Hermit Hut, part 4: Merging back into Nature: more mysterious flowers to ID

So I discovered a new part of my land - after scrutinizing my 10 foot google map print outs compared to the county land tract maps. So I realized there were secret grass sections hidden inside the willow patches. Sure enough the deer had "permanent" sleeping spots with willow surrounding them in 3 directions and then the willow patch itself completely hiding the grass section. Pretty ingenious sleeping spots! I found two of them. But maybe there's more.

So then this morning I saw a yearling fawn leap out of my forest - not too far from the Hermit Hut. Normally when the deer come in when I'm there, I hear their loud snorting, as they are rebuffed by my human civilization smell. I think my swamp stank smell got so strong that the deer felt more at ease being near me.

So I was fasting - with the last meal being a breakfast on Monday. So that was Monday to Friday morning fast. A four day fast. I lost 10 pounds.

Then as I began meditating more then my dreams got more vivid and I felt the heart energy open up more. At first I was "cranking" away but then I realized - the main reason I bought this land is to meditate. Fasting helps the mind get stronger - as the body switches over to relying on Qi.

I actually get my body fast get cycled up to my brain and clears out of my sinuses - and then I re-swallow my own body fat as FOOD. Then I even have bowel movements - although nothing solid. Just the processing of the fat and cleansing of the colon.

So it's kind of annoying - since I would want to be getting work done and I had been fasting but I had to obey the Call of Mother Nature! haha.

So I figure fat digestion creates more of a fluid.

84 percent of the fat that is lost turns into carbon dioxide and leaves the body through the lungs, whereas the remaining 16 percent becomes water, according to the study published today (Dec. 16) in a special Christmas issue of the medical journal BMJ.Dec 16, 2014

Right - so runny stool as water. Makes sense!!

 this is very pretty but seemed pretty isolated.  UPDATE: I think this maybe a rare "white" SWAMP Milkweed!  My farm-friend's wife (the actual farmer) told me about this plant.

so it's growing in the "wetland" grass marshy swamp area.

I should be able to ID it.

and more!

just little tiny flowers.

alternate leaves

four of those flowers

So this LOOKS very similar to Dandelion but I'm not sure if it is edible like Dandelion.

So I forgot to mention - the final style of wall I am doing is the ancient Cob style - of clay-mud mixed with horse manure. I dried out the horse manure - composting it for 1 year.

I almost couldn't find this photo - it is just the foundation on the exterior so far. This was a test of "proof of concept" and I was quite impressed at how the horse manure turned the clay into a gluey paste. Clay on its own was very crumbly which is very annoying when trying to build with it. Clay with the horse manure is a magical substance.

The issue then is how to swat at mosquitoes when your hands are full of clay-horse manure!? Inevitably it got on my face and neck and arms, etc.

So indeed I was "merging" back into Nature. That BBC recreation of the wattle and daub wall with Cob had the same problem! The producer kept complaining how the "expert" was splashing horse manure onto him!! Hilarious. I'll try to find that - I posted it on the blog I think.

So these will be my end walls. The clay is amazingly HEAVY - so one 3 gallon bucket weighs?

My guess is 35 pounds.

Oh this was WET clay mixed with the horse manure.

18 pounds for 1 gallon - so no WONDER it was so heavy!!

So the pail was this size - 3 gallons. So I was carrying two of them. I thought I was just imagining how heavy it was. Nope it was 6 x 18...

108 pounds!!



 Wow - I thought I was just being a wimp. But that truly is a heavy load. I was just carrying it maybe 200 feet.