from "useful cactus ,agaveand aloe species' by Reny Mia Slay-"The agaves are succulents ,mostly very large,with clumps of fleshy ,sword like leaves.they are wind and drought resistant and fire retardent.Flowering may take up to 10 years,but once accomplished,the foliage clumps die,usually leaving behind suckers that make new plants.In mexico,the agave plants are said to have some 400 possible uses,from house shingles,food,and threadto alcoholic drinks.They are widely used as a seaside or cattle barrier hedge."
allplants make carbohydrates through photosynthesis a magical process,carbon from carbon dioxide and hydrogen from water the planets energy source from us to ants.Plants like agave{maguey] growing slowly store this as starch in their roots{like sweet potatoes} then when they need it for flowering ,growing new foliage or attracting insects with give away nectar to be pollinated,they send it up in the form of simple sugars through their vascular system to the appropiate area-this is when the clever monkeys itervene and extract the energy laden juice to make syrups sugars beers spirits or just juice YUM                                               

Harley is right ,check all    the polynesian and melanesian teeth you see [that is the ones who grew up there on atraditional diet].Theres room in everyones backyard for a clump of sugarcane,lookout for types that people already grow for chewing they will be softer and easier to chew.have a look at chewingcane.com on the net
                                         cheers cano

hi and sorry anyone who turned up on the above dates,had a minor hiccup and will be back in action on the 20th at west end and the 21st at chandler then every fortnight repeat.I'll try to update this before any changes next time
                                                    cheers cano

Hi merridy or anyone,
                                Ate some today they are a welcome diversion from bananas and citrus ,which is all that is around for the moment[my navels are pretty yummey all the same].I realise dried is better for most nutrients but what about enzymes,how are they affected by drying and freezing?I have heard many different things,can anyone give me any info or point me to a site?
                                      cheers
cano

ah yes miss manda a very ingenious design using the thermal flow principle,this way the food is not in the direct sunlight.Should work well in QLD.Mine will be super flash though,I can picture it,all stainless and glass.I might go into production and sell them on"Raw pleasure"
check it out everyone and reduce
your emissions
                                           thanks a heap
                                             cano

oh yeh righto
                    just saw someother threadsabout crackers talking about dehydraters . Whats the smallest [low power usage] good qaulity dehydrater? I"M on solar power and need to conserve energy.I only have a wood stove its a bit hard to control the heat,I might try rigging up some sort of insect proof solar dryer or buy one if anyone knows if you can buy these,
thanks cano

hi everyone,
                 Interested in these raw crackers,does dehydrate mean in a food dehydrater?
                                         cano

oh yeah don't try to juice it without the correct juicer.You can get them O.S pretty cheap

yeah i love chewing cane -its very simple to get into if you know how, some are too hard, but others are not much harder than an apple.It also depends on if it is young or old.my market dates are in the aust ,N.Z. section of this site.AS for feeling dumb for asking Jen,I get asked about the same thing by everyone .Probably got something to do with the fact the english called it sugar cane, it has many names this great big beautiful tropical grass and is one of humanity's oldest foods.Check out chewingcane.com and have a look at all the melanesian[cane came out of melanesia 1000's of years ago] teeth you come across they all grew up chewing it.You can tell the the likely islander yards in Bris by the clumps of cane. I bought some pomegranite juice from the Natural foodstore,it was from california ,organic,100%but pasteurised 24$ 1L just don't spill it on the carpet--although it's the most lovely colour

I reckon its yummy to chuck a bit of say mandarin or peppermint in your juice or smoothies .Whats particularly delightful is a smoothy with rose oil and expensive .ITseems to be o.k.Sunspirit occasionally have big sales to move their oils that haven't sold.Also I found this really old citrus juicer in the op-shop in Tewantin many years ago.It's hard to explain the action but it sqaushes and flattens the fruit [can be used for carambolas ,rasberries and other soft fruit as wel]out.This way you get alot of the skin oil from the citrus and thats the dope.l

Do you think dried would be better than bottled? I would much rather eat the latter.

too true Sheryl, in fact a dose of refined carbs will rob you of many nutrients especially minerals .Sugarcane is a good source of many nutrients particularly minerals, if it is grown on healthy ground. Jen all refined carbs are poisonous,whether extracted from cane ,corn,sugarbeets,rice,palmtrees,etc etc .YES I am not a sugar cane farmer[that is I do not grow cane for sugar]I am a juicing-cane farmer-I grow by hand 1 acre of old fashioned ,soft, low carb cane. I water it all the time and juice a lot of young unripe sticks to keep the carbs down.I mulch it,remineralize the soil and only use natural fertilizers like wormcasts.It takes. a lot of effort because I believe in the product and the way it should be done.ON the other hand cane farmers grow sugarcane ,high sugar varieties .they let it dry out because they want more sugar not juice,they use 1000's of litres of herbicides ,tons and tons of artificial fertilizers and put slow release insectides into the soil-just a few of their factory farming techniques[the same as anything from the supermarket really]not good for us ,the soil or the planet.I do believe my juice is unique in australia at least .THe terrible thing is I only have a few pomegranite trees for my self as they are difficult to grow in the humidity.My wish is to meet someone with a little bit of the gadzillion acres of land suitable for pomegranites any where west of the great divide{round Perth is perfect]who is willing to plant lots and lots of them .And together we will rule the juice world.I saw a photo once of these two Taliban fellows with their ak47's sitting atop a ten ton truck heaped high with the biggest reddest pomegranites ever.mmmm....maybe egypt next winter

well I reckon if you get a totally ripe bursting at the seams pomegranate ,cut it in half and jam it through the cane crusher with an extra juicy young stick of cane - it cannot be beat[they say pomegranates have 10 times the anti -oxidents of blueberries]

Hi everyone

I'll be at the West End Green Flea Markets in Davies Park (Montague Rd) this coming Saturday (29th April) and at the Chandler Markets at the Sleeman Sports Centre on Sunday 30th April.  We do the markets every fortnight from now till spring.

We grow our cane, ginger and limes (certified A grade with the Organic Growers of Australia) organically.  If we have to source other produce, we buy certified organic.

Get it fresh pressed from us or Elaine at the Northey Street Markets or Miami Organic markets.  She usually carries some of our juice.

hello perth people
what a great town[ my fathers family are from there] I am pretty sure coconuts would grow in nth west aus? Rockhampton is the supposed southern boundry in QLD.I have seen coconuts with nuts on in Bris. Select trees around Maryborough and Hervey bay are conistent,mainly Malay dwarf trees[a different species] they are smaller and not as much juice[less than 1/2 ?] but are easier to get at ,you can stand on your car and get at most of them.I think some one sooner or later will do some breeding work on these to get strains suitable for more southerly locations-I hope.anyway I know of a litte ripper in childers if anyone would like to try growing one-better near the beach. We all should whack afew in and see what happens.....