Homestead mailing list

[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

Gene,

> Impossible, I'm thinking. But don't make the mistake of thinking that 
> the only way of growing crops organically--without chemical 
> fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides--can only be done with compost.
> 

Then again, it depends on what you mean by 'organic'.  

1) Increasing soil humus by means of decaying organic matter and growning 
crops by means of the improved soil.

2) Not adding any chemicals or fertilizers from a specific list.

The USDA and current popular definition of 'organic' deals almost entirely 
with the second which by the former definiton was almost moot.  If you were 
growing food in highly developed soils full of oranic matter and diversifying 
the 
crops, added fertilizer of any type (fertilizer for my purposes here is 
anything that is intended to feed the plants directly rather than feed the 
soil) is 
a non-issue and pests are not so numerous nor intense that pesticides need be 
used.

If the term 'compost' is used to describe decaying organic matter in the 
garden, whether it was originally in a compost bin, dug into the ground, 
sheet 
composted, or added as mulch; then I'd say compost IS the only way to grow 
organic food by the first above definition.


> And what you are describing is mulch, not compost. 
> 

Not when it is dug into the soil, which is the claim of the organic mega-farm 
apologists.



James