Bread From Stones -by Dr. Julius Hensel. (Agricultural Chemist)

[maryd]

I came across this book by *chance*. The title intrigued me. It was written in 1893 by a chemist. His mineral fertiliser was so effective that the chemical fertiliser monopoly shut him & his books down- as they always do. This book is free to read as a PDF & I spent all yesterday reading it. Phenomenal!!


Here is a brief summary:
Manure is a poor replacement for *stone fertilising*. Yes crops will grow on depleted soil with added manure, but yields are lower, weaker & prone to disease & bugs.

Point made that mountainous land remains fertile year after year as rain from the mountains replenishes the soil with minerals regularly.
Removing rocks from farmland is criminal.
Evergreens grow well on soil-poor mountains!!
Experiments in Europe proved great yields even growing the SAME crops for 4 years in a row, unheard of for manure or chemicals- they yield poorer crops over time.

To make your own, heat rocks on a fire or whatever for half an hour then throw them in water. They are easily broken up with a hammer. Need to be ground fine.
Granite, porphyry & gneiss are best but all will do.

#### **** Add lime as well.**** (needed for bones, egg shells...)
-- lime AKA calcium, also similar-- called carbonate, sulphate of lime, limestone, gypsum.... Research needed.

Gypsum: Chemically known as “calcium sulfate dihydrate,” gypsum contains calcium, sulfur bound to oxygen, and water. Gypsum is an abundant mineral and takes forms including alabaster—a material used in decoration and construction as far back as ancient Egypt. The White Sands National Monument in New Mexico is the world’s largest gypsum dunefield.
This non-toxic mineral can be helpful to humans, animals, plant life, and the environment. While the majority of gypsum produced in North America is used to manufacture gypsum board or building plasters, gypsum is used in many other ways.
* Important: plants, trees, etc get their Nitrogen from the air- as much as they need!!!! Air is 80% Nitrogen!! (this needs more research)

Trees are disease-free & immune to frost & drought!!
Gardens smell LOVELY, not like manure does!!

Farmer after farmer showed fields full of barley, cabbage, wheat, corn, potato, etc. that had thrived in the drought,
despite NOT being watered!!!!!!!! Minerals kept the soil moist. Local farmers toured the neighbouring farms & understood the results they were seeing.

Worth a read.

http://soilandhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/01aglibrary/010173.hensel.pdf

 

[Persej]

A couple of days ago, I witnessed a power of minerals. I was helping in collecting the hay and in the one plot of land there was a double number of bales of hay than usual. When we asked the owner what he did to have such a good yield of grass, he said nothing, and that that plot of land was flooded in the previous year, so the river brought sand with it which always improves yields. That was all that was needed for such amazing yield, no manure was required.

I also witnessed a lodging of grain crops, and when I asked farmers why is that happening, they said that they used too much manure. Which is exactly what Julius Hensel said in his book, Physiological Bread. He said that if you have too much manure, and not enough of minerals in the land, the grain stalks will not develop properly, just like animals and human beings will not develop properly if they have a lack of minerals in their diet.

In this little book he also proposes that we can consume minerals directly, by making bread with the mixture of flour and mineral powder. He claims that he and his family felt a lot of health benefits from eating such bread. He claims that it wasn't a simple mixture, but a combination of minerals and gluten in wheat flour that produced such benefits. But maybe he was wrong, and it isn't a gluten that brings benefits but something else, perhaps fermentation of yeast?

 

[Persej]

Actually, it seems that both, yeast fermentation and proteins, can improve the bioavailability of minerals.

Complexation of multiple mineral elements by fermentation and its application in laying hens

To overcome the problems with current mineral supplements for laying hens including low absorption, mineral antagonism, and high cost, we developed mineral element fermentation complexes (MEFC) by synergistically fermenting bean dregs and soybean meal with strains and proteases and complexing with mineral elements. The fermentation complexation process was optimized based on the small peptide and organic acid contents and the complexation rate of mineral elements after fermentation. The optimal conditions were as follows: the total inoculum size was 5% (v/w), 15% (w/w) wheat flour middling was added to the medium, and mineral elements (with 4% CaCO3) were added after the completion of aerobic fermentation, fermentation at 34°C and 11 days of fermentation. Under these conditions, the complexation rates of Ca, Fe, Cu, Mn, and Zn were 90.62, 97.24, 73.33, 94.64, and 95.93%, respectively. The small peptide, free amino acid, and organic acid contents were 41.62%, 48.09 and 183.53 mg/g, respectively. After 60 days of fermentation, 82.11% of the Fe in the MEFC was ferrous ions, indicating that fermentation had a good antioxidant effect on ferrous ion, and the antioxidant protection period was at least 60 days. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that the mineral ions were complexed with amino and carboxyl groups. The added mineral elements promoted microbial growth, protein degradation, and organic acid secretion and significantly improved fermentation efficiency. Animal experiments showed that MEFC had positive effects on several parameters, including production performance (average daily feed intake, P < 0.05; egg production rate, P < 0.05; and average egg weight, P < 0.05), mineral absorption, intestinal morphology (villus height to crypt depth ratio in the jejunum and ileum, P < 0.05), and blood routine and biochemical indexes (red blood cells, P < 0.05; hemoglobin, P < 0.05). This study provides theoretical support for the development of mineral complexes for laying hens via fermentation.

(...)

The mineral supplements commonly administered to laying hens, such as inorganic mineral salts, organic acid mineral salts, amino acid chelates, and small peptide complexes, have several disadvantages. Inorganic mineral salts, which are widely used because of their low cost, have a low absorption rate, poor stability, and absorption antagonism with other minerals (3, 5). Organic acid mineral salts are absorbed at a higher rate than inorganic mineral salts but are hampered by precipitation and absorption competition (6). Although amino acid chelates have a high absorption rate, strong stability, and safety, they are expensive (7). Small peptide complexes are better than the others, but few commercial products exist. Hence, developing appropriate mineral supplements for the poultry industry is vital. The absorption pathways of each type of mineral element will be saturated, and supplementing a single type of mineral element may not be the best choice. By supplementing multiple types of mineral elements simultaneously, the various ways of absorbing mineral elements can be fully utilized to achieve the best absorption. Therefore, developing mineral element complexes containing multiple types of mineral elements has great potential for applications and research.

Bean dregs (BD) and soybean meal (SBM) are rich in proteins and sugars (8), which are ideal sources of mineral complexing ligands. Fermentation is an efficient, low-cost method for degrading proteins, starch, and other macromolecular substances to produce amino acids, small peptides, organic acids, and other complexing ligands (9). Heng et al. (10) reported that cooperative fermentation by Bacillus, yeast, and lactic acid bacteria with proteases greatly improved fermentation efficiency. By combining BD and SBM fermentation with mineral complexation, fermented mineral complexes can be obtained via a simple, highly efficient production process. The obtained mineral element fermentation complexes (MEFC) contain various types of mineral elements, such as small peptide complexes, amino acid complexes, and organic acid complexes.

(...)

As shown in Table 8, the number of RBC, hemoglobin levels, and the hematocrit of laying hens fed MEFC (3.43 × 1012/L, 176 g/L, and 43.3%, respectively) were significantly higher than those of the control group (2.22 × 1012/L, 135 g/L, and 30%, respectively), indicating that supplementation of Fe, Cu, and other minerals via MEFC increased RBC and hemoglobin significantly better than inorganic mineral salts.

Frontiers | Complexation of multiple mineral elements by fermentation and its application in laying hens

To overcome the problems with current mineral supplements for laying hens including low absorption, mineral antagonism, and high cost, we developed mineral e...

www.frontiersin.org

So it seems that Julius Hensel really did develop something useful for human health. I was always wondering why do people in Africa ferment the grain flour before cooking porridge. And the creation of these mineral element fermentation complexes could be one of the answers.

 

[Persej]

I examined teeth of several people in the seventies and eighties, and except for gingival infections with some loosening of the teeth, nearly all of the teeth were present and there was very little evidence that dental caries had ever existed. The elderly people were bemoaning the fact that the generation that was growing up had not the health of former generations. I asked what their explanation was and they pointed to two stone grinding mills which they said had ground the oats for oatcake and porridge for their families and preceding families for hundreds of years. Though they prized them highly, the plea that they would be helpful in educational work in America induced them to sell the mills to me. They told us with great concern of the recent rapid decline in health of the young people of this district.

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price

Now, why would Weston Price be interested in buying those stone mills? If the secret of health, as he claimed, was in freshly ground grains, it wouldn't matter with what they were ground. But what if the secret was in stones? What if the stone grinding was producing a little bit of stone powder in each grain flour, and what if that stone powder was what was giving the health benefits to those old generations?