Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Art Corbit" <art_c@cox.net>]

Hi Paul,

It is possible Nitrogen can cause problems. However in most cases a higher
concentration of Nitrogen will help the moisture break down natural minerals
in soil where plants can use them better. There are a lot of minerals in
most soil but most of it is too large for plants to use it. Nitrogen with
plenty of water will break them down but if your water is low it will burn
tender plants.

I agree with what you said about baked goods. They are loaded with harmful
junk and don't have nearly what they should in them. Bleached flour is just
about useless. We should be eating home ground whole wheat sour dough bread
and leaving a lot of this other stuff alone for the reasons you just
mentioned.

Cows milk is causing serious problem and so is pork and beef. Even the
chicken you buy now is loaded with a bunch of stuff we do not need to be
taking into our bodies. Most Asians are eating a lot closer to what Nature
intended than we are in the US. The natural part of most foods are way low
in food value and then that go adding a bunch of other junk. I include that
in with the other foods that don't have a good food value.

Art


----- Original Message -----
From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2006 12:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Soil Building


>
> I'd question whether nitrogen alone (in any form) would increase the
> nutrient value of food produced. Without a balanced compost or legume
cover
> crop it may just speed up weak growth and attract pests and disease. The
> worst outbreak of aphids I ever had was soon after using too much high-N
> fish emulsion on some starter pots of herbs.  I absolutely agree that
today
> our food nutrient content is pathetic and dangerous, but a main culprit in
> obesity, IMHO, is plaque-forming, artery blocking transfatty acids found
in
> the hydrogenated oils that show up in most baked goods and many other
> processed foods like margerine. Heart disease and obesity were quite rare
a
> hundred years ago. And we've heard lots of reports that when healthy
Asians
> turn to a Western diet they start putting on weight right away and develop
> the degenerative diseases so common here.
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.
> --Henry David Thoreau
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
> On 8/3/2006 at 11:22 AM Art Corbit wrote:
>
> >Hi Laurie,
> >
> >Your horse is doing exactly what a lot of us people are. We are eating a
> >lot of food and pooping a lot. What causes that is the fact we are
getting
> >very little actual food value in the food we eat. The reason the seeds
are
> >passing on through the horse is it's digestive system is all out of whack
> >from over eating. Humans do the very same. Horse manure is normally about
> >as good as you can get as far as grass seeds are concerned. A horse will
> >normally digest the seeds. This isn't true with a cow. I never liked to
> >use Cow manure because of the seeds.
> >
> >Here is what you are into. The minerals are way down in your pasture and
> >probably any hay you buy. The horse eats the grass and all the manure
> >isn't going back on the pasture where it came from. Any that you use on
> >the garden slowly depletes the minerals in your pasture.
> >
> >Early in the Spring you need to put Urea (Nitrogen 46-0-0) on your
> >pasture. This will improve the food value in the grass your horse eats.
> >Our bodies, and your horse's, is loaded with sensors that alert the brain
> >to many different things concerning the human body our brains live in.
> >When your energy level starts to drop these sensors pick this up and
> >inform the brain which starts to demand you eat. This is the biggest
> >reason so many people in this country are over weight. They are not
> >getting what they should be from the food they eat. The only problem your
> >horse has is over eating trying to stay healthy.
> >
> >As for your compost operation it sounds like you are doing pretty good
but
> >you may need to remove the plastic and water the pile now and then.
> >
> >Art
> >
> >
> >  ----- Original Message -----
> >  From: Laurie Ann Powell
> >  To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> >  Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2006 9:55 AM
> >  Subject: [Livingontheland] Soil Building
> >
> >
> >  Thanks again, everyone, for the great information flying back and forth
> >on this list! It's so helpful!
> >
> >  I'm working on beds for next season with Materials On Hand, and would
> >like suggestions on whether there is anything in particular that is way
> >out of balance.
> >
> >  I'm layering:
> >
> >  Cardboard
> >  Feed Sacks
> >  Fresh Horse Manure
> >  Composted Goat Manure
> >  Wood Chips
> >  Last year's compost
> >  Leaf mould
> >  Hu-more (a commercial product containing humate)
> >  Plastic sheet over all
> >
> >  Am I missing anything obvious for getting the best soil in the shortest
> >time?
> >
> >  Also, a Horsey question: I know and can testify personally that horse
> >manure heavily reseeds the grass and weeds they eat.  Ours seems to
> >actually digest very little of what she eats, which I've heard is
"normal"
> >but I wonder. I notice that ours eats a lot, poops a lot, and is never
> >satisfied. How did horses work in ages past if they needed to eat so
much?
> >
> >  Is it possible that there is an enzyme shortage, just as most people
> >have because of our pathetic food? Should I put making silage high on my
> >priority list, for the sake of my horse, my garden and my goats, who have
> >to share the pasture? Would it help?
> >
> >  Thanks,
> >  Laurie Ann
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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