permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

Kathy Evans wrote:

> I would like to order some of your brown rice, too, Raquel and Greg. And a
> question for Lawrence....you've talked about rock dust several times on
> this list...is its value in the minerals it puts back into the soil? What
> does it do for the soil that compost doesn't? It sounds magical, I just

It does different things for the soil than compost. Both build soil but in 
different ways.
Rock powders provide mineral nutritients for animals, plants and soil microorganisms such as beneficial nematodes, 
fungi, bacteria, actinomycetes, protozoa and arthropods (see: http://www.soilfoodweb.com/03_about_us/approach.html).

Mized with manures and or compost before distributing over a garden they will 
be broken down sooner to become
available nutrients. Mixing with maanure make the manure easier to distribute 
evenly.

If mixed with clay or silt or any impermeable or easily compactible soils 
they will rapidly increase soil tilth
so that acceptable production will be possible within one season, unlikely 
with several years without.
Never put sand in clay soil to increase tilth, always use rock powders and compost instead; better yet apply a balanced 
array of nutrients and micronutrients along with compost, manure and tilthing agents such as aragonite, hi-cal lime or 
mag-lime, quarry rock powders, granite dust, azomite, greensand, rock phosphate, colloidal phosphate, blood meal, 
alfalfa meal, fish meal, crab waste, cottonseed meal, feather meal and other soil amendments that increase soil quality, 
fertility and tilth. If you're mechanically breaking up clay with rock dusts, composts and manure you're feeding soil 
microorganisms as well as plants. Microorganisms break down rock dusts and organic matter and turn them into plant food. 
If you learn to get in sync with the natural processes and cycles that occur seasonally in your garden you can
achieve excellent production of crops high in nutritional quality and flavor.

> want to know more about it. Also can you tell us more about your
> sustainably grown spinach, what that means exactly. Thank you, Kathy

It means the same as 100% organically grown but without any federal organic 
certification.
In other words, grown using natural materials and methods that emulate 
natural processes,
conserve water resources and recycle nutrients and utilized biological pest 
and weed control.

"Sustainably Grown" and "Locally Grown" are the new buzzwords gaining 
recognition
and popularity around the country.

--
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
Venaura Farm
lfl@intrex.net
info@market-farming.com
IM: lawrence.london@pandion.be & lfl@amber.org.uk
Market Farming
http://market-farming.com
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