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permaculture - Fwd: Re: Cow poop & lignite (leonardite)

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: YankeePerm@aol.com
  • To: permawest@olywa.net, owner-permaculture@listserv.oit.unc.edu, permaculture@listserv.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Fwd: Re: Cow poop & lignite (leonardite)
  • Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 14:54:24 -0500 (EST)


---------------------
Forwarded message:
Subj: Re: Cow poop & lignite (leonardite)
Date: 97-11-26 14:53:53 EST
From: YankeePerm
To: permawest@olywa.net


In a message dated 11/24/97 11:55:40 AM, you wrote:

> Two simple questions that may warrant lengthy answers.
>
> Q1: What, exactly, differentiates cow manure from other animal manures
>
>thus leading to its historical agricultural fame?
>
>
>
> Q2: What is lignite (or leonardite) and what virtues does it bestow
> upon
>
>the soil as an amendment?
>
>
>
> Lengthy answers gratefully accepted.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Kirk Hanson
>
>
>
>Kirk Hanson
>
>C/O Permaculture West
>
>72 Mattson Rd.
>
>Oakville, WA 98568
>
>ph./fx. (360) 273-7117
>
>e-mail: permawest@olywa.net

Cow manure is the only kind of manure known to be discharged by cows. No
other species is known to produce this substance. Dogs, for example, can
only produce the infamous dog shit.

Cow manure has two merits, and only, two, that distinguish it from other
manures. First is the copious amount produced per animal. You would need a
family of approximately 70 people, at a wild guess, to crap that much
fertilizer.

Second is the cow as is used in North Temperate countries is mainly a
European animal and Europeans know everything about themselves is superior.
Therefore, cow manure must be better than, say, tiger manure, by definition.
It is also easier to keep a cow fed and much safer to visit it to collect
the manure from its habitat.

I don't know if tiger manure is bad stuff. Domestic cat manure is--it is
evil, carrying literally 8 diseases known to be serious pathogens of people,
including the leading cause of blindness among American children. The sand
box appears to a cat as a litter box for godly felines, which fits each cat's
definition of itself.

To my knowledge, cat manure is the only truely evil manure, though human
manure needs to be processed very carefully as obviously we humans carry
diseases of humans. However generally it can be deposited and processed in
controlled circumstances, people being much easier to regulate regarding post
intenstinal functions than felines.

Chicken manure is an utterly superior manure, particularly that of chickens
on free range. Of course they freely deposit all over that range, so all
you have available to gather and spread is under the roosts and in the litter
when they come back to the coop for a free meal of grain.

Back to cow manure, now the question reminds me of one I received once while
teaching permaculture, organic horticulture, tree crops, etc., in a
Massachusetts prison. Besides my program, the prison had a beef operation.
One day I was scouting out the fertilizer prospects with the guy who ran
that program and an inmate approached me. Dan, he said, we've been debating
something and we can't come up with an answer. We decided to ask you. What
is the purpose of cow manure?

Well, I replied, cow manure is nature's way of saying "Watch your step."
That's probably why most guys in prison come from the city.

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now correspondence
courses via email. One is now underway. Next Live program: Paraguay, 9/98.
Internships available. Copyright, 1997, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52,
Sparr FL 32192 USA YankeePerm@aol.com

We don't have time to rush.




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