Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Barbara Money <bmoney9@verizon.net>]

 Well, that's just it Dieter, your neighbor has enough land of whatever 
fertility to produce all his inputs without getting them from "outside." 
Not everyone is able to do that. Our soil is ok, though stony, but I do 
add manure (from outside the system), wood ash from inside the system, 
after the wood did its job of heating the house, though much of the wood 
was from outside. The compost is inside, though some of the material was 
from outside (orange peels, banana skins, etc.). If I had chickens, then 
I would rely less on outside manure, but I would have to input much of 
their feed to get that manure, and at a monetary cost, whereas some of 
the manure I get now is free (though some livestock farmers realize 
there is value to their "end" product!). You get the picture.

I cut back for economic reasons a lot of the other inputs such as 
electricity and heating fuels, though we still use them. My future plans 
(nebulous as they are at this point) involve doing more things with 
passive solar, maybe a greenhouse for extending the growing season, a 
small fish farm, wood cook stove, things of that nature. I don't try to 
"keep up with the Joneses" just to have the "stuff" society thinks I should.

Barbara M

--
"Animals Are A Gift"