Chaga Harvesting to Iced Tea!

A video I just made and posted to youtube of the whole process from A to Z on my preferred method of consuming chaga.  Enjoy and be educated!  

Chaga Progress

For the past X months, I've been using a mortar and pestle to mash the chaga up into a desired grind.  After a short amount of time though, I've experienced this to be strenuous on the hand for any larger quantity.  Sure, it may be 'exercise', but efficiency is a term we all have to be well familiar with.  The reason for this acceleration is because I'm considering the option of doing some online chaga sales.  This may succeed, or may not but the ultimate goal is to provide health to someone in need. So this is how I'm starting. 
In the past, I've tried using electric coffee grinders.  I've ended up burning up 2 of them due to 1 common reason.  The plastic washer underneath of the blade wears out quickly due to overheating and over-usage.  It is possible to provide some sort of temporary fix for those, but once they are done.... they are done more or less.  I won't explain.  As a result, I've tried to go on a new limb.  Hand crank grinders.  This is slower, but consistent.

I've purchased a vintage old food grinder with 3 different heads for coarse to fine grinds.  Today I spent a considerable amount of time hacking up a number of chaga chunks into acorn sized chunks to be fed into the grinder.  I started grinding the chunks with the coarse head, and then processed the chaga again with the fine to get a good fine grade.

It is not an espresso grind, but that's why I got an extra espresso hand crank grinder from ebay. 

This served a purpose for personal use, but hardly had the capacity to do larger amount as any reasonable pace.  It literally trickles like a fine hour glass out of the ceramic grinder head.  So.... as a result, to achieve the extra fine espresso grind, I will look into getting another grain mill vintage type grinder from ebay to achieve the speed needed to do this on demand.  The mechanics are slightly different for this model which provides the espresso grind needed. 

Although this is hardly efficient yet, the vintage hand crank grinder is a life saver compared to the other methods used (electric coffee grinder and mortar and pestle).  One more step to the hand crank vintage expresso grinder and I'll have the depth of grind best suited for efficient chaga brewing. 

To your health and happiness.

True to the Leaf

Today's tea shelf has become quite the smorgasbord of selections these days.  I admit this can be a little overwhelming if you have no idea what section you are looking at.   There are pages which can brief you to education on these sections, but I wish to address something deeper.  Despite which section you land in (if there are sections to the store) you will be bombarded with names and types of teas, some of which will be common, and some that will make you raise and eyebrow, and some you will even be brave enough to sniff.   Some are monstrosities which should never even be uttered again in the tea kingdom.  I digress...

What makes good tea?  There seems to be a great divide.  On the one side, there is the tried, true, traditional teas which have garnered much attention over the years from their mark and demand in history.  On the other, there are the makeshift teas which typically deviate to the synthetic artificial flavorings, often including artificial sweeteners.

Let me divulge this hideous crime.  What seems to have taken place is that there was once a time when something called 'Jasmine tea' was born.  This involved the natural fusion of young budding tea leaves would be scented by adjacent fields of jasmine flowers releasing their beautiful scent to fields of camellia sinensis. This natural infusion later was reinforced by methods of blending so the jasmine is clearly aromatic in the tea infusion.  I've had Jasmine green teas that were excellent.  I've had some that were downright odd.  I'd like to think that the distinction is clear.  One is a artificial flavoring agent, and the other actually has the right natural extraction of the jasmine leaf to give it the true organic essence. 

Why does this matter?  This isn't a Pepsi vs. Cola debate.  In fact, its tea vs. pop.  If tea goes to the hands of huge mass producing corporate mongers, it will lose the time needed to prepare the delicate stages necessary to keep tea what it is.  A leaf.  Despite whether we are talking about green, herbal and yerba mate.  These decisions we make in the store, deciding which one we should enjoy, should not be for novelty sake.   Choosing the wrong will leave you disappointed the tea did not deliver in taste anything what it delivered in aroma.  Choosing the right will force the companies which produce these teas to remove the lines which destroy what is good in tea. 

I hope this makes you think twice about the shelf and which stores you attend! This will not only bring a greater healthy appetite for tea, but help you enjoy what you have purchased.  By all means though - explore!  The teas shelf contains a variety of now just one leaf these days.  Obviously the reason the tea leaf was first used might have been for possibly medicinal and stimulant properties, but there are any other herbal tea medleys on the shelf which can assist in your health!   Do your research and you'll enjoy the selection all the more! 

Thanks for reading!

Just Enough

Late night thought which I desire to record.  This thought has often reminded me of my place in this world, as a imperfect flawed human like everyone else.  I often feel more damaged then others.  This leads to a sense of hope that once day this mind and body will be repaired and cured back to to its original healthy state.  For for now, every step of the way - everything is 'just enough'.  Just enough to get to the next step; just enough to get by till tomorrow.  Often our strivings fall just short to hit our mark, but its just enough to try again.  One more chance to survive.  But amongst all this striving, what is really surviving? The body will soon be defeated, and nothing left to be reminded of its former belongings.  What survives is the soul and its lessons learned, and survival of the soul through these trials and tests are what helps us feel like something in us belongs, even though there is nothing to hold onto but the experiences of highs and lows that bring us to our knees.  These experiences submit us to the choice of continuing for the sake of hope, and belong to the lowly class of human nature for one more day in hope that we might transmute ourselves onto an fallen world which so desperately needs to be transformed.  This can only be done by recognizing the things which carry light, and loving them till they burst forth as the sun.  Until then, life will always be just enough.

CHAGA-BREW-HOW-TO

Hello Chaga-to-be-lovers! 

Throughout my experience, these are the top questions people have about Chaga when first being introduced to it.

Q1. What did you just call it? 
A1. I could phonetically spell this out, but here is a link to the pronunciation on this word [click on the word] Chaga.

Q2. What is it? 
A2. In short, a tree fungus. Chaga has been used for thousands of years in Asia and Eastern Europe. It is only now gaining more awareness in the West, and we're sure that as more time passes, you will be hearing about Chaga more and more. Just recently, it was named the "Anti-Cancer Herb of the Year" in Russia, and its popularity is slowly beginning to grow all over the world.

Q3. What do you do with it?
A3. Consume it using a variety of methods.  Actually- its now being worked into creams for the body since its chemical constituents are known to have beneficial qualities to skin health and maintenance.  That's besides the point.  You can take it in a pill form, or as tonic (tea) for the more effective and efficient method of enjoying it.   This is why I made this video for you on how I do it now. 

By the way, you do not have to use the slow cooker method as I'm showing -- you can take it straight in the teapot just like you would any lose leaf tea but this method gets the most 'bang for your buck' out of the chaga.... even if you did pay for it.  

To your health and longevity! 

P.S.  Keep it in the fridge no longer than 2 weeks to be safe.

Pottery - Tea Vessel of Choice!

Tea is the beverage of choice of the 21st century, and the vessels used for steeping and serving are fast beyond measure. The world is a large place.  From antiquity the vessels used for boiling, steeping and drinking tea morph from culture to culture.  What is true of all; they would have used a pottery at some point in their past. 

Pottery can be termed earthenware, stoneware or porcelain. Modern materials have included metal-ware, glassware and plastic (perhaps more).  They all have their pros and cons.  I've owned them all and have developed a taste for each one respectively (except for anything containing plastic).  Above all though, I have to tip the hat to the pottery hand. 

Pottery has always been pure of impurities, easy to clean, resistant to breakage, comfortable to hold, thick enough to hold a temperature but not too long.   Its aesthetic appearance can be skillfully arranged with bold to delicate features, controlled masterfully with glazes which blend together to form an appearance akin to an artists palette.   Every piece is uniquely distinct.  The finishing movement of the potters hands can be seen in the rich glaze. 

The history of the pottery is long before we can recall, or find record of (no doubt).  I remember my friend who lived in the exact town where Jesus of had lived.  Because of excavation, he was able to crawl under a stone to discover some old aged pottery, most likely dated 2000 years old.  I picked up a piece of worn pottery that had been eroded in lake Huron for long years - no way of knowing exactly how long it had been there.  These are just personal reflections, but was all know even Sumerian record 6000 BCE isn't even the beginning by our best guesses. 

I'm proud to have an Aunt who has cherished this gift she has.  She owns a pottery Studio in Algoma Mills, Ontario - just off Highway 17. Her work embodies careful craftsmanship and unique glazes in combinations I can only compare to a work on canvas.  My kitchen will not be complete until I have it completed with her work!   You'll understand why I'm being praiseworthy. 

Recent bead I received from her - love this glaze!

Over my Tea Cup

Over my Tea Cup.

by Charles J. Everett

This homely can of painted tin
Is casket precious in my eyes;
Its withered fragrant leaves within,
Beyond all costly gems I prize.

For in those crumpled leaves of tea,
The sunbeams of long summer days,
The song of bird, the hum of bee,
The cricket's evening hymn of praise,

The gorgeous colors of sunrise,
The joy that greets each new-born day;
The glowing tints of sunset's skies,
The calm that comes with evening grey;

The chatter of contented toil,
The merry laugh of childish glee,
The tonic virtues of the soil,
Were caught and gathered with the tea.

Lifeless those withered leaves may seem,
Locked fast in slumber deep as death,
But soon the kettle's boiling steam
May rouse to life their fragrant breath.

With sigh of deep content we breathe
The sweet mists rising lazily,
With eager, parted lips receive
the first ambrosial taste of tea.

For light and warmth and mood of men,
Whate'er the plant hath heard or seen
Or felt, while fixed in field or fen,
And stored within its depths serene,

Are now transmuted into thrills
Of sense or feeling, echoes faint
From peaceful perfumed tea-clad hills,
From placid Orientals quaint.

And fancies born in other lands,
Which dormant lie in magic tea,
Dream-castles fair not made with hands,
By some mysterious alchemy

Emerge from cloudland into sight,
Transform the sombre working-world,
The gloomy hours of day or night
From leaden hue to tint of gold,

Bring rest to wearied heart and brain,
Kind nature's soul to us reveal,
Enlarge the realm of Fancy's reign,
Renew the power to see and feel

The radiance of the rising sun,
The sunset's glow, the moon's pale light,
The promise of a day begun,
The rest from toil that comes with night.

And as I sip my cup of tea,
Though not a friend may be in sight,
I know that a brave company
Is taking tea with me this night.

Antiques

Welcome tea lovers!

I have a confession to make.  I get a real kick outta antique shops.  I picked up this amazing 1920 or so looking-glass from Sandy's Attic in Spragge which is a stunning tabletop piece recently.  Love it.  But there is note only 1 - but 2 antiques shops in Spragge!  Low and behold, I went to North Shore Antiques & Storage to find a emporium of antique tea paraphernalia.  I picked up this tea kettle and brasso'd it till it shone, and voila!  Keep your eyes peeled.   The older the better I say - character cannot be faked.  

Chaga Harvest

I'm happy say that Spring is starting to warm up permanently around here - and so we do not have long before the bugs will set in and we'll be reminded of all the horrors Spring brings.  But in the meantime, this is the ideal time (right before the buds bloom) to be harvesting the chaga mushroom.

My reasons for this as follows:
1. As I mentioned, it isn't black-fly season yet; saves a lot of pain when trying to hack a piece off a tree.
2. Since the bushes and trees lack foliage, you can see the chaga clusters much easier.  Navigating to the chaga cluster is easier too.
3. It's easier knock / cut a chunk off the tree and trim any additional chaga out of the tree which did not come out with the first chunk.
4. Its just nice to get out and smell a growing forest again.

The ideal time for this is after the heavy Spring rain.  The chunks that I found were a little dense with moisture, so they came off relatively well.  I think the majority of the chaga growth happens in the spring (my observation of frequenting a certain chunk).  This is probably due to birch producing a syrup that the chaga thrives off of.

Earlier in the winter, I tried hacking a chunk of a tree with a hefty knife and didn't get anywhere.  Impossible to break a chunk off or get anywhere into the piece.  In the Spring, I used a basic thin 'survivalist' type blade and wiggled the blade in and around a chunk of this tree which popped off in no time.  Take precaution doing this though -- I lost part of a fingernail.  I was trimming a bit of the birch bark still clinging to the chaga and slipped through.

Anyway, after pulling off the chunk, it was easy to trim out any bits of rich yellow chaga out from the tree and bag that.   In the pictures, you'll see that I pulled off one half of the chaga to see what growth will occur in the place of the old chaga (yellow spot) compared to the other chunk I did not harvest.  This way its possible to figure out later in the season(s) if the yield is getting better or worse after harvesting a hunk.

Again, if you know nothing of chaga and why the hell I'm harvesting a mushroom/tree fungus, refer to one of my old introductory blog pages here.  There is a reason I tell you, and its not psychotropic hallucinogenic reasons!

To your health - Cheers!

Original chaga chunk of the tree.

Half of the chaga chunk taken off to compare growth later in the season.

Size of the one chunk - not to shabby!

Some of the easy trimmings taken from the tree (trimmed out with a blade).

Tea and Self Control

As of late, I've come to realize my evolution of tea drinking has progressed from the traditional to the modern, sadly.  Let me explain. 

When I desired to write a blog post on the history of tea, I was found hardly equipped with a ounce of knowledge on the subject.  Just legends of yonder years in the Asiatic lands.  I'd still yet like to write about this, but for now I'd like to get this thought out. 

In Zen (A Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasizing the value of meditation and intuition), the tea-master was ... pretty much a profession.  They sought to regulate standards of everyday life by the high standard of refinement which was obtained in the tea-room.  This was to reflect a refinement of mind to be maintained.  The tea-master would prepare the tea-room spotless throughout every corner, or else he was not a tea-master.  You can imagine what refinement the rest would entail. 

So I guess we can see the value of having such a 'profession', even in today's culture.  Tea is on the rise and still climbing.  Its roots go into 34 countries, so its traditions are many. But now, we brew a cup with our electronic kettles, pour it into a tea thermos and take it on the fly, drinking it till its cold.  Then we invented a new drink by adding more sugar to it and tossing in ice.  My point here is not to dis your milk and sugar, but the heart of this nostalgic beverage I believe has its place because its not the next thing since coca-cola, but because of what it asks to truly enjoy it. 

Here it is: Tea encourages self-control.  Traditionally, tea requires us to stay seated while the beverage is still hot.  This can be indulged alone or with a friend/guest - the stimulating effect tea encourages healthy internal or external dialogue (from the Zen point of view).   The philosophy is that it teaches us the art of augmenting our demands through honoring the simple denominator of tea.  If tea is to be enjoyed, it requires us to find find our secret source of asceticism which can only be found inside, through reflection.  By using tea as an 'excuse' to sit down and shut up, we attempt to lower the standards of personal gratification through material means.  This brings us naturally to a state of meditation when one is convinced that tea can provide as a substitute for selfish gratification.  We can say, less is more in this case --- but above all, this practice of 'sitting down an shutting up' Zen style can teach us one thing (safely and smoothly) THE ART OF SELF-CONTROL. 

This to me is the heart of teaism, and it took me many years to figure this out.  A Buddhist knows this - he is the master of his mind that molds and makes reality.  Self-control is the axiom of all human traits to be desired.  Everything deemed a positive human quality stems from this leaf.  And the tea leaf can be a mediator for this.  So next time you drink this beverage, practice it with the hands laid heavy and the mind awake, and charging. 

I'd like to close with my favorite quote from James Allen which I believe ties up the loose ends.

Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills: —
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.

English Tea

"Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors"

                                                        - Alice Walker

Teaism

' Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of little things in others. '

Tea Book Box!

Do you have a case of the gnomes?  Has your stash gone missin'?   Do you love your tea as much as I do?  Well I have answer for you my fellow leaf-lover. 

This idea will inspire and compel you to grab an old crappy hard-cover book, an exacto blade, 6 inch ruler, scotch tape, a piece of some box paper stuff (from a granola bar box or something), carpenters glue and 6 or so clamps with 3 flat planks of scrap wood. 

Handy exacto blade box - you don't need something this elaborate. 

Lets cut to the chase. 
1.  You'll want to open up the book to the second chapter (just to keep the first pages looking normal and covert). You'll want to keep at least an inch and quarter from the edges as you draw out the square dimensions for cutting. 

2.  Trim out a piece of that granola bar paper box stuff to roughly the dimensions of the book and stick it roughly at the beginning of the last chapter. 

3.  Turn back to the first chapter.  Tape the pages of first chapter to the hard cover so they won't get in the way.  Use the scotch tape to tape down the 6 inch ruler to the right dimensions of the box you drew.

4.  Whip out that exacto blade (carefully, because you can poke out more then an eye) and use it to cut along the ruler edge.  Repeat this task over and over again until you have perfectly cut the edges down to where you've hit the cardboard below.  Try not to cut through the cardboard, but its not a big deal if you do - the point is that your trying to get a nice clean good 90 degree edge on both sides down to the bottom. 

5.  Make sure your changing the exacto blade if it seems at all dull at this point!  Do the same (step 4 and 5) for the top and bottom edge.  End with the back edge.  This is what I found worked to keep the pages stiff until the last cut. The end is tricky because you really have to trim all edges carefully - the pages will pop out when cut perfectly.  Don't rip them out or you'll have bad edges.

6.  Remove the cardboard thing we put in earlier.  Take the 2 flat planks of wood and clamp them down to the book pages as shown, exposing the inside cut out square. 

7. Squirt out that carpenters glue onto a scrap surface.  Take a 1/4 to 3/8 width flat brush and dip into your little palette of glue to lay down a ample coat of glue on the inside edges of the box.  Whatever excess glue that drips can be painted around the bottom surface (thinnly).  Clean it up nice. 

8.  Clamp down the last plank of wood in the middle. Leave to dry for about 12+ hours.   Remove the clamps and planks.  If the book has a little ripply edge when closed, clamp the book closed for another 2 days or so to try and make the pages permanently flat so it won't be suspected of holding your tea stash. 

 

Covert!  Those gnomes wouldn't suspect a thing. 

Voila!  Now if you really want your awesome box to be unreachable from the gnomes, and even the fairies if you put books on top - take a look at the last pic.  I don't have a DIY for it because I haven't done it myself, but you can figure it out now genius - your a DIY dutchess/duke now.   Tea time!  

Trail Camera!

This s a bit of a deviation from the tea topic, but you can always drink tea while reading my blog.  It is Tea with Wes.  I am drinking tea too - a white tea! 

So obviously this blog deals with the fun of trail cams and a few tips on how to operate them properly.  I've been operating with the Moultrie M-45 GameSpy trail camera.  Received it form Canadian Tire for 125 dollars on clearance 1/2 year ago or so.  I've been operating with chinese Ni-MH rechargeable D cells in there to avoid reoccurring expenses for batteries.  So far so good - been using it daily through a very long and cold winter and had no problems that I haven't been able to learn from.

Now for the fun stuff.  The series of photos below are taken largely at night, hence the black and white look. This camera uses the standard IR LEDs to light up the subject  So in other words -- no flash!  The animal might look at the dim red glow that emits from the LEDs, but it never has scared them as far as I can tell.

This is the trail cam as attached on a tree with some bobcat footprints in front of it.

During the fall season, this rabbit came 7 feet away from me while I was dropping some corn in the evening.  I've known 'em all year so I guess he's comfortable me!

Blue jays love the corn.  This big brick here is a salt lick.  I wanted to see what deer populace was still around in the fall, and they love a good salt lick.

Black squirrel munching on a meal.  You can see a blue jay tail to the right.  Black squirrel is apparently a grey squirrel, but can have genes bred with different phases. Don't know why this occurs.  They are new to these parts.

Whoa!  Where did they come from?

I convinced my nieces to take a pic after trudging through a long hour a snow. Troopers they were after all the activity. 

Coyote bum.  The subject is moving at a walking pace, but the camera has to wake up and flip the shutter fast.  Too slow - learned from that.  Moved camera.  I could have had a pic of 2 deer if I had positioned the camera down the path. 

This is where I had some fun with 1 days photo feed.  A lot of raven and crow pics. Generally speaking, and ravens are the bigger guys, as you can see the diff.

Every once and while there is a pretty large reunion of these dudes.  I'm still not great as differentiating between crows and ravens, but I believe these are crows.  

I could be wrong, but judging form the size, these are ravens. See the thicker lower feathers on the legs of the bottom guy and the larger larynx of that bad ass.  Even look at his eyes -- gleaming awesomeness. Aerodynamic psycho.

Ever see birds them do this?  They know where the corn is!  Under the layer of snow.

Synchronized!  There is a raven passing by in the top left. 

This is my brother Jonathan checking out the view from the tree stand I set up not far away!

So this me with a sports camera on my head that I was testing out and laying down some corn for the starving creatures.  Long winter!

So this dude seems to be characteristic of a lynx when I looked up in the animal book I have.  Big prints! 

This happens with the IR function at night. The exposure has to be a little longer and so you get motion blur with this model. Newer models went through the effort of correcting this. 

Not always will a camera shoot something off to the side like this.  The IR sensitivity for this camera is very center focused and only for 20 or so feet.  But there is what I think is a lynx.

I am told this could be a bobcat.  Hard to tell size, but also hard to see if there are any spots which are a better giveaway between a lynx and bobcat.

Looks pretty cute eh?  Love to befriend him.  But the reason he's around is because of chicken bones I set out.  And we have living chickens which he may just have a liking for. 

Another shot.

Munching on the chickens scraps. 

A lovely marten!  Never seen one of these!  Checking out the leftovers.

Digging up whatever leftovers from the last guy there. 

Family checking out the tracks of the marten.

Every once and a whilte you get a nice shot like this randomly. Probably a bird set it off. 

There you have it.  The seasons highlights of literally hundreds of shots.  Oh -- 1 other thing these cameras can do is record video.  Pretty darn dandy if you have a easy program to sift through videos.

My top tips

- Test the shots to get the right camera height, angle and distance to where the subject is expected to be.
- Bring your point and shoot digital cam with you.  Exchange cards on the fly. Don't stand around the camera too long (your scent will set off the area and make animals wary of the space).
- Bring an extra set of batteries with you, even if you think the trail camera batteries shouldn't be dead.
- Lay down a bit of scraps that will attract the animals you'd like to see. 
- Make sure you test the aim function in the dark which basically highlights the area where the IR photo sensor is set.
- Make sure there is no daily limit of how many photos the camera can shoot in 1 day.  Check the settings to what the intervals for photos will be between shots when something is actively in the target space.
- Know the camera.  Nothings worse then missing a great subject has walked right by and the camera didn't shoot for some unknown reason.  They are mechanical and will shoot how they are programmed. 

Hope this educates and inspires you to the use and function of trail cameras! 

Chaga Made Simple!

Okay guys, I did all the hard work for you.  All you have to do is find a birch tree, kick a chunk off and start from there.  Simple as that is, I'm making it even simpler!  :)

So you got the stuff off the tree.  Good for you.  Letting it sit for a while in the sun (by a window or something is a great idea since there is moisture built up in the chaga.  When you plunk and chunk and store it in a zip-lock, you'll wanna avoid any musty qualities which could conjure. Your chunk(s) can also be stored in the freezer immediately if you want to avoid the drying process. 

What I have here is an extra crispy dry piece of chaga in a large freezer zip-lock bag.

 I've taken a small chunk that you can see outside the bag to crunch in a mortar and pestle.

Place the grinds into a small slow cooker with water.  This amount will make a very dark coffee colour.

Let it sit for 8 hours or so.

Presto!  I told you -- dark black coffee colour.  I brew the same batch of grinds again to get almost the same depth of colour.

This is basically it.  I used a mortal and pestle, although it is possible to use a espresso grinder.  My experience is that the espresso grinders go through a lot of hell and you have to do some DIY to fix em up again after the blade loosens up.  Some parts of the chaga when ground are as hard as wood.  The espresso grinders are easy to find for $5 from a second hand store. The mortar and pestle is unbreakable.  The 3rd option I have yet to try is a meat grinder (hand crank) thing.  Apparently they work just fine.  If you want a espresso grind (which the meat grinder will not provide) it you can go another step with a hand cranked espresso grinder to build those muscles.  If you don't have a slow cooker, you can always the stove-top with a pot.  But slow cookers are twice as easy to find then even a espresso grinder in a second hand store.

Now I must be honest here.  The brew is not all that bad at all!  I can easily take it straight with nothing added, but to impress yourself, add whatever you'd like. Put it in your favorite juice container!  Add root beer concentrate mixture... your favorite fruit tea mix in the slow cooker, rooibus?  Yes, all those work quite well.  Be creative - I trust you.  Don't blame me if something blows up.  I should add though that like most fresh teas, you would stick the mixture in the fridge for no longer then 2 weeks.

Why would you want to do this?  This is one of the simplest YouTube videos to explain it.  You can always refer to one of my old blog pages on chaga as well which spell out the benefits.