It's Black, Ugly, and Good For You ? / The Greyhounds are "In a Rebuild Year"

It’s Black, Ugly, and Good For You ? / The Greyhounds are “In a Rebuild Year”

Where On the Island Can I Find It?

I am talking about Chaga, the new superfood of sorts. It is not a mushroom, but a fungus, and is becoming more and more mainstream for its medicinal properties and especially the promising research that it may even hold cancer fighting agents. The great thing is that it is naturally occuring in our ownback yards of Northern Ontario, Quebec etc.

I am writing this basically via memory as I once sold advertising for one of the Chaga dispensaries in the Sault. I believe there are about 3 of them currently. This topic came about as I was in town yesterday and decided to get some chaga tea as its’ been a long time since my last cup.

Anyway, Chaga grows on the native Birch trees in our area. It basically starts out as “oozing” to an, extent through the Birch tree bark and thus forms its’ conk kind of irregular shape and texture. Looking high up on the tree it has a darkish color and protrudes off the tree like a tumor or growth. The conk can get pretty big and skilled climbers are known to use a chainsaw to cut off pieces weighing tens of pounds. The rule of thumb is to leave about a third so it can keep growing.

The benefits of Chaga which most people ingest via drinking it in tea form are many. Some of the best known are that studies show it to contain antioxidants which neutralizes the damage done by free radicals, and thus protects against disease and slows down the aging process. Another very important reason to drink Chaga is because it is also a protector of the immune system, and because it contains betulinic acids, it is a good anti-inflammatory.

As well as being usefull in cancer fighting, it also helps with digestion, treating of ulcers, and Chaga is very well known to help protect the heart by breaking down the LDL (bad cholesterol) in the body.

I can go on for days regarding the benefits but I will leave that to you if you’re interested.

The easiest way to make Chaga tea is what I did last night. I took the about 5 Chaga chunks out of the package I bought last night and put them in a slow cooker on low with about 1500 ml of water and let it steep for about 5 hours. The chunks are usually about an inch squared when you buy them commerically. Once the process is done you just poor this black as a void liquid and drink it straight. It has no taste…..or a very very very hard to notice one,. Today I had a half cup of chaga and added a half cup of my black coffee and all I could taste was the coffee.

The remarkaable thing is that the chunks I used last night can be reused up to three times. You just dry them off and package them and put them in the freezer….A pretty good bang for the puck I must say. Anyway I have included some pics for you below. “

"Pucks" Said It, Not Me

The Soo Greyhounds will have a rare rebuild year according to one of the most recognized junior hockey reporters in Ontario. Also a Saulite, Ryan Pyette has been writing for the London Free Press for many years where he covers the London Knights of course, but Ontario Junior Hockey as a whole. With his connections and insight, his knowledge of the league is top notch. When Ryan writes, people read.

This year I signed up for his newsletter and according to the former Soo kid, he assesses our team like this. With the departure of Kerins, Kartye, O’Rourke, etc; the returning top scorer is Bryce McConnell-Barker with 23 goals last year, is our hope. He sums things up that it will be a rare rebuild for the Soo, and for John Dean in his fourth season; Dean will need to have patience.

If I read between the lines it doesn’t look like “Pucks” figures the Hounds will make the playoffs. The other teams that he reviewed and assessed were given predictions of finishing, 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc etc. The Hounds prediction was not granted a number….just “rare rebuild”.

Anyway as we prove him wrong hopefully, the Hounds are getting ready today for tonights game against the Flint Firebirebirds. I look for Bryce to start to get things going as he has not been much of a threat in the first two games. Sure he is winning faceoffs, but we need him to shoot his laser beam shot more. Returning to action should be OA Ryan Thompson who suffered a minor foot injury last week, and in net I am hoping Dean keeps things going with Charlie getting the start.

Ted Dents’ Flint Firebirds roll into town with a 0-1 record after losing to Niagara 3-2 this past Saturday.

Catch the game on CHL Tv at 7:07pm from the Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie.

Go Hounds Go !

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