Youguslavian Republics Belgrade and Frankfurt (Germany). The epidemics started after infected monkeys imported from Uganda. It is one of the most virulent pathogens known to humans and it is responsible for high fatality rates. Multiple site bleeding, severe headaches and severe malaise are the commonest symptoms. [1]

[1] WHO - Marburg Virus Disease, [http://www.who.int/csr/disease/marburg/en/], last visited on the 27th of September 2014, last updated somewhen in 2014.

Image produced from [http://www.tekmira.com/] main page.

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The stuff they say about Ebola Part IV of many

Like Chariots of Fire I go hunting flames from the different incendiary outbursts on the hottest topic in science at the moment, Ebola. This is part 4 of many I predict well be reading in choir. Today I could not escape a magnificent intervention from a commentator on the second part of this group of "stuff they say about Ebola" on LinkedIns forum, but that will have a special edition tomorrow as Ill cover ready-made vaccines, untested cures, cures without vectors and vectors without permission. Complicated??? I guess so, but thats stuff they say about Ebola, not me. Today, Id especially put emphasis on Bruce Ribners opinions because thats an incredible clear approach with no ifs and buts and mights.

Ebola doctors reveal how infected Americans were cured [Access here]

"What we found in general is that among our Ebola patients, because of the amount of fluid they lost through diarrhea and vomiting, they had a lot of electrolyte abnormalities. And so replacing that with standard fluids [used in hospital settings] without monitoring will not do a very good job of replacing things like sodium and potassium. In both of our patients we found those levels to be very low. One of the messages we will be sending back to our colleagues is even if you don’t have the equipment to measure these levels, do be aware this is occurring when patients are having a lot of body fluid loss."

"Experimental drugs are experimental drugs because we don’t know if they will work. That is true both with the preparations patients received in Liberia and other preparations that are being considered for treating patients with this infectious disease. We are a long way from being able to say that someone that received one of these agents benefited, it had no impact or it may be that their outcome may be impeded. Until we have good studies looking at outcomes of patients who received these medications, compared to patients who didn’t receive them, we should be very cautious."

"The focus should remain on aggressive intensive care and the ability to correct abnormalities metabolically, rather than receiving any magic vaccine or product that may or may not improve survival."

"As we have been saying all along, we feel that the high fatality rates in developing parts of the world where this infection occurs are because of the lack of resources. We had always felt that the survival of patients with proper support would be a lot better than in developing countries."

Lesson #4 - A clear message is always a confident message, but a confident message might not always be that clear.

Image taken from the article mentioned above, [http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ebola-doctor-reveals-how-infected-americans-were-cured/]

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