The Perpetual Healing Garden - SweetSue's Joyful Return

[SweetSue]

Oh Yeah, I got my oil distiller today too.

One more step towards making my own oil. Now, to transplant some seedlings and get this party started.

 

[Graytail]

UPS arrived.

That LED tech is the coolest of the cool - the most efficient and the latest! And it's white!!

 

[SlowToke]

Thinking about it as medication changes the dynamics. Now I'm more inclined to stick to the doses. Lately, I feel the anguish of all the people running out who are using it for cancer eradication. It's past time to legalize and let things evolve.

Amen, young lady! Amen...

on grow topic, the seedlings tell me from their color that it's time to transplant. I'll be playing with that later today. The photoflowering ones need to wait on the light. No they don't. I have a Dorm Grow 450 in reserve, so I can get both tents going. I'm still wrapping my head around the embarrassment of light riches I'm blessed with.

Your new lights are amazing. That Timber is way cool! Looking forward to seeing you put it to some good use!

 

[SweetSue]

I almost forgot...... Biochar!!!!

 

[SweetSue]

That LED tech is the coolest of the cool - the most efficient and the latest! And it's white!!

I was really excited to see the white light. That means I can easily see.

 

[Stinky Snid]

May I ask what is biochar? And how does an oil distiller work, is it easy to use? Please forgive my interjection of newbiness. Very cool toys my dear.

Thank you and everyone in advance for the replies. KiG

 

[CyTheElectric]

Biochar is just natural charcoal. When growing in an organic soil, you want to soak your Biochar in a compost tea for a day or so, then add it to your soil mix. Microorganisms love this stuff, and will set up colonies in it.

 

[SweetSue]

May I ask what is biochar? And how does an oil distiller work, is it easy to use? Please forgive my interjection of newbiness. Very cool toys my dear.

Thank you and everyone in advance for the replies. KiG

No problem Snidrajsed. Ask anything. To answer your biochar question I borrowed a post Conradino shared on his outdoor journal last year. Let me preface this by explaining that biochar is burnt organic matter produced under controlled conditions (smoldering and oxygen-deprived).

"My Land Institute colleague Tim Crews, whose ecology research focuses on soil nutrient cycles, says biochar has two primary agricultural benefits: improving soil “tilth” (its physical condition, which affects plant growth) and increasing the soil’s capacity to retain nutrients and make them available to plant roots. “Biochar is not,” he stresses, “a significant source of nutrients itself.” If nitrogen, or phosphorus, or other essential elements are deficient in a soil, incorporating bichar into the soil won’t add enough of those nutrients to make a difference. But for certain types of soils that don’t hold onto nutrients or water very well, biochar can help.

Addition of biochar improves soil tilth and nutrient-holding capacity, according to Crews, only when it's in the technique’s “original context.” The practice was first used millennia ago to improve heavily weathered tropical soils in the Amazon basin. “There,” says Crews, “years and years of slash-and-burn cropping cycles, with long periods for regrowth of natural vegetation between episodes of burning and tillage, added charcoal that persisted in the soil for a very long time. Not just any old kind of charcoal-making will result in such durability, so it must have been done with some insight; the burning must have been done with a smoldering fire in an oxygen-deprived situation, which is required to make ‘good’ biochar.” And it was done again and again and again. Over the centuries, that charred plant material was incorporated into the soil and has remained there.

In those very old, weathered, acidic, iron and aluminum-rich soils with often low organic matter—known as Ultisols and Oxisols —the addition of biochar brought significantly better crop growth, because the soils were better able to retain essential nutrients until the crops needed them. Those soil types are found throughout the tropics, but in the United States they are common only in parts of the Southeast. Most soils in temperate latitudes were rejuvenated in relatively recent geological history by glaciers “rototilling” the Earth. These soils retain nutrients very well without any amendments like biochar."

My joy is in knowing I'm increasing the nutrient storage capacity of my soil.

As to the distiller: a steadily increasing group of us are making our own concentrated cannabis oil to help our bodies return to homeostasis. I mean seriously, cannabinoids kill cancer cells and have no adverse side effects. Why is this not the headline on every paper and every news story out there? Sorry - it makes me a little nuts. Watch someone you love .......... Yeah.

We as a group recently discovered these tabletop essential oil and water distillers that make the job of producing CCO easier and allows for the reclamation of some of the solvent, one of the more expensive components of the process.

I have yet to make my first batch of CCO, but now I'm one step closer. I was thankful that this discovery of the distillers occurred right before I was preparing to purchase all the other equipment this unit replaces.


The pots are all ready to go.

The auto tent

Future occupants.

The photo tent.

Future occupants.

The tiny closet.

Its future inhabitant (the Dark Devil Auto). Let's see what that Vero 240 can do with my favorite strain.

Everything's about ready to go. Think I'll take myself out to dinner and swing through Target on the way home with a new tote for drenches and some small fans to hang in the grow spaces. Pots have been thoroughly watered with a light TransWater and the seedlings got a nice spritz of Destress and a thorough watering. Let everything sit overnight and transplant first thing in the morning.

I've been so busy I've yet to get Callanetics in. I simply must take time tonight. It keeps me emotionally stable too, and today's been one of those days where grief keeps trying to blindside me. Geez, it's got to get easier guys. I work right through it now, a good sign, and I'm happy with how it's going, but it wearies me. I've come a long way though, so let's grab onto those positives, eh?

And right now, standing here and surveying my little kingdom with the smell of fresh brownies filling the apartment, life is pretty darned sweet. Tomorrow I turn on the big lights and the filtration system and zip the tents up. .

Let me have that evening brownie and get to dinner.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Sue I am curious about the distiller. I understand the principle of reclaiming the solvent. But do these boil off the terpenes? Which brings me to my issues with ethanol and isopropanol extracted cannabis. I have found Qwiso and Qwet to be lacking in the terpene department. I love concentrates but would hate to lose my precious terps! But I guess the CCO has to be decarboxylated anyway. Does the distiller achieve the temps required for decarb?

 

[Dave Groomer]

Sue I am curious about the distiller. I understand the principle of reclaiming the solvent. But do these boil off the terpenes? Which brings me to my issues with ethanol and isopropanol extracted cannabis. I have found Qwiso and Qwet to be lacking in the terpene department. I love concentrates but would hate to lose my precious terps! But I guess the CCO has to be decarboxylated anyway. Does the distiller achieve the temps required for decarb?

I'm not Sue but I will give it a shot. The distiller will reclaim about 80% of your solvent. You still need to finish the last part and decarb it on your induction top or what ever cook top you are using. On a chart I saw (I will have to find it. I sure Sue has it somewhere in her archives ) most of the terpenes remain in tact. Most of them evaporate at temps over 250 degrees. There are only a couple that are below that. Hope this helps.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Thank you supergroomer. That was a superlative answer.

 

[Dave Groomer]

 

[SweetSue]

Sue I am curious about the distiller. I understand the principle of reclaiming the solvent. But do these boil off the terpenes? Which brings me to my issues with ethanol and isopropanol extracted cannabis. I have found Qwiso and Qwet to be lacking in the terpene department. I love concentrates but would hate to lose my precious terps! But I guess the CCO has to be decarboxylated anyway. Does the distiller achieve the temps required for decarb?

Unfortunately you'll lose terpenes in the process, but as supergroomer pointed out, you still retain some. The reality is you lose about 50% of the monoterpenes just drying and curing. The medicinal value of the CCO is far beyond those losses though. I agree about the importance of the terpenes. This is why we consume cannabis in its many forms and not just one singular method.

Wow! How things have changed from my street drug days.

 

[MagicJim]

I'm not Sue but I will give it a shot. The distiller will reclaim about 80% of your solvent. You still need to finish the last part and decarb it on your induction top or what ever cook top you are using. On a chart I saw (I will have to find it. I sure Sue has it somewhere in her archives ) most of the terpenes remain in tact. Most of them evaporate at temps over 250 degrees. There are only a couple that are below that. Hope this helps.

Link to her blog entry.

 

[Dave Groomer]

Thanks Jim!!! I knew it was there somewhere and if I saw it, I knew Sue saved it!!!

 

[SweetSue]

Link to her blog entry.

Thank you so much Jim. I'll have you know I just got the ability to give reps back and you, my dear, are the very first recipient.

I found the perfect tote for drenches at Target. It was sitting right next to the crates, so I know they'll fit.

"Click".

Now, a leisurely trip through the salad and bar.

 

[Happy Hemper]

Wow! How things have changed from my street drug days.

When you think about how useful our favorite plant can be to our lives from the cradle to the...end. It can bring relief to children raked with seizures that our 'best' modern medical system fails miserably at doing. It can help generally health people relax, recreationally or by prescription, after a day in life with no known risk to our health. We can use it to actually treat cancer and to calm the side effects of conventional treatment methods for cancer. It can be used to reduce pain without fear of death by overdose or the addictive potential of, again, conventional treatment methods. We can also treat PTSD, a nasty affliction that is often experienced by those that survive truly traumatic events ranging from war to physical assault etc. Yet this beneficial, effective, inexpensive and safe alternative to modern medicine and popular recreational drugs such as alcohol is listed by our representative government as not just extremely dangerous but also absolutely useless. Perhaps with the evidence mounting of its beneficial properties (debunking previous biased Government funded 'studies') and the, relatively, free flow of information in society the absurd laws and assorted BS will come to an end. I know that there is so much more but I was just thrown into thought by your comment. I do apologize for the bummer tone I guess I need a little pull on the glass to help me lighten up.

 

[SweetSue]

You're preaching to the choir. I had a vision today - a series of tv commercials

"Hello, my name is Karen and I wanted you to know that cannabis saved my life."

"Hello, my name is Bob. Cannabis gave me my first relief from PTSD in 35 years."

A deluge of positive messages of how cannabis has improved or saved the lives of everyday people. Bombard the airwaves relentlessly. Keep it up until the dam breaks.

I know, I'm a dreamer. Someone better keep dreaming.

See it - Believe it - Expect it - Make It So.​

 

[SweetSue]

Ahhhhhh..............

Replenished stores. These babies are potent guys. Not to be taken lightly.

 

[arteekay]

Oh that's a thing of beauty.

I call blue stripes!