North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Kieran or Donna" <redherring@tnaccess.com>]

ACRES USA will be having their annual conference Dec 7-9 at the Radisson
Hotel South.  If any of you live in that general direction or know someone
who'd be interested.... You all may not think this has to do with fruit, but
the whole idea of this kind of farming means better health for ANY kind of
crops.  When I read that none of the farmers using Leland B Taylor's program
had to apply for drought disaster relief in the late 80's because they got
crops, when I read that none of Dan Skow's farmers even had a grasshopper
problem when farmers around them were paying $75 per acre to spray them from
helicopters, I figured this was the right direction for me to go.
ESPECIALLY since we started with terrible Tennessee clay.  Our garden has
benefitted greatly from HANDS ON AGRONOMY, (on balancing soil fertility) and
eventually I'll get around to applying the info to my fruit trees!
    I don't know the cost for just a day, (It's $150 for the 3 days) but we
have friends who talked their way into the trade show for free, and spent
their $150 on books.  (They'd arranged a biz trip to get to one of these
conferences but got delayed till the afternoon of the 3rd day.) A lot of the
speakers focus on  livestock and row crops, but there are speakers on soil
inoculants, organic soil managment, foliar feeds, non-toxic farming.  These
people are WAY WAY out in front of the pack.  Just to get in and look at the
trade show would blow your mind.  How many of you all have read SECRETS OF
THE SOIL?  Some of the people in that book are associated with ACRES.  One
of them, Harvey Lisle, is associated with NAFEX, he has a book out on rock
dust for fertilizer.  (ACRES carries a classic on this subject, BREAD FROM
STONES).
    I note that the ACRES book catalog has 3 books on fruit trees.  ORGANIC
FRUIT TREE MANAGEMENT, from the Certified Organic Associations of British
Columbia, THE BACKYARD ORCHARDIST, by Stella Otto, and the one I've been
wanting to get a look at, THE APPLE GROWER, by Michael Phillips.  The trade
show would be a good place to look them over.  I've just ordered one sounds
like a lot of fun, TEST YOUR SOIL WITH PLANTS.     Donna


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