Can I drink Kombucha if I have candida?

The question about weather people with candida can or ‘should’ have kombucha is something we get asked about quite a bit on our market stalls. Firstly though, and to put things straight, drinking kombucha will not ‘give you’ a yeast infection .  Secondly, the most recent research worth reading on this issue is in the Journal of Food Biochemisty (2012). Researchers, Battikh, Chaieb & Ammar, screened kombucha fermented black tea for antibacterial and antifungal activity against a range of human pathogenic bacteria and candida yeasts. The results found that after 21 days of fermentation, kombucha exerted considerable antimicrobial activity. This was particular evident against all the tested bacteria (ie. the bad bacteria such as Staphylococcus, E.Coli and Listeria). Kombucha also showed considerable antifungal activity against most of the pathogenic Candida yeasts tested (but some more than others). The tricky thing in relation to candida though, is that when tested for candida people get a diagnosis of ‘candida’ without knowing what range of stains they actually have. Hence, some people benefit more from kombucha than others. The research is really worth a read. We have some copies at our marets (Northey St, West End and The Big Pineapple) or give me a email and I can flick you out a copy.

[Photo taken at the Maleny Real Food Festival: Sarah & her SCOBY Kombucha Kit]

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‘Life is like riding a bicycle – in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving’~Albert Einstein

Time in San Francisco has given me space to reflect on our Buchi Kombucha venture…as well as drink plenty of local brews here. My favourite? Cherry Chai by GT Kombucha. Amazing!

So here is an update and a copy of our Buchi Bulletin that we hand out at the markets each month.

A few highlights:

A special shout out to editor of  Peppermint Magazine Kelley Sheenan and her partner Ben. We feel particularly grateful to be working with on developing new Buchi labels which will contain all the ingredient listings and nutritional information. So stay tuned!

Yes, we will be ACO certified by the end of the year….its a thorough process!

We have Kombucha brewing kits at the markets now, so if you want to brew your own kombucha, come and see us at the markets or give us an email: buchikombucha@gmail.com (We could always post one out to you).

And our ‘Taste of the Season’ this month is our Warming Winter Pear Kombucha. It’s delicious. Made with our  100% fermented Buchi kombucha, biodynamic pears, cinnamon, and lashings of passion and love!

Read a copy of our June Bulletin HERE.

[The photo is of a beautiful SCOBY bank (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast  - commonly called the SCOBY or Mother)]

Did you know? The food in the average Aussie shopping basket has travelled about 70,000km and the meal on your average dinner plate has travelled around 2000km. Besides the impact on the environment, long haul food also poses food security risks. An Australian Federal Government report released by the Department of Agriculture, as summarised in The Age newspaper this week outlines a number of risks posed by long, concentrated food supply chains. The longer the distances travelled by our food, the more vulnerable it becomes to natural disasters and other factors that can break the supply chain and cut off food supply to communities. Have a read.

This is one of the huge advantages of Organic Farm Share.  A key objective is to ensure a secure, local food supply. This is the reason behind the requirement that shareholders must live within a 200km radius of the farm. Based on the average Aussie meal travelling 2000km, at Organic Farm Share we envisage our food miles will be decreased by up to 92%. Up to 60% of the cost of food can be attributed to distribution and handling costs. By reducing the food miles, owning our supply chain and keeping it local, we can eliminate many unnecessary and hidden costs in food. Amazing!

By guest blogger and friend from Organic Farm Share Filippa Araki

Many people believe that healthy and organic food simply isn’t affordable. At face value, this is a valid perception. Why spend $6 on a loaf of organic sourdough bread when you can buy a loaf of supermarket bread for $1.50?

Thanks to industrialisation and large supermarket conglomerates, food prices have dropped significantly but at what cost to our health? Since 1987, health expenditure in Australia has been increasing by an average of over 5% each year. In 2009-10, spending on health was $121 billion equating to an average of $5,260 per annum (over $100 per week) for every man, woman and child in Australia¹.

Thanks to modern health care, we may be living longer but with what quality of life? Despite our increased spending on health care, the so-called “diseases of western civilisation” (heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, etc.) continue to rise². Highly processed and chemical-laden food grown in depleted soils simply does not meet our nutritional needs. Surely there is a correlation between what we spend on food and what we now spend on our health.

Organic Farm Share aims to provide the most affordable organic food in Australia. By owning the land where our food comes from and keeping production and distribution local, we can cut out so many steps in the food chain that add unnecessary cost. And by following the highest standards of organic and biodynamic farming, we can grow and produce high quality, nutrient-dense food.

¹AIHW 2011. Health expenditure Australia 2009-10. Health and welfare expenditure series no. 46. Cat. no. HWE 55. Canberra: AIHW.
²ABS 2011. 3303.0 – Causes of Death, Australia, 2010. Accessed 25.5.12 http://www.abs.gov.au

Life is better when you are creating….

I was wondering what to do with our beautful rosy and plump Rosella’s in our garden (jam, yes, but I did that last year) so yesterday I made a special ‘taste of the season’ Kombucha and named it Spicy Rosella. It’s amazing. Tenderly hand picked by Adiva and I, steam softened to maintain as much of the potent antioxidents as possible, and sweetened with hints of delicious cinamon quills and apple. If you are in Brizzy come down for taste at Northy St markets this weekend, or give me an email and I will put a bottle aside for you because there are only select number. I feel most happy when I am crafting and creating. Give it go. It’s good for the soul.

Do Small Things with Great Love….

We are bringing Kombucha to Northy St Organic Markets! (in fact my post is a little late as we’ve been there for a few weeks now, sorry). We feel so grateful to be so well received in this beautiful community. It’s very satisfying to be around people equally passionate about fermented foods and health. And to be honest we’ve been struggling to keep up with the demand for our Kombucha. It’s been a sell out every week. But we hope we have it all handled now with over 1000ltrs of blissful brewing Kombucha. And we just got word from Saturday’s West End Markets and they have a spot for us too (no weekends for us anymore, but bringing kombucha to the people feels very right).

So if you are in the Brisbane area come and visit us for a sample. We have four different Kombucha varieties: i) Buchi Mama Origional (made on the SCOBY mother and that’s all); Deep Green Kombucha (yes, we use the Miessence Deep Alkalising Green mix with loads of blue green algae (spirillina), wheat grass, barley grass, kamut grass etc); Ginger Tumeric Kombucha (packs a punch for people who like that ginger kick); and Hibiscus Pine Lime Kombucha (this was made for people transitioning to Kombucha and who need a little sweetness in their drink).

And for people who are not in the area, but in Australia, you can still contribute to our crowdfunding (Pozible) for the next few weeks and we will send some delicious Buchi Kombucha your way. Check out our site http://buchi.pozible.com and make a pledge.  Don’t worry about your location, we’ll be shipping Buchi all around the country to say thanks for your support.

In my last post I said to stay tuned for more information about going commercial with Kombucha…and here it is! Jase (my partner) and our dear friend Matt are now brewmasters for Buchi (pronounced ‘boochi‘) Kombucha and are seeking crowdfunding so that the people of Australia will be able to access high quality, low-cost, local, sustainable, certified organic, raw Kombucha. And for people who contribute to the crowdfunding project they will all receive some awesome in-kind rewards…umm Kombucha!

Kombucha is a fermented health elixer that is just packed with vitality and goodness. The bacteria converts sugars into health giving organic acids such as glucuronic, lactic and acetic. So it’s nutritious, detoxifying and delicious all at the same time, and linked to a range of health benefits including organ cleansing, detoxification, improved digestion, better skin, stronger immunity and anti-aging benefits.

The link and video below show the boys, their passion for Kombucha, the business plan, why its a glocal production, and how to get some free Buchi by becoming a supporter and contributing to the crowdfunding. Have a watch and vote with your dollars:

>CLICK HERE to support Buchi Kombucha and find out more about this amazing project.

It’s been a few months since my last post – the longest writing drought since I started writing this blog nearly three years ago now. I’ve felt somewhat paralysed to write lately, not exactly knowing my path in life anymore, feeling unsure, sensitive. In numerology I’m in a year one of the nine-year cycle. A new beginning which holds the promise of new adventures and daring feats, and yet while the prospect of starting something new is certainly exciting, it is also a little daunting….and to be honest it had me a little stumped as to how I move forward. And when I do take steps it’s often feeling a little ungainly, like a newborn colt trying to stand up after birth.

This year I’ve said goodbye to my postdoctoral research (although my next book is still in the wings) and old ways of doing work.  Jase and I have made the decision to take concrete steps towards financial independence and freedom of time. We’re getting responsible for generating our own ethical wealth and want to break the cycle of trading our time and money (for someone else). Our experience of working is one reminiscent of Robert Frost‘s quote ‘By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually become the boss and work 12 hour days’. Instead, we want to move even closer towards more everyday sustainable living, conscious health, deliberate wealth. And the path is not always so clear how we do that yet.

What is clear though is that to get something we’ve never had, we need to do something we’ve never done before. So I have started to do just that… and I try to remember that from little things, big things grow!

So this is how I have become unstuck (sometimes anyway)…

In January I started making my own sour dough bread. Our family mission is make and bake our own real bread from now on. To do this we have become the proud parents of a beautiful sourdough ‘starter’ culture that we feed and house and in return she provides us with a spectrum of bacteria that raises and ferments our dough and tastes sour and magnificent. Nothing better than a warm sourdough bread for in the morning with real butter…and lots of it! We get beautiful creamy yellow butter made from cultured cream from Northy St organic markets here in Brisbane. We have churned our own butter before, but it’s not particularly cost effective so far. So until we have our own cow, we will stick to with the butter that the butter man sells at the markets.

Later in the month I conquered the software program Prezi and made my own ‘Start your own ethical organic business in 2012’ presentation (with the help of some supportive friends). It took me a while to get my head around this program, but it was worth the brain strain to produce a presentation that is visually stimulating and compelling.  I have been delivering this presentation across Brisbane and to international audiences via webinars. If you want to check it out, just let me know.

In February we started making our own kombucha. Kombucha is a passion of ours, as are fermented foods generally. Jase is now our very own brewmaster and making us our very own delectable fermented brews. Like our soughdough starter culture, we are now the house to many healthy kombucha ‘mothers’ who’s symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeasts breathe life into our sweetened tea. The microorganisms ferment the tea, converting the sugars into health giving organic acids such as glucuronic, lactic and acetic. So it’s nutritious, detoxifying and delicious all at the same time. We have equally passionate friends who are embarking on this endeavor commercially with us. Stay tuned as we go into large production later in the year…

And then there was the Earth Frequency Festival in the Sunshine Coast…

And at the Bodhi Festival in Newcastle we had a Miessence nutritional stall and I managed to sneak in a yoga practice and a healing with the Shanti Mission…

And in March was the Glocals Forum organized by Organic Farm Share that I spoke at. I felt particularly honoured to be on the panel and alongside some of the most incredible local community leaders. Glocal is a term which defines local leaders actualising transformative ideas that have the capacity to regenerate both society and the environment we currently live in. And it’s a privilege to be part of the organic farm share community.

This is a year that is certainly thrusting me, us, our family into new projects. I don’t know yet how to make these passions into a generous sustainable income for my family, or how they fit together, but I am clear that taking small steps in sustainable living is crucial to living a more connected, content life. And if you are like me, taking small steps do not come naturally. I usually have a clear path. So here are a few tips I’ve learned over the last few months to cultivate more trust and patience:

Trust my Intuition: Intuition is our ability to hold space for uncertainty and our willingness to trust the many ways we’ve developed knowledge and insight, including instinct, experience, faith, and reason. When I feel overwhelmed by uncertainty I often panic and make my decisions with my head rather than my heart. I don’t listen to that strong, initial gut response and I start polling people around me for an answer.

Feel More – Think Less: ‘Drop’ into yourself. Ask yourself what is the next step that makes you feel happy, that feels ‘right’.

Exercises in gratitude: In times when I feel uncertain as to my path I can often spiral into a self-conversation about scarcity and I wait wondering when things will all fall apart around me (or that I will fall apart). I am learning to sit with uncertainty and be appreciative for what I have in these precious moment. I’m not sure that it will ever be easy for me to do this, but I have learned to trust this practice.

Habitat: The Eco-system Within

This is an article I am proud of and feel grateful to Peppermint Magazine for publishing it. I have also had quite a number of people email me as a result of the article expressing thanks and appreciation. I feel deeply honoured by their corrospondance to me. Click the link to read the entire Habitat Article…. Enjoy!

Now, I make no apologies for being a Miessence warrior. I love the stuff. Raw. Potent. Certified Organic. Shipped fresh. But  the  Darling Salt Glow is very special product.

When we asked Miessence Director Narelle Chenery to create a special product for the holiday season, we knew that she would deliver an exceptional treat – and she has! The environmental-saving Darling Salt Glow is an eco-conscious body scrub made from salt sourced from the troubled Murray-Darling Basin located in southeastern Australia. The salt in the body scrub is produced naturally from underground saline aquifers that have been lying dormant for thousands of years. By utilizing these waters the salinity problems are reduced, the environment is improved, and a unique, pure, inland salt is produced. I haven’t found a product on the market that is this environmentally conscious.

The Darling Salt Glow helps to reduce the serious salinity problem in the Murray-Darling Basin. The impact of salinity is immense, resulting in losses in fertile productive land and decreased biodiversity in the native wetlands. An area the size of a football oval is being lost to salinity every hour. So scrub up!

Exfoliation of the skin has significant benefits.

● Blended with nourishing, organic coconut oil
● Delicious organic citrus and spice essential oils
● Revitalizes skin, leaving it feeling silky soft and smooth
● Exfoliates dead, dry skin cells, revealing plump, fresh skin
● Boosts circulation and stimulates the senses
● Smooths rough, dry areas
● Leaves skin supple, glowing and nourished

And here are the certified ingredients for the Darling Salt Glow:

Sodium Chloride from inland salt produced by solar evaporation of brine in Australia. Exfoliates, revitalizes, smooths, boosts circulation, stimulates the senses.

*Cocosnucifera (coconut) oil – Virgin coconut oil from the Pacific Islands, collected, grated, and cold-pressed within hours of opening the nut. Antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, soothes, softens, smooths. Relieves dry, rough and wrinkled skin.

*Citrus dulcis (sweet orange) essential oil – Cold-pressed from the peel of the fruit grown in Italy. Astringent, antibacterial, antiseptic, toning and cleansing.

*Citrus aurantifolia (lime) essential oil – Steam distilled from the peel of fruit grown in the West Indies. Cleansing and antiseptic.

*Cinnamomum zeylanicum (cinnamon) leaf essential oil – Steam distilled from the leaf grown in Sri Lanka. Soothes, cools, antimicrobial and astringent.

*Syzygium aromatica (clove) bud essential oil – Steam distilled from the flower buds grown in Sri Lanka. Antiseptic, stimulating and painkilling.

*Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf CO2 extract – Antioxidant and protective.

*Simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil – Cold-pressed from the bean of the desert plant in Argentina. Emollient, moisturizing, high in vitamins, skin protective, helps regulate PH, soothes inflamed skin.

*Certified Organic Ingredients

The Darling Salt Scrub is only around during the festive season so if you want to try some CLICK HERE

Happy scrubbing for your health and the environment!

I am priviledged to be doing a presentation with Alf Orpen on Saturday 26th of November in Brisbane. If you can get there, it will be awesome event!

Alf is a entrepreneur activist, ethical investor, and developer of regenerative businesses. He is a founding director of several enterprises which have achieved annual revenues ranging from three hundred thousand to twenty million dollars. Alf is the co-founder and co-director of Miessence the worlds first certified organic range of skin care, cosmetics, and nutritionals and co-founder of the Organic Farm Share. I have certainly learnt much from him about growing ethical businesses and the organic industry.

Come and learn about health and the body, toxicity,  how you can start and grow a successful organic business, build a passive income and have a positive impact on our planet. CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW FOR DETAILS, OR TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT AT THE EVENT, OR FOR MORE INFORMATION, CLICK HERE.

It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating your own homegrown tomato.

Since journeying back to Australia and emersing ourselves in everyday Brisbane living again, I have found myself yearning for connection with nature, health and self – yearing for community (It seemed so much easier when we were living on farms, tipis and yurts around the globe). It’s been a somewhat unsettling time for us as a family, and without this connection a certain amount of dis-ease has been creaping into our lives. Tiredness. A colesore here and there. A sore throat. Sore back. Crankiness.

Jeddabugs second birthday was an opportunity to reconnect to nature, health and self again. One of the greatest lack in our world, is the deep agony of separation and loneliness – we all long for connection with others. So we called on our community to help us celebrate Jeddabugs birthday and create our vege patch. It was a wonderful day and I feel deeply grateful to all beautiful friends for bringing our vege patch to life, for your generous time and seedlings, and blessing our Jeddabugs on her second birthday. It was a wonderful gift to our family and we hope to to repay it forward to others also seeking connection with nature, health, self and community.

‘Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup’ [Wendell Berry]

Jase and the girls went to the farm on the weekend (I stayed home and completed a presentation for the Australian Public Health Conference on the lack of protective policies in the area of children’s environmental health. Ironic!). When the girls emerged from the car just on sunset their fingers and nails were gruby, their hair was notty and wind-swept, and they were flushed with excitment and joy. Adiva offered me a huge bounty of organic cabbages, sweet peas, turnips and lettuces that she had wrapped up in the picnic blanket. She had proudly picked these with her friend Alf. If you want more information about the Organic Farm Share please click HERE. Otherwise, enjoy the photos. Nothing makes me smile more than children and organic vegetables…

We are back in Australia and kicked off our return at the Sydney Organic Expo and Green Show! What a fabulous way to start.

I presented a workshop called ‘Natural Mama and Eco-Parenting’ to a packed audience. Thankyou Sydney! Then the rest of the weekend I ate myself around the entirety of the expo – there was not a sample that I did not hit my tastebuds. And Loving Earth did have me come  back quite a few times…I even had Adiva smuggle me a few of their new raw orange chocolates and hid behind another stand until she came to get me…I know, certainly not very natural parenting of me. They are just so good though!

Of course, the chicks and I also hung out with the lovely Miessence crew and handed out samples of Deep Green and the fermented InLiven probiotics.…targeting as many parents, children and toddlers as possible (See pic of Adiva and Jeddabug sharing their own stash of Deep Green and InLiven); bought some of the sensational Nui wild virgin coconut oil for cooking, eating raw and lavishly smothering on my skin; gave a cheer of gratitude to the Vitamix boys; met the owner of the organic Tetra tea tree baby bedding (we used their products when our girls were babies and just love them); spoke with the Sun Warrier (Bio-fermented raw sprouted whole grain brown rice) protein distributer to see what super deals we could strike; fed the baby animals in the children’s petting zoo lots of organic carrots; then got engaged with watching Costa and Kylie Kwong cook organic treats on stage; and was re-energised by Carla Oates (aka. the beauty chef) prepare body scrubs, face masks and spritzers for the skin from everyday food products straight from the refrigerator and pantry. Lovely to watch. I also met up with a few ladies who went to my talk at the expo last year and who are now heavy pregnant. It was a satisfying sight to behold!

These photos are of  my highlights of the Sydney Organic Expo. We are happy to be back and connecting with the organic community again…but do look forward to nomadic living again next year!

Tipi consists of two elements: ti meaning ‘to dwell’, and pi marks the subject of the verb as plural and means ‘they dwell’. The Lakota people use tipi from the older word tipestola ‘She or he lives in a sharp pointed lodge.’.

We have been living in tipi’s in Wales over the last month. The one I am currently in is hidden in the highlands of Wales overlooking a lush green valley of ceders and wildflowers. A perfect spot for Jase to come back to after the completion of a 10-day silent mediation retreat.

Being so remote I haven’t had the chance to blogg for a while. I like the remoteness. I feel more here. Life is simplier and yet dynamic.  I am a better mother because of my home here. There is more flow with my chicks. We all get to experience the entire cycles of life.  We go out amongst the trees to get wood, come back to break it up, stack it inside the tipi, make a fire with it, keep the fire going to make tea, heat a bucket of water and use the water to wash the dirty dishes with it, bring the dishes back inside to make dinner, stock up the fire and cook a meal etc. The girls get to experience the connectedness of things directly.  Wood for the fire comes from the trees, water for washing comes from the creek, water for drinking comes from the spring, fire for cooking comes from the wood we gather and so on. For Adiva this all completely makes sense – without judgment and assessment. It just is.

Coming here has helped me cultivate an even deeper respect for the world around me. Something much greater than me, and yet connected to me. It was in a wild storm that Adiva began her journey into this world. It was on a full moon that Jedda began hers. Midwives know this. Babies make their way into the world with the moon cycles and weather surges. Babies, in their watery habitats, instictively know this – a subject that remains unelluciated by science.

And while it’s difficult to share the subtleties of tipi life on a web site I hope some beauty is relayed in the pictures I have posted. They are a mixture of our tipi homes. (To our friends Matt and Ashley who we lived in a funky dome together last month and which we started this journey in Wales. We wish you both could have lived with us in our tipi’s for a while. There will no doubt be more. Thankyou for your care and nurturing and organic feasts while we lived together).