It's Been a Long Wait--Alvin Schlangen Basks in the Limelight, and Looks to Leverage His Success for Others

Speaking of the whale family, for people that don't know, bottlenose dolphins have brains 40% larger than ours, I believe it was libertarian economist Murray Rothbard who made the brilliant statement, "We will acknowledge animals having rights when they petition those rights." Murr, check out the research of dr John lilly re interspecies communication with dolphins, and also what native spiritual teachers say that are able to directly communicate with other species, and I think you can consider those rights petitioned.

I scored in the top 1%, when compared to peers, on every standardized test I've ever taken Watson. But its meaningless. These standardized tests have built-in cultural biases. (Yes, I am saying they are racist). The knowledge required to pass a standardized intelligence test is useless on the production floor of a cheese factory.

I think Einstein said it best (he was a socialist too, by the way)

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein

Welcome to the real world.

@ Bill Anderson: The mere fact that you read this woman's piece-of-garbage-blog speaks volumes for your choices in people. She actually makes it sound as though something untoward is going on at Joel's farm just because he prefers to train men to farm, rather than women.

So she's a feminist, big deal. I grew up on my family farm and it was hard work to help with chores. Whenever I got the chance to dress up and feel feminine, I took it. I still like to have men open doors for me, is that wrong? I like to have a man help me walk across an icy path or whatever - - - is that wrong? She can act like a man if she prefers, but many of us completely understand why Joel thinks men should be the mainstay of his training/operation. It's usually the men who buy the land and work the land, and the women help. Does this feminist blogger understand that his operation also teaches the business end of running a farm? Women can buy and run farms, I understand that because I have farmland that I rent out myself (inherited), but it's not easy to own AND run a farming operation. I'd bet dollars to donuts she doesn't GET that part of it. She sounds like a complete airhead.

I'd love to see her face to face with Joel on that sexist "intimate" remark she made. =o

I'm interested in that too. It's too bad the conversation went off on a tangent because I was more interested in the "biological transmutation" subject. I once read something Salatin said in an interview with Chris Martenson which struck me as odd - that earthworms create elements or something. I figured that's what was being referred to here.

My suggestions, for your acreage, would be to get Harvey Ussery's book "Backyard Poultry Flock," if you plan to have chickens or fowl, etc. and find a good place in state to do soil testing. He has an excellent discussion inside what is an amazingly thorough and enjoyable book, and reminds us that any piece of land has multiple inhabitants and all give and take to the health and balance of the soil. Managing all those parts is art, and why real farmers are so valuable.

Basically, if I am understanding your question correctly, soil re mineralization is the principle of putting back into the soil 1. what has been lost through improper or proper farming over time (even proper farming is like writing checks against a bank account, and deposits must from time to time be made). 2. Ensuring those things are in BALANCE and BIOAVAILABLE. You can have lots of minerals in the soil, but if your pH is off, certain microbes are lacking, they are in the wrong forms, etc. plants will not be able to utilize them.

Yes, we are looking for natural forms/types of minerals, when possible naturally derived/redirected, though the organic/sustainable movement, sadly, is heavily dependent on getting mineral from far away places (ocean and mountains), just like the conventional. If you go to an ACRES or similar publication, conference, you will get to see all the major current vendors of mineral products and what is available.

For me, my main mineral program is pretty simple. I feed my chickens extremely well, with an organic non-GMO feed ration with added mineral of both oyster shell and a nutri-balancer (whose bedding goes onto the garden in the Fall, which I let them till in), and thus get a high N, P, K along with lots of trace minerals fertilizer. I mulch my garden heavily with wood chips/leaves, both to suppress weeds and to feed soil fungi and microbes and to build soil matter. I never leave any bare soil anywhere in my garden, and next year plan to use cover crops coupled with heavy mulching. Not only does it save me countless hours weeding, it also conserves insane amounts of water in the soil... we are taking 50-80% reduction in watering needs, even with the insane drought we had this Summer.

There is a great video free online called Back to Eden you can check out to see the principles in action.
I also make my own worm castings and soil amendments to plant right around the things I plant, and use very limitedly fish emulsion. Our soil was TERRIBLE when we moved here - we are talking organic matter % below .5%. We basically had grass growing on clay.

I plan to start incorporating cover cropping soon to help deepen my soil and drive good stuff farther down and all the other benefits that cover cropping creates. Like you, I am a city boy, but with a bit more farm experience over the past few years but not much; yesterday we celebrated two years on our farm. If you check out my facebook page (http://tinyurl.com/9bapkax), I am going to post pictures of the difference you can make in two years to soil health and productivity. You may have to friend me, scary thought, to see them. I may not to get them posted for a few days, as we have a work crew coming today.

Generally as well, we care more than about just mineral balance and content, but organic matter composition and content, biological activity (microbes, fungi, etc.), and other things that all go into creating a robust and resistant soil ecology.

Soil management to some extent requires some testing, as normally with the plants by the time they tell you you have an issue you are going to lose plants/production/have pests and other problems because of it, but you won't know till it is late in the game.

Depending on what your land is currently like where you grow crops, a method I have been very happy with is a modified "Lasagna" gardening method, mainly using wood chips to bury the grass under 24-30 inches of wood chips, with a bottom layer of double/low/no ink cardboard to kill/suppress grass/weeds.

You can write a few books on this topic... heck, you could fill a library at this point, I am sure some people have whole libraries filled with it! Also, with this issue, there is a big bit of FWIW (For what its worth); what works for some amazingly I have seen epic fail for others, and vice versa. Some principles cross all methods, but some will surprise you, and then, like WAPF's research, what we are really looking for is how does it stand up to the LONG TERM, not just a few years or even a decade.

I also find some of the ideas you mentioned intriguing, but have no experience with them yet. We have enough space that I plan to try a few of them next year.

The first step is to have your soil tested for macro and micro nutrients. The second step is to have a clear picture of what you intend to do specific to the nature and character of your land. The do nothing farming ideas ("One Straw Revolution") are long term investments in producing a living soil, and do not presuppose total self mineralization since soil does not self mineralize. Your soil tests will tell you if you need to supplement. Supplementing is done with the end goal of promoting healthy soil ecology and biota-which is the basis for sustainable agricultural practices. Mineral supplementing is not the same as big ag type chemicals, and mined mineral can be obtained from ag suppliers. This is what we are doing-since most of our former topsoil is in a 15-20' layer at the base of our fields-where it cannot even be mined-a heart breaking testament to 150 years of abusive agricultural practices. To date, minus equiment rental, labor , seed, mental health support, and fuel costs, restoration of our farm is averaging $340/acre in off site purchased mineral supplements. (We cannot generate enough manure and "waste dairy" to restore the land-we can generate enough to sustain and promote healthy soil once we restore soil ecology-I have our manure tested.)

To restore farmland you need to think deeply, converse with your land and engage. (For smaller garden acreage I'd suggest looking at Steve Solomon's fertilizer formulations in his book Gardening When it Counts as an entry to thinking about this stuff.)

Dr. Heckman perhaps can comment and recommend a few good references on soil restoration-I need to have a decent soil science reference text.

Thanks,

Ron

Thanks JohnM and everyone who's posting here. (it's too much for me to read all at once, will reread in depth) When I bought my land, people told me I need to get the soil tested and add lime and whatnot to change the ph... but it didn't feel right to me. So I just started farming anyway (I'm kind of lazy) ... and have had some success with watermelons and potatoes... anyways so recently I found this "natural farming" video on you tube, and that's where I heard of the "do nothing" "no till" approach, ... and I see people here talking about the idea of the soil ph taking care of itself, it you use heavy mulch... and well stuff like that really appeals to me, creating the soil from the top down... Again. like I say I'm lazy. I have lots of pine needles on my land, as I preserve most as woods, and I thought that might make great mulch, but some people say it's too acidic... so anyways I find this guy in a forum saying it works great, his soil went from acidic to neutral over time with the pine needles...

"you may have to friend me (scary thought), to see them..." Hey JohnM if that was directed to me, no worries. I don't use facebook though, but hey, anyone that calls themself a christian and could read my very politically incorrect posts in the fda arms buildup thread, and still answer my question here (and in so much depth), hey you must be a very tolerant person. Peace and Love, Tom

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/chinasSoilRuined.php

Cropland soils are turning acid from the overuse of nitrogen fertilizers, decreasing productivity, polluting the environment, and contributing huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions; researchers recommend reducing fertilizer use, but have not considered phasing it out altogether by adopting organic agriculture Dr. Mae-Wan Ho

Those who use chemical fertilizers treat the soil as if it were a hydroponic medium and are in essence mining rather then nurturing the soil. Soil is a complex self-regulating organic structure that demands our respect and if nurtured properly will self-mineralize and achieve the appropriate balance to produce healthy food.

Lowering or raising soil pH can be a slow and challenging process. The nature of the soil substrate or underlying bedrock has a substantial influence on soil pH. Soils layered over limestone bedrock for example, are strongly buffered by inorganic ions through the weathering of soil minerals derived from that substrate and tend to be more alkaline then those layered above crystalline, acidic, bedrock, as is the case in the region where I live.

Acid soils also occur most frequently in higher precipitation areas and especially in areas where coniferous tree cover was and continues to be the dominant type of vegetation.
Adding pine needles to the soil will lower the pH thus increasing soil acidity.

Ken

I cannot dispute that a healthy diet improves and/or maintains a healthy body. My kids did have refined sugar, I used to do a lot of baking, we also lived in Germany next to a bakery when they were young. They did not get grocery store sweets often, especially at home. They were close to 10 yrs old before they tasted coke. I also pushed for good oral hygiene from the time they were toddlers and never had any problems with brushing teeth or bathing (had to fight them to get out of the tub). Along with nutrition, lifestyle has a big influence on our bodies.

The "studies" done in, I think it was the 40s, in regards to fluoride added to tap water and supposedly decreasing cavities...was debunked. The showed that parents may have influenced the children to better care for their teeth (They were told they were in a study regarding cavities), thus the parents 'may' have pushed for more and better brushing.

With the amount of cavities here in America in children's mouths, I would question not only their diets, but also what they do for oral hygiene. I have a feeling that many if not most, really don't brush daily.