Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[mtncats@planetcomm.net]

Kathy, you're most welcome.  Anecdotal, but I'm sure not unusual.  We have no 
production animal operations near here, pretty much just horses.  Often, very 
expensive (fast) horses.

I'm a light-weight (with a large truck) on this list.  Learning a lot, 
particularly from Paul.  My approach is strictly pragmatic.  Whatever works, 
including "show them the money".  I admire your perseverance, especially your 
furthering your education.  Hope I'll get a little more efficient with my own 
small efforts from the exposure.

Other than a little informal community service, I grow groceries on our roof, 
the only place that gets much summer sun here.  "Organic or natural", I 
suppose.  Not much interested in labels- or commercial products.  A little 
sad that morel season has ended.  Known locally as "merkels".  Gotta respect 
local traditions.

Tom (in central Va, comfortable with machinery)


On 4/28/06 at 12:32 PM Kathy Moore wrote:

>Tom,
>Thank you for this information/post.  I thought it was pretty sadly funny
>and I wished I lived next door; I'd be there everyday!  Most of the
>factory
>guys don't even take the manure to the landfill.  Instead they pile it
>high
>near the rivers.  Our landfill is near the river.  Insane to me,but, they
>wouldn't take kindly to my dislike of their customs and beliefs.
>
>Hence, I have tried to devise a way to collaborate to take manure out of
>the
>water supply and "show them the money" instead.  Started an OK Composting
>Council with the help of a friend, an environmental engineer in Virginia.
>
>I've also been trying to learn as much as I can to further advance these
>concepts, and, eager to learn more.  Went to the University of Maine's
>Composting School for a week and to the Carolinas for training about 3
>years
>ago.
>
>BioCycle has been my partner supplying me with magazines to further
>demonstrate the benefits of composting for economic development.  I'm also
>a
>member of the USCC and find their free list serve a great help to my
>learning curve.  Been going to meetings and speaking with legislators with
>the hope of educating them about alternatives for manure that don't
>involve
>lawsuits.  Still learning and love this list particularily for my own farm
>which is organic or natural.  The word "organic" has now been legalized by
>USDA unfortunately.
>Thank you again,
>Kathy Moore