Excuse Me, Ocean...   Can We Have Our Minerals Back?

By Will Winter, DVM

For thousands of years, we have been hauling our minerals back on land, but in current times we just sort of forgot that. When synthetic nitrogen and other NPK fertilizers appeared on the scene, just over 100 years ago, it was easy to forget the hard work of regenerative agriculture! Likewise, when penicillin was discovered about 50 years later, doctors threw away thousands of years of folk wisdom and teachings because the promise of the “white magic” was so hard to argue with. But in both cases, there was another price to pay. A hidden cost of these shortcuts. Now agriculture, as well as the state of human health, is beginning to feel the pain of taking the “easy” road.

So, going back even further, I mean way back, the oceans of the world were not salty at all, all water was “fresh” water. Eventually wind and water erosion, aided by glacial action and tectonic plate shifts, slowly washed vital minerals off of the land making the seas “salty”. This was the process of leaching out much of our precious minerals. As it turns out, the ratios of ocean minerals are still perfectly aligned with our own bodily fluids, just like the fluids of our plants. The oceans reflect our biology as if life on land came originally from the sea.

So now, we have the opportunity to recreate the vital energies of our soil, our plants, and animals as well as our own bodies by harvesting the power of these essential and all-natural minerals. We do this by harvesting the “gold” from the sea, via special and pure ways then applying it to our fields and our animals.

DO THE SCIENTISTS AGREE?

Farmers and ranchers with a long history of reading ag journals have certainly heard of a scientist named DR. MAYNARD MURRAY, an agronomist who became seriously concerned by all the health problems that plague not only plants and livestock but also those of the human beings. In his studies, he was one of the first scientists who noted that there is virtually no cancer, no heart nor degenerative diseases found anywhere in creatures that live in the sea. Why is that? The answer can be found in his landmark books published (and still in print) from Acres USA entitled “Sea Energy Agriculture, and later “Fertility from the Ocean Deep”. He was the first to patent ocean products designed to put back on land. Many decades later, in the early 2000s, ROBERT CAIN (who studied with DR. MURRAY at the original Seaponics Hydroponics Farm) led the re-introduction of the technology to the market. 

I WAS SKEPTICAL AT FIRST

Even though Robert Cain was and is still a great friend of mine, I have to admit that when I first heard of Sea-90 I was a bit skeptical. As I would say back then, I preferred going to the ancient seabed salts found in the earth. The fear of what I called “modern salt” turned out to be wrong. The Sea-90 people have done elaborate and expensive testing to prove that there are not only no microplastics in their salt, but also zero modern pollution whatsoever!  That resolved my first worry. A long time ago Jerry Brunetti and I were curious enough to send a pound of each of the major livestock salts and the popular human-grade salts to an independent laboratory. With minor differences, they were all about the same, about 95-97% sodium chloride with only about 3% being sea minerals and solids other than salt.

Sea-90, on the other hand, comes from the Sea of Cortez, on the north side of the Baja peninsula (southeast of San Diego) which has an ancient base of millions of tons of topsoil that had washed down to it from what is now the delta of the Colorado River. This is now one of the most concentrated oceans in the world. Not only is it extremely isolated from all modern industry as well as the Pacific ocean, it is also fed with super mineral-rich boiling water from geothermal vents on the seabed floor (where two tectonic plates meet). The remote area where the retention ponds accumulate ocean water is extremely hot year-round, like over 100 degrees most days, with less than a half inch of rain a year. All these factors combine to make this ocean mineral mix shockingly different from any other substance known in agriculture. Analysis shows it to consist of 75-80% sodium chloride, leaving 20-25% for vital macro and trace minerals.  So, 20-some percent vs. only 3%, no comparison. Since all these Sea-90 salt products are naturally mined and unaltered they are fully certified organic by NOP USDA and OMRI.

LIVESTOCK WANT TO EAT IT

This is the only salt you will ever need to buy for your livestock, in fact, there is nothing that even remotely measures up. Almost everyone notices that the demand for other free-choice minerals will slowly decline once the salt supply is switched, which means the savings in supplements helps to make it economical to feed. The grain size is a #8 which means animals like it, they can also easily access and digest it.

Beef cattle or adult horses typically require 2 oz/h/d, dairy cattle about 4 oz/h/2xd and small ruminants about 1/2 oz/h/d. Note too that SEA-90 also comes as a GARLIC INFUSED version which is a major boon against biting insects such as flies, fleas, ticks and lice. The Garlic version may be a bit too, well, garlicky for milking animals but for everyone else it’s perfect. Bovine Geneticist STEVE CAMPBELL advocates using sea solids to make his brine recipe wherein he adds about 25# to a 300-gallon tank, (see details from Steve at this YouTube video). Steve finds that this concentrated ocean mineral mix works better than any other of the ancient seabed salts. This is because those ancient seabed salts were merely residue from the large oceans as it settled out. Meanwhile, much of the ocean water ran off back into the sea when the land masses rose. Therefore, these salts may contain some excess components whilst losing some of the valuable minerals as run-off. This does not happen with Sea-90, as fresh ocean water is used for every harvest. 

I should also mention that there has been 100 years of medical misinformation about the dangers of consuming too much sodium, which is true with the so-called “purified” white salts, and which also have aluminum additives to keep it flowing. None of this anti-sodium advice applies to the full-mineral, fully balanced Sea-90 salt. Even though the company could chemically remove all or most of the sodium chloride, they do not do so. This follows the direct advice of Dr Murray. He specifically researched what happens when a natural product is manipulated and denatured in such a way, and it is not good. Unbalanced sea solids do not correct anything on land nearly as well once the sodium levels have been altered.

SPRINKLE OCEAN SOLIDS TO FIX SOIL AND PASTURE

Sea-90 can also play a powerful role in remineralizing soil and restoring natural soil fertility.  I specifically recommend using their new SEA-90 SOIL MINERALIZER+ at a rate of 50-100#/acre.  Nothing could be easier, and in fact this is why many call Sea-90 the First Step in Regenerative Agriculture.   This new product contains as a base the pristine and mineral-rich sea salt before it is mixed with organic humates to help support and feed the soil microbiome. Plants love getting this rich nutrient-rich mixture of vitality. It’s designed to be put on when the grasses or crops are dormant, say in the early spring or the late fall.

IT’S ALSO A POWERFUL FOLIAR SPRAY

Here I recommend the SEA-90 FOLIAR MINERALIZER product.  Applying sea solids as a foliar spray helps grow stronger, healthier plants and grasses, and ultimately builds more plant biomass and raises Brix levels! It’s got the same complete spectrum of minerals and trace elements but is micronized (milled) for instant solubility. We put it on at any time during the growing season and we use it at a rate of only 5# per acre. We dilute that amount into 20 gallons of water and spray it on. Note too that it can be fertigated onto the plants with irrigation water, this at a rate of 1#/100 gallons of water. Gardeners can use it at a rate of 1 tsp/gallon of water, every 1-2 weeks. This can also be added to compost tea (see here for more details).

Want to enjoy the benefits, but don’t want to mix it yourself?  Ask their team about the new SEA-90 LIQUID MINERALIZER CONCENTRATE, which offers the power of Sea-90 in a convenient pre-liquified form. 

MAYBE BEST OF ALL….

This is the salt that we keep on our table and the salt we use for cooking, a culinary joy we plan to use forever. Once we tasted it, we knew that we had found the world’s greatest salt! In addition to the great flavor, we believe it is making us healthier!  Before it was labeled “human grade”, we just dipped our containers into the livestock Sea-90 and put it right into our kitchen. That was great and is still great. Then, a few years ago, the folks at Sea-90 came up with a special product for human consumption called BAJA GOLD. This is still from the same beds (ensuring the same salt to mineral balance) but harvested and packaged with more care and scrutiny. We love it and so do our guests – give it a try today and we’re sure it’ll become your favorite table salt as well!

___________________________________________________

 

WILL WINTER is a retired veterinarian, a holistic herd health consultant and livestock nutritionist who hangs his hat in Minnesota. He is also a traveling lecturer and teacher focusing on sustainable livestock production and traditional nutrition. He provides consultations, workshops, lectures and access to natural livestock supplies to farmers and ranchers.

612-756-1232       willwinter.com                willwinterdvm@gmail.com