Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Paul is referring to  the area we call the Estancia Valley and the East Mountain area of the Manzano Mountains which were farmed for Pinto Beans several decades ago.  It's a high elevation short grass oak savannah historically, pre Spanish Conquest.  Much of the desert edge ecotone of New Mexico was originally an Oak Woodland zone just a couple of centuries ago, with a few relic areas still that way today.   When pinto beans were king it was an easy crop to grow as it did not require tilling of the soil, irrigation or a long growing season.  The seed was drilled  into the ground (often by hand) without disturbing the grass lands while the spring moisture was still good.  The oaks had already been eliminated by a couple of centuries of Spanish mining activities demand for charcoal and were not an obstacle to these type of farming activity.  But at the same time, the farming of pinto beans cannot be blamed for the loss of topsoil, natural grasslands or the dust bowl of the last century.  It was the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression that ended dry land farming of pinto beans of this region.  But as an example of growing organic biomass for soil development, pinto beans are a very low biomass producer even under the best of conditions.  Perhaps with abundant irrigation, a high biomass crop like some sorghums could be grown, mowed down and grown again and again finally accumulating a mulch of organics along with decomposing roots that would contribute to good humus formation.  I've have experimented with root biomass growing using sacrificial trees for the objective of accumulating decomposing root tunnels and organic matter underground for soil building and again it takes abundant irrigation in New Mexico high and dry climate.   It works very well, but it does take about 10 years of constant effort. 

 

Dr. Michael