[permaculture] Book report

Marimike6 at cs.com Marimike6 at cs.com
Mon Jan 7 20:58:30 EST 2008


Salutations all. 

I hate to butt into what has obviously become a popular subject, list 
governance. But I also have an interest in permaculture. And I would like to 
recommend a book:

The Earth Moved: On the remarkable achievements of earthworms

...by Amy Stewart. Besides having lots of exciting worm lore, of the "unsung 
heros of the soil" variety, it is rich in comments about the natural health of 
the land. It's told from the point of view of someone moving to a new 
location and trying to establish a garden using natural methods. And it's very basic 
stuff. For instance

"The case for returning to organic farming goes something like this: farmers 
have, over these last several decades, taken the multivitamin-and-antibiotic 
approach to agriculture. When people take a multivitamin instead of eating 
fresh fruits and vegetables, they lose out on the nutritional value offered by the 
whole food. The fiber and juice in an orange, the beneficial oils in a 
walnut, the micronutrients in a spinach leaf are simply not readily available in 
pill form. In our fast food society, a multivitamin is a poor substitute for a 
healthy diet. The same is true of chemical fertilizers in agriculture. In fact, 
there is a saying among organic gardeners: chemical fertilizers may feed the 
plant, but organic fertilizers feed the soil. More specifically, when farmers 
add amendments like manure, kelp, alfalfa and vermicompost, what they are 
really doing is providing a food source to bacteria, fungi and protozoa in the 
soil. These microscopic creatures in turn feed the plants.

"There's a parallel between human antibiotics and pesticides as well. As 
people rely on antibiotics instead of their own immune system to fight off 
infections, bacteria grow resistant to the antibiotic, and newer, stronger medicines 
are required to fight the newly resistant strains of bacteria. Likewise, over 
the past several decades, farmers have relied on pesticides, herbicides and 
fungicides to rid their fields of crop-damaging pests, weeds and diseases. 
Resistance to chemicals develops quickly, and farmers look to a new wave of 
chemical treatments for help. Meanwhile, they've killed off some of the living 
organisms their soil and beneficial insects in their fields. (In fact, high-nitrogen 
chemical fertilizers can be so deadly to earthworms that they have been 
recommended as a way to rid golf courses of nightcrawlers while greening up the 
lawn at the same time.) This growing dependence on chemicals concerns some 
farmers, who worry about their increasing cost. It does not sit well with many 
farmers that their newly sprayed fields are toxic to their children. Add in 
concerns that many agricultural chemicals are petroleum-based and draw on a limited 
supply of fossil fuels, and the case against conventional agriculture seems 
pretty persuasive.

"What's even more troublesome is that the disappearance of microbes from the 
soil means that more water is needed to irrigate the same area, because soil 
low in organic matter retains less moisture. Runoff from fields finds its way 
into lakes and streams, where it can harm fish and pollute drinking water. And 
as the health of the soil declines, the nutritional value of the produce grown 
in the fields declines as well."

The book is great for light reading, and geared toward someone with little 
previous exposure to natural garden and field cropping methods. Debates like 
no-till methods vs. deep plowing are explained in detail. And there is a 
remarkable little section about using worm castings to control unwanted insect 
parasites, like corn borers.

Here's another snippet:

"I once heard a farmer say this: 'The problem with the way we farm now is we 
treat the soil like dirt.' Indeed the soil-- and the earthworm that lives in 
it-- is in itself a crop, one that can be cultivated in the same way that a 
radish or tulip is cultivated: by paying careful attention to its particular 
needs and habits. More and more, I was starting to believe that earthworms may, in 
fact, be the most important crop I grow."

The natural history of earthworms will be all new to most anyone, for 
instance Darwin's book on earthworms, or the disappearance of many native species 
since the spread of European worm populations. All around fun stuff, and 
recommended.   



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