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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Rock Dust Grows Extra-Big Vegetables

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Allan Balliett <allan.balliett@gmail.com>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Rock Dust Grows Extra-Big Vegetables
  • Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 11:00:00 -0500

"Rock dust AND compost" That oughta do it! Anyone know what latitude
these good folks are farming at? -Allan in WV where we never see much
kick from Rock Dust applications, but we don't quit trying!

On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 10:40 PM, Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:
>
> Rock Dust Grows Extra-Big Vegetables (and Might Save Us from Global Warming)
> by Paul Kelbie, Scotland Correspondent
> Published on Monday, March 21, 2005 by the Independent/UK
> http://www.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=622128
>
> For years scientists have been warning of an apocalyptic future facing the
> world. With the prospect of an earth made infertile from over-production
> and mass reliance on chemicals, coupled with an atmosphere polluted by
> greenhouse gases there seems little to celebrate. But belief is growing
> that an answer to some of the earth's problems are not only at hand, but
> under our feet.
>
> Specialists have just met in Perth to discuss the secrets of rock dust, a
> quarrying by-product that is at the heart of government-sponsored
> scientific trials and which, it is claimed, could revitalise barren soil
> and reverse climate change.
>
> The recognition of the healing powers of rock dust comes after a 20-year
> campaign by two former schoolteachers, Cameron and Moira Thomson. They have
> been battling to prove that rock dust can replace the minerals that have
> been lost to the earth over the past 10,000 years and, as a result,
> rejuvenate the land and halt climate change.
>
> To prove their point, the couple have converted six acres of open,
> infertile land in the Grampian foothills near Pitlochry into a modern Eden.
> Using little more than rock dust mixed with compost, they have created
> rich, deep soils capable of producing cabbages the size of footballs,
> onions bigger than coconuts and gooseberries as big as plums.
>
> "This is a simple answer which doesn't involve drastic life changes by
> anyone," Ms Thomson said. "People don't have to stop driving cars to do
> this, just spread some rock dust on their gardens. We could cover the earth
> with rock dust and start to absorb carbon in a more natural fashion which,
> along with reducing emissions and using a combination of other initiatives,
> will have a better and faster response."
>
> Before the Thomsons began their "good life" experiment, erosion and
> leaching were so severe in the glen where they set up home that nothing had
> been grown there for almost 50 years. The basis of their theory is simple.
> By spreading a thin layer of the dust over the land, they are able to mimic
> the earth's glacial cycles which naturally fertilise the land.
>
> Since the last ice age three million years ago, the earth has gone through
> 25 similar glaciations, each lasting about 90,000 years. "We are 10,000
> years into an interglacial - a hiatus between ice ages - meaning modern
> soils are relatively barren and artificial fertilisers are needed," Mr
> Thomson said.
>
> "By spreading the dust we are doing in minutes what the earth takes
> thousands of years to do - putting essential minerals in the rocks back
> into the earth."
>
> Over the years the couple, who established the Sustainable Ecological Earth
> Regeneration (Seer) Centre charitable trust in 1997 to test their ideas,
> have slowly convinced others of their theory. They recently won a grant of
> almost ?100,000 from the Scottish Executive to conduct Britain's first
> official rock dust trials.
>
> The couple claim the technique may also play a significant role in the
> fight against climate change as calcium and magnesium in the dust converts
> carbon in the air into carbonates. Such is the interest in the theory that
> Nasa in the US is examining it in preparation for growing plants on other
> planets.
>
> The couple say that the rock dust means that crops don't need water to
> produce harvests of magnificent vegetables. "It would be perfect for Third
> World countries that are usually unable to grow crops because the land is
> so dry," Ms Thomson said. "This could hold the solution for them."
>
> "There is no doubt that, when rock dust is mixed with compost, it has a
> dramatic effect on crop yields," said Alistair Lamont, president of the
> Chartered Institution of Waste Management, who is impressed by the Seer
> experiment. "Future waste strategy is going to rely heavily on the
> diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfill, and one of the
> treatments involved is composting so we need to find a home for that
> compost.
>
> "Agricultural land is something we need to work on and the benefits of rock
> dust in combination with compost can be seen at the Seer Centre at harvest
> time. We need to get farming to take on board the value of remineralisation
> and re-fertilisation.
>
> Mr Lamont added that evidence showed that, since 1940, the mineral content
> of vegetables had fallen dramatically in this country. "We might be
> encouraged to eat a lot of vegetables but many don't contain the quantities
> of minerals that we need," he said.
>
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