Teach It as You Got It: Lineage and Certification Levels 0–5

1:38:17 The other thing that I wanted to talk about here, are there any more questions on this before we transition to something else? I had a question about the alcohol that you can use to hydrate OHN. Yes, you got it. Like if you have a bunch of extra apples and you make apple wine out of it, can you use that to hydrate your ingredients in OHN? Yeah, alcohol content is [unclear] a permanent product. So usually when I teach, I try to teach as by the book as I can, as what I was received. Because as Joe was saying, there's a lineage to this. And what I find is if I teach you my modification,

1:39:03 then you go and you think that's the way. And then forever, whoever you teach thinks that modification is the way. So I got this example: a computer science professor took his rump roast at Thanksgiving. And on the recipe it said, cut off the back part and put it in a pan and bake it. And he asked one day, he's like, he asked his wife, why are you cutting off the rump? Isn't that the best part of the rump roast? And she's like, well, the recipe says to do this, right? And so forever she had done it that way. So he goes to his grandma, who she got the recipe from, and he asks her, [unclear],

1:39:43 why are you cutting off the rump roast? Well, it turns out the pan was too small, so she had to cut off the thing so it fit inside the oven. But now they had a bigger pan, they had a bigger oven, there was no reason to cut that off, right? But if I pass that down and my recipe says, cut off the head and throw that away, Now forever people are going to be cutting off the best part of the rump roast and not realizing why those things are there. So in my learning, I always try to pass on how I learn. So I often say collect IMO on rice, because that's how I learned.

1:40:21 There are many reasons to use rice. It is a white rice. The hole is taken off so it's an available starch. The IMO grows so nice on it, it does what you want it to do. There are many reasons to keep it the way we learned. However, I just the other day, I was on Facebook and I realized people think, like, people take me a little too literally. And they're like, oh, we can use ʻulu, we can use [unclear: kalo?]. And I'm like, yeah. Yeah, you can, you can use what's at your feet. You can use these things, these starches. And so that's what I want to teach.

1:41:01 I want to say, OK, so this question came up to me just now about the wine. Can I use wine for this specific part? What you need is a fermented, slightly alcoholic thing for rehydration. That's the general rule. Why do they use soju or makgeolli, actually? Use makgeolli? Why do they use that? Well, it has, just like the rice, has certain principles that are really applicable. So the general rule is this. The specifics are that, and that's how I want to teach you. Now, if you go and you use what you got, do that, but then always teach the way that we've kind of learned and passed on.

1:41:42 And there's reason for that. So all of a sudden, now you're not adding as much sugar, and you think it's cool, but then your kids all of a sudden don't have these exudates anymore. They have crushed plant material, and they're like, why can't I grow, you know? And so you gotta pass down the lineage, but then you gotta use what works and make it applicable to your area. So sometimes when you hear me say rice and stuff, you think, well, I'm not gonna get rice. Well, pass the rice on, talk about this. No lie, you would use rice. But then use ʻulu or whatever.

1:42:23 And in fact I've seen guys collect it on [kalo?] and put it back on [kalo?], and I think there's a lot of wisdom in that. But the thing I wanted to get onto was talking a little bit about how I've been cooperating with others to kind of create our certification system. and so what I have in my mind and this is basically, there's good reason for these things and I kind of want to explain to you a little bit but basically we got, I started with five

1:43:11 levels of natural farming. And what level one is, is an exposure. So what this means is like someone demonstrated to you natural farming, showed you what worked for them, but has no idea what you as a student even got from that. You may have gotten it. You may have been like, oh that's simple, that's easy, I can do all this, I'm a professional. but there's no check on your students to understand that there was even a transmission through you just expose students to this because i believe at this level like actually level zero is um non-certified

1:44:00 This is just, this could be anyone, anywhere, level zero. Level one is an exposure. So you've seen it done, you've seen it work, you start to see, oh, there's a system that's complete. You start to understand ideas like this of diversity and why that helps your soil. But you don't have to know everything. And this is how we all started. Master Cho came and talked about all this stuff and he left. And we're like, wow, we just got exposed. But what do we do? Yeah, exactly. Right? And everyone heard something different. And we all related and we took what he had and we shoved it into our paradigm

1:44:47 and we're like, I'm going to show that guy better. And that's where you are when you're just new. You think you know better than the master and you think you know, like, oh well, I'll just do this and that, and you don't know. So that's why we have level one as an exposure because what I see is we need to get this everywhere. We need to be exposed to know there's an alternative system. Like these guys, if they came to my natural farming workshop and I was able to expose them to say I can do the same thing with

1:45:14 polycultures without a polyculture, with just diverse microbes, they need this exposure, we all need it. But then that comes to level two, which is competency. And so what I wanted to do was put in a check so that we know, okay, you can create these solutions. There are nine core solutions that Joe outlined, and the one thing I would add to that slide is also seawater. But that comprehensively gave all nine of them. And now you're competent in making the solutions. This enables you then to go and where we need to move into as an organization

1:46:03 and as cooperating together, is to then, just because you can make the solutions correctly doesn't mean you can apply them correctly. Right, and that's kind of where we're at right now. That's why Joe's saying we want to move beyond the solutions. I totally agree. Because the solutions are great, but are you applying them correctly? Can you do this? What makes you a natural farmer? So somehow in this, and we got a moving start. We're getting dressed as we're running, which is sometimes difficult. That's why we mostly go naked. But we need to really up our game in terms of competency.

1:46:49 That we can all practice these things. So, one thing I want you guys to realize is right now, right here, we are setting precedent. Which means this hasn't been done before. At least as far as I know. There's other systems that are out there that are great that we can adopt those models and follow, but nobody here is like a pro natural farmer and has you know checks and this and all that. So when Master Cho visited the last time, not in February, but the time before that, he brought Mr. O with him. Mr. O is an ISO guy, which is the

1:47:35 International Standards Organization and it's more relevant than even USDA organic in the global market and he basically outlined for us some methods to follow so we can get ISO certified. What that means is it's just a lot of documentation, right? I sprayed FPJ from this lot on this field at this time, you know, and you're documenting those things. And so I'm trying my best to automate that stuff because I'm a computer scientist.

1:48:04 I guess I identify a lot with that. Also, a collection of microbes. But we need to move into this realm, especially as we start marketing, and marketing together, and showing. And so that's really here at competency. And I really see this as a progression. Literally you started non-certified, you got an exposure, and now you went to competency. And this is a linear path to here. But then here we are right now, we're here at a level three training, which is advanced. And what I like to say about this one

1:48:51 is this is advanced. Advanced topics. Because what I've come to learn in studying with Master Cho is that he can go deep into this stuff. And if he did everything at one thing, we'd be here for like forever. And we'd still, you know, but you also need to practice, right? And And so I see this as advanced topics. And right now, basically, we have swine, poultry. We have this one here is nutrient cycle.

1:49:37 And I think the one that we did before here at Makapala, and this, I'm not speaking officially here because I haven't talked with anyone else, but the first one was solutions. So, how I see this progression happening is that when we did our first training, and we did this solutions one here, there was no check to anybody to know whether they were competent on this. We just got an exposure, and we got a certificate, and it said advance on it, and it put us over here. And I love my dad, but he makes some gnarly stuff. And he got that same certificate.

1:50:22 And so if I trust him, this level three, to start teaching this level two right here, I run into a few issues. I don't necessarily know what he knows what he's doing. And just the way, like I said, we're putting our clothes on as we're running, He put his underwear on his hat. Nah, I'm going to be dead. But you know, and so we all know. So how I see this happening is just similar to military. You go through, you go get basic training, then you go and you learn your MOS, which is your job skill in the military.

1:51:01 But then you can go to special forces school, you can go to airborne, you can go to air assault. And you still go back to your unit. But you get to wear one thing that says airborne. And anyone that walks by knows you could probably kill them by just looking at them. And that's how I see this operating here. That as we go into this advanced thing, it's like, you know all the folks that are here that learn this advanced topics, bruh, they're going to know nutrient cycle. You know, I could go ask Joe about swine, and with collaboration between the folks that went to the swine class,

1:51:38 bruh, we can answer you. We can go, we've seen it, and the quantum thing was pretty nuts. We've seen it done right, and we've seen it done crazy. So we know. And when I hear their mistakes, it's, oh, man, every day that's what I do. But this, so that's how I see it here in a little bit. So you guys are going to get, like, a little thing that you can put there, and it's like your little, what do you call that, perch or... Stripe? Oh, this? What was the other one? Badge? No, chevron's your rank. Badge? Yeah, your badge. Patch. It's your patch. But that's what I see here.

1:52:12 And then basically, so we're here to learn this, and then what I've done is we put in a level four here, which is experts. And what this means is that not only are you competent, but you put in your time to do this. And a lot of, everyone that's so far here has almost created their own curriculum. So not only are we like competent in it, we're so competent in it that we're able to write a curriculum that is available to other folks. So you're really an expert. I don't want to see this thing where it's like, oh, you gotta put in 10 years and this, and you'll never get there.

1:53:06 And like holding this carrot out in front. That's not what I'm saying. I just want to know that when folks are here, you're not going to go in a Facebook group and post some question about is your FAA or you know, crap, come on. So right now we basically have four folks that are at this level here. And this is something that I want to encourage you guys to go through and to learn. So this one, that one, that one, and then this one is kind of special, but then this is kind of a linear progression around this one, for various reasons.

1:53:42 But the longer you've been practicing, the more you can show you know your stuff. to this level and and really it's there's no set requirements how do i get to level four it's what we did here was we evaluated each other we said right you know your stuff you've written a curriculum you've made these slides that are awesome that you are well versed and you know and when Master Cho comes, we're like, we're going to his advanced trainings all the time and trying to get to so that we own this stuff and it's deeply ingrained in our microbe so it's going to percolate up and change our gut

1:54:22 biomes so that it gives us good thought strength. But that's basically how here and then what I have here then the last one is level five and this is master and some people are like oh master Drake and stuff I'm like, I have no idea, I'm so not there, I'm so maybe here, if not, like, you know. but I eventually I want to see so that we can get to this level so that you know like you are the and giving out the black belts to your experts that are you know you're building your ninja forces and we are just inoculating the soil everywhere, and you know, we're going [unclear], you know, um,

1:55:16 like generals here i don't know i mean we're all you know but coming up to to this and right now presently it's just Master Cho, and I really, and it's kind of nice for us right now at this stage because he is the authority. Whatever he says goes and it kind of comes down to us this way and we try to you know through our practice and understanding and knowing try to get that out so that we're all on the same page so that even though people here that are non-certified want to start coming this way. And you know I don't want to think too far into the future but we'll see how this progresses.

1:55:56 And my whole goal with all of this and through my participation in CGNF, CGNF US, CGNF Hawaii, CGNF International, is I'm trying to bring transparency to this process. So how do I get over here? Well, right now what I've done for level two is I've made it so it's an open certification process. where the person that taught you checks your things and then checks it off but anyone can go see my LAB which I don't even know if it's on there I really gotta take you know, get a good [photo?] of myself first. but every single person should have a picture of their LAB there

1:56:42 so it's like how did you get to this space? Well, there's the proof you know, and to bring an open process, an open source process to all of us so we can share and and the whole time to work together as much as we can. You mentioned being able to take the competency course that once you're into the future you can do level one exposure courses. Are you guys going to supply any material to make sure that's cohesive throughout people teaching exposure courses? Yes, so that's a great question. So the question is basically if you've taken this course, you can teach this one.

1:57:25 And is there a cohesive material between us to empower our instructors here to do exposure so that we're all teaching the same way? And that is a work in progress. We are moving towards that. We have tools that we are communicating with. We are trying to get this out there as much as we can in a way that maintains the integrity of Master Cho through this. How sweet would it be if it came this way down and we got all the material this way? And there is that to a certain degree. But if you start to look into some of the literature we've received, it's not even all cohesive on itself.

1:58:14 And so it's a challenging thing that we've gone through. And, you know, Master Cho has a gift where he just walks in the field and he sees it. And so your prescription may be different than what's in the book, but he is so well-versed in it that he's able to real-time diagnose what's going on. And so we're taking something that's formless, nature. It takes form and we try to put even more form on that. And the true essence of it is it's formless. So anytime I say A is A, yeah, I mean that's our initial downfall, by saying there is some

1:58:53 definition to this when in reality it's this great thing that we get to experience. But I do, so CGNF's always goal is to have official instruction manual and teaching manuals for these two here. This spot is, you know, presently we're lucky enough to be here with Master Cho and he's doing these ones. and so to finish that question up, basically right now level 5 is able to award to level 4 4 is able to teach these here, this competency and do the checking on there to make sure you are competent

1:59:43 and two is able to do one. And these guys are just down low. Just to clarify, when you do the number two, the number two advanced, you're wanting them to be certified before they teach the exposure. Yeah, so if you are going to issue... If you are issuing an official certification through CGNF Hawaii, you must have a level 2 certification yourself before you can issue a level 1 certificate. Although, you can't stop a good thing. I don't aim to do that. I really aim to put a good path that you want to follow as opposed to trying to shut down

2:00:29 other paths because all kinds of stuff is going on the internet. You can go look up ProBioLife Farmers Alliance, they have all kinds of stuff growing. It's great stuff, but it's not necessarily the integrity here. You know, and I believe that in my years of study, I finally have come to a space where I can be humble and grab this good nose. And for good reason, I want to pass that on. So, to issue a certificate, you've got to have this to do that. And that's how we want to do it. Also, what I wanted to say is that if you've also taken a level three, go ahead and teach.

2:01:08 teach go ahead and go but to do a certification you actually have to have this one here and that's because what we've done as we're running or putting the clothes on we put the pants on and we're like oh we need to check competency we make sure the pants are correct that you know the belt is going to fit you all these things that we need we need this level here to check before before you're going to issue an exposure here officially anyone can say oh this is what I do but we want to know you made LAB correct before you expose someone else to it and not just like, I told them, you know, what did

2:01:47 you do? My favorite question is like, how much sugar do you put in your F... or your BRV? So I want to make sure you're asking the right things. It's to say, okay, these folks learn from someone who knows what they're doing. and as we get more into your farming practice and those things and I want to make it as easy as possible because that's my goal with this level of advancement so to speak I to me what I keep coming back to is in the trades

2:02:34 like you have electricians and plumbers and you know the tradesmen there was the apprentice and then the journeyman and then the master so we got the master expert number level four whatever to me is more like the journeyman they're doing it and teaching it so i'm trying to figure out where the breakdown in that system would be i think that really you know you're an apprentice until you hit level four he's learning and applying and doing that kind of stuff and in other systems organizations other organizations like scuba diving like

2:03:12 PADI is the biggest one worldwide, they have a very clear system, everybody uses the same materials, and that's the question back here, is, you know, is CGNF globally going to be providing that textbook so to speak so to answer your question yes I agree, that is what we need here. We do need that continuity, we do need to know that they said this, it means this. Right, because it's a global thing and we're sourcing indigenous microorganisms, things

2:03:59 close to us, also materials close to us. So in Hawaii, you know, banana vinegar makes vinegar makes a lot more sense than rice vinegar because we have to buy the rice from somewhere else. But the integrity of the system is BRV. right so so when you take in a classroom, you understand, like when I was answering Cameron's question, I said, you know, okay, you can use that, but then you teach this way, and so what you want is the specific thing you learn and also the general concepts behind it, like a starch, right? That's a general thing, for 'uala,

2:04:44 'ulu, kalo, so you get all these different starches. So in our curriculum with my things I'm trying to contribute and I'm open to anyone else wanting to contribute, but I believe putting in those general terms, you to understand the principle as well as the method and also the philosophy. Because oftentimes, do we talk about the philosophy? Are you loving your FPJ? I know you are. So all those things have to be folded in. That's why this is not an easy task. And I appreciate your patience and everyone coming together and everyone being a contributor too.