Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Harvey Ussery <huboxwood@earthlink.net>]

I'm starting an article on soil building and care for Mother Earth News. 
I plan to stress the minimizing of tillage, which is where my own 
practice is going as well.

A question: How does the incorporation of manures work in completely 
no-till systems? As manures dry out, their nitrogen content is converted 
to ammonia, which is lost to the atmosphere as a gas. So is it possible 
to prevent this nitrogen loss by mulching the manure heavily enough to 
keep it moist? Presumably the nitrogen would then be washed down into 
the soil with each rain, where it would be available for soil micros and 
plant roots--and the organic matter would be incorporated over the 
season by earthworms and micros.

One could ask the same question about compost.

How about it, you no-till specialists: How to apply manures and composts 
in completely no-till systems?

Thanks.

~Harvey
--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is 
used."  ~Wendell Berry