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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Earth Works
  • Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2006 21:48:28 -0600


http://www.earthworksinstitute.org/about/about%20us.html

Earth Works Institute is a 501c3 non-profit organization that was founded
in 1994, by Leslie Barclay. It is located on a 160 acre piece of range
land, in the pinon-juniper high-desert ecosystem east of Cerrillos, NM.

Since 1994, EWI has created demonstration models and education programs of
sustainable food production, soil conservation, water harvesting, natural
home design, forest and grassland management, sustainable energy generation
systems and biological septic waste treatment.

EWI is currently designing a rural settlement and developing a training
center for the purpose of demonstrating the viability of the models
developed. In this way we will teach people how to make informed decisions
in a holistic way that enrich rather than deplete our natural capital.

EWI will pursue this goal through the integration of appropriate
technologies with living systems and through the collaboration of all
participants in our research and educational outreach programs.

EWI enlisted the help of a handful of local experts to develop a natural
resource inventory and data base of the site as well as an historical and
archaeological history. This site, over a thousand years ago, nurtured the
crops of the Native American tribes who called this land "home". As they
migrated to the Rio Grande valley they were followed, in turn, by Hispanic
conquerors, railroad construction crews, cattle and sheep barons, turquoise
and silver miners, civil war soldiers and most recently waves of immigrants
seeking a life in the fabled west.

In 1995 and ’96, EWI organized a series of training workshops with
internationally renowned trainers in permaculture, alternative building
techniques, erosion control and orchard design..

This activity led to the formation of the Galisteo Watershed Restoration
Project, a large, collaborative effort with the help of various agencies
and landowners.
The goal of the project is to help all interested residents learn about
practical land rehabilitation strategies for the watershed: the riparian
areas, the pasture land and the forest.

Over the past two years, EWI has established several demonstration sites
throughout the watershed through the cooperation of landowners, educators
and scientists.
Together with our volunteers, we are currently monitoring progress at these
sites.

Simultaneously we began working with local schools in our watershed,
teaching basic stream biology to students from grades 4-8 at the Santa Fe
Waldorf School and the Eldorado Elementary School. These students have
learned how to build small erosion check dams and plant a variety of
materials that help to revegetate riparian areas.

We seek to discover if cashmere goats are an appropriate tool to help
diminish our extensive population of salt cedar and Russian olive trees.
Can we slowly browse them out and replace them with native cottonwoods and
willows? Will the goats help to restore our meadows by adding nutrients to
our impoverished
soils and restoring water to the water table by killing off these thirsty
invasive species?

Through biological waste treatment methods we seek to turn human waste
(septage) into profitable economic by-products and sources of nutrient rich
water. Perhaps we would then change our attitude about human waste and
finally view it as a resource that could help us to restore our lands.

As the population of our area increases and the water resources diminish it
is imperative that we learn how to nurture our resources: we must discover
and develop techniques that replenish our natural resources rather than
continue the extermination of them. If we are to be good land stewards we
must restore and nourish this land and teach our young how to love and care
for it so that it continues to grow in health and prosperity for
generations who follow. There is no alternative!








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