Zhang Yushan
Origin
Dr. Lai continually strives to bring us health and happiness and the universe fulfills her wishes – she always encounters special people, matters and things.
Coincidentally, Dr. Lai read an interview of a farmer, Gerry Amena, in a U.S organic farming magazine.
Gerry mentioned how he was incredibly helped by concentrated sea minerals (pristine, unpolluted and full of nutrients and life force) near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Dr. Lai began to research and experiment that yielded very satisfactory results. She requested Lapis volunteers in Australia to interview this special farmer.
In March 2014, I departed from my home in English Garden at 6am. After driving a few hundred miles along the meandering roads under the 38oC hot sun, I finally arrived at Gerry’s farm. Dr. Lai’s recommendation unintentionally flipped open the thousands of years of wisdom living.
Sea is deep. Sea is blue.
My family lives by the sea.
By the sea, is a salt field.
We have free salt every meal.
This is a song we sang when we were young. I grew up near the Budai Sea where sea salt is produced so sea and salt were a main part of our lives. The salt field was our source of livelihood. Sunning salt was the skill that helped us grow up. To us, natural sea salt was not a precious resource as there were baskets and baskets of shining white salt as well as “bitter dew” * that cannot be evaporated into salt.
Until I saw Gerry the farmer and his research on sea minerals, I realized we used to possess an invaluable life element from the sea.
A Very Special Farmer
Gerry is 81 years old. Not only is he full of energy, his voice is loud and clear. He looks like in his sixties. For two decades, he maintained a certain degree of physical fitness. To him, time seems to be just a parallel partner, working hard with him without interference. Getting older does not seem to trouble him. Every day, he starts working after waking up early, walking barefooted back and forth, on his 170-acre farm. He works from sunrise to sunset, like all hard-working farmers.
Discovering the elements of life from the ocean and conducting research and development of sea minerals all happened naturally for Gerry. Twenty-two years ago, this Dutch immigrant had rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. His condition deteriorated continually.
On top of that, when he first arrived in Australia, he used to work at a building industry, using cement and breathing in large amount of exhaust fumes. He was unable to bend his knees and had mobility problem leading to other complications. He frequently had shortness of breath. For a long time, all the doctor could do was give him some steroids but was unable to improve his condition.
Listen to the Call of the Tomatoes
Australia is one of the oldest lands on earth. Soil in Australia generally lacks zinc and other trace elements. But these shortcomings also inspire the alternative wisdom of Australian farming, the famous permaculture farming method. (Lapis Lazuli Light published the Chinese version of the book, Stone Age Farming by Alanna Moore that portrays unique Australian farming wisdom.)
Irrigating crops with the right amount of seawater concentrate as nutrients was a popular Australian farming method. At that time, Gerry was already growing organic fruits and vegetables for livelihood. He followed the trend and bought some seawater concentrate to spray on his land. Unbelievably, after irrigating with seawater concentrate, the tomatoes harvested were very sweet. Sick Gerry growing tasty tomatoes became a tale relished by the local people.
One day, during his routine round, Gerry heard the tomatoes sighing softly: “Gerry gave us such good food that made us healthy, strong and happy. Why does he look more and more unhappy and become increasingly weak? Is he not eating the same food as us? Why did he not try our food?”
After receiving this message, Gerry felt that it was worth a try. He thought: “The soil of this land lacks sea minerals that even the plants need supplement. I have been eating food from this land so I must also be lacking these minerals. Why not give it a try?”
So, Gerry used the seawater concentrate as a seasoning and drank a teaspoon (diluted with 100cc of warm water) before and after dinner every day. After 3 weeks, when his customers came to buy tomatoes, they exclaimed: “Gerry you look so much better and your movements are livelier!”
He also felt a difference and with growing confidence, continued to drink a teaspoon of the seawater concentrate diluted with 100cc of warm water every day. After twelve months, another X-ray showed that his cartilage had restored to normal. His friends asked for the reason and they all wanted to give it a try.
Subsequently, Gerry began to devote himself to the study of sea minerals.
This is Natural Food
After continuous attempts and modifications, Gerry found that, generally, surface layer of the seawater is used for salt production. Bottom layer of seawater contains more sediment. In contrast, the water in the middle layer (the Mesopelagic Zone) is relatively richer in minerals.
Marine pollution is serious in many seas so not all seawater can be used. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is located in the tropics with abundant coral reefs. The entire body of water is Coral Sea that is renowned in the Southern Hemisphere.
So, Gerry went looking for the ideal shore with spring tide around the Great Barrier Reef. The rising swells bring the water of the mesopelagic zone to the sea surface. Following the tide, the sea water flows into salt evaporation ponds where it goes through wind and solar evaporation and the top layer gradually forms into salt crystal.
Gerry developed a special manufacturing process whereby the salt crystal is removed layer by layer. Some three months later, it is left with “bitter dew” that is thick but not crystallized. The content of sodium is less than 2 percent and it contains nature’s richest trace elements suitable for the body to absorb.
Gerry felt this is natural food, not drugs.
For a long time, “bitter dew” relied on the word of mouth. Gerry also often gave it away for free until seven years ago when Nick appeared, and Sea Minerals began to appear in the market.
Turnaround in Restoring Memory
Nick, 36, is a Bosnian immigrant who exudes a very different energy.
More than 10 years ago, when Nick was in his early twenties, he had a serious car accident leaving him with years of headaches. He had only one third of his memory left and often relied on morphine for pain. Whatever he said five minutes ago, he would forget immediately. So, he had to rely on notes and tape recorders for help.
He was the manager of his family business that had branch offices in every major city in Australia and he travelled frequently. In every city he went, he would either go to the casinos or sleep the whole night by taking medication. He lived decadently for six years and felt that there was no purpose in his life.
During this time, his wife told him that she heard of someone who had a brain tumor and suffered from unbearable headache. Morphine did not alleviate the pain. Later on, this person took a farmer’s sea minerals and cured first the headache and then the brain tumor. Nick was not convinced. He felt that his case was completely different since he was not sick but injured in a car accident. Also, it was just a farmer, not a doctor, so he did not expect a miracle.
Some eight years ago, he was on a business trip flying to Melbourne. After he disembarked from the plane, as usual, he called a cab to send him to the city. Along the way, he noticed the driver frowning with so much sadness that it touched Nick. So, he asked the driver: “You look very sad, are you okay?”
A caring question changed the lives of the driver, his daughter and Nick.
Saving others, You Save Yourself
The driver talked about his 9-year-old daughter who was dying from a brain tumor. “I have been working hard every day, without taking any leave, to earn money for her medical expenses. She cannot be operated on because she is too young. For three years, the brain tumor has been growing and the headache is getting worse. Morphine cannot stop the pain. There is nothing else the doctors can do but watch the spark of life extinguishing.”
A deep compassion arose in Nick’s heart. He remembered his wife mentioning the farmer and his sea minerals and how it cures headaches and brain tumors. In the following two days, Nick took the taxi driver to the Queensland farm to see Gerry. As always, Gerry gave the driver a few bottles of sea minerals – since it is food, there is no harm trying.
In the same year, daily consumption of a small teaspoon of “bitter dew” daily not only healed the dying girl’s brain tumor but also Nick’s headaches and memory. Regaining passion for life and hoping to help more people, Nick offered to be Gerry’s volunteer in operating the sea minerals business. Seven years ago, he successfully marketed sea mineral products to the United States, Germany and Europe.
Nick, a 195-cm tall man who is strong as a giant, tearfully told his own story: “At that time, I was urgently trying hard to find Gerry. I did not think of myself.” He said he realized that the “great compassion” of love saved him while he was saving another.
Praise from Professional Doctors
Four years ago, Dr. Alexander Schauss who lived in Los Angeles was impressed and his eyes lightened up when he first got the sea minerals. He has a cancer clinic and cancer research team. He is an expert in researching the role of minerals in the human body and requested Nick to bring one of his writings, Minerals in Human Health, to Gerry. After reading the book, Gerry found several errors about trace minerals. He called Dr. Alexander Schauss and told him that prescribing calcium to patients with osteoporosis is a very serious mistake.
Gerry said that people with osteoporosis are not lacking in calcium but rather lack magnesium, Vitamin B12, Lithium and fatty acid. This is why they cannot absorb calcium and the calcium will accumulate in the joints, kidney and gallbladder.
Dr. Alexander Schauss was very angry and immediately asked his research team to expand their research. After over a month, Dr. Alexander Schauss called Gerry and said: “Gerry, you’re right! After repeated experiments conducted by the team, the results have proven that you are right.”
Three weeks later, from California, Dr. Alexander Schauss visited the Queensland farm. Dr. Schauss brought along a couple and hired a group of photographers and recorded Gerry’s conversation on nature and health. Dr. Schauss was moved and said: “Gerry, there is no one like you in this world that is able to produce such Sea Minerals.”
“Bitter Dew” Used Daily yet Unaware
After visiting the legendary Gerry Amena, I could not wait to return to southern Taiwan. At the old home by the Budai Sea, my 75-year-old father had suffered from diabetes for two decades. He relied on drugs and mom’s careful control of diet. I gave dad 3 bottles of “bitter dew” as food, taking a teaspoon daily.
It was as if I returned to my childhood. Tasting “bitter dew” revived memories of our childhood, the ups and downs of children of salt-makers. After school, we had to go to the salt flat next to the “bitter dew”, where we squatted and helped fill every cell of the salt field with “bitter dew”. It was really a very hard chore. Sigh. Actually, “bitter dew” had been the village’s cure-all. It was the medicine villagers looked for to heal athlete’s foot, abrasions, bruises and sore throat. “Bitter dew” was something that the people used daily and yet were not aware of its full potential.
At this article’s deadline, my dad has taken this “bitter dew” food that Gerry refined. For three months, my dad would drink a teaspoon everyday. Three months later, a pleasantly surprised voice of my mom came through the phone, exclaiming: “After 2 examinations, the doctor found that the glycaemic index was controlled and within the index of 95 (pre-meal standard).”
From plants to animals to human bodies, the biological effect of sea minerals and trace elements on physiological functions is mind-boggling.
Many people still clearly remember the Indonesian tsunami three years ago. Last year, the Indonesian farmers began to farm the lands that were washed over. Their harvest was remarkably bountiful, many times the usual amount.
Why is Taiwan Black Pearl Wax Apple (jambu) so delicious? The answer is because this species is planted in the salty Pingtung Forest.
Obviously, we are still in the early stages of understanding the mysteries of the ocean and life. Although the Sea Mineral products have been around for seven years, the story of sea minerals seems to be just beginning.
Interview Postscript
Gerry said that the speed of recovery from taking sea minerals depends on age, physical ability and severity of symptoms. Do not be hasty. It is enough to take just a teaspoon every day. Sometimes, people need to change their habits: early to bed and early to rise, abstain from red meat, eat less soy products, especially genetically modified soy beans, and abstain from alcohol. Moreover, do not treat it as a panacea.
According to traditional knowledge in plants, Gerry also found that using organic cultivation to supplement sea minerals is even better. So he began growing organic plants on his farm. He researched and developed low-temperature cold-pressed method, to maintain all traces of organic matter.
He said organic matter is usually destroyed after high temperature or high pressure treatment. Our body is a low-temperature chemical plant. Many enzymes either disappear or cannot be absorbed in the body if the temperature exceeds 45oC. The body is unable to convert inorganic minerals into organic, so in the process of drying or concentrating plants as food, it is best to use low temperature and low pressure. The effect is even better.
Since I am familiar with salt fields in my childhood, I feel very warm whenever I see Sea Minerals. Buying it is also very natural. Every day, I either add one teaspoon to juice or to boiled water. After ten weeks, my right shoulder which frequently dislocated gradually healed. At night, I was able to sleep and not wake up in pain. I also followed the exercises instructed by a therapist. I can now extend my arms and it no longer makes a crackling sound. I am thankful for this special opportunity which has given me this unexpected gift.
*Bitter dew is sea water from which salt has been extracted.