Thai people, in so many ways, are MILES ahead of the rest of the world. The things they think are normal make me smile. Like EM. Western visitors always need to be explained what it is, and why we use it, and for what.
"REALLY? And you can buy THAT cheaply in Thai supermarkets and local stores?!"
Yup.
EM stands for Effective Mirco-Organisms. Quite simply it is fermented fruit waste which creates a probiotic liquid not unlike apple cider vinegar. It's used for LOADS of things! Me, personally? I developed my passion for using EM long ago, but in the last year I have started MAKING it to assist our Karen refugee Organic Frontiers project. Their soil has been sooooo poor to start with, and they have ZERO cash to play with.
So apart from soil remediation, what do we use it for?
- cleaning - I like to mop floors daily throughout the whole house;
- keeping drains, toilets and septic tanks working efficiently;
- removing household odors - I keep some in a spray bottle and clean the fridge with it, and a dash down the sink to sanitize the s-bend;
- fertilizing plants;
- keeping ponds and waterways healthy - I add a small dash to our fish pond and lotus bowls every few weeks;
- accelerating compost;
- reducing insects on vegetable plants - just spray on leaves and watch everything level up!
- keeping laundry fragrant - brilliant for washing machine funk - just add to the rinse cycle;
- keeps running shoes clean and fungus free - simply spray into the shoes and pop them in a sunny spot for an hour;
I used to buy EM from the Vegetarian Co-Op in Chiang Mai City - 26 baht (about 85 cents) for 1.25 liters, sold in a repurposed plastic water bottle. Or you can buy it in more western packaging at many supermarkets and stores. At western prices. 😉
The indigenous Karen people need a lot of support to learn organic growing, and it's heart-breaking for them to start with very poor soil. I bought the first several dozen bottles of EM for them as a gift to get them started while our brewing got started. It's EASY to do yourself. With our displaced community not having even the smallest amount of cash to buy the basics, I made their brewing set up for them and took it up to the mountains on my monthly training visit.
All you need is one large plastic garbage bin (with no holes) and a piece of aquarium hose about 2 meters long. A sharp knife or a steel chopstick and a cigarette lighter. A little silicone. And some packing tape to seal it.
Step one.
Prepare your fermenting set up. Create a small, round hole in the top of the lid - I use the cigarette lighter to heat my steel chopstick to white-hot and then simply burn a perfectly round hole into the center of the lid. Please take care not to breathe in the toxic smoke. When it's cool, slide one end of the aquarium hose in and secure it with silicone on both sides of the lid.
You will see there is a second container - the green bucket works but on site we used a second old bottle so as not to encourage mosquito breeding.
Step Two.
Mark the inside of the rubbish bin. I used a light coloured nail polish. Many of our refugee people are not numerate and the proportions ARE critical to success. The ratios are simple: 3 parts fruit waste - damaged mangoes are a favourite. We are looking for good sugar content. 1 part molasses, which is rich in nutrients. Raw sugar can be substituted if money is tight or molasses hard to find. And 9 parts non-chlorinated water. For the first ever batch of home-brewed EM, I use a bottle of store-bought stuff to introduce the right microbes.
Step Three.
Fill the bin.
Fill to the first line of the bucket with old fruit - fallen, half rotten fruit ok. You can use old sticky rice too. We are looking for sugar rich so whatever is around.
Fill to the second line with molasses or sugar.
Fill to the very top with non-chlorinated water.
Step Four.
CLOSE TIGHTLY.
We are aiming for anaerobic fermentation, which DOESN'T SMELL if done correctly. Fill to the VERY brim to minimize air in the bin. I closed it off with a strip of packing tape too, to make sure the wind didn't blow the lid away and to keep rats-vermin away.
Make sure the gas outlet hose is submerged fully in a bottle or bucket filled with salt water. Salt in the water will stop mosquitoes breeding. You need a TINY gas escape so DON'T silicone the other half of the hose in - just leave a few milimeters for gas to esacpe.
Step Five
CHECK WEEKLY and stir. Close bin tightly again and make sure hose is fully covered and stays covered.
In 3 months you have a whole bin of EM. Strain and bottle and store in a cool place. Start the process all over again.
I add it neat to the compost pile, but for plants I dilute 1 part EM to 9 parts water. I add it neat to drains and toilets, but dilute for floors. It smells clean, like vinegar, and it's harmless if consumed. I DO know people who drink it too. LOL.
Western people complicate everything and there are far more complex ways to prepare EM. The Permaculture Growing Institute has lots of great information, if you want to learn more. There's a western-style How-To for EM Here. It DOES need warmth. If you live in a cool climate this is an end-of-the-summer-fallen-damaged-fruit project. In Thailand, all year round works just fine, except in the cooler mountain regions NOT in Dec-Jan-Feb.
Organic growing success - whatever you're growing - begins and ends with healthy soil. If you water your garden with chlorinated tap water, you NEED EM to restore the microbes you kill. If your soil is degraded and poor, this is a stellar and easy way to speed up composting and to help convert mulch to soil. EM reduces pests and is a natural fertiliser.
Yesterday I was upset on World Environment Day about the terrible destruction we are causing Mother Earth through the overuse of antibacterial chemicals which convert to toxic dioxins in the presence of water and sunlight. Missed that post? Please read. It matters. So Who Pushed It?. Today I am doing something about it and sharing the knowledge I have about enriching and restoring our waterways and soils with healthy microbes.
It's mango season and I need to get another batch of EM brewing here in Chiang Mai. Better get busy.
BlissednBlessed in my Thai Natural World.
Visit our online store here
Join The Best Natural Health Community on Hive
A huge hug 🤗 and a little bit of !BEER 🍻 from @amico!
Un caro abbraccio 🤗 e un po' di BEER 🍻 da @amico!
Abbracci e birra ... la vita è bella 😍🍺😘
Thanks for your really interesting EM infos, but please correct "pasison", because for those who hesitate with English like me, they could break their brains to understand what it is! 😜
!tip hugs 🤗 and some more !BEER 🍻
LOL 🤣 all fixed. 😘
🎁 Hi @artemislives! You have received 0.109 HIVE tip from @amico!
@amico wrote lately about: Sunshine 🌞 Children 👯 Love 😍 Food 🌱Sustainable ♲ Life 🎉Pyrenees 🌄 France 🇫🇷 Feel free to follow @amico if you like it :)
Sending tips with @tipU - how to guide.
View or trade
BEER.Hey @artemislives, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @amico for you. Enjoy it!Learn how to earn FREE BEER each day by staking your
BEER.Very Informative. This is You also got that healthy squat!
17 years living in Asia and also a yogi? OF COURSE I got the Asian squat sorted. LOL. Learned if from Ploi's great grandmother (who was in her mid 90s) when I was pregnant. Fabulous for a strong back and healthy body. ;)
😊 so healthy. Miss asia when i see this.
This made me speechless.
@acurewa let's do this when we're on our new place!!!!!!!!
You basically use it for everything. That was vinegar for me. But this was another level and I had no idea it was possible. I actually have 0 knowledge about probiotics in general... I just like sauerkraut a lot. 😅
I think this is a good time to say it: your username is Artemis but, to me, you have always been Athena. You're so wise, so intelligent, so educated and informed, I feel.
I'm not always on Hive but, when I am, I LOVE reading you. I always learn so many things.
It take a Goddess to KNOW that all Goddesses are One. But thank you. Blush.
EM is really just poor-woman's Apple Cider Vinegar - made with everything-anything you have available. ACV is useful for everything from wound healing to cancer treatment to cleaning the glass in your bathroom. Microbes and probiotics are the future for our planet, to try and restore some of the natural balance we have destroyed with our chemicals.
We're gonna have a LOT of fun when I come to Colombia later next year to do some sacred medicine learning. :) x
Oh, they are! 😍 I was just talking about the book Goddesses in Everywoman today!
And oooohhhh didn't know you were coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍
I have some business travel first in Burma and India in the next 6-8 months for my herbal projects but I have some important sacred medicine learning. @acurewa invited me and I feel it has much resonance. I'm hoping later next year.
Would you travel with Miss 15 as well?
Oh, this excites me so much. It will be wonderful. You're coming to the right place and DEFINITELY with the right person. 💛
I am hoping so..... school etc allowing... travel is such an important part of her education.
It is!
Nothing educates you about the world more than seeing it with your own eyes, learning from locals about how they have it in life, how they struggle, different political models and how they affect people and so on.
And if she is willing to try some plant medicine with you, well, that is another level of knowledge as well. 💛
Hey, this is a really good piece of news! We'll share a lot of interesting stuff about the ancients medicines and for sure we'll get to some of the elders of Colombia! Nuestra casa es tu casa amiga. Adiwa Chawarawaju.
This is AMAZING news!!!!!!!
Oh wow this is great. Sharing it with my gardeners group. I have never heard of it, but have been tuning in to Korean natural farming and other permaculture methods ready for getting back into growing at home. Whilst not making any promises I really hope we can come work with you this year or failing that, in a year or two.
Just enjoy the moments when you get home and take the next logical steps, for you. x Glad the EM hit the spot - it's so intuitive to use up fallen fruit.
This is very, very interesting. Here in Colombia we learned a little about probiotics with some friends that made yogurt in Salento. But I really didn't know about all those other practical applications. Thanks for sharing!
We will have probiotic workshops in Colombia later next year, I hope!! 😍 As soon as I can manage it.
OK, this is turning into a real interesting visit. Can't wait to share knowledge and good moments!
Thanka a lot for sharing I never hear of it but this EM stuff seems pretty handy, will keep my eyes out for some but also might look into making it with your instructions
It is SO HANDY and simple and inexpensive and safe and good for the environment. Like I said, Thai people mostly all know this. Happy to be sharing some simple knowledge and its applications. Please post when you try. ;)
Great stuff! I will need to find the time to get into this seriously one day soon.
Thanks for sharing.
The wonderful wisdom of the Thai chao-naa. We can walk around in our sin and smoke big fat home rolled tobacco while we check the progress of our EM and plan what we're cooking for dinner. LOL.
Aha! You are smoking that local cigar?!
What a nice day to be busy around the house! Have fun!
Nothing goes to waste. Recycling at its best
It IS really nice to recycle the damage fruit and turn it into probiotic magic. Feels good. Thank you for stopping by to read and comment.
Thanks! I learned something new about fertilizer! But, is that a CORN? It looks like a corn plant.
Thanks for stopping by. :) NOT corn, but a plant we locally call Phlai - a type of medicinal Chinese ginger. You can read more about that fascinating plant here: https://hive.blog/naturalmedicine/@artemislives/passionate-about-phlai
Wow!!! Chinese ginger?! I never heard that? How is the taste? Is it a bit spicy also? What is the difference between Chinese ginger to Ordinary white Ginger and yellow Ginger? I will read from that link! Interesting!
Super strong and not really for eating. An incredible herb for topical use. :)
Wow! How interesting what you share, I think that every day one learns something new, and this seems so important to me if one wants to grow healthy vegetable consumables, and that through ignorance one gets to contaminate them with fertilizers and chemical pest products. I loved this post, it is very likely that I will try to do it as naturally as you indicate. Thank you so much.
So pleased you found it useful @benavides54 - happy to have you in @naturalmedicine, sharing ad learning together.
I am not sure if I would drink it, but I can see the benefits from what you have written
Honesty. it's a fruity version of ACV. When it's all strained and in a clean, glass bottle it LOOKS and SMELLS much the same, only with that tropical fruity twist. 😉
Oh ok, the look of it is not so appealing, that is why I said I would pass 🤔😅
Most fermentation looks disgusting whilst it's in process. :)
If the final result is ok, then I would not mind
What a fantastic thing to learn about! I love how you showed them the whole process but modified it for them since they can’t read.
This is the type of thing we hope to learn how to do when we buy a house and start to grow our own food. Granted we don’t live in a really warm place like Thailand but we still have a lot of heat so it would be possible here in Boston.
I especially love the trick for keeping the mosquitos away. Those things are such a pain! I would love to add a cup of salt to the standing water things I see all over the place if it wasn’t bad for the soil of someone tipped it over.
I’ve come to love the ingenuity of the Thai people I’ve learned through your posts, they are a great group it seems! I think this is the case with a lot of people that aren’t of the lazy, American type way. We just don’t see it since tourism is focused on the big cities.
What a lovely comment!! 😍 I'm SURE you could easily make a big batch in Boston mid summer through Fall. Thai people have an incredible resourcefulnes and pragmatism that is delightful and soooooo smart! Glad to hear you're appreciating something of what keeps me in Asia. Speaking Thai and being out of the touist zones makes the world of difference to what I/you see, but then it's like there anywhere.
Sometimes it's hard to work around people who can't read or are not good at the numbers thing, but I have adapted and no longer assume ANYone is able. I had a girl in a shop in urban tourist Chaing Mai the other day who needed a calculator to add 30 + 12. I have learned not to be snooty, to never make them feel small for not sharng our privilege of education, and to NEVER ask to split a bill anywhere.
Do you make available for sale? I have a small farm in Chai Nat province. Thank you
At this time, not yet @julee - but I will be encouraging the Karen people to produce as much as they can and sell their surplus. Coming. We need to equip them with a lot more fermentation bins first and a place to filter, bottle and store. Coming.
I love this, healing the planet and ourselves at the same time. I have never heard of it, but I will definitely be making some. We end up with so many oranges going to waste, but not now. What an ingenious product, I'm so impressed and eager to get some on the go, thanks so much for this wonderful post and awesome tutorial xxx
Curated for #naturalmedicine by @trucklife-family.
We encourage content about health & wellness - body, mind, soul and earth. We are an inclusive community with two basic rules: Proof of Heart (kindness prevails) & Proof of Brain (original content). Read more here.
Our website also rewards with its own Lotus token & we'd love you to join our community in Discord. Delegate to @naturalmedicine & be supported with upvotes, reblog, tips, writing inspiration challenges for a chance to win HIVE and more. Click here to join the #naturalmedicine curation trail!
Oranges would be great @trucklife-family - as would grapes and damaged peaches. Or a mix of whatever is dripping with sticky juice and past its saleable prime.
Congratulations @artemislives! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your board And compare to others on the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Do not miss the last post from @hivebuzz:
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
#POSH
@vincentnijman here :<)
Wow, this is really interesting. I will pass it on to my twin sister. She might be interested to make this for her 2.5 acre garden in Portugal.
Thank you for taking the time to compose this helpful write up.
P.S. I am a huge fan of apple cider vinegar, since a while now and use it for all kind of things, even spraying it in shoes haha
Big hug!
@vincentnijman - this IS really ACV but not made from apples. Too easy. Just use your fallen summer fruit. So simple. I hear much of the soil in Portugal is degraded for centuries and needs lots of inputs to start to restore biodiversity and fertility - this would be a brilliant beginning.
CONGRATULATIONS!! and thank you for creating wonderful, original content on Hive.
Please share and support our curation, and share some Hive-Love to the other posts selected too.
EARTH HEALING is a Natural Medicine project which supports the regeneration & healing of Mother Earth on HIVE