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  • From: Marty Kraft <martyk@allspecies.org>
  • To: kcnotill@googlegroups.com
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] KC No-Till Re: Learning Gardening Ideas by Email: Free Registration
  • Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:08:20 -0600

Paul

You're right.

I noticed his composure before they announced his name and admired his sense of peace and calm center in the face of all that adulation. 

Marty
On Jan 21, 2009, at 10:46 AM, Paul Rola wrote:

That's all right Marty... it will probably take the whole village to keep you honest!
Have a wonderful day. 
Hey did you all know we have a new president?
Take Care
Paul
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 10:05 AM
Subject: KC No-Till Re: Learning Gardening Ideas by Email: Free Registration

Sorry sorry for this message. I obviously do not understand the technology with which i work. It was meant for Marie, off list.

Marty
On Jan 21, 2009, at 9:51 AM, Marty Kraft wrote:

I'm honored. Keep me honest. Thanks

Marty
On Jan 20, 2009, at 1:27 PM, Marie Kamphefner wrote:

Hi Marty,
I would like to receive your Learning Gardening Ideas via email. Thank you!
Marie
Marie Kamphefner
Strawberry Lane Farm
510 NE Jade Lane
Trenton, MO 64683
660-485-6473

From: kcnotill@googlegroups.com [mailto:kcnotill@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Paul Rola
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 12:40 PM
To: kcnotill@googlegroups.com
Subject: KC No-Till Re: Learning Gardening Ideas by Email: Free Registration
So
Paul
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 9:51 AM
Subject: KC No-Till Learning Gardening Ideas by Email: Free Registration
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Marty Kraft <martyk@allspecies.org>
Date: Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 4:15 PM
Subject: Learning Gardening Ideas by Email: Free Registration
To: Marty Kraft <martyk@allspecies.org>

Learning Gardening Ideas by Email: 
To receive these free emails you must email me back saying so. 
We will follow the garden activities as they occur in the seasonal cycle for KCMO. The emails will be adapted from lessons i am offering the students and staff at Niles Home for Children. I will try my best to make them short, understandable and useful. If someone you know would like to receive these emails, please have them email me. Below is the first. You will receive three as i build my email list. Then i will send only to those registered. Feedback welcomed.
Understanding Our Garden Soil
Soil is so cool! At first look it looks like a mass of stuff with no order. But looking closer we find it's more orderly than a castle built of leggos. 
<image001.jpg>
Soil Test: We will try to do this in the classrooms sometime this week. Takes 10 minutes of shaking and several days of letting it settle, occasionally observing.
If we put some soil in a jar and shake it up with water, then let is settle out for a couple of days we find sand at the bottom. That's the big stuff. Then there is a layer of smaller particles. That's called silt. Then a fine layer at the top which is clay. Above these sediments we find water clouded with fine clay particles and organic particles, called humus, that are held in suspension. Floating at the top is the larger organic mater in the soil, fragments of leaves, sticks and the left overs of other living things.
Of course when we shook it all up we lost the order and the usefulness of our sample of soil. When it is organized by soil organisms in nature or in a no-till bed it forms a perfect delivery system for minerals to get to the roots of plants. Later these minerals will get into our bodies when we eat and bring the order we call health.
The sand is necessary so the soil will drain. If the soil was just clay it would hold water and things would rot in the soil. The sand and the silt together form channels where the water can move through and out of the soil. The water in our sample that is cloudy with clay and humus particles is one of the coolest things of all. These small particles that are held in suspension and called a colloid. They are distributed evenly in solution held by electrical forces. Another colloid you know about is milk, the white butterfat particles that are held in water. The colloidal particles in the soil water have an electrical charge and hold necessary minerals on their surfaces. As the water flows by roots, the roots capture needed minerals and take them into the plant to help them grow. The fact that the colloidal particles hold the minerals and are always in suspension means that the plant roots always have a ready          supply of the minerals they need.
*Some clays have a surface area of over 800 meters/gram. Humus particles can be even tinier with more surface area. 



-- 
Dave Lawrence
Manager - Merriam Organic Market
www.MerriamOrganicMarket.org

"The road to health is paved with good ingestion."

Phone: 913-620-8427 


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  • [Livingontheland] KC No-Till Re: Learning Gardening Ideas by Email: Free Registration, Marty Kraft, 01/21/2009

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