>On another list there s the account of someone who watched
 >cable tv, and saw the story of a woman in (Latvia?
 >Lithuania?) who has eaten 3kg of dirt for years. She did it on
 >camera. So now we know - can get necessary
 >microbes from the edge of a Baltic forest. ;-)

straight or with brains ? :)
aborigines used to bury some fruits in the ground til they rotted. and
buried bunya nuts in mud for a few months.  i think various lactobacillus
are widespread in soil.  they obviously knew intuitively it was good for
them.

andrew