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The Corroboree

Scarecrow

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Everything posted by Scarecrow

  1. Scarecrow

    What did you do in your sacred garden today?

    how would you go about growing cordyceps? don't you need like, a specific breed of caterpillar infected by a specific breed of fungus at a specific altitude in the mountains?
  2. Scarecrow

    Aloe vera uses [stomach disorders]

    Aloe vera is okay, can be a good digestive lubricant. For a gut liner though, slippery elm is far superior in my experience. I use Aloe more for its soothing/numbing effect. Great externally for cuts, bites, wounds, and as a juice is fantastic for a sore, dry throat (when you've got a cough or something)
  3. Scarecrow

    What did you do in your sacred garden today?

    Finally got a proper greenhouse! Some of my plant friends have been struggling without one, but that should change now. Scored this for $50 from ALDI... http://i.imgur.com/vRsvuJZ.jpg previously mr. caapi was confined to a big plastic bag humidity tent, but broke through it to throw out a tendril. now he's got a playground! http://i.imgur.com/Un6aQMw.jpg seedlings labelled by my friend... the angelica label cracks me up http://i.imgur.com/jgZ6bcT.jpg
  4. Scarecrow

    Australian melatonin supplements (question)

    you guys and your pharmaceuticals... all you need is to have some nice calming tea and give yourself a good chest massage before you go to bed. get right between those ribs, loosen up your sternum, draw the blood down from the brain into the heart. you'll sleep gloriously
  5. Scarecrow

    Australian melatonin supplements (question)

    I order my supplements online from iHerb, and have come to trust the "now" brand. I've used their melatonin myself and it's good: http://www.iherb.com/Now-Foods-Melatonin-3-mg-180-Capsules/328#p=1&oos=1&disc=0&lc=en-US&w=melatonin&rc=224&sr=null&ic=4 You won't need more than 3mg, that's really plenty. Take it and at most half an hour later you'll be struggling to keep your eyes open. If you're a real insomniac, maybe boil a valerian tea bag for 15 mins or so and drink that as well. Take a vitamin D supplement in the morning as well to really help regulate your sleep. A word of advice though: as with any hormone, don't take it consistently for long periods. If you need to take it for a week or so to regulate your sleeping habits, that's fine, but don't take it for a few months and expect to have no ill effects. Your body may adapt to the supplement and lose the ability to produce the hormone for itself.
  6. Scarecrow

    Meet up: Melbourne

    hey guys, any chance we can do this on the 28th instead? something has come up and i'm not going to be able to come on the sunday
  7. Scarecrow

    Metadata retention laws will pass as Labor folds

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-27/ludlam-we-need-this-opposition-to-oppose/6269504 labor's too limp-dicked to oppose anything these days - not even a government that's imploding on itself
  8. Scarecrow

    Most Beautiful Non Mutated Cacti

    https://i.imgur.com/GffdnCQ.jpg :blush:
  9. Scarecrow

    Kava advice

    "Incoming passengers, 18 years or over, may bring up to 2kg of the root or dried form of kava in their accompanied baggage when entering the country." s: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/importation-of-kava I can't help you re: where to get it, sadly, I wouldn't have a clue myself.
  10. Scarecrow

    Meet up: Melbourne

    weird, i got my hair did recently also. 29th should be okay for me, it's just a matter of remembering about it
  11. Scarecrow

    Meet up: Melbourne

    anybody coming? I'm chilling at the Pavilion with a mate
  12. Scarecrow

    Meet up: Melbourne

    actually, any chance we can do sunday instead? would work out better for me in the long run i think.
  13. Scarecrow

    Meet up: Melbourne

    17th or 18th would work out well for me, i'm off to rainbow serpent the weekend after.
  14. Scarecrow

    Cheap/simple greenhouse ideas?

    Anybody know of a cheap and easy way to make a modestly-sized greenhouse? I have a certain vine that's wildly outgrowing its sticks, cling wrap and plastic bag humidity tent. Must be more than a meter tall and looking quite healthy, but it needs more space to stretch out. All my plants are in pots for now (in anticipation of moving house in the relatively-near future), in case that affects suggestions. Also, post your greenhouses to inspire us :D
  15. Scarecrow

    Post EGA Super Plant Meet

    I'll do my best to be there! As long as the venue is accessible by public transport, should be all good.
  16. Scarecrow

    Meet up: Melbourne

    oh, nice. is there a thread about this elsewhere?
  17. Scarecrow

    Meet up: Melbourne

    hey guys, i kinda dropped off the grid swamped in study. finally getting close to the end of my last trimester though, so i'm wondering if anybody is keen for a meet once i'm done? say, late (last week of) november or early december? or any time after that?
  18. Scarecrow

    Meet up: Melbourne

    yeah, we're getting towards spring now
  19. Scarecrow

    Meet up: Melbourne

    i totally missed it yo, turned out that i had a celebration for my grandma's birthday down at the cuckoo restaurant. sorry fellas, i'll try and be there next time
  20. Scarecrow

    natural pest control recipes?

    All right, so I've been curious about using as-natural-as-possible means to repel insects from my plants. This thread is for sharing ideas/recipes for natural pest control. For example, I've heard crushed eggshells work well to stop snails and slugs in their tracks. I'm sure lots of you would have picked up some neat tricks! However, I do have some ulterior motives in starting this thread. At the moment I seem to have some scarid flies moving in to the plants I have inside during winter (where even did they come from????), and I want to get rid of the little bastards before they become a big problem (my plants are struggling enough as it is). Apart from using sticky strips to cull the population, using essential oils as a repellant sounds promising. But I'm not sure which oils to choose for these pests specifically. I'm wondering if anybody has any firsthand experience with this? Or perhaps other ideas? Maybe an all-purpose pest repellant recipe? My mum also would love to hear about any other tricks to get rid of the snails/slugs that are eating her okra.
  21. Scarecrow

    Meet up: Melbourne

    I'll try to be there~
  22. chinese medicine says: (from http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/archives2004/jan/01chen.html - pharmacological information also available) it's considered a cold medicinal that primarily enters the liver channel. because it is cold in nature, it can injure the stomach's function, and is therefore also contraindicated for anybody with weak digestive function. it is also used topically to deal with parasites and toxins - for example maggots infesting a wound, or to detoxify a rat or snake bite (Chen & Chen - Chinese Medical Herbology & Pharmacology). in general, toxic herbs should not be used for prolonged periods of time (although if it cures cancer, i suppose there are bigger problems to worry about)
  23. I consider myself agnostic - I'd rather just live my life as a decent person and wait and see what happens than jump prematurely to any conclusions - but this is basically my best guess so far. I recently was having a discussion with someone about this video, which led me to basically explain what I suspect is going on regarding god, consciousness, etc: http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_baggini_is_there_a_real_you I think he comes very close to the mark but misses the point, just barely. He proposes that "you" are effectively a self-aware collection of experiences, memories, beliefs, and so on, which gather together to build up a sense of identity, self, and separation. I think what he's actually describing is literally the mind/ego, which is actually a physiological extension of the brain (which is - among other things - a complex network of neurons that create associations between concepts). I'd describe the real 'ego trick' as the delusion that this network of concepts is "you". When you break it down, everything is just atoms in various arrangements, and these atoms and arrangements of atoms have their own histories. What I'm saying is that our arrangement of atoms as human beings has developed such that they can now create an awareness that can remember that history at a certain level - that is, the brain, recording our experiences. Once we die, that arrangement becomes broken and it ceases to function, and all of that disappears. Most people consider the brain and it's records as the "I", but really it's just an extension of the rest of the universe that's complex enough to record things. So that's the "core" that most people think of, but it isn't really a core at all. The waterfall, meanwhile, doesn't have such a structure, so it doesn't become deluded into believing that it has a core. I guess I am agreeing with the guy on this, but getting into more nuances here. But what is actually doing the experiencing, then? Who is the waterfall? Who is the witness that gets caught up in these neat flesh sacks and then sucked into the ego delusion? What is our consciousness, considered as separate from the mind and the brain? Instead of individuals each having separate consciousnesses that disappear or go somewhere when your body dies, I propose that we all share a single, universal consciousness with each other, animals, the waterfall, inanimate objects, and the rest of existence. Like an ocean of consciousness. This is how nature is all connected and in harmony; you could describe it as 'mother nature' or 'god' or 'oneness' or 'the whole' or perhaps even 'the universe itself', or whatever term you want to use to try and describe it. I think that this is the world that we came out of to experience existence as humans. Animals, trees, waterfalls, inanimate objects, etc, are all part of this consciousness as well, but are considerably less equipped to do anything about it. A rock it is still experiencing existence as a rock, but can only sit there and be a rock. A river, or a waterfall maybe can express itself a little, but it is still just going to be a waterfall. An animal can go out and live, but it is still not quite developed enough to truly enjoy freedom and choice. As humans, we're lucky enough to have a better equipped vessel. If you think of animals, you can see that they are conscious, but are less in control of their experience. They are innocent, intuitive, and rely on instinct to function. I think the same can easily be said for plants, but I'd go even further and suggest that even inanimate objects may have some degree of consciousness (perhaps as smaller parts of a whole - for example, rocks as a part of a mountain, a mountain as part of the earth, and so on). Entities that are more evolved have more control over their experience, and humans have evolved to the point where we have become self-aware and autonomous. The problem is that in the process we have lost our awareness of the whole which we are a part of. The chemical and physiological arrangement which has made us capable of freely doing and experiencing and recording what we please has also made us vulnerable to delusions of separateness from this consciousness. Our society is likely a huge factor in propagating this delusion, also. When our body dies, that illusion will shatter; but to reach our full potential while we are still alive, we would ideally become once again aware of our connection to the whole (which i interpret as becoming enlightened). I think that this is a universal truth that is central to all major religions, but simply approached in different ways (for different audiences of different cultures at different times) and then eventually over-elaborated and misinterpreted and manipulated to such an extent that the message is hardly even there any more. I think this idea is referred to as the Perennial Philosophy. Huxley wrote a great book on it. Maybe I'm completely wrong about the whole thing! But I think it is a nice way to look at things. It's nice to think that everyone, everything you interact with is really an extension of yourself. Why would you be anything but kind to an extension of yourself? Even the most terrible person can become considered as a poor, confused extension of yourself trapped in a meat sack that's been indoctrinated too much.
  24. Scarecrow

    Recipes

    here's some chinese medicine-approved congee recipes that make an excellent breakfast. they'll warm you up from the inside to keep you nice and toasty in winter, and help keep colds at bay. GINGER AND JUJUBE CONGEE 1. In a pot, combine: peeled and grated 1/2 - 1 inch piece of ginger; 10 dried, seeded, quartered Chinese red dates (aka jujubes); 1/2 cup uncooked short grain rice; 3-5 cups of water (depending on what type of rice you're using). 2. Bring to a boil, then set heat to low and simmer gently with the lid slightly ajar for 45-60 minutes. Stir regularly to prevent sticking; add extra water if necessary. You are aiming for a consistency anywhere between porridge and soup according to your personal preference. You can also remove the lid to boil off excess water. 3. Serve warm with honey to taste. Serves 2-3. CINNAMON-CHESTNUT CONGEE 1. Boil 6 chestnuts in a pot of water for 1/2 an hour. Use a serrated knife to cut them in half, then scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Discard the shells and chop the chestnuts into small pieces. 2. Combine the chestnuts, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup uncooked short grain rice, and 3-5 cups of water (depending on what type of rice you're using). 3. Bring to a boil, then set heat to low and simmer gently with the lid slightly ajar for 45-60 minutes. Stir regularly to prevent sticking; add extra water if necessary. You are aiming for a consistency anywhere between porridge and soup according to your personal preference. You can also remove the lid to boil off excess water. 4. Add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon a few minutes before you finish boiling. 5. Serve warm with honey to taste. Serves 2-3.
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