eating clay

[jessica]

i live in this really ridiculously geologically interesting part of the country where i am at the foot hills of a 14000 ft peak (live at 7000 ft though), it was formed by volcanic activity and has an extreme amount of quartz crystal(its pretty much a huge lightning antennae)

there is a town(used to be an alpine delta) at the base of this mountain where three streams collide.  one is glacial runoff(where i harvest drinking water) and two run down from the other side of the mountain 100s of miles away.  along these two rivers (now creeks due to damming/highway construction) are natural mineral springs (at least 15 known popular ones in town, within a mile of each other)  so the ground there is porous and full of minerals and quartz!  there are also a ton of caves which i regularly explore

we found a cave that has this vein of wonderful white creamy clay that i have been harvesting and eating.  it tastes like pure calcium, like what i remember a creamy thick milk/butter would taste like (sans fart aftertaste of milk) when i eat the white clay, i have eaten it on an empty stomach and completed insane bicycling to hiking journeys carrying a lot of weight.  when i eat calcium Benoite clay i do not feel the same. 

there is also a place that has huge red rocks jolted from the earth and they tower like cathedrals, the rocks are very sandy though so after a ran there is a silty/fine run off of brilliant red mud, i harvest this and spread it on my body, it has cleared rashes!  when i do this i CANNOT SLEEP!, i have too much energy and feel invincible, also super smooth skin, it is beautiful bronze color with flecks of iron pyrite(fools gold) it kind of sinks in to the skin and stains it(as well as clothing) i think its iron

does any one else eat/use clay that is harvested locally?  if you can find a source that you believe is safe i would suggest it! there is also a chemical in clay that makes i clay and not mud, that gives it plasticity, i wonder if this has any benefit?

this area was home to a lot of native Americans and many of the locations where places to heal so there is definitely that presence, i know they were doing the same

[William]

does any one else eat/use clay that is harvested locally?  if you can find a source that you believe is safe i would suggest it! there is also a chemical in clay that makes i clay and not mud, that gives it plasticity, i wonder if this has any benefit?

this area was home to a lot of native Americans and many of the locations where places to heal so there is definitely that presence, i know they were doing the same

Most of the geological interest in my area is  a result of it being under the polar ice cap until a few thousand years ago, and the land was scoured of anything soft by the ice, so we have broken rock, bedrock, low hills covered with a thin layer of dirt that only grows trees. Nobody walks in the forest because the ankle-breaking crevices are hidden under thin layers of balsam needles, twigs, deadfalls etc.
The only clay is used by beavers for a foundation for their dam, and I never felt like using it because it is full of sparkly stuff (quartz? mica? -gritty anyway). Only beavers can find it.

Having a recent family farm tradition, I've always seen the word "harvest" that way, as in "reap what you sow".
So when the national ministry of propaganda started talking of "harvesting" fish, deer, clay and other wild things that nobody planted,  I heard it as more mind-bending bureaucrap.
For me, I take the things of the earth as a gift. It is personal, and I try to remember to thank the giver.

[jessica]

Having a recent family farm tradition, I've always seen the word "harvest" that way, as in "reap what you sow".

farming is where i get into the habit of considering everything picked or procured "harvested"
even dirt! ha! awesome about the beavers and the geology of your area, too bad it is too trecherous to be out in the woods there
i am thankful to the earth all day long, why else would i spend all my free time rolling in it?

[afroza]

I was thinking about starting a thread on clay, since I have some questions on the subject, when I found this one. Very interesting to read, Jessica. Sounds like a nice place to live! I have been thinking of collecting clay and eat it for some time. I love the smell of clay (it get´s my saliva running!) and whenever I taste it I really like it and I would like to eat more of it, but I get worried that it can contain things that are easy to overdose, like too much iron or something. The area I have tasted clay from is relatively unpolluted in the Himalayas, but some minerals can be toxic for humans in too big quanteties. Do you just follow your intuition on wich clay to eat, Jessica, and how much? I know you can order clay from companies that tests that it´s safe, but the whole thought of that puts me off. I just want to lay down on the ground and lick it! I got inspired now from you, Jessica, I think I will try it.

[PaleoPhil]

Warning: surface clay may be contaminated by any number of things. Elephants in the wild dig deep down to get to the purer, safer clay. When someone like me who eats rotted meat says it, you know it's not just because I'm squeamish or something.

[afroza]

I thought the elephants dug to find cooler clay. I guess it comes down to follow instinct or intuition; if the place looks good (faaaar away from any farming activity for example), and the clay tastes good, then eat it. For paleo people who eats bone and other mineral rich food, they would not feel the need to ingest clay and such, I guess. When I was pregnant I could get the urge to lick clay or mud even, I still get that, but not as much. 

[PaleoPhil]

I thought the elephants dug to find cooler clay.

Perhaps in that case they are using it to spray on themselves to cool down? When they dig it to eat it I don't think the coolness would matter. Plus, any clay or mud would probably work OK for cooling, whereas they travel for miles to special clay pits to get the really good quality edible medicinal clays.

I guess it comes down to follow instinct or intuition; if the place looks good (faaaar away from any farming activity for example), and the clay tastes good, then eat it. For paleo people who eats bone and other mineral rich food, they would not feel the need to ingest clay and such, I guess. When I was pregnant I could get the urge to lick clay or mud even, I still get that, but not as much. 

I've seen claims that urges to eat clay can derive from nutritional deficiencies (minerals, generally), toxin buildups, or a combination. I suspect that animals get similar urges before they make their trips to the animal clay pits.