permaculture

[Steve Diver <steved@ncatark.uark.edu>]

Yesterday I sent notes on large-scale vermicomposting,
including:

> Several methods and systems are used, large-scale:
> *industrial scale bins
> *benches with screens on the bottom
> *outdoor windrow systems

There was a bookmark I was trying to find, to illustrate the
"benches with screens on the bottom"; i.e., a continuous flow
reactor system.   The site was "Kitsap." These pictures tell the
story; an EPM Flo Thru Worm Bin.

Kitsap E-Z Earth | Photo Tour
http://kitsapezearth.com/tour.html

The Vermillennium was mentioned as a key conference where
state-of-the-art vermicomposting at the commercial scale was
featured, with speakers like Clive Edwards and Scott Subler
from Ohio State University.

Mary Apelhof helped organize the Vermillennium.    Apelhof's
WormWoman site offers several resources from the Vermillennium,
including:  The first 27 issues of Casting Call Newsletter bound
in a special Vermillennium collection; Vermillennium highlights video;
and Vermillennium abstracts.

WormWoman.com:  Vermillennium Resources
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Vermillennium_10.html

Also from Rhonda Sherman-Huntoon at NC State, is this
BioCycle article that reviews windrow systems, wedge systems,
beds and bin systems, and reactor systems (flow through & batch).

Latest Developments in Mid- to Large-Scale Vermicomposting
Rhonda Sherman-Huntoon
BioCycle Magazine | November 2000
http://www.jgpress.com/BCArticles/2000/110051.html

Cuba and India are known as world leaders in grass-roots
implementation of vermiculture and worm composting at the
farm scale.

The intensification of urban agriculture in Cuba led to integration
of worm composting to generate a humus-based soil substrate
for raised beds and vertical growing modules, in the intensive food
production system known as organiponicos.

[Elements of the organiponicos system remind me of the Mittleider
grow box method/system.  See: http://www.growfood.com ].

This site at Dalhousie University provides pictures and details on
organiponicos.

Case Study in Urban Agriculture:  Organiponicos in Cienfuegos, Cuba
http://www.dal.ca/~dp/reports/ztaboulchanas/taboulchanasst.html

More photos of the organiponicos system, from La Abeja Obrera's
Cuba solidarity work trip, January 2001.
http://www.abejaobrera.org/slideshow/sanctispiritus/organiponico/

Matthew Werner, soil ecologist at Univ of California-Santa Cruz,
traveled to Cuba through Global Exchange in 1993-94 to study
vermiculture, and published articles in BioCycle and Worm Digest.

Werner, M.R. and J. Ramon Cuevas. 1996. Working with
worms: Vermiculture in Cuba. Biocycle Journal of Composting
and Recycling.  Vol. 37(6): 57-62.  [print only]

The Worm Man of Havana
Matthew Werner | Worm Digest, Issue #5
http://www.wormdigest.org/article_27.html

Pune, India is a current-day fertile crescent for vermicomposting
in Asia.  Three Pune-based vermiculture organizations are prominent:

IOFRT - Institute of Organic Farming and Rural Technologies
http://www.ecopune.com/iofrt.htm

INORA - Institute of Natural Organic Agriculture
http://www.inoraindia.com/

Bhawalkar Vermitech Pvt. Ltd. | Bhawalkar Ecological Research
Institute (BERI)
http://members.tripod.com/eco_logic/index.htm

A spin-off from Dr. Uday Bhawalkar's research is a biological
wastewater treatment known as Sujala Biosanitizer, and a vermiculture
starter known as Sudhara Plus which also calls for the integration
of rock dusts.

A Farmer Centered Approach to Wastewater Treatment and
Resource Recovery
Dr Uday S. Bhawalkar | Bhawalkar Ecological Research Institute (BERI)
http://members.tripod.com/eco_logic/waste.htm

IOFRT is the home of Dr. Hemangee Jambhekar's research.

INORA worm composting is coordinated by Ms. Manju Tadvalkar.

With vermicomposting in India, you will notice a theme, the
integration of microbial inoculants to create a worm compost
biofertilizer.

Microbial inoculants used at the wormeries of INORA:

Phosphorus solubilizing bacteria -- Bacillus megatherium,
Bacillus polymixa
Free-living nitrogen fixers -- azotobacter, azospirillum
Cellulose degrading aerobic microbes
Blue Green Algae

A fascinating aspect of agriculture in India -- with respect to
composts, inoculants, and biofertilizers -- is the vasumitra herbal
compost preparation used in association with 'Sanjeevan Technology'.
Vasumitra Bioteks is a sister organization to IOFRT.

Vasumitra Bioteks
http://www.vasumitra.com/
http://www.vasumitra.com/compost.htm
http://www.vasumitra.com/howitworks.htm

The healing aspects of Sanjeevan and the background material
on life force energy associated with Sanjeevan Technology reminds
me of a healing system in India known as Sai Sanjeevini.  Essentially,
the Sanjeevinis are radionic pattern cards used to impart healing
energies to water.  Interestingly, Sanjeevinis evolved as a low
cost healing modality for poor, remote villagers who lack access
to medical treatment.

Sai Sanjeevini
http://www.saisanjeevini.org/welcome.htm

A general article on Sanjeevani Healing
http://www.aryabhatt.com/articles/Sanjeevani%20Healing.htm

The cultivation of medicinal plants with enhanced bioactive
properties and subtle qualities, through biodynamics and related
systems of microvita-charged organic farming, is another theme
you will find in India. ITTM, International Trust for Traditional
Medicine, has this series on biodynamic cultivation of medicinal
plants in the periodical "AyurVijnana" regarding Indo-Tibetan
medical cultures.

AyurVijnana
http://www.kreisels.com/ittm/publications/AyurVijnana/AboutAyurVijnana.htm

Biodynamic Cultivation of Medicinal Plants at ITTM, Kalimpong
http://www.kreisels.com/ittm/medicinalPlant/BiodynamicCultivation.htm

New Dimensions In Cultivating Medicinal Plants, Part I
By Tadeu Caldas | AyurVijnana, Volume 5, Autumn 1998
http://www.kreisels.com/ittm/publications/AyurVijnana/Vol_05/AV_V05_3.htm

New Dimensions In Cultivating Medicinal Plants, Part I
By Tadeu Caldas | AyurVijnana Volume7, 2000
http://www.kreisels.com/ittm/publications/AyurVijnana/Vol_07/Biodynamics_2.htm

Homa Farming, relating to the practice of Agnihotra -- derived
from the vedas [Yajnya = Bioenergy] -- is another farming system
that comes to mind in terms of subtle energy agriculture in India.
Tapovan Farm in northern Maharashtra, India uses "ash from
Agnihotra and the other Yajnya fires as a means of enriching the
soil..... we regularly spray the foliage of all crops and trees with
Agnihotra ash/water solution for pest control and plant nutrition....
.....vegetables, herbs, trees and flowers are being germinated
in our nursery using Homa Therapy techniques (seeds are
treated with cow urine, cow dung and Agnihotra ash)."

Tapovan Farm
http://www.angelfire.com/realm/tapovan/farm.htm

"Homa Farming for the New Age" by Jarek Bizberg is a 152-page
guide to Homa Farming based on the ancient science of Agnihotra
http://www.summit.net/home/agnihotra/Literature.html

An explanation of Agnihotra
http://www.angelfire.com/realm/tapovan/agnihotra.htm

Agriculture of the Future | Homa Therapy
http://users.nexet.net/agnihotra/agricult.html

BAIF is an organization in India working with vermicompost
and biofertilizers as part of an all-round scheme to improve lives
of rural people; additionally addressing: multi-purpose trees,
bioenergy, appropriate technology, agroforestry, fodder and
fuelwood trees.

BAIF - Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation
http://www.baif.com
http://www.baif.com/publications.htm

Development Alternatives is an organization that teaches
vermicomposting to women in South India as a form of
sustainable livelihood.

Development Alternatives:  Vermicomposting
http://www.dainet.org/livelihoods/vermicomposting.htm

My interest in agriculture of India / worm composting in India
goes back a few years.  Larry London's web archives includes
this item I forwarded in June 1993, an article featuring the
vermiculture work of Hemangee and Abhay Jambhekhar.

Vermiculture--Indian experience and experiments | A Report on
Vermiculture by Astad Pastakia
http://www.ibiblio.org/london/agriculture/vermiculture/1/msg00006.html

AuroAnnam Farm, associated with the Auroville community in
South India, employs a number of organic farming practices
including worm composting, biodynamics, and EM (Effective
Microorganisms).

AuroAnnam - Research & Development Farm
http://www.auroville.org/research/auroannam_research_farm.htm

Margarita Correa's papers are noteworthy reports from the field.
Of special interest is the use of a worm byproduct known as
vermiwash, integrated with EM and cow's urine.

The Impact of Effective Microorganisms (EM) in Various
Farming Systems
http://www.auroville.org/environment/EM_impact.pdf
        A 13-page PDF

Experiences with Effective Microorganisms in Disease and Pest Control
in Farms and Gardens in India
        A zip file located at the HTML address for AuroAnnam

ILEIA featured Purushotham Rao, an organic farmer in Southern
India, who employs specialized recipes for preparing compost he
calls 'Krishinivas' methods I, II, and III.  Decoctions, or herbal
teas, prepared from plants leaves are used to promote crop
growth and control crop pests.

Organic Farming in Southern India
ILEIA Newsletter | Vol. 13, No. 2
http://www.ileia.org/2/13-2/13-2-24.htm

Here is a study tour report on compost and vermicompost
in agriculture, a 27-page PDF, including site visits to Pune, India
and Havana, Cuba.

Use of Compost and Vermicompost in Agriculture
Report to the Albert Mainerd Scholarship Committee on the
Study Tour carried out by Rod Diacono in 1997
http://www.lgsa.org.au/environ/waste/Vermicompost.pdf

Here is an FAO document on Urban Agriculture in India,
a 57-page Word.doc download, that contains a section on
composting and vermiculture, with a helpful directory of resource
listings for India.

Urban Agriculture in India: A Map of Research Capacity and Expertise
http://www.fao.org/ag/ags/agsm/sada/asia/DOCS/DOC/Yasmeen2.doc

A related report to this work, also by the same author, Gisele
Yasmeen, is available in HTML at the Cities Feeding People
web site at IRDC.

Urban Agriculture in India: A Survey of Expertise, Capacities
and Recent Experience
IRDC | Cities Feeding People Report No. 32
http://www.idrc.ca/cfp/rep32_e.html

The following report relates to composting and vermiculture in
urban environments, an UWEP Working Document.

Wasted Agriculture - The Use of Compost in Urban Agriculture
http://www.globenet.org/preceup/pages/fr/chapitre/reflreco/reflex/asptech/a.htm

Other India Bookstore features a section on organic farming
and agriculture of India, including a few titles on vermiculture
and composting, plant-based pest control, among others.

Other India Bookstore:  Organic Farming/Agriculture
http://www.goacom.com/oibs/GenCatalog?catid=6

Vedams Books in India carries a number of titles relating azotobacter,
biofertilizers, vermicomposting, organic farming, beneficial fungi,
farm forestry, fodder crops, forage crops, aromotic plants,
medicinal plants, etc.

Vedams Books
http://www.vedamsbooks.com

Elsewhere,

Vermitech Pty Limited in Australia produced this report,
located on Environment Industry Development Network.

Very Large Scale Vermiculture in Sludge Stabilisation
http://www.eidn.com.au/technicalpapervermiculture.htm

A collection of compost (kompost) and worm (regenwürmer)
links are here:
http://www.pillewurm.de/links/

The Composting Guide at the Organics Recycling & Composting
page for NC Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental
Assistance offers several PowerPoint presentations on
large-scale vermicomposting and institutional food waste handling.

1.Managing Organic Wastes by Composting and Vermicomposting
2.Food Waste Diversion at Correctional Facilities – Composting
  Technologies and Costs
3.Commercial Vermicomposting Systems
http://www.p2pays.org/compost/main/guide.htm
        These are those "best suited to Internet Explorer" type
        PowerPoint presentations.

The last presentation -- Commercial Vermicomposting Systems --
by Rhonda Sherman, provides a summary of the following
commercial systems:  Vermitech, Vermitechnology Unlimited,
Worm World, EPM, and Oregon Soil Corporation.

BioCycle magazine provides access to table of contents
for back issues in recent years; selected articles can be
found online.

BioCycle Contents
http://www.jgpress.com/BCContent.html

Worming the Way to Finished Compost
BioCycle | October 1999
http://www.jgpress.com/BCArticles/1999/10991.html

Achieving Pathogen Stabilization Using Vermicomposting
Biocycle | November 1999
http://www.jgpress.com/BCArticles/1999/11994.html

Regards,
Steve Diver