“When Myrna and Earl Fincher married 53 years ago they started farming their yard “out of necessity”. Today, the Finchers make a living selling their organic produce to restaurants and at the local farmers’ market twice a week for much of the year. They had no experience as farmers, but learned by trial and error.”
organic gardening
More Details about Terra Preta
I’m really fascinated with the terra preta/biochar concept. We briefly touched on the subject in our blog post Big Ideas that are Changing the World. Watch the excellent video there for a good overview of the subject.
Terra preta is nothing short of amazing. It’s considered the most fertile soil in the world, and has retained its fertility over thousands of years. Studies have reported positive effects from biochar on crop production in degraded and nutrient–poor soils. Biochar–enhanced soils can indefinitely sustain agricultural production [that means forever!], whereas non-amended soils quickly become depleted of nutrients. Compare terra preta to modern industrial agriculture that gradually depletes soil and pollutes groundwater and food sources with toxic chemicals.
Growing Moringa, the World’s Most Nutritious Tree
As we reported in a previous blog post about the Healthiest Foods in the World, moringa leaves are amazingly nutrient dense: 7 times the vitamin C of oranges, 4 times the vitamin A of carrots, 4 times the calcium of milk, 3 times the potassium of bananas, 3 times the iron of spinach, and 2 times the protein of yogurt. In addition, moringa has minerals, 46 antioxidants, significant amounts of beta-carotene and all the essential amino acids. Aid agencies consider moringa a vital tool in the fight against malnutrition around the world. Maybe that’s why some call it the Tree of Life or Miracle Tree.
Liquid Fertilizers for Organic Gardening
The soil in most parts of the world has been depleted through intensive farming methods and erosion. Plants will grow with chemical fertilizer, but often lack valuable minerals and micronutrients. We need to give the plants a boost so they’re healthy and disease resistant, and our bodies also need the added nutrients. This blog post explains several low cost/free ways to make liquid fertilizer to give your plants a healthy, natural boost. And remember, “You are what you eat” (and think).
EM = effective organisms, microbial innoculent
Food Web
“We are working on a new project called Food Web. The Food Web is a holistic approach towards small scale food production. Basically, it’s a way to
increase efficiency and yields by integrating livestock. If you are going to raise animals on your homestead, you should design connections and
interactions between them to decrease feed inputs and labor.
We’re building a Food Web here in Northern Mexico as a working example and sort of an open classroom for the struggling farmers in our area. We are
documenting this project in a book, titled Food Web. It will provide instructions for people to be able to design and create their own Food Webs,
depending on their unique situations and circumstances.