Home » Posts tagged 'soil fertility' (Page 2)
Tag Archives: soil fertility
Drawing down atmospheric carbon
Drawing down atmospheric carbon There are two ways of addressing rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon; reduce the amount of carbon emissions or increase the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere. Most of our efforts have been focused on reducing emissions. I’d like to shift the conversation to drawing down atmospheric carbon dioxide. The picture […]
Towards a landscape diet and communal landscape management
Towards a landscape diet and communal landscape management Lately I have read two articles which both claim that small scale farming is (self)exploitive and that even with direct marketing such as farmers markets, there is no profit, hardly even survival. What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living, by Jaclyn Moyer […]
Fake Food, Fake Meat: Big Food’s Desperate Attempt to Further the Industrialisation of Food
Fake Food, Fake Meat: Big Food’s Desperate Attempt to Further the Industrialisation of Food Photograph Source: Mattes – CC BY-SA The ontology and ecology of food Food is not a commodity, it is not “stuff” put together mechanically and artificially in labs and factories. Food is life. Food holds the contributions of all beings that make […]
From despair to repair
From despair to repair I belong to an online climate discussion group that today asked three questions: what is the state of the movement, do we need climate change or system change, and do we need a meta-movement? Keying off the insights from the Earth Repair Conference, I wrote the following – and have added […]
Composting for Beginners: $12 DIY Compost Bin, Getting Started, & 50+ Things You Can Compost
Composting for Beginners: $12 DIY Compost Bin, Getting Started, & 50+ Things You Can Compost Have you ever priced out those compost bins that you can buy? They have all sorts of bells and whistles, like cranks that turn the contents for you and fancy slide-out trays at the bottom. They can also cost hundreds of dollars. Since that […]
Book review of Dirt: the erosion of civilization
Book review of Dirt: the erosion of civilization Preface. On average civilizations collapsed between 800 to 2,000 years before ruining their soil. Industrial agriculture is doing this far faster – in most of the United States half of the original topsoil is gone and industrial farming techniques erode and compact the land much more than […]
Humanure Part 2: Dealing With It
HUMANURE PART 2: DEALING WITH IT In part 1(1) of this article I explored a little into why humanure is beneficial to the planet, including the need to replenish our aquifers and for people to have access to safe drinking water, the high phosphorous content of human poo compared to the finite and dwindling supply […]
Agrarian Crisis: Father of Green Revolution in India Rejects GM Crops as Farmers Demand Justice in Delhi
Agrarian Crisis: Father of Green Revolution in India Rejects GM Crops as Farmers Demand Justice in Delhi Genetically modified (GM) cotton in India is a failure. India should reject GM mustard. And like the Green Revolution, GM agriculture poses risks and is unsustainable. Regulatory bodies are dogged by incompetency and conflicts of interest. GM crops […]
Making charcoal
Making charcoal Growing up I knew charcoal as the square, chemical-soaked briquettes people bought in bags and poured into the barbecue grill once a summer. Like so much else in our lives it came from a store, wrapped in plastic and pre-treated for shelf life, with no sense that it shared a name with […]
What to do With Bad Soil
WHAT TO DO WITH BAD SOIL After watching the sun set and the full moon rise atop my neighbour Sergey’s hill which overlooks the entire eco-village, he walks me back to my tent hidden in the midst of young pine trees upon the insistence of his mother (“You need to walk the young lady all […]
Down-to-earth policy: Improving soil health
Down-to-earth policy: Improving soil health In recent years there has been a surge in research, education and advocacy efforts to catalyse agricultural policies that help farmers actively improve the health of their soil. Healthy soils are essential to agricultural and rural prosperity, to improving food security and nutrition and to enhancing vital biodiversity and ecosystem […]
Understanding Biological Farming: A Simplified Understanding of ‘Compost Tea’ a Plant and Soil Probiotic
UNDERSTANDING BIOLOGICAL FARMING: A SIMPLIFIED UNDERSTANDING OF ‘COMPOST TEA’ A PLANT AND SOIL PROBIOTIC In ideal soil ecosystems, we would have dramatically different soil and certainly a dramatically different level of ‘made made’ toxins. In an ideal soil environment, we would expect our topsoil to contain 10% organic matter, and would also expect to have […]
Raised Garden Beds in the Bush–Growing Your Own Food in Poor Soil Conditions
RAISED GARDEN BEDS IN THE BUSH – GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD IN POOR SOIL CONDITIONS When we moved to our bush property two years ago self-sufficiency was high on the agenda. We wanted to produce our own electricity, collect rainwater and we certainly wanted to grow some or if possible most of our own food. […]
Common Composting Problems and Solutions for the Beginning Composter
COMMON COMPOSTING PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS FOR THE BEGINNING COMPOSTER Composting is standard practice on any permaculture site. This is the case for several reasons. It creates a closed waste cycle between vegetable scraps and vegetable production, often with the added bonus (an in-between stop) of animal fodder. It helps to rebuild or maintain healthy, balanced […]
