permaculture

[Saor Stetler <saor@ycbtal.net>]

STONE DUST

Carrots grown with stone dust (left) and without (right)

Along with cold fusion <http://prorev.com/coldfusion.htm>, the 
hard-hitting science department of the Progressive Review has long 
argued for more attention being given to the remineralization of the 
soil as a way of increasing productivity. Now there seem to be other 
ecological benefits.

PAUL KELBIE, INDEPENDENT, UK - 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 revitalize 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.". . . 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."

BBC, APRIL 2004 - 
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/beyond/factsheets/changing8_prog3.shtml> 
Cabbages the size of footballs and onions that fill the palm of your 
hand are now being grown in the barren soil and harsh climate of a 
Scottish glen where nothing has been grown for human consumption for the 
past 50 years. Moira and Cameron Thomson (on either side of BBC 
presenter Steve Chalke in picture) put their success at growing such 
healthy vegetables down to rock dust - powered rock from the local 
quarry. The anecdotal evidence is so strong that it has persuaded the 
Scottish Executive to invest almost L100,000 for the Department of 
Environmental Chemistry at the University of Glasgow to do some serious 
scientific research. If their claims prove to be correct, there could be 
huge implications for gardeners, for farmers, for human health and, 
according to the Thomsons, even in the fight against climate change. It 
seems impossible that a discovery of such importance can start in a 
Dundee garden, but the Thomsons are on the brink of finding out whether 
their work really has all the benefits they think it has in terms of 
better produce which improves human health, taking more carbon from the 
atmosphere, holding it in the soil and therefore helping fight climate 
change, making positive use of waste (including stockpiled rock dust), 
reducing the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers, and improving 
poor soils in some areas of Scotland with few other economic 
opportunities. If it is proved to work in just some of these areas, it 
will be of enormous significance for all of us.

SUSTAINABLE ECOLOGICAL EARTH REGENERATION CENTER 
<http://www.seercentre.org.uk/>

PROGRESSIVE REVIEW, MAR 2000

- In one experiment in North Carolina, 500 five-year-old red spruce and 
fraser fir trees were treated with rock dust applied at various rates. 
After six months it was found that all of the rock-dusted trees had 
survived, while only 77%-87% of the non-treated trees had. Growth rate 
increases, depending on the size of application, varied from 5% to 39%.

- At the Hardin Brothers farm in Queensland Australia, rock dust has 
been used since the mid-80s. Among the results: fertilizer applications 
have been reduced by 80 percent. There has been a saving in fertilizer 
costs. There has been less environmental damage caused by runoff 
contamination. 25% higher yields. 20% increase in growth rate. There has 
been an 80% increase in production even using less fertilizer.

- In another case, glacial moraine gravel dust was spread on 10 acres. 
In an area of sparse rainfall and dry summers, and with no irrigation, 
the corn produced 65 bushels per acre, compared to yields of under 25 
bushels per acre from other local farms.

- A study in Bavaria found that after 24 years the wood volume of the 
treated area was four times higher than in the untreated area. In the 
case of new pine seedlings remineralized with basalt rock dust, there 
were gains over the untreated area after the sixth year. After 24 years, 
the wood volume of the treated area was four times higher than in the 
untreated area.

- Another experiment by Jared Milarch, an undergraduate at Northwestern 
Michigan College, produced, by the 67th day, startling increases in 
immature tomatoes treated with montmorillonite clay.

- Your editor, who worked on his parent's organic beef farm even before 
the publication of "Silent Spring," is aware of the slow osmosis from 
ridicule to acceptance in matters of natural agriculture. My father had 
a hard time even finding a lawyer when he sued the Central Maine Power 
Company in 1960 for spraying along the farm power lines. The town lawyer 
took the case and won a settlement that to this day bars CMP from 
spraying power lines if the owner does not wish it. The remineralization 
movement is presently in a somewhat analogous position of odd novelty. 
The one person I have met in Washington who is sympathetic to the idea 
is Pentagon whistleblower Ernie Fitzgerald, who recalls steel mill 
tailings being successfully used on Alabama farms when he was growing up.