Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Harvey Ussery <huboxwood@earthlink.net>]

> An important aspect often missing from email discussion on
> farming and gardening is scale of production, equipment 
> matched to growing systems, and cropping systems 
> rotations and planting / weeding schemes. . .

> The surface applied compost, protected under the moist mulch, 
> undergoes a natural process of mineralization and enhances  
> soil fertility and soil microbial activity.  ~Steve Diver 

Apologies, I should have specified the scale on which I am focussing. 
The article I'm writing will be oriented toward the garden/homestead 
scale, not farm scale. And what your last sentence suggests, Steve, is 
definitely the direction in which I am heading. The big limitation for 
me is getting enough mulch material (without purchasing big loads of 
it). I decided early this year to do a lot more mulching of all my beds, 
but then we had the driest spring on record, and I only got one cutting 
off the pasture for mulching--ended up not doing nearly as much mulching 
as planned/hoped. And what subsequent mulching I did do was from the 
lawnmower bagger. I'm sure those of you who have tried lawn clippings as 
mulch know the frustrations.

~Harvey

--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us

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