Episode 151: New Chaga Tea Blends Plus Practical Gardening Answers

Boiling water for chaga tea sounds simple, but it sparks a surprisingly big question: are we helping extraction, or hurting the good stuff? We dig into why we put “boiling” on the packaging, what many chaga studies actually do when they prepare extracts, and how to think about the common claim that higher heat might reduce certain properties. If you care about functional mushrooms, chaga benefits, and getting your brewing method right without turning it into a science project, you’ll leave with a clear, usable approach.

From there, we get into what’s new on the flavour side. We share updates on our turmeric ginger black pepper blend, then introduce two newer options designed for everyday use, especially in hot weather: a lemon green tea built with help from an international tea expert, and Ruby G, a bold hibiscus drink with red beet, chicory, lemon extract, and chaga that pours an eye-catching pink. We also walk through an easy “one-third hot, two-thirds cold” steeping method that gets you to an iced tea fast without watering everything down.

Then we head straight into the garden with Master Gardener Bev Delonardo. We talk heirloom tomatoes and flavour, whether to pinch plants, what garlic scapes look like and why growers remove them, and simple ways to cook, freeze, or pesto them for winter. We also answer a listener question about deer-browsed apple trees and explain how to prune slowly over a couple of years so you improve structure without triggering a mess of suckers. We close with Bev’s take on Tai Chi for balance, core strength, and back-friendly movement, plus a few real-life backyard updates and pet stories.

If you enjoy practical outdoor living, gardening advice, and natural wellness without the fluff, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find us.

Transcript

Network Teasers And Trailer Clips

SPEAKER_06 0:02

How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, Steve Nitswiki, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal Radio Network's newest podcast, Diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people. Share their stories of our trials, tribulations, and inspirations. Learn and have plenty of laughs along the way.

SPEAKER_04 0:36

Meanwhile, we're sitting there bobbing along trying to figure out how to catch a bass. And we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show.

SPEAKER_07 0:46

My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that's might be more efficient than it was punchy.

SPEAKER_06 0:53

You so confidently said, hey Pat, have you ever eaten a drink? Find diaries of a lodge owner now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Under The Canopy Mission And Origins

SPEAKER_03 1:13

As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Olat, and I was honored to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as Chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used by indigenous peoples all over the globe. After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials, and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession. And I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of this strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy Podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. So join me today for another great episode, and hopefully, we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy.

Listener Suggestions And Chaga Q&A Setup

SPEAKER_03 2:59

Any suggestions for shows, let us know. And I gotta tell you, I've got uh uh a bunch of suggestions. I'm working on getting a local Department of Health expert on infectious diseases to talk about ticks, but he's not answering the phone or responding just yet. I spoke to his staff, and I'm working on uh bringing in somebody to talk about streams and stream experts, and all those were suggested recordings from people that they wanted to thought would be good shows. Now, this show today is gonna be a little bit different. We're gonna do a little bit of a hodge and podge and talk about a lot of stuff that questions uh that people have about chaga and a whole bunch of things like that.

New Chaga Tea Blends And Brewing

SPEAKER_03 3:48

So, first off, we've got the the new blends. Now, we released the one at the uh sportsman shows, the turmeric ginger black pepper. And with turmeric, you need black pepper in order to activate it in the body, and of course, all our stuff has chag in it. And there's a lot of individuals out there who are actively knowing about the benefits of turmeric. However, Friday last, well, a week ago yesterday, we released two new blends as well. Now, as I mentioned, all our stuff has chag in it. And the one thing is every summer when it's nice and hot out, what I normally do is I do up a lemon green tea. And what I do is take about uh three tea bags of the straight green tea, hot brew it, so hot water, leave the bags in, let it cool on its own, and once it's cooled, then what I do is add ice and half a freshly squeezed lemon and throw the rind in with it, and it's the most refreshing summer drink that we had. So those regular listeners know that we were dealing with John Snell, the international tea expert, who United Nations flew last November to Pakistan to set up their entire country's tea industry. And we've come up with a green tea, of course, Chaga, all has Chaga, matcha, and lemon extract to make it as easy as possible for people to use or have a lemon green tea. And it seems to be going over very well. At the events that I'm at now, I I carry it for people to sample along with all the other teas that we have. But I also have one that is well, it's probably gonna be our number one seller, I think. It's basically John figured we should call it Passionberry, but we call it Ruby G. And Ruby G is hibiscus, of course, chaga. And top of that, we've got red beet, of course, lemon extract in it as well. And it is a spectacular pink-colored drink. And of course, hibiscus and red beet have significant benefits to it. Plus, it also has chicory in it. So you've got hibiscus, of course, chagga mushroom, red beet, chicory, lemon extract. And it's called Ruby G, and it's quite spectacular actually. It has a passion fruit kind of uh taste to it, almost to me, like oh, I don't know, I kind of like uh sense a pomegranate uh kind of flavor to it, but uh not really. And a lot of good benefits to it, as we all know. Beets have uh good benefits for liver, as does his b hibiscus has a lot of medicinal properties to it as well. So that's released now. We've got that. It's cold brew, of course it can be done warm. And John Snelligan, the tea expert, informs me that the best way to do it is if you want to do it quickly, you have one-third hot water, let it steep for about 10-15 minutes, and then add two-thirds cold water to cool it, and then add ice afterwards, and it's going over very, very well. In the same way the turmeric ginger, black pepper, and of course jaga, went over extremely well and still is, this new hibiscus red beet jaga chicory lemon extract is quite spectacular as well. And everybody, if you reach out to come on down to any of the events that I'm at, you can see me in Halliburton on Tuesdays, 10 till 2, or Thursdays at the Lindsay Market and Wilson Fields in Lindsay from 10 till 3. And if you check our website, we'll do some postings as other events we had. I think we might be doing some in Belleville in August again, plus Millbrook as well. So those are some of the updates on that.

Why Boiling Water Matters For Chaga

SPEAKER_03 7:57

But now, one of the things that we get is a lot of questions about the tea, and we put on the packaging now that to do it at to do a hot extraction at boiling point with freshly brewed hot boiling water. And I have uh some individuals come forward and say, like, why are you doing uh why do you put that as boiling on there? I said, Well, I've got over a thousand studies worldwide on Chaga. And the studies are all very and a significant number of the studies actually do an extraction at boiling point in order to get the material out to do the testings with it for the various things. And those ones came out of South Korea. And even the Vitality magazine article that came out, I think it was I can't remember if it was 2016 or 2018, but it specifically stated that don't take it over 140 degrees Fahrenheit because it might destroy some of the properties. And the emphasis is on might there. But anyways, I know that when I first started with the Chaga, I was giving it to friends who were all using boiling water and had significant results with those individuals at a boiling point. But if anybody has other questions, we will do what we can to answer them. Now, I'm gonna get to that master gardener Bev Delonardo to answer a few questions that we have.

Master Gardener Advice At The Market

SPEAKER_03 9:35

Okay, as I mentioned, we're with Master Gardener Bev Delonardo. Extraordinaire. Good morning, Bev. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_09 9:43

I'm fine, Jerry. How are you today?

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Life is good. It's a beautiful day, the temperature is excellent, and it's always a pleasure to be out on days like this. And hopefully we'll see a lot of people coming through. I see you've got a lot of your plants out. Yeah, what sort of ones? So you got peppers here, and you've got what else you got? Tomatoes there.

SPEAKER_09 10:01

I have some zucchini as well. We grow a variety called Black Beauty, which is a very dark green and very productive plant. Um, lots of hot peppers, sweet peppers, and uh a few of the heirloom tomatoes are still remaining on the table, but they go fast.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

Very good. So heirloom means what?

SPEAKER_09 10:21

Uh it means the genetics has been brought along generation after generation. So there's usually a bit of age to the plant. Um, some of the ones that we know and have grown, and you may not be aware that they're an heirloom, is your bush beef steak and your romas. So ones that we know.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Yeah. I find so many of the tomatoes now they have no taste to them though. But the heirlooms are the ones that have a lot of flavor and taste.

SPEAKER_09 10:47

They do. They have good flavor. And um the the only downside on the heirlooms is their shelf life isn't as good, but today all the commercial growers are growing more seedlings that are right, you know.

SPEAKER_03 11:01

So if you want to get more flowers as the plants, because these plants are what, about 14 inches tall? I don't know what that is in centimeters anymore yet. I'm still old school to that.

SPEAKER_09 11:12

Me too, so I can't help you.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

Okay, so but if you want to do you pinch them off and to to get more as the the stems grow up?

SPEAKER_09 11:21

So um that's a discussion that Ann and I, who's another member of our Master Gardener group, had just last week. And neither one of us pinch our tomato plants. Right. We do pi I do pinch my peppers because it will produce more flour, therefore more fruit. Oh, yeah. The tomatoes, um, I find I get a good enough crop as it is.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Morning, Eric. Nothing. We're just we're we're just recording a podcast, Eric. Good for you. Good. Very good. You're out for your morning walk, are you?

unknown 11:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Good. Good. Nice morning for it.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Oh, yeah. Well, this this time of year is really good. Next week it's gonna be a little different. It's gonna be really warm.

SPEAKER_09 12:08

You'll have to get out earlier. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

I'll need to get up earlier. See you later, Drew.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

Okay. Yeah, and so you pinch off your peppers. And I see you got some flowers on some things already here.

SPEAKER_09 12:20

Oh, yeah, yeah. And that is a plant that has been pinched. Yeah. You can see the crotch where I took it off, and now it's got blooms at the crotch where I pinched, and as well as the two branches, the shoots that have come off of it. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

And so this time of the year as well, I see you've got scapes out. Garlic scapes. Yes. So maybe you should just explain what garlic scapes are.

SPEAKER_09 12:44

So garlic scapes are the flower that comes off of the garlic plant. Um, as a grower, we remove them because we want the energy to go into the bulb and produce a larger bulb as opposed to wasting it on producing a flower, which, other than you know, selling them at the market, they're great uh for consuming a little bit of a taste of early garlic, milder than the bulb. Um my favorite way to do it is you uh just toss them with a bit of olive oil or whatever oil you prefer, salt and pepper. I like to use thyme, but you can use any seasoning you want and bake them in a 350 oven for approximately 12 minutes. You can test them with your fork. Right. So when they're tender, they're they're ready to roll.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

Yeah, I usually mix them up with um mushrooms. So I'll do I'll cut them in a little little and they're kind of different looking. They're almost hard to describe. How would you describe it so people listening to this would understand what a scape looks like?

SPEAKER_09 13:43

It looks like a pig's tail. Okay, yeah, kind of curly and a curly pig's tail, and uh they're actually quite attractive in a vase as a flower. Right, you know. Um as the scape matures, it starts to stick straight, straight up to the sky. Okay. So when it's when they first are coming off the plant that that they do the curl and then they'll straighten up as they mature. But um, you want them off well well before that.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

Right. So, and very, very beneficial for a lot of different things. So um to cook with and to bake with, like you said, you bake yours and things like that.

SPEAKER_09 14:23

A lot of people will cut them up and just throw them in the freezer. And so if they're making soups during the winter, they're wonderful to add to your uh soup or a stir fry.

SPEAKER_03 14:33

Yeah, yeah, and uh a lot of people make pesto out of them, I think, as well.

SPEAKER_09 14:37

Apparently, makes the best pesto.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Okay, so how do you know how to make a pesto? I don't know how to make a pesto.

SPEAKER_09 14:42

I need you you you need your food press processor, and I have a a recipe that I follow, but I believe uh pine nuts or walnuts. Walnuts is uh is popular because of all the health benefits that uh exist in the walnuts. Um and uh parmesan cheese, olive oil, and you just process it in the food processor and freeze it, and uh it's treats for the wintertime.

SPEAKER_03 15:09

Yeah. Now, Bev, I brought something with me today. I brought a basil plant. Basil or basil, how do you say it? Either's good as long as I know what you're talking about. Okay, so uh but it was from my my small engines guy. He does work on my chainsaws and stuff like that, and he's a gardener and he's an Italian gentleman. Yeah, he's 88 years old, and he says, Here, I got this this basil plant for you. He said, But it doesn't flower and it doesn't seed. What you have to do is you you take these stems off it and you plant the stems in. So yeah, he said, Yeah, cut it here, is what he was saying, and then just put it in the dirt and it'll grow another plant. And he said, You'll get this plant, he said you'll get four or five years out of one plant.

SPEAKER_09 15:48

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

So have you seen something like this before? He brought it over from Italy. His brother brought it over from Italy.

SPEAKER_09 15:54

I have never seen one that's sterile like that and it's only vegetative propagation. Yeah, I've never seen that. So it would be curious to see if in Italy maybe it needs maybe it blooms on last year's growth.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

I I don't know offhand because uh, anyways, it has a wonderful flavor and a wonderful taste to it. So I'm trying to figure it out, but uh uh there's always something new that we're learning, right?

SPEAKER_09 16:19

Yeah, a healthy looking plant, too.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

Yeah, yeah, lots of foliage, and nice flavor and smell to it too, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So okay, so one of the other questions that I have then, uh Bev is I have my son's dog at our place, and he's eating all the flowers off the um the hostess? The hostess. Are they to there's some flowers that are toxic and some that are not? How do I find out which ones is it just goes around and smells them and starts to eat them?

SPEAKER_09 16:51

Is he young, a pup?

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Two years old.

SPEAKER_09 16:54

Two years old, yeah. So he's still a bit of an idiot.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 16:57

Um, it's funny. I that was a question. One of the first questions I remember asking my dad when I was a kid. I was brought up on a farm and and I I asked him, how come you know, we don't have animals dropping dead from all the toxic plants out there that you know exist in your pasture land, in the barnyard, wherever.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 17:15

And uh he said they they can they can smell them and they know whether it's toxic or not. And it's um the the animals that don't do that, their genetics never get past a lot of them.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

Oh, okay. So so and hostas are okay, eh?

SPEAKER_09 17:29

I think they are, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:30

Yeah, so yeah, because it was kind of like interesting. These hostess we got and and uh my wife Diane picked them up, and at the bottom of it where the um the water comes out in the pot, it was just filled with mushrooms. Oh which was very unusual. I had not seen that, yeah. Yeah, and I don't know what kind of mushrooms they were, but I thought it was kind of unusual.

SPEAKER_09 17:51

Must have been in the soil medium in the pot, it wasn't. I would think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:56

Yeah, in Oshawa, there's a Seventh day at Venice uh that has a garden center there, and we picked it up there and they because they have all kinds of different strains. But uh yeah, and uh I was just concerned that here this that my son's dog is gonna get sick or something from eating the hostages flowers.

SPEAKER_09 18:12

I know that um mainly further north in cottage country and I guess in our areas where wherever the deer are plentiful, they will eat your hostess right down. So if the deer are eating them, I'm sure your dog can.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

Well, I know I I lost all my black-eyed Susans from the rabbits. They eat them all the time, and I've got nothing, and it just because I used to like the big patch I had, which I no longer have any. Yeah, they eat them right down. Yeah, and so that's uh another problem that I had was I'm not sure if I mentioned this to you or not, but we get skunks going through the yard. Oh, I think I did uh a couple of podcasts ago, where I take coffee grounds and throw them around. Yes, and the skunks don't come back. But I think one of the things is I might have been attracting them because when we do the uh apple cinnamon, the apple peels in the course, I leave it for the rabbits. And I think the skunks are probably showing up and grabbing grabbing a bunch of that. But uh anyways, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 19:06

Are skunks omnivores though?

SPEAKER_03 19:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_09 19:08

See, I think they're more after the protein of the slugs in your in your turf. Yeah, a lot of the grubs, yeah. And I I like to see the signs of the skunks because I know they're looking after the grubs.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, so they take care of those.

SPEAKER_09 19:23

I take them over rabbits. Well, they're too many rabbits now.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

Well, I'm sure for those listeners from long way back, uh the chocolate lab, you know, I opened the back door and I thought there was a rabbit in the backyard, and uh we leave the sliding door open, and he comes back in and he's rubbing himself on the on the carpet and on the on the couch, and the and I'm like, what's he doing? Wait, oh no, it's a skunk. He got sprayed by a skunk. So it was like, what do we do now? So hydrogen peroxide worked great in getting rid of the smell. Yeah, we had to mix it with water and bath him a couple times, and it eventually got rid of it. But by the time we'd figured out it was wrong, the smell was in the carpets on the on the couch and everything else because he's rubbing his face on it, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, so I like the rabbits a little bit better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 20:13

Yeah, I can see why.

SPEAKER_03 20:15

Yeah.

Apple Tree Pruning After Deer Browsing

SPEAKER_03 20:16

So um, Bev, we had uh one uh listener send in a video, Antoinette from Manitoba, from uh just outside of Brandon, Manitoba, sent us in a video that I had showed you regarding some apple trees. Now she had planted some apple trees and said that and the the apple trees kind of grew kind of funny if you recall the video.

SPEAKER_09 20:35

Yes, multi-stemmed.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 20:37

So they had been browsed upon by the deer locally, yes.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

Yeah. And so what can she she'd have to prune to get the multi get rid of the multi-stems?

SPEAKER_09 20:47

She would have to do it over a period of time. If she was to go in and correct all the problems in one day, it it encourages the plant to sucker more, so she'd end up with more of a mess. Right. And the best time to do any pruning on apple trees is either in June or winter when they're dormant, February or March. So you know, if if she can plan on doing it over a period of two or three years to correct her multi-stem, uh, she's better to go in and take no more than 20% every year.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

Okay. So that was one thing was the um she said that the deer had been browsing on it, so you look at it, it looks a little more looks like a bush. Shrub, yeah. Yeah, uh shrub uh when we um we received it and I showed it to you. But the other thing was there was two. There was one that would there, one was a little bit larger, and then another one, which was it appeared to be in a more open space in the yard. And you had some you some thoughts about how come the other one was almost half the size.

SPEAKER_09 21:47

I don't think the soil in that area is as good as maybe the other, and and um it could be a factor of the whole yard.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

Right.

SPEAKER_09 21:55

Like apple trees, um they don't grow well at my place because I have. Sandy soil, very lean. I think apples do better along, you know, the shore of Lake Ontario where you've got all the nice sediment from the previous size of that lake.

SPEAKER_03 22:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 22:12

You know, over the you know, thousands of years they shrink. So uh, you know, Lake Edge is uh usually a good place for orchards to develop. But yeah, so I think she needs to improve her fertility.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Right. Okay. Well, thanks very much, Bev. We appreciate all your vast knowledge. And as always, if anybody has any questions, uh let us know and we can see if we can get some experts like Bev to answer them on gardening or whichever. Thanks, Bev.

SPEAKER_09 22:38

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Back in 2016, Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of musky angling education material anywhere in the world.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Thus, the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing, it's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie, and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together. Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Tight lines, everyone.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

Chaga Testimonial And Listener Deal

SPEAKER_03 23:55

And now it's time for another testimonial for Chaga Health and Wellness. Okay, we have Kelly here in Lindsay. Uh Kelly, tell us uh your experience with uh the Chaga tea or what's happened and what's going on.

SPEAKER_08 24:09

Okay, so last week I bought a bag of it and I thought I'd give it a try. I take turmeric every day because I have a lot of swelling from arthritis and whatnot. And I grabbed the tea and I drank it, and this whole week I've felt great. Right. So, in doing so, my girlfriend has rheumatoid arthritis. Right. And she was having a lot of pain in her fingers, so I said, Well, here, try this tea. And she says, Well, something's gotta give with the swelling. She drank the tea and she said she couldn't believe the difference in the swelling in her hands that she could actually remove some rings.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

Right. So she could take her rings off.

SPEAKER_08 24:46

And when you're saying uh the arthritis, like big nodules. Yeah, she gets nodules on her knuckles. Oh, really? Like the the bones, uh, they swell, right? Yeah. So the muscles and everything around it swell. So she couldn't believe it. The next day she was able to take her rings off and move her finger. So needless to say, she sent me here today to grab another bag of tea.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

Well, it's appreciated, and it's just another testimonial of the things that are happening with the chag and and she's not taking anything else, as far as you know, or no, that's the only change she had.

SPEAKER_08 25:18

That's the only, yeah, she takes turmeric like I do. Yeah, but she said it just wasn't doing what it's supposed to do.

SPEAKER_03 25:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_08 25:26

So with this tea, just to it's same with me. I take turmeric every day. Yeah, but I just find taking drinking a cup of this tea every day, yeah, it just helps a lot more.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

And which ones are you are you picking up here?

SPEAKER_08 25:38

Well, today I'm picking up two bags of the turmeric, ginger, and black pepper because that's and chaga.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

They all have chaga.

SPEAKER_08 25:44

Chaga, yeah. And then I'm also getting the new one, the hibiscus.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

The hibiscus, uh, red beet, of course, chaga, chicory, and lemon extract.

SPEAKER_08 25:52

Yes. Very good. That's really good.

SPEAKER_03 25:53

I like that one. Well, thanks very much, Kelly.

SPEAKER_08 25:56

Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 26:05

We interrupt this program to bring you a special offer from Chaga Health and Wellness. If you've listened this far and you're still wondering about this strange mushroom that I keep talking about and whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you. To thank you for listening to the show, I'm going to make trying Chaga that much easier by giving you a dollar off all our Chaga products at checkout. All you have to do is head over to our website, Chaga Health and Wellness.com, place a few items in the cart, and check out with the code CANopy. C-A-N-O-P-Y. If you're new to Chaga, I'd highly recommend the regular Chaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package, and each bag gives you around five or six cups of tea. Hey, thanks for listening. Back to the episode.

Tai Chi For Balance And Back

SPEAKER_03 27:02

Okay, we're back with Master Gardener Bev. And now, Bev, you do something a little bit different that uh you're rather enjoying, you've been doing it for quite a while, and it's uh Tai Chi.

SPEAKER_09 27:11

Yes. I've been uh enjoying Tai Chi for the last 10 to 15 years.

SPEAKER_08 27:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 27:18

And uh very good for for anybody who uh needs to improve their balance. Uh their their core is strengthened subtly with these moves, a lot of stretches. They um recommend it along with uh yoga for for anybody who's uh trying to improve their over overall health. Good for the mind as well.

SPEAKER_03 27:43

Yeah, I know one of the things that I looked up when uh uh it was kind of strange, on uh my birthday, uh for my birth date, it specifically said that Tai Chi or Yoga would be very beneficial to me. And I have no idea why the stars would line up to say that, but and I and I do a little bit of uh Tai Chi at home, a couple of moves, but nothing to the extent that you're doing. So it helps with quite a bit of different things, and there's a group.

SPEAKER_09 28:08

Yeah, we have um our group, we're now over a hundred members, and uh it's at St. Paul's Church, which in the town of Lindsay is across from the Value Mart Mart uh grocery store downtown Lindsay on Russell Street. Um but uh an hour and a half is our sessions, and out of that hour and a half, there's probably 40 minutes that are just warm-up warm-ups.

SPEAKER_03 28:32

Right. And uh Well, I know one of the things that they say is if um and I've been watching this lately is uh YouTube stuff, and it seems there's so much stuff on YouTube and that it's hard to say what's verified and what's not. But if you could stand and hold uh balance with one foot up for 10 seconds, like uh kind of a stork kind of thing. Yeah. And then do the same on the other foot, yeah, then it's not too bad. But uh that's what happens as people age, they lose that coordinated balance with eyes, ears, and everything else, and these sorts of things significantly assist with that.

SPEAKER_09 29:05

Yeah. Well, your core weakens as we age. Yeah. And the nice thing about Tai Chi is you don't walk away from from your hour and a half session feeling what what it's done to you. It's all very subtle. So it's the repetitive week after week, day after day of doing the Tai Chi. And it also is uh great for your back.

SPEAKER_03 29:27

Right.

unknown 29:27

It's yeah.

SPEAKER_09 29:28

It teaches you to turn properly.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Well, yeah, that was one of the things that that you mentioned before, which I I now do is you release, I think you called it when you so if you're gonna turn, if you're standing facing straight ahead and you want to turn to the right, you lift your right foot up and then point the direction you're gonna go. Release your toe. And it and it actually re releases the stress on the back significantly. Yeah, and that was one of the things that uh a lot of YouTube stuff were saying was that the back stuff actually um is is not so much back pain or deterioration, but actually muscles wearing down that Tai Chi and things like that will help build. Yeah, just another interesting thing that you're doing and you plan to do it, continue doing it.

SPEAKER_09 30:10

Well, and one other thing that that people don't realize is that there's 108 moves that you have to memorize, and you you don't do that just in a couple of weeks like that takes a long time to be able to do the whole 108 moves by yourself. Yeah, but that's the the benefit of working in a large group. Yeah, you become very good at copying the experts.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

Okay, very good. And so do you is there different levels you achieve in Tai Chi? Is it like you're a master gardener, master Tai Chi person, sort of stuff?

SPEAKER_09 30:40

Yes, there is, and there's different types of Tai Chi too. Oh, okay. I'm not sure if I could name any off the top of my head, but in our group, the the experts, the ones who teach us, they're they're always doing different types of tai chi.

SPEAKER_03 30:55

Right. Oh, very good.

SPEAKER_09 30:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:57

All right. Well, I just thought I'd let our listeners know about some of the other things that are in they might be interested in some of the stuff you're doing. Yeah. And appreciate us updating on Tai Chi and the benefits to it. Thanks, Bev. All right.

Garden Updates Plus Pets And Skunks

SPEAKER_03 31:10

Well, we've had some updates from Bev. Seen some good things now. I don't know if I just happen to be at the right place or right nine, but I uh happen to get some some cayenne peppers, some jalapeno, and some Hungarian mild hot banana peppers plants from Bev. I'm gonna be trying to grow them, and I'm looking at the the heirloom tomatoes I got, which I didn't pinch off. They're growing very well in the pots I have. Plus, my lettuce is growing good, and my bay leaf is doing well. I got a couple pots as well. I'm probably gonna plant those peppers in. But uh Diane found a new use for the pots that I had my my rosemary, my basil, my other basil, and my sagin. But uh anyways, she likes her flowers, I like the herbs and the rest of the stuff, and that's fine. You know, one thing I should mention, you know, there's that that dog that uh loves to get his teeth brushed. Mentioning now he's looking at me like I want to get my teeth brushed out. Anyways, one of the things that we've got that he just loves is believe it or not, I tried something, and every time I pull out this small massager, it's like a a little kind of uh two little balls that go back and forth and use it on my back to try and put my ribbon all the time. Although I'm gonna try another new chiropractor coming up in a couple of weeks to see if he can do it like the uh like uh my previous guy, bless his soul, was able to do for me, and put my rib back in place. But Gunner, as soon as you bring out that massager, he runs right over here, sits down, and he just waits for his turn. And he just loves that thing. He just can't wait. And he he gets this look on his face, so you know the chocolate lab. It's kind of like his eyes close and his oh, does it ever feel good? But it's something that he very much enjoys. Now, his friend new Garrett and Brittany's dog, Belle, she runs just like Benny does run as soon as they see that noise, because they don't know what that is, and it's strange as crazy. Well, Gunner runs, but he runs to it to try and get his turn. But it's kind of unusual. Here I got a dog that loves to get his back massaged and his teeth brushed as well. So, and not only that, but uh after having uh Dr. the vet Dr. Hyadon, the uh I've been feeding Gunner on a regular basis and actually putting it in his food, Chaga. Chaga powder, and I just mix it in on a regular basis in order to boost his immune system to make sure because he does get bit, and I do give him that stuff. But uh the uh some of those medications they chew that I don't really like the thought of it, but I don't know. It's just something inside me says we gotta do whatever we can for our pets, and and it keeps the fleas and ticks. As soon as they bite him, they they die off, apparently. But anyway, so I boost his immune system that way. Alright, well, as always, if anybody has any questions or comments, let us know. And just a little bit of updates and this and that's out there under the canopy. Thanks for listening.

Outdoor Journal Radio Closing Promo

SPEAKER_05 35:01

Now, you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, Angie and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm. Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know there's gonna be a lot of fishing.

SPEAKER_07 35:19

I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.

SPEAKER_05 35:24

Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors. From athletes.

SPEAKER_07 35:31

All the other guys would go golfing. Me and Garchomp Turk, and all the Russians would go fishing. The scientists. Now that we're reforesting and letting things, it's the perfect transmission environment for lion disease. To chefs, if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated for you will taste it.

SPEAKER_05 35:50

And whoever else will pick up the phone. Wherever you are, Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.