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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Remineralization
  • Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:51:52 -0700

Organic Matters
News & Information About Growing Food Organically
by Jeff Johnston
http://www.life.ca/nl/58/organics.html
Remineralization

When the glacial icesheets receded from North America, they left behind a
legacy that has lasted thousands of years. These glaciers ground rock into
powders as fine as flour and distributed them over wide areas. The soils
created in these areas produced lush forests and abundant and nourishing
crops. However, intensive industrial agriculture has “mined” these
minerals from our soils for the past 100 years, resulting in lower quality
foods with fewer nutrients to nourish us. Fortunately, there is something
we can do to increase the mineral levels of our soils.

Remineralization is the process of adding rock powders (or dusts) to soils
with mineral deficiencies. (Plants display characteristic symptoms when
minerals are low. For example, hollow broccoli stems indicate a boron
deficiency.) These minerals are divided into two categories: the nine
essential macronutrients – nitrogen, phosphorous, sulphur, potassium,
calcium and magnesium (plus carbon, hydrogen and oxygen); and the seven
essential micronutrients – iron, manganese, copper, zinc, molybdenum,
boron and chlorine. Sodium, silicon, and cobalt are essential for some
plants, while others, like vanadium, are essential for some microorganisms.

Plants do not take up directly any minerals you add to the soil through
remineralization. The minerals are first used by soil microorganisms in
their life processes, which in turn create (or the microorganisms become)
nutrients available to your plants. Research by David H. Miller of Oberlin
College in the United States indicates that adding rock dusts
“increase[s] the rate of decomposition of soil organic carbon, both in
field test plots and pot test experiments.” As well, he found that
“addition of dusts to composting materials raises the temperature of the
composts,” which indicates that microbial activity has increased,
speeding the production of finished compost.

Alan Reed of Cairn Tech, a Canadian company that sells rock dusts, reported
in a conversation that covering tree stumps with dusts speeds their
decomposition. Alan has dusted stumps on his property and witnessed
beneficial fungi that assist the breakdown process, which soon reduced the
stumps to soil materials.

Alan has been conducting on-farm research with a small farming community in
Southwestern Ontario. According to Alan, “mineral complexes induced
significant yields of hay per acre, which provided extended grazing and
complete protein forages. Farmers have commented that animals no longer
bare the ground while grazing, visibly eat less, show no signs of drought
stress, and have increased yearly milk yields.” Root crops grow larger
(his web site shows a photograph of 18-inch parsnips), have improved
flavour and longer shelf lives, while corn grows more kernels and appears
to be more resistant to drought. Crops grown with mineral enhancement
reveal higher sugar indexes, which correlate to frost and drought
resistance and less insect stress.

You needn’t limit remineralization to your crops. Work has been done to
restore the forests of Germany using rock dusts, which have produced
encouraging results. Research in the Appalachian Mountains has shown that
dusting your forest soils will decrease tree mortality and increase the
mineral content of tree tissues. Alan Reed reports that his forest floor
biomass has increased six to eight inches, and water runoff has been
reduced. Biodiversity has improved as well: Alan has found many new herbs,
ferns, various tree species, and animal and bird species in his forest
since remineralization.

Alan also keeps his own livestock. “Sheep, goats, horses, turkeys, ducks,
geese, with each generation, become healthier, have increased bone density
and are more attentive and interactive when raised on regenerated soils.
Eggs have a richer colour in the yolk, are larger and full of flavour.”
Alan has found that his lambs weigh more than other lambs, and require less
time to reach that weight, when they graze dusted fields.

There are many products available from the companies that sell mineral
dusts. The best course of action is to determine what minerals are
deficient in your soil (there are many public and private labs that will
analyze your soil for you), then write, call, email or surf suppliers’
web sites for the products they carry that will best suit your needs. As
with anything you buy, you can save money by shopping around for the most
suitable product at the best price. You’ll save even more by purchasing
in bulk with neighbours. You can apply the dusts by hand or shovel in small
areas, with a fertilizer spreader for lawns and orchards, or with farm
equipment or even aerial spraying equipment for larger areas.

As a permaculturist, I believe deeply in the principle of reducing off-farm
inputs and making the farm, or garden, as self-sufficient as possible.
While rock dusts are external inputs, they are required only periodically.
With good compost management and crop rotations, along with the use of
cover crops to reduce soil erosion, you may not need another application of
minerals after “jump-starting” your soils and compost piles.

Resources:

Remineralize the Earth is a magazine for people interested in
remineralization and its effects on soils, crops, and our climate. Reports
on on-farm and academic research. Based on the writings of John Hamaker and
Don Weaver (see below). 152 South Street, Northampton, MA 01060-4021 USA;
Phone: (413) 586-4429 Fax: (413) 586-6064; www.remineralize.org.

The Survival of Civilization, by Hamaker and Weaver, is a dated book about
the imminence of the next ice age, and how remineralizing our soils on a
global scale, and then reforesting the soils, would help slow the glacial
advance.

Secrets of the Soil, by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, is a
fascinating book about people who work with nature and its raw materials to
improve the soil. Chapters include information on biodynamics, rock dusts,
and other discoveries and practices.

Jeff Johnston is a past president of Canadian Organic Growers and a
Permaculture design course graduate. He has worked on conventional and
organic farms, and gardens organically.





  • [Livingontheland] Remineralization, TradingPostPaul, 11/14/2006

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