Tree Meditation

by Liliana Usvat
Blog 210 -365

Do you have a tree? If not Plant one.
Did you ever Planted a tree? If not do it.
Do you see trees on daily basis? If not go to a park or just plant one.

This  meditation will help to align your energies with the earth’s energies so that you feel calm, refreshed and at peace. It begins with awareness on the out breath which helps to keep you focused in the present moment.

 The meditation itself is done as visualization, but you could do it outdoors sitting with your back against a tree. Trees and plants have their own energy fields and you can absorb this energy in a positive and revitalizing way for your whole being.

If you are standing, imagine your feet growing roots; if you are sitting, imagine the roots coming out of your legs and your bottom and heading down into the soil.

With each out-breath, your roots grow and reach deeper into the soil. Also feel stress and tension flow out of your roots with each out-breath. Keep focusing and extending your roots.

With each in-breath, feel yourself pulling cool, earthy, grounding energy from the soil and Mother Earth. Feel that energy move slowly from your feet and legs up through your “trunk,” down your “limbs” and into every cell in your body.  When your body is full of this grounding energy, feel it begin to exit through the top of your head.

Now that you have grounded, imagine your arms are limbs and are reaching toward the sky, toward the sun, the source of energy that nourishes green plants and life on earth. 
With each out-breath, your branches reach further into the sky.  Release tension and stress.  Feel your branches growing.

With each in-breath, breathe in the light, warm, energizing sunlight, allowing it to flow down from your “branches” and “trunk” to each part of your body and into each cell.
Feel the energies of earth and sky mixing within you.  When you are full of this vitality, let the energy seep down and out of your roots.

Feel how grounded, calm, and centered you are, but also energized, focused, and with broader perspective.

When you feel complete with this experience, slowly increase your breathing, feel yourself return to your body, stretch, and open your eyes.

Medicinal Trees Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora )

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 209-365

The camphor tree--scientifically known as Cinnamomum camphora--features glossy evergreen leaves and pale yellow flowers in the spring.

In both China and Japan, the evergreen camphor tree grows to great size. An extractive of its bark, camphor acts as a counterirritant when included in ointments for relieving muscle pain.

The camphor tree is a dense broadleaved evergreen that is capable of growing 50-150 ft (15.2-45.7 m) tall and spreading twice that wide with a trunk up to 15 ft (4.6 m) in diameter, though the largest U.S. specimens are only half that size and those in the Caribbean are even smaller

Camphor laurel contains volatile chemical compounds in all plant parts, and the wood and leaves are steam distilled for the essential oils. Camphor laurel has six different chemical variants called chemotypes, which are camphor, linalool, 1,8-cineole, nerolidol, safrole, or borneol.


Culture
Camphor prefers fertile sandy soil. It will tolerate a pH anywhere in the range of 4.3 to 8. The roots are very sensitive to disturbance. They may extend far from the trunk of the tree, and can readily be identified by their characteristic odor.
Light: Camphor will grow in full sun or partial shade.

Propagation Reforestation

Camphor seed does not remain viable for long and should be planted in the greenhouse as soon as it ripens. Remove the fruit pulp first. At 68ºF (20ºC), germination will take 1-6 months. Cuttings of semiripe side shoots can be rooted in a warm humid place in midsummer. Pieces 2-3 in (5.1-7.6 cm) long with a heel work best.

Camphor is a prolific seed producer that apparently does not have serious predators or diseases outside its native range. Seedlings and root sprouts are abundant near mature trees, but individual trees pop up far from seed sources. In Florida, camphor trees appear in undisturbed mesic hardwood forests, upland pine woods, and scrubs, as well as in the vacant lots and fencerows where it is more commonly observed.

Medicinal Use
 

Camphor is used in medicine internally for its calming influence in hysteria, nervousness and neuralgia, and for serious diarrhoea

Camphor is widely planted as a shade tree, screen, or windbreak. In China and Japan, it is grown commercially for its medicinal oil. Camphor oil has a strong penetrating fragrance, a pungent bitter flavor, and feels cool on the skin like menthol, though it also has irritating qualities as well as a numbing effect. Camphor has been used to treat ailments ranging from

• parasitic infections to
•  toothaches. 
• Scientific evidence has confirmed that chemicals in the plant have value in antiseptics and
• medications for treating diarrhea, 
• inflammation,
•  itching, and
•  nervous conditions. 
• it has been proved valuable as an excitant in cases of heart failure
• externally as a counter-irritant in rheumatisms, 
• sprains bronchitis, 
•  and sometimes in conjunction with menthol and phenol for heart failure; 
• it is often given hypodermically, 3 to 5 grains dissolved in 20 to 30 minims of sterile Olive oil - the effect will last about two hours. 
• In nervous diseases it may be given in substance or in capsules or in spirit; dose 2 to 5 grains.
•  Its great value is in colds, 
• chills, and in all 
• inflammatory complaints;
•  it relieves irritation of the sexual organs.

 Other Usges

• Camphor is also used in perfumes. 
• Camphor is a white crystalline substance, obtained from the tree Cinnamomum camphora. Camphor has been used for many centuries as a culinary spice,
•  a component of incense, 
• and as a medicine. 
• Camphor is also an insect repellent and a flea-killing substance.

Trees and Ligtings

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 208-365

Trees have an immune system like humans do.
When a tree health is affected the immune system is weak.

A tree can charge his electrical potential during the storm, so it can avoid being struck by lighting.
When the immune system is weak the ability to change the charge is diminished.

So mostly the weak trees are strike by lighting.

Immune system of the trees are affected in a negative way by the chemicals we spray the trees.

Having healthy tree around the house actually help avoiding the lightings.
 
Trees communicate between then. trough root systems and air.
Trees are affected by the attack we have on other trees.

So when large areas of trees are cut or destroyed other trees are affected.

Trees can predict the storms with measurable electrical techniques that we have at this point.

When Hydro 1 use chemicals to deforest large areas for the purpose of maintaining electrical wires between cities all trees around are affected and the immune systems of the trees in that region is affected.

A secondary effect in the allergic reactions that people have in the proximity of those areas that are sprayed.

Tree Planting Records

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 207-365

World Record

• World record for planting trees by an individual: 15,170 in one day, by Canadian planter Ken Chaplin.
• World record for planting trees by a group: 541,176 mangrove seedlings by three hundred Pakistani villagers–all were volunteers.
• Biggest tree planting project in the world: The Great Green Wall, China.
• Maximum number of seeds contained in one square metre of old-growth forest soil: 1,000.
• Tallest Douglas-fir tree in the world: The Red Creek Tree, Vancouver Island, 242 feet tall. 
• Average number of trees planted in a day by a professional tree planter: 1,600.
  Average distance walked: 16 kilometers. 

 Philippines

Camarines Sur province  Philippines planted the largest number of trees simultaneously in one hour 64,096 demolishing the previous record of India at 50,033 trees.

Tree-planting activity for the Guinness Book of World Records was part of the El Verde" tree planting program of the province of Camarines Sur that aims to plant 12 million trees from 2011 to 2012.

Australian forests have been heavily affected since European colonisation, and some attempts have been made to restore native habitats, both by government and individuals. Greening Australia is a national Non profit set up to run the "National Tree Program" initiated by the Federal Government in 1982. Greening Australia completed the 1 Billion Tree target and has gone on to become one of the major tree planting organisations in the country.

National Tree Day is organised annually by Planet Ark in the last week in July, encouraging the public to plant 1 million native trees per year. Many state governments run their own "Million Tree" programs each year to encourage community involvement

Canada 
The average British Columbian planter plants 1 600 trees per day, but it is not uncommon for veterans to plant up to 4,000 trees per day while working in the interior. These numbers are higher in central and eastern Canada, where the terrain is generally faster, however the price per tree is slightly lower as a result. Average daily totals of 2500 are common, with experienced planters planting upwards of 5000 trees a day. Numbers as high as 7500 a day have been recorded.

China 
Tree-planting has become a way of living for Chinese people today with millions of citizens involved as volunteers making the country greener.

Trees planted in the spring are a bit of a tradition, marking the beginning of children's schooling, one's enrollment of colleague in army service, or for a wedding or as birthday commemoration.

"Each spring -- citizens have a duty to plant trees -- there will be dozens of places open to the public for tree planting in urban areas, particularly in metropolitan areas like Beijing and Shanghai,"

In 2013, nearly 560 million people planted more than 2.5 billion trees throughout China. The accumulated efforts of volunteers reached 8.8 billion with more than 42 billion trees planted during the 1982-2003 period, NAC's statistics indicate.

To date, the area with human-planted trees across China has exceeded 46 million hectares, ranking it first in the world.

Better than that, the country's goal of afforestation on every waste-fill hill suitable for tree-planting has come true in a dozen provinces or a quarter of the total.

Pakistan

Pakistan may now hold the Guinness World Record for most trees planted in a single day by a single person .

India 

India can now claim the record for most trees planted in under an hour. The event took place on land owned by the famous Hemis Buddhist monastery in the region of Ladakh and was sponsored by the Live to Love Foundation, of the Drukpa lineage.

Volunteers in Dungarpur, India attempted

to plant 600,000 trees in 24 hours:The volunteers planted mango, neem, teak, and jatropha. Once planted the trees will be adopted by local people -- and supervised by the Indian Forestry Service -- to ensure that they are water and properly cared for.

Peru

In Peru , where 27,166 saplings were planted by 8,000 people in an hour.

What was Planted ? The Willows

The willows can help stop soil erosion and stabilize the soil, in addition to helping stop mudslides during cloudbursts.

Medicinal Trees Kola (Cola nitada, C. acuminata)

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 206-365

Have you planted a tree in your life?
What about this year?
Have you considered a fruit tree in your vicinity, or in your back yard?

Do you get a lift from a carbonated soda? The large kola trees of tropical West Africa, the West Indies, and South America are responsible. Their dried seeds, which contain much caffeine, provide the stimulant in some medicines. But they also provide an energizing ingredient in many soft drinks.

Kola nut is a caffeine-containing nut of evergreen trees of the genus Cola, primarily the species Cola acuminata and Cola nitida.

Medicinal Uses

• Chewing kola nut can ease hunger pangs. Kola nuts are often used to treat whooping cough and asthma.

• The caffeine present acts as a bronchodilator, expanding the bronchial air passages.
• Phosphorus: A study on the mineral content of kola nut (Cola nitida) suggested that Cola nitida has a high content of phosphorus (411.43mg/kg); theoretically, concurrent use may increase levels of phosphorus in the blood. 
• 

• : , kola nut may interact with monoamine oxidase inhibitors
• Dietarypotassium: A study on the mineral content of kola nut (Cola nitida) suggested that Cola nitida has a high content of potassium (3,484.67mg/kg) (22); theoretically, concurrent use may increase levels of potassium in the blood.
• Sedatives- kola nut may cause insomnia, anxiety, and nervousness. Preliminary research reported prolonged sleep latencies and suppression of REM and stages 3 and 4 sleep
• Ma huang- a combination of ma huang and kola nut may have additive weight loss effects 
• Hormonal agents : Animal research has demonstrated that stem bark from Cola nitida decreased gonadotropin release, both luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), causing ovulation . Another animal study on the pituitary cells of rats demonstrated that Cola nitida inhibited LH release and had no effect on either FSH or rat pituitary cells. According to animal evidence, Cola nitida may compete with natural estrogen and/or progesterone by binding to steroid receptors   
• Antineoplastics: Kola nut has been shown to contain phytoestrogenic compounds that may dose-dependently exert cytotoxic effects against breast cancer cells in vitro

History

The use of the kola nut, like the coffee berry and tea leaf, appears to have ancient origins. It is chewed in many West African cultures, individually or in a social setting, to restore vitality and ease hunger pains. Kola nuts are an important part of the traditional spiritual practice of culture and religion in West Africa, particularly Nigeria.

 Kola nuts are used as a religious object and sacred offering during prayers, ancestor veneration, and significant life events, such as naming ceremonies, weddings, and funerals. They are also used in a traditional divination system called Obi divination. For this use, only kola nuts divided into four lobes are suitable.
 
They are cast upon a special wooden board and the resulting patterns are read by a trained diviner. This ancient practice is currently enjoying increased growth within the United States and Caribbean.

In the 1800s, a pharmacist in Georgia, John Pemberton, took extracts of kola and coca and mixed them with sugar, other ingredients, and carbonated water to invent the first cola soft drink. His accountant tasted it and called it "Coca-Cola". Cocaine (not the other extracts from the Peruvian coca leaf) was prohibited from soft drinks in the U.S. after 1904, and Coca-Cola no longer uses kola nor cocaine in its original recipe.
 

Curiosities

Kola nut consumption was compared to alcohol consumption for its potential neural effects.
Cola acuminata and Cola nitida and crude extract of kola nut may stimulate gastric acid secretion

Forest and Peace

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 205-365

If we could superpose the map of the countries that have the most forests, those that are more active in deforestation process and the countries that are at peace we could see an interesting facts.

Countries with the most green space are more paceful.

Think of the countries that are at war. When you think of them what color you associate with those countries?

Could be a connection?

Respect for the environment attracts respect for other human beings, respect for women and children.
It is possible that forests bring more peace to the regions that have them?

What is the cause and what is the effect? Loss of forest bring poverty droughts or poverty bring forest destruction and wars. We are talking about the average person in an area not few that have too much.

We can start small plant few tree every year. Your grandchildren will see the result of your actions.

When you travel pay attention how much forest you see.

Links:
http://www.iisd.org/wcfsd/currentforests.htm

http://gizmodo.com/5875194/all-the-worlds-wars-and-conflicts-coming-in-2012

Edible Forest Garden - Temperate Climate Permaculture Forest

By Liliana Uvat
Blog 204-365

Edible Forest Gardening

Edible forest gardening is the art and science of putting plants together in woodlandlike patterns that forge mutually beneficial relationships, creating a garden ecosystem that is more than the sum of its parts. You can grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, other useful plants, and animals in a way that mimics natural ecosystems. You can create a beautiful, diverse, high-yield garden.

If designed with care and deep understanding of ecosystem function, you can also design a garden that is largely self-maintaining.

Design

Traditional agriculture involves 10% planning and 90% work.  Permaculture involves 90% planning with intelligent design and 10% work to implement the design and then much less work in maintanence.

Permaculture

Permaculture is theory of design which uses biological and ecological systems as models to create permanent and sustainable agricultural systems.

Permaculture  is Consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for provision of local needs.’ People, their buildings and the ways in which they organise themselves are central to permaculture. Thus the permaculture vision of permanent or sustainable agriculture has evolved to one of permanent or sustainable culture.

History

The word permaculture was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the mid-1970’s to describe an integrated, evolving system of perennial or self-perpetuating plant and animal species useful to man.

Plants are categorized by their place in the Forest Garden

Tall Trees Layer

Typically over 30 feet (~9 meters) high. This layer is for larger Forest Gardens. Timber trees, large nut trees, and nitrogen-fixing trees are the typical trees in this category. There are a number of larger fruiting trees that can be used here as well depending on the species, varieties, and root  stocks used.

• Alder (Alnus species)
• Apple (Malus domestica or pumila)

• Cherry, Black (Prunus serotina)
• Cherry, Sweet (Prunus avium)

• Cherry, Tart (Sour) (Prunus cerasus)
• Chestnut (Castanea species)
• Lime, Linden, & Basswood (Tilia species)
• Hazelnuts or Filberts (Corylus species)
  
• Juniper (Juniperus species)
  
• Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana)
  
• Mulberry (Morus species: M. nigra, M. rubra, M. alba)
• Oak (Quercus species)
  
• Pears, Asian (Pyrus species)
  
• Pecans and Hickories (Carya species)
  
• Persimmon (Diospyros species: D. kaki, D. lotus, D. virginiana)
• Walnut (Juglans nigra and Juglans regia)
• Walnut - Other species (J. cinerea, J. ailantifolia var. cordiformi, J. x bixbyi)

Tall Shrubs

Typically 10-30 feet (3-9 meters) high. In most Forest Gardens, or at least those with limited space, these plants often make up the acting Canopy layer. The majority of fruit trees fall into this layer.

• Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas)
• Elderberry (Sambucus species)
• Jujube (Ziziphus zizyphus or jujuba)
• Medlar (Mespilus germanica)
• Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)
• Pears, Asian (Pyrus species)
• Plum (Prunus subgenus Prunus species)

• Quince (Cydonia oblonga)
• Sumac (Rhus species)

 Shrub Layer

Typically up to 10 feet (3 meters) high. The majority of fruiting bushes fall into this layer. Includes many nut, flowering, medicinal, and other beneficial plants as well.

• Aronia or Chokeberry (Aronia species)
  
• Blueberries (Vaccinium species)
  
• Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea species)
• Elderberry (Sambucus species)
• Goji Berry (Wolfberry) (Lycium barbarum, Lycium chinense)

 

• Gooseberries (Ribes uva-crispa)
• Goumi (Elaeagnus multiflora)
• Nanking Cherry (Prunus tomentosa)
• Roses - An Introduction to Rose Types (Rosa species)
• Roses - Rosa rugosa (Rosa rugosa)

• Salal or Shallon (Gaultheria shallon)
  
• Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia)
• Sea-Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)

 Herbaceous Layer

Plants in this layer die back to the ground every winter... if winters are cold enough, that is. They do not produce woody stems as the Shrub layer does. Many cullinary and medicinal herbs are in this layer. A large variety of other beneficial plants fall into this layer.

• Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)
  
• Borage (Borago officinalis)
• Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
  
• Comfrey (Symphytum asperum)
• Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
• Good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus)
• Hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
• Horseradish (Amoracia rusticana)

• Lupine (Lupinus species)
• Oregano (Origanum vulgare)
• Plantain (Plantago species)
  
• Ramps (Allium tricoccum)
• Rhubarb (Rheum species)
  
• Sorrel (Rumex species)
  
• Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)
  
• Yarrow (Achillea species)

Climber Layer

These vining and climbing plants span multiple layers depending on how they are trained or what they climb all on their own. They are a great way to add more productivity to a small space, but be warned. Trying to pick grapes that have climbed up a 60 foot Walnut Tree can be interesting to say the least.

• Hops (Humulus lupulus)
• Kiwi - Tropical and Hardy (Actinidia deliciosa, A. arguta, A. kolomikta)

• Malabar Spinach (Basella alba, Basella rubra)
• Maypop (Passiflora incarnata)

• Wisteria (Wisteria species)

Ground Cover Layer

There is some overlap with the Herbaceous layer and the Ground Cover layer; however plant in this layer are often shade tolerant, grow much closer to the ground, grow densely to fill bare patches of soil, and often can tolerate some foot traffic.

• Aronia or Chokeberry (Aronia species)
• Creeping Blueberry (Vaccinium crassifolim)
  
• Groundcover Raspberry (Rubus nepalensis, R. pentalobus, R. tricolor)
• Juniper (Juniperus species)
• Lupine (Lupinus species)
• Mint (Mentha species)

• Oregano (Origanum vulgare)
• Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)
• Rhubarb (Rheum species)
  
• Salal or Shallon (Gaultheria shallon)
• Sorrel (Rumex species)
• Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)
• Wild Angelica (Angelica silvestris)
• Yarrow (Achillea species)

 Underground Layer

These are root crops. There are an amazing variety of edible roots that most people have never heard of, but I hope to introduce them to you here.

• Groundnut (Apios americana 
• Skirret (Sium sisarum)

 

 

Liliana Usvat: Forests in Canada

Liliana Usvat: Forests in Canada

Forests in Canada

By  Liliana Usvat
Blog 203 -365

I am reading a book about forests in Canada. "At the Cutting Edge The Crisis in Canada's Forests" By Elisabeth May

I am amazed by the information provided in her book.

The forests is not protected against overcuting.
Forest dependent species such as the woodland caribou, spotted owl and pine marten are in trouble due to loss of habitat.

Deforestation around the world has global implications in reducing our planet ability to cope with the ever increasing release of carbon into our atmosphere. The technology exceed the ecosystems ability to recover.

In 1990 Greenpeace ran a newspaper ad. It pictured a clear -cut running as far as the eye could see.  below was the caption "They said we could never run out of cod either" referring to the fact that overfishing in Canada depleted the oceans of cod.

Canada is the world larger exporter of wood. In 2003 exports of forest products netted $40 billions.
Over 1 milion of people were employed to cut the forests in 2003.

Forests balance the climate, protect fresh water purify the air and provide food and shelter to myriad of species.

Out of 417,6 millions of hectares 294.7 millions are considered productive or commercial forest land meaning these ancient forest will be cut for the profit of few.

Like fishery, Canada's forest are largely a public resource publicly owned. Only 7% of Canadian forest is privately held compared with 70% in USA and Sweden.
 
The industry does not own the forest it logs.
Leases are cheap. Industry never pays the amount that ever approximate the commercial value in therms of the forest it converts in cash let alone its greater value in terms of ecological service.

Short term gain - logging the forest is subsidized while long term interests the sustainability of the resource itself and all other future values are heavily discounted.

For many years there has been virtually no public oversight of forest policy.

Leases come in a profusion of categories TFL, TSA, CAAF FMA
There are two type of leases based on specific areas and on designated volume.
Volume based leases tend to go to smaller operators while area based tenure arrangements tend to go to large companies.

Alberta Government decision to grant long term leases to two Japanese companies 5.8 millions of hectares respective 2.8 millions of hectares created alarm and media interest.

Sometimes is so sad to read these numbers and think the alarming facts that you are intrigued that more people are not aware of these facts.

Liliana Usvat: The Graviola tree - Cancer Treating tree 10,000 more powerful that chemoterapy

Liliana Usvat: The Graviola tree - Cancer Treating tree 10,000 more powerful that chemoterapy

The Graviola tree - Cancer Treating tree 10,000 more powerful that chemoterapy

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 202-365

Found in South America in the Amazon river basin, the Graviola tree is usually about 15-30 feet tall but packs a strong nutritional punch.

The healing benefits are predominantly generated from the bark and leaves of the Graviola tree and have been widely acknowledged to

•  help boost the immune system, 
• aid lymphatic drainage, and 
• improve blood circulation. 
• It has powerful anti-oxidants properties and can generally improve moods too. 

 
For centuries, various parts of the Graviola tree, including the bark and leaves, but also the roots, fruit and fruit-seeds have been used in particular by the Amazonians and native Indians of South America to treat a range of problems including

• heart disease, 
• asthma, 
• liver problems and 
• arthritis.

The substances in the tree known as annonaceous acetogenins. - were shown to be powerful at inhibiting the growth of cancer cells in-vitro,  but they had no effect on the non-cancerous cells, unlike chemotherapy which indiscriminately targets all actively reproducing cells (such as stomach and hair cells), causing the often devastating side effects of nausea and hair loss in cancer patients.
 
These active compounds also proved effective against the drug-resistant cancer cells as well. In addition,  the pawpaw fruit,  contains these compounds at a higher concentration.