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  • From: bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] [Fwd: Re: Increasing Fertility]
  • Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:15:39 -0800 (PST)

I didn't realize red clay would be that far north. Red Clay or as said in
youth, "red dirt" means 'home'. ..............bobford


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--- On Sun, 11/16/08, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:

> From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
> Subject: [Homestead] [Fwd: Re: Increasing Fertility]
> To: "Homestead List" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 11:02 PM
> There's plenty of red clay both here and 75 miles
> further south where I
> grew up, in fact, there was a LOT of red clay down there.
>
> A bit of local history..
> As you know, I live in a little pocket valley in northwest
> GA, part of
> the ridge and valley area of the Appalachians. Even hilly
> areas were
> farmed heavily in the early 1900's. This valley grew
> so many
> watermelons that people came up here from two counties
> away-I've heard
> as far away as from Atlanta, but I doubt that far.
> There's a lot of underground water for melons-a lot of
> soil moisture.
> People rode up to the river, paid to ferry across, then
> paid the
> enterprising black farmers, former slaves, to bring them
> into the valley
> to buy melons and moonshine. This little pocket of north
> GA is blessed
> with good water for brewing all types of
> beverages.<g> Anyway, the
> black community grew and prospered from the trading as they
> provided the
> "taxi" or wagon service from here back to the
> river/ferry/railroad. My
> land was practically ground zero for production of melons,
> cotton, corn,
> and shine.<G>
> I'm told that melons grew all over where my house and
> woods are, all on
> the hills of the ridges, and that cotton was grown in today
> what are the
> pastures. Near creekbeds, corn was grown. When I first
> moved here, I
> was told all of this by a neighbor who was in her 90's
> and has since
> passed on. She also told me that two revenuers are buried
> somewhere out
> here, too. If you think about it, watermelons really
> don't need flat
> ground...the vines cover anything and they are harvested by
> hand. The
> hills were farmed just like the bottomland, just different
> crops. At
> some point, I think during the 1910's and 1920's
> when the use of
> mechanized equipment was more prevalent, they stopped
> working the hills
> and of course the forest grew. Also around that time, the
> National
> Forest itself was created. When they stopped growing
> cotton, the
> pastures were used for cattle and horses.
>
> So my pastures have been monocropped with cotton and had
> erosion
> problems, but since the 30's and the lessons of the
> Dust Bowl, people
> have been building them back up. My little garden area was
> different
> than the pasture soils in that more topsoil remained, and
> since it
> has been garden for a while, it has been amended over the
> years..When I
> moved here, I could still see the outline of a pile of cow
> manure, and
> no one had had cows in the barn for 20 years. I spread that
> black gold
> out across the garden as much as I could. I personally have
> amended the
> garden soil with all the goat barn mulch from my goats and
> from a
> neighbors horse barn...I've raised pigs in there.
> I've also added waste
> hay, grass, leaves, and everything else I could find. If I
> could afford
> it, I would amend my pasture land the same way. All I can
> do is try not
> to let animals overgraze it, practice rotational grazing,
> overseed where
> I can, and manage what I have. Pasture management is not
> easy here
> because of the rocks.
>
>
>
>
>
> bob ford wrote:
> > bev, one thing i'm curious about is why you need
> to do so much with
> > your soil. GA is known for great soil quality. You
> are too far
> > north for red clay. If you are in a hilly area, it
> should not have
> > been overfarmed, like rob said has happened to VA. I
> would have
> > thought you would have great thick black soil in that
> > region..........bobford
> >
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- On Sun, 11/16/08, EarthNSky
> <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
> >
> >> From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead]
> >> Increasing Fertility To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com,
> >> homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org Date: Sunday, November
> 16, 2008, 3:31
> >> PM We had a small, 1/8 acre garden when I was a
> kid, and we always
> >> burnt it off in the fall..I think the prime
> purpose was disease
> >> preventing and to keep bugs from overwintering. It
> also made it
> >> easy to till under in the Spring.
> >>
> >> bob ford wrote:
> >>> My uncle, and other people where I grew up,
> would
> >> 'burn' their
> >>> fields/gardens every year or two. Would that
> >> accomplish the same
> >>> result? Is it even allowed anymore?
> >> -- “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear
> leads to anger. Anger
> >> leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
> Yoda
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by
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> > Release Date: 11/13/2008 6:01 PM
> >
>
> --
> “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger.
> Anger leads to
> hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Yoda
>
>
>
> --
> “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger.
> Anger leads to
> hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Yoda
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