Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Nice you're amused; I'm not.  Tell us, how much time and money has she
spent on her CSA over the last fifteen years, and how much has she grossed?
I'm curious how you would be able to know what she's spent, or verify she's
seen a dime of profit on that basis.  We should also ask *how much* food
those 15 families are getting, since we're not told. You'll forgive me if I
don't get excited about it. 

You said below:
"The hauling of soil to a  site or even scavenging for course organic
debris off site to try and make  compost is contradictive to
sustainability.  It simply does not work!   The only solution is to grow
humus on site and not by using compost as the  food source.  I know it
works because I've done it thousands of times on  many sites."  

But you said nothing would grow on her soil to begin with. Are you now
claiming she "grew humus" onsite in that dead dirt - and then used that to
build up good topsoil? Something from nothing? Did I miss anything? 

I hate to break this to you, Dr. Melendrez, but tons of organic waste of
all kinds are available for free most anywhere in this country, and failing
to make good use of it for organic soil improvement cannot be sustainable.
You claim that doesn't work. Are we on the same planet? What's wrong with
composting what would otherwise go to waste? The ONLY solution is to "grow
humus onsite"? Why? 

Sixty years ago, after a lifetime of experimentation and research, Sir
Albert Howard urged returning all organic wastes to the soil to build and
maintain fertility. He built humus-rich soil with the mycorrhyzal
association in several countries, back in the early part of the century.
And he didn't need to buy expensive biological products to do it. He
literally ignited the modern organic movement. I don't believe that doesn't
work. Maybe you'd like to rethink your claims. 

We know that people throughout the world have used organic wastes to enrich
their growing areas and keep them fertile for centuries. Most notably
perhaps, Asian farmers in F.H. King's Farmers of Forty Centuries. I expect
the Rodales would have been surprised to learn hauling in compost materials
is not sustainable, as well as the millions who've been doing exactly that.


I might be interested in your "Soil Secrets" products if I were growing a
golf course, but I'm not. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 12/6/2006 at 12:49 AM Soilsecrets@aol.com wrote:

>Paul,
> 
>I'm very amused by your comments and concerns as I can tell you that one
>of  
>the objectives of what we do as scientists and consultants in such
>projects 
>are  to minimize the expenses and not sink the project in Red Ink.  In 
>Kim's 
>case she is very much in the black and is one of the most prudent 
>individuals I 
>have ever met when it comes to spending money.  The project  covers 15,000

>sq. ft. and is feeding 15 families with nutritious, organic  produce. 
>That's 
>pretty exciting considering the sites original  condition.  
> 
>On the other hand my whole mission is to focus on sustainable factors  
>minimizing energy efforts into such projects.  The hauling of soil to a 
>site or 
>even scavenging for course organic debris off site to try and make 
>compost is 
>contradictive to sustainability.  It simply does not work!   The only
>solution 
>is to grow humus on site and not by using compost as the  food source.  I
>know 
>it works because I've done it thousands of times on  many sites.  
> 
>Dr. Michael M. Melendrez 
> 
> 
>"Great ideas go through three phases, first they are ignored, then  they
>are 
>ridiculed and than they are considered intuitively obvious to anyone  who
>is 
>knowledgeable"
>
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Livingontheland mailing list
>Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland