permaculture

[kevin s <k.skvorak@verizon.net>]

thanks for the replies,

re: >"Hugelkultur is nothing more than making raised beds
> filled with rotten wood."


as far our brush piles go, i had thought about using  them in this 
way, and had read about the practice before.  we are going to 
experiment with a little of it today, on a couple of beds,  but there 
are a couple of practical issues for us here;  the woody material is 
really woody- very hard, and inflexible.  very tough stuff. (someone 
said related to honeysuckle, does this make sense? it has a lovely 
scent when cut, smells something like elderberry)  and  the pasture 
roses are just a torture to try to deal with

 we will have to put a lot of labor into cutting the material up into 
small enough lengths to get them to lie down, that is the main 
drawback. it is less labor to use the other materials for mulch

as far as rock dust goes, does anyone have any suggestions for 
discovering the mineral content of any particular source?

our local quarry is crushing 'blue granite' and will load  the dust 
from the slurry pond at 4 dollars a ton

we recently got the soil test back from our local extension office, 
and we seem to be in pretty good shape with our existing soil.  there 
are already good levels all around of P, K, Mg, and Ca.

all the extension office recommends  adding is 120 to 140lbs per ac 
of nitrogen, (we'll get from compost and manure) and 20 lbs per acre 
of P205 phosphate (whatever that is)

i think we'll be pretty good

i'm googling "blue granite" right now but not coming up with much useful yet

regards,
kevin