Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[dcoda@volcommunity.org]

Greetings,

First, a story you may find interesting...we have a small intentional
community located in the wilderness and our top priority is reaching
food self-sufficiency (alongside preserving endangered plants). We have
a new member...he's a physicist from M.I.T. who had everything going for
him career-wise but he saw the state of the world and determined that
the most important thing he could do was to learn how to grow food, and
grow it, and do all he could to encourage others to do the same. He's
attended the biointensive workshop given by Ecology Action and is
currently developing a software program to calculate how much of any
given food one needs to grow to meet nutritional needs. Its not done
yet, but getting close. We are not in complete agreement about what
those needs are however. His work is based on "One Circle" which orients
towards providing enough nutrients to avoid illness/death from
nutritional deficiency and much of this is calculated by calories. The
theory being that if you get enough calories, you'll get enough protein.
I maintain that there are many other nutrients we need to achieve
optimum health. There's a difference between RDA values to just stay
alive, and what we need to  feel great and ward off myriad diseases.
I'll probably help him work that into his program somehow, probably not
until a 2nd version comes out though. I'm sharing this story primarily
to give an example of just how important food may become to people.
People will discover that food is more important than salary and
prestige. By the way, he was married twice and both women held high
positions in the EPA. He doesn't think much of the EPA's efforts on the
planet's behalf. 

Second: I have a question for you about just how toxic wood ash is if
paper is burned in with kindling to get it started....paper that has
toxic inks in it like food packaging and glossy magazine paper. I know
it can't be used in the garden. I've always assumed it should not be
burned and mixed in with the wood ashes either. But he thinks the heat
would neutralize the toxins and make them harmless to the soil. He
admits he isn't sure about that though. What do you think? Any ideas of
where to go for an "expert opinion"?

Third: We've been looking for rice seed and can't find it! I'm amazed.
Does anyone know where to get it?

Thanks. And this is one of the best discussion groups on the web. 

D'Coda
www.volcommunity.org