permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Caveman Chemistry
http://www.cavemanchemistry.com/

"Caveman Chemistry is an experiential exploration of chemical
technology from the campfires of the stone age to the plastic
soft-drink bottle. An experiential exploration? Not only will you
learn about these technologies, you will learn to recreate them.
Instructions are given for making bronze from metal ores; glass from
sand, ashes, and limestone; paper from grass or straw; soap from fat;
alcohol from honey; photographs from egg whites; chlorine from salt
water and celluloid from cotton.

Your guides on this journey are the four alchemical elements; Fire,
Earth, Air and Water. These archetypal characters deliver first-hand
accounts of the births of their respective technologies. The spirit of
Fire, for example, was born in the first creature to cultivate the
flame. This spirit passed from one person to another, from one
generation to another, from one millennium to another, arriving at
last in the pages of this book. The spirit of Earth taught folks to
make tools of stone, the spirit of Air imparted knowledge of units and
the spirit of Water began with the invention of “spirits.” Having
traveled the world from age to age, who can say where they will find
their next home? Perhaps they will find one in you.

The complete text of Caveman Chemistry is available for browsing and
may be purchased as an ebook or in paperback using the navigation bar
to your left. If you would like to be notified about developments to
the book or website, please join the Mailing List. This low-volume
list is only for announcements about Caveman Chemistry"
.
The old Caveman Chemistry website:
Chemistry 104
>From Caveman to Chemist
http://cavemanchemistry.com/oldcave/
Lime and Lye: Two Strong Alkalis
http://www.cavemanchemistry.com/oldcave/projects/lime/

soil minerals . com
Soil Minerals and Soil Prescriptions for Organic Gardeners
Soil Minerals Home: organic garden soil minerals, trace minerals,
fertilizers and soil testing for gardeners.
http://soilminerals.com/
The Function of Soil Minerals and Trace Elements in Soil, Plant,
Animal, and Human Nutrition and Health
Information Pages:
http://soilminerals.com/information.htm

My comments on FB to Sean Maley who posted the link to Caveman Chemistry:
<>
Have a look at Michael Astera's book: which can be seen at:
http://soilminerals.com/ The Ideal Soil: A Handbook for the New
Agriculture http://soilminerals.com/Ideal_Soil_Main_Page.htm plus
information pages on soil minerals: The Function of Soil Minerals and
Trace Elements in Soil, Plant, Animal, and Human Nutrition and Health
http://soilminerals.com/information.htm. I have been reading Astera
for several years and found his approach valid, enlightening and
informative. He teaches you how to test your own soil using existing
labs and analyize the results yourself. This is a good learning tool.
If you search Google and Wikipedia for more resources on soil
chemistry you will find an amazing amount of useful instructional
material, much for beginners, armchair soil scientists and natural
farmers who will find resources and tools they can put to work right
away. This has given me a greater understanding of soil minerals and
mineral balancing that I will apply to maintenance of my gardens. A
lot of this gave me understanding for the first time of the basic
principles of soil chemistry. Dig in and you will find a whole new
field of study. We could create a short course in soil science
interactively in this forum.
For starters, look up "ion" in Wikipedia and go from there and search
the permaculture archives for posts with excerpts from select
Wikipedia pages. Fascinating material.