John Jeavons
Grow the Earth. Grow Biointensive.
Soil is the Solution
This month (December 2018) a commentary piece, Put More Carbon in Soils to Meet Paris Climate Pledges, was published in the journal Nature. It was written by scientists specializing in climate change and agriculture who serve on the science and technical committee of the organization 4 per 1000 (4p1000.org) – an organization dedicated to demonstrating that agriculture, and in particular, agricultural soils, can play a crucial role where food security and climate change are concerned. In the article, they outline how using carbon sequestration to build soil organic matter can mitigate climate change and boost soil fertility. The scientists suggest that the KJWA (a UNFCCC initiative directing the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) to jointly consider how to tackle agriculture issues in the context of climate change) formally commit to increasing global soil organic carbon stocks through coordination and activities related to eight steps.
The eight steps they suggest are:
- Stop carbon loss – Protect peat-lands through enforcement of regulations against burning and drainage.2. Promote carbon uptake – Identify and promote best practices for storing carbon in ways suitable to local conditions, including through incorporating crop residues, cover crops, agroforestry, contour farming, terracing, nitrogen-fixing plants, and irrigation.3. Monitor, report and verify impacts – Track and evaluate interventions with science-based harmonized protocols and standards.
4. Deploy technology – Use high-tech opportunities for faster, cheaper and more accurate monitoring of soil carbon changes.
5. Test strategies – Determine what works in local conditions by using models and a network of field sites.
6. Involve communities – Employ citizen science to collect data and create an open online platform for sharing.
7. Coordinate policies – Integrate soil carbon with national climate commitments to the Paris Agreement and other policies on soil and climate.
8. Provide support – Ensure technical assistance, incentives to farmers, monitoring systems, and carbon taxes to promote widespread implementation.
(Excerpted/edited from https://scienmag.com/scientists-call-for-eight-steps-to-increase-soil-carbon-for-climate-action-and-food-security/ )
As anyone who knows me will tell you, the situation of “Peak Farmable Soil” is one I have been aware of and vocal about for a long time. And while I can’t say I’m glad that what I’ve been worried about for so long is true, I’m relieved that finally, the world’s soil and agricultural scientists and policy makers seem to be awakening to the grave threat – and the huge opportunity! – the cumulative effects of soil depletion and climate change represent to agriculture and food security.
The quantity of carbon stored in our global soils is over 2 times the amount stored in all the trees and other biomass on the planet. This is good. It means that we can store huge amounts of carbon in our agricultural soils if we know how to work with nature to do so. Currently, however, that’s not the case: conventional farming and development has already degraded over a third of the world’s soils, limiting agricultural production and, rather than storing carbon, adding almost 500 gigatons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere—an amount equivalent to burning 216 billion hectares of U.S. forest.
This is a lot to process. But keep reading, there’s hope!
In a nutshell:
There is an urgent need to incorporate more CO2 into our soils in the form of fertile soil organic matter (SOM) to pull carbon out of the air and help stop climate change.
So how do we do it? I was hoping you’d ask. Ecology Action’s Closed-Loop Sustainable GROW BIOINTENSIVE food- and soil-growing system offers practical methods for gardeners and farmers around the globe to be part of the solution! GB has been proven to grow soil organic matter (SOM) over 60 times faster than in nature. We have already shown that for each pound of food eaten, GB can grow up to 20 pounds of farmable soil. A recent preliminary study shows that, for properly maintained GB growing beds, it may be possible to sequester up to 5 metric tons (5.5 US tons) of carbon from the atmosphere, per hectare (2.5 acres) per year.
Extrapolating from this study, if the world’s agricultural soils (~80% of which are farms of 1-2 hectares) were cultivated using GB to accumulate carbon at this rate, in ~31 years, it could be possible to bring atmospheric carbon dioxide levels down to 350ppm, a significant, and life-saving reduction compared to the damaging 408 ppm of CO2 causing global warming and climate change today. (read more about GB and Climate Change here.)
It’s not a complete solution, and we need to do more work to see if the levels of carbon sequestration can me maintained at the level suggested by the study, but it’s a very good start, based on low-tech methods and universal scientific principles that we can all use right now! In combination with other climate change mitigation, it might just do the trick.
Not sure it’s really possible to build soil fertility faster than nature? Look at the chart below on GB Soil Fertility I use in my teaching: in only 8.5 years, we took the soil at the Common Ground Garden at The Jeavons Center from essentially unproductive to flourishing SOM levels that would have taken over 500 years to achieve naturally. You can see the lower levels of pale, depleted soil that would barely grow scrub merge upwards into the dark, carbon-rich soil that grows an abundance of crops each year. This is carbon sequestration in action. This is what the world needs more of, NOW.
Want to be a part of the solution? Put in a GROW BIOINTENSIVE bed. Then, put in another. Keep going. Maintain the beds properly with rich GB compost that you make on-site from the residues of your carefully chosen diet crops – get that carbon in the soil! And enjoy the veggies, fruits, grains, fertile soil, and climate change mitigation you harvest. Who knew fighting global warming could be delicious?
Need help getting started? Take a workshop: my next 1-Day event is in February in Olympia, WA. Ecology Action’s spring 3-Day workshop is in March. Use Ecology Action’s self-teaching tools to get started. Read How to Grow More Vegetables. It’s easy to begin. And once you do, you won’t want to stop. Love it? Start showing others how to do it. That’s how we save the world.
Remember, The Plants are Rooting for Us to Succeed! ♥
1-Day Workshop in Olympia WA
Join me for a full day of Biointensive fun at Evergreen College in Olympia WA on February 10, 2019!
PLUS: A Free Evening Presentation on the 9th, from 6:30-8:30 PM (exact location TBA – check back for updates!)
For registration and information click here!
Help Wanted at Ecology Action!
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIC BIOINTENSIVE FARMERS NEEDED
Do you want to give up your commute, grow organic food, live and work in a rural community in harmony with nature, and help solve our climate, hunger, and sustainability issues with a group of like-minded people? Well, Ecology Action may be the place for you to put down roots!
We’re looking for stable people eager to make a long-term commitment (at least 5 years) to work as year-round Biointensive Farmers starting in 2019 at two separate biointensive research and demonstration mini-farms in Mendocino County, CA: our headquarters at The Jeavons Center (TJC) site near the town of Willits, and our Victory Gardens for Peace (VGfP) site near the town of Mendocino.
Benefits include salary, housing, food or garden space, education and meaningful connection:
- A base salary of $30k/year (40 hours/week @ $15/hour, plus up to 8 hours of simple overtime pay possible during main growing season (Apr 15-Oct 15) plus benefits (paid holidays, vacations, and medical stipend).
- On-site housing/food/garden space:
- At TJC: $250 rent per month provides a large private bedroom in beautiful, clean, recently renovated, 2-story off-grid yurt with shared common space (kitchen, living, dining, 2 baths) for staff and interns. Includes water, power, heating, gas, and garbage. Rural, but a 20-minute drive accesses stores, restaurants, theatres, and community events. Also includes garden space and training to grow food (vegetables, fruits, and grains) in one of oldest continuously operating sustainable research and demonstration gardens on the planet (note: you are responsible for buying any food you need that is not grown on-site).
- At VGfP: Private bedroom with shared staff bathroom, two communal gourmet vegan meals per day, free on-site laundry, utilities, furniture, bedding TV and internet are provided for staff farmers. No staff garden space or kitchen available (shared indoor kitchenette area and outdoor camp-stove for staff). Located at an eco-resort, 15-minute walk to the vacation destination town of Mendocino with shops, restaurants, community events etc. Access to public resort spaces at no cost and to onsite yoga, tai chi, acupuncture, and massage at own cost outside of working hours.
- Both sites: ~1-hour drive to redwoods, lakes, hiking/camping, and coastal vacation destinations; ~3-hour drive to San Francisco/Bay Area.
- A world-class education in the closed-loop GROW BIOINTENSIVE Sustainable Mini-Farming Method used by millions of farmers globally;
- The opportunity to meet and work with lots of interesting people from across the country and around the world, all practicing and teaching sustainable, regenerative, organic agriculture.
The Job: Ecology Action is a non-profit organization focused on sustainable agriculture research and education. As a farmer, you will work closely with Ecology Action staff, mini-farm managers, apprentices, interns, and members of the public participating in farm tours and workshops. Farmer tasks and responsibilities include garden planning, bed preparation, planting, composting, weeding, watering, harvesting, data collection and record keeping. Additional tasks include teaching and outreach (you will receive training in biologically-intensive farming and teaching methods to prepare you for these activities).
Please note: our research and demonstration sites focus on the GROW BIOINTENSIVE method; no other farming methods may be practiced on site by staff farmers. No animal husbandry, hunting, or fishing occurs at these sites. TJC is vegetarian (no meat or fish products on site) and VGfP is 100% vegan (only plant-based food products allowed on site).
Interested? Get the full details and more pictures here: growbiointensive.org/Opportunities.html
Quantum Level Transformation
A thanksgiving tradition at dinner tables across the country is to ask each person “What are you thankful for?” It’s an interesting question, because it is so vitally linked with the other fundamental questions we all ask ourselves in one way or another:
- What do I want to do?
- How can I best express my unique qualities?
- How far can I go with my ideas, desires and visions?
- How can I be at peace with myself, my family and friends?
- How can I make a positive difference for the world at large?
How we find answers to these questions varies, but sometimes, you come across a process that seems fill your sails and blow away the cobwebs, and you want to share it with everyone you know. That’s how I feel about Claudia Wenning’s Handbook Quantum Level Transformation —Tools, Techniques and Meditations for Awareness and Vital Balance: A Transformational Journey of Discovery!
In my experience, it really does provide a quantum level jump in your transformational development – providing a path to answer those questions in a satisfying way. It’s something I am thankful for in my life, and so I wanted to share it with you all.
The book cover says “Claudia integrates various modalities, visualizations, energy modulations and meditations, nutritional consulting, herbs and supplements in naturopathic consultations to assist you to live a life in Vital Balance in body, mind and emotions…to live this precious life in health and joy.” …which seems like a lot, but actually, it’s a series of steps in a process that, taken together, can provide a “quantum leap” in one’s spirit and self. The experiential result sometimes seems miraculous.
Chapters include:
- The Action Plan
- The Mirror Technique
- Notice the Tone of Your Voice
- Stations on the Road to Self-Discovery
- About Vibrational Healing
- Intense Emotions
- Listening to your Body
- Filling Up Your Heath Space
- The 7-Fold Approach to Relationships
- Acknowledging the Energy Field
Use the “Vital Balance Wheel” to develop a practical action plan for your own quantum-level transformation that you can easily grow with! You will be excitingly surprised by the “Crystal Intention Techniques”. Your optimal growth also has to do with learning how to feel fully.
The process is ongoing and exciting. I have experienced the results from several consultations with Claudia, and remember wondering later, “How did the change happen?”… sometimes it was a few days later, yet the new perception just appeared and made everything more wonderful —even when working in challenging situations.
Surprisingly, we are each very powerful in accomplishing what we wish to proactively create. It all depends on what your intention is! This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: “If you want to predict the future, create it!”
As you seek the answers to becoming your best self you in this world, I encourage you to experiment with Quantum Level Transformation; if your experience is anything like mine, you will begin to welcome new possibilities!
Wishing you an enjoyable journey and much to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving!
A Little “Culture”
As harvest season draws to a close, it’s time to preserve the bounty. And what better way to do it than with the time-honored method of fermentation? With the earliest known examples of fermented foods appearing in the Fertile Crescent over 8,000 years ago, it seems that wherever you go around the globe, every culture has its own…um…culturing tradition. Beer, wine, sourdough bread, cheese, chocolate, sauerkraut, coffee and yogurt are just a few of the well-known examples, but the truth is, almost any food can be preserved by the process known as lacto-fermentation or “pickling”. Lucky for us, extending the harvest this way is delicious, so our ancestors perfected the process, not knowing that they were teaming up with important beneficial microbes to increase the nutrition, digestibility, and vitamin levels of the foods they preserved, as well as giving anyone who ate them a stronger immune system.
Over time, as heavily processed, chemically preserved foods became popular, traditional fermentation practices faded to the background. Pickles were made with vinegar and canned foods replaced cultured ones. And in the process, we lost an important ally in our pursuit of health and happiness: the billions of beneficial bacteria that fermented foods had provided humans for thousands of years. Did you know that 2 ounces of lacto-fermented sauerkraut has more probiotics than a bottle of 100 count probiotic capsules? It’s true!
Thankfully, people are starting to understand the value 
and flavor of fermented foods again, and the shelves of health-food (and some mainstream) markets are brimming with formerly exotic items like kimchi, tempeh, kefir, kombucha and kvass.
(FYI: The best kombucha I have ever tasted —ever — is made by IT’S ALIVE KOMBUCHA in Bayside, CA between Eureka and Arcata. We’re in luck — it’s available in flavors like Pear Apple, Cactus Berry, Electric Lemon and more. Try some. You’ll love it.)
It’s nice to be able to buy these foods, but why stop there?
Fermentation is easy (and inexpensive!) to do at home, and Mary Karlin’s book Mastering Fermentation—Recipes for Making and Cooking with Fermented Foods is by far one of my favorite how-to manuals to recommend to beginners and fermentation buffs alike. 
Beginners don’t be scared! As you master fermentation with this book, you’ll experience a good spectrum of delicious and doable recipes! Mary goes broad and deep in the mysterious, magical practical topic. Kiri Fisher, the Owner of The Cheese School of San Francisco notes about this book, its author and fermentation, “Ordinary foods—vegetables, milk, juice, tomatoes, tea—are transformed by it into the most extraordinary pickles, cheeses, vinegars, ketchups and kombuchas….Mary Karlin is the sorceress and this is her book of culinary spells.” I couldn’t say it better.
Look at the topics covered and tell me you don’t want to try at least one recipe. Or five.
Fermentation Basics:
Equipment, Ingredients, and Troubleshooting
Fermented Fruits and Vegetables
Legumes, Nuts, Seeds, and Aromatics
Fermented Dairy
Fermented Grains, Breads, and Flatbreads
Fermented Beverages and Meats and Fish
Cooking with Fermented Foods! Sample from such recipes as:
Fruit and Vegetable Juices, Sauces, Pastes and Stocks
Mushroom Ketchup
Bran Fermented Vegetables
Pineapple Vinegar
Maple Port Vinegar
Pomegranate Molasses
Coconut Milk Yogurt
Plum Raisin Mustard
Apple Caraway Sauerkraut
Sprouted Chickpea Hummus
Fermented White Tofu
Smoky Chipotle in Adobo
Tapenade of Herbs, Citrus, and Olives
Savory Walnut Thyme Butter
Crème Fraiche
Saffron Yogurt Cheese
Crumbly Feta
Wild and Creamy Muenster
Blue-Eyed Jack Cheese
Sprouted Corn Tortillas
Rosemary-Lemon Dutch Oven Bread
Sourdough Pizza
Seeded Sprouted-Grain Crackers
Asian Fish Sauce
Pickled Sardines with Fennel
Ginger Beer
Ginger-Mint Shrub
Water Kefir
Water Kefir Coconut-Ginger Soda
Beet Kvass
Sparkling Fruity Kombucha
Black Pepper Pilsner
Toasted Kale and Spinach Salad
Warm Potato and Caramelized Endive Salad
Grilled Yogurt Naan – Stuffed with Herb-Nut Butter
Potato-Herb Gnocchi with Creamy Whey Reduction Sauce
Tea-Smoked Trout with Walnuts and Crème Fraiche Lentils
Sourdough Walnut-Parsley Sauce
Chocolate Sourdough Cupcakes with Coconut-Pecan Cream Cheese Frosting
Yogurt-Cardamom Ice Cream with Goat Crème Fraiche Caramel Sauce
Yumm…! This book will enable you to ferment lots of recipe ideas of your own!
Enjoy!
Join me for a 3-Day Workshop!
I wanted to keep you in the loop about Ecology Action’s upcoming workshop, and hope you will share this message with friends, family, and like-minded gardeners who could benefit from learning the GB method:
Ecology Action invites everyone to a 3-Day GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming Workshop in Willits, CA on November 2-4, 2018!
GROW BIOINTENSIVE is the original regenerative, sustainable agriculture, rooted in heritage farm-craft and proven with science. Together with Ecology Action farm staff, I’ll share the skills grown over 46 years of developing, using and teaching this wonderfully productive system.
In just 3 days, you’ll learn how to use up to 66% less water, up to 94% less energy, and grow soil up to 60 times faster than nature – all while increasing your garden yields—plus much more.
Whether you’re a backyard gardener or a market farmer, this workshop will build your skills, just in time to go into winter and prepare for spring. Come, have fun, and learn How to Grow More Vegetables (and other crops) than you ever thought possible, on less land, and with less water than you can imagine!
Complete information, prices, and registration are available at: growbiointensive.org/workshop.html
Registration closes October 31, but these workshops can fill early, so don’t wait too long!
Hope to see you there! ♥
Cookstoves and Coppicing
With winter approaching, people in rural areas of the developed world are thinking about heating and cooking. And firewood. And stoves. Around the globe, in the developing world, it isn’t a seasonal thought – it’s a daily thought. “More than half of the world’s population cook their food and heat their homes by burning coal and biomass, including wood, dung and crop residues, over open fires or in rudimentary stoves.” (World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002)
Whether you use a woodstove for winter heat or you cook over a fire for every meal, the efficiency of your stove and the emissions it puts out are important, for your own health, and to the health of the planet. In 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (somewhat belatedly?) branded smoke inhalation of indoor smoke from cooking/heating as a “major health hazard.” International organizations came together as a result of the summit, forming the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA, www.pciaonline.org/ )to address the challenge.
As a result of that effort, Aprovecho Research Center – a non-profit 501(c)3 organization devoted to improving cookstove efficiency and emissions (www.aprovecho.org and www.aprovecho.net ) – tested 18 different cook stoves in use around the world and published Test Results of Cook Stove Performance in 2011 in partnership with the US-EPA and the PCIA. The categories tested include wood-burning stoves with and without chimneys, wood-burning stoves with electric fans, charcoal-burning stoves, liquid-fuel stoves, and a solar cooker. The stoves are rated on seven performance categories: time to boil water, amount of fuel and energy it takes to cook, carbon monoxide emissions, particulate matter emissions, safety, cost, and monthly fuel use.
In the first section of the book, each stove is given two pages, with a photo, a drawing with dimensions, written description of the stove’s origin, performance features and manufacturer contact information. The second section compares stoves by performance category. The third section asks questions about the performance features and answers them with graphs and charts. The book also includes appendices with a glossary and greater detail on testing methods and testing data.
It is evident that a great deal of time and care were taken in designing and carrying out these tests. However, the authors point out that this is a work in progress, a starting place to be improved on over time as these stoves (and others) are used in the home and/or tested in the lab.
This research is an invaluable practical resource for those seeking to improve their sustainability and lower the health risks involved in burning fuel for heat or cooking. On average, each person in the developing world where wood stoves are used burns 1,000 pounds of dry wood annually. To sustainably harvest this amount of firewood, a 40,000 square foot forest is required for each person – something that is simply not available for most people. If the most effective stove can be chosen for each application, less wood may be needed, increasing sustainability, and decreasing the health and environmental impacts of burning wood.
But more can be done! When this stove information is combined with heritage coppicing/pollarding woodland management techniques, the results for sustainability are truly wonderful. Coppiced and pollarded trees are managed so that they regrow after cutting, taking less time to grow more wood than if you planted new trees (the difference between the two is that coppiced trees are cut at ground level, while pollarded trees are cut further up the trunk).
For more information on sustainable coppicing, including a comparison of suitable tree species with yield and uses listed, see Ecology Action’s article Coppicing, available for download from: www.growbiointensive.org/ePubs under the “eInformation Sheets/Articles” tab.
Here’s the punchline:
If tree species are selected that will coppice successfully on a 16-year cycle, and if you use only the wood from significant branches for fuel and compost the bark and smaller branches, then 95% of the trace minerals from the fuel harvested can be captured and returned to the soil in the form of cured compost.
Combine coppicing with the use of a modified lorena stove (permanent cookstoves made of sand and clay) or an effective rocket stove (build of brick/cement www.rocketstoves.com/) and the 1000 lbs. of wood needed annually can be grown using biologically intensive methods in as little as 625 square feet. It’s a gigantic reduction of the 40,000 square feet it takes to grow the fuel for a regular stove. Imagine all that forest staying wild!
This makes sustainable soil fertility AND sustainable forestry AND heat generation possible!
You can download the Test Results of Cook Stove Performance for free at http://www.pciaonline.org/resources/test-results-cook-stove-performance
If you want to learn more about what goes into building efficient cookstoves, Aprovecho has published a new book, Clean-Burning Biomass Cookstoves which you can download for free at http://aprovecho.org/
Coppicing is also used in the creation of hedges, which I posted about earlier this year https://johnjeavons.org/2018/06/19/hedgerows/ For a brief and entertaining visual intro to coppicing, watch this video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkRuMqVuJDE).
Happy growing, cooking and heating!
Coppicing Image credit: No machine-readable author provided. Javier martin assumed (based on copyright claims). – No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1126678
Rocket Stove Image Credit: NokoBunva – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51540750
Cover Crops! Interplanting with Legumes
With summer drawing to a close, it’s time to start thinking about your winter garden, and that means cover crops! Here are some things to consider when planting your cover crops this year:
Normally, a gardener or farmer planning a crop rotation (over time) would start in the late autumn/winter/early spring season by planting a nitrogen-fixing legume, such as a cold-hardy fava (perhaps using the Banner* variety, which can fix up to 0.22 pounds of nitrogen and can withstand temperatures down to 10˚F) or the even hardier Woolly Pod Vetch*, which fixes up to 0.63 pounds of nitrogen/100 sq. ft. and can withstand temperatures to 0˚F., or the truly cold-loving Hairy Vetch*, which can withstand temperatures down to -25˚F. Then, in the following late spring/summer/early autumn, the farmer would plant a summer grain crop to take advantage of the nitrogen stored in the soil by the legumes the previous season.
A challenge with this rotation scheme is that the amount of nitrogen fixed is estimated based on harvesting the legumes before they produce a significant amount of seed. Once the crop flowers and begins to set its seed, the nitrogen fixed in the soil is picked up by the plant to be used for seed production, and this means that the nitrogen is used up by the time one approaches the next winter season.
An alternative to this sequential rotation of legumes and grains in place is to interplant the legumes with grain. In the late autumn/ winter/early spring season, interplant with winter/spring grains (such as Wheat, Hull-less Barley, Hull-less Oats, Cereal Rye, and Triticale); in the late spring/summer/early autumn season, interplant with summer grains (such as Flour/Tortilla Corn, Sorghum, Pearl Millet, 45-Day Japanese Millet, Grain Amaranth and Quinoa).
For example, to use this inter-planting approach in the late autumn/winter/early spring season, you can prepare, fertilize and apply compost to the growing area and soak 5.5 ounces of vetch seed/100 sq. ft. in room temperature water overnight to encourage better germination. The next day, drain the vetch seeds and mix them with a small amount of dry soil; this will allow the seed to be broadcast more easily. Scatter the vetch seeds evenly over the bed, and using a bow rake, very gently chop the seed shallowly into the soil. Then, using a transplanting board, transplant the winter/spring grain onto 5″ offset centers. When the vetch reaches 50% flower (it looks like full flower)—and before it begins to make a significant amount of seed—carefully remove it from the growing area, cutting the plants at ground level and leaving the roots, with their nitrogen-rich nodules, in place. Then, let the grain continue growing to maturity.
To use the inter-planting method for summer crops, prepare, fertilize and apply compost to the growing area and soak, prepare, broadcast and incorporate 5.5 ounces of vetch seed into 100 sq. ft. of growing bed, as described above in winter crop method. Then, using a transplanting board, plant summer grains such as flour/tortilla corn, amaranth or quinoa on 12″ offset centers in late spring/summer/early autumn. Then, (exactly as described previously in the winter crop method) when the vetch reaches 50% flower, but has not produced seeds, cut the plants at ground level, leaving the nitrogen-producing roots, and allow the grain to continue growing to maturity. For other summer grains such as sorghum, pearl millet and 45-day Japanese millet, which must all be transplanted on 7″ offset centers, follow the same method, but instead of planting the grain on 12” centers, plant the grain seedlings on 7” centers and proceed as above.
The reason for using vetch in the inter-planting examples above is that vetch produces are smaller plants than fava beans and makes more efficient use of the space when sharing a bed with grains. While favas could be used in an inter-planting design, because they are large plants and require wider spacing, when interplanted, they would fix much less nitrogen (1/7th the amount as compared to the amount they fix when planted by themselves) as compared with smaller legumes.
Note: For the best plant health and yield results, there needs to be about 0.5 lbs. of nitrogen in your soil/100 sq.ft. As you can see from the above inter-planted examples, approximately 0.25 pounds, and sometimes more, can come from the inter-planted legumes. Up to 0.25 pounds of additional nitrogen may be added by applying 2 cubic feet of cured GROW BIOINTENSIVE compost (including ~50% soil) per 100 sq ft. of growing bed.
If you’re interested in learning more about cover crops, nitrogen fixation and crop rotations, the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE) has an excellent free publication Managing Cover Crops Profitably which you can download from https://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books/Managing-Cover-Crops-Profitably-3rd-Edition
A little bit of effort with cover crops now can mean better yields and richer soil in the spring!
Keeping the Harvest
John Keats famously called Autumn the “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” and I couldn’t agree with him more. Just when the summer seems like it will last forever, the turn of the seasons begins to make itself known in a subtle change of light, the delicious tang of dew on the air early in the morning (this year, at Ecology Action, mixed with the far less pleasant tang of wildfire smoke from the gigantic Mendocino Fire complex), a slight cooling breeze at night, and of course the main event: Harvest Time!! After a whole season of patient waiting, tending, sampling less-than-ripe fruit and vegetables “just to see if it’s ready yet” we have the gardener’s reward: the simultaneous ripening of EVERYTHING! RIGHT! NOW! And so, the race begins to put up the harvest, storing the treasure trove of jewel-colored fruits and vegetables and pungent herbs to enjoy through the winter.
One of my personal favorites for preserving is the D’Agen French Prune Plum, harvested at peak of maturity, split in half, seed removed and then dried. Already a sweet and delicious snack or dessert, once dried it’s even more exquisite. According to Trees of Antiquity these plums were traditionally “…dried and kept over a long period of time when refrigerators did not exist and winter meant months with few fruits or vegetables. Prunes were almost as precious as salt and were used to bargain wages during the 15th century. The French Prune was introduced to the states by Pierre and Louis Pellier, brothers who went to California for the Gold Rush, and started a nursery business near San Jose in 1856 with plum cuttings they brought from France. Today they are sought by connoisseurs around the world. The French prune has a very sweet, rich flavor with tender, fine-textured flesh. Medium-sized prune plum of red to violet purple skin over amber flesh. Delicious for eating fresh, baking, chutneys, and drying. Long-lived and self-fertile.” Ours are almost ready, and I’m looking forward to enjoying them now, and when the winter winds are howling.
Everyone has their go-to recipes for storing food. Many that I like appear in one of my favorite books: Keeping the Harvest: Discover the Homegrown Goodness of Putting Up Your Own Fruits, Vegetables & Herbs (2002, Storey Books) by Nancy Chioffi and Gretchen Mead.
If you’re looking for new or different ways to preserve the harvest, I highly recommend you try this excellent guide. “…for fresh-off-the-vine flavor and a full payload of vitamins, you can’t beat the fruits, vegetables, and herbs preserved from your own garden…complete, easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions …completely updated so you can take advantage of the latest techniques and most up-to-date equipment…”
But don’t take my word for it:
“There seems in fact to be no aspect of home preservation they have not sensibly considered” – Horticulture
“One of the most up-to-date, helpful books on home food preservation to be published… excellent for the beginner as well as the more experienced food preserver.” – Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Some of the clever tricks it details is the use of salt and vinegar to preserve vivid colors of canned fruits, and “…important technical details—for example, how much headroom is required when freezing fruits and vegetables, or how to keep liquid from boiling out of the jars…” Interesting recipes include jams and jellies, pickles and relishes, and condiments like homemade ketchup and chili sauce, as well as instructions for canning, freezing, drying, curing and cold storage.
Be sure to read the chapter titled Planning Ahead which provides a wealth of information, including a guide for the optimal time to pick produce, how to set up the most efficient “flow” in your preserving process, and how to keep an inventory to avoid waste. And check out Our Favorite Methods for Preserving Fruits and Vegetables on p. 11 for special insights.
Keeping the Harvest provides a pathway through harvest season using proven methods, so you can enjoy your abundant produce all year long! Exciting!
“Scavenger Hunt”
A Law School Exam Without Any Rules from The Paper Chase Television Series
The “Scavenger Hunt” episode (4/24/1079) from Season One of The Paper Chase television series (produced by 20th Century Fox) is an extraordinary experience among many exceptional episodes.
This segment describes what occurs when law professor Charles W. Kingsfield, Jr. assigns an exam without any rules for its students. The result is of this 100-question exercise has the rest of the law faculty and the administration in opposition to the approach, as it is so cutthroat, and they cannot understand why Kingsfield “structured” it this way.
To pass a student must correctly answer all the questions.
You will be fascinated, and confused too, as the activities commence. The why eventually becomes clear. It may surprise you. Whatever your reaction, the “Scavenger Hunt” has great insight about people everywhere, providing an excellent contribution to understanding an essential element in creating better communities, countries and a positively functioning world.
For a blast from the past (and a glimpse of some of the underlying factors influencing our world today) you can watch The Paper Chase, Episode 22 on YouTube, below, or you can buy the whole series on DVD from Shout! Factory
Enjoy!
Ease Your Mind: Herbs for Mental Health
It’s no secret that gardening is good for the body and spirit. Gardeners have known the peace and calm that comes from tending their plants for centuries – I certainly feel it when I’m watering, weeding, harvesting or just being in the garden, feeling a part of that life growing in the plants around me and in the soil beneath me. Modern medical science agrees that the mental health benefits of gardening are real. Herbalists take the medicine of the garden one step further, exploring the healing effects of plant extracts and supplements on the body. Anyone who has sipped mint tea to calm a queasy stomach or rubbed aloe vera on a sunburn knows that plants can help heal our bodies. So, it’s not a surprise that herbs can also help heal the mind.
The question is, how to figure out which herbs may be beneficial for improving mood and well-being. If you are interested in exploring the topic, I think that Janet Kent’s book Ease Your Mind: Herbs for Mental Health (Medicine County Herbs, 2014) is a good place to start. This easy-to-use guide is a basic pathway to better health and mental health! It includes instructions on how to make herbal solutions, including suggested dosages, herbal combinations, contraindications, a glossary and index. These make it especially useful for those just learning herbal practices as a more holistic and proactive approach to a better life.
Topics included are:
- Depression and Despair
- Grief and Trauma
- Insomnia
- Hormone-related Stress
- Substance Use and Recovery
A fascinating practical reference! Available for $5 from http://www.medicinecountyherbs.com/ease-your-mind-zine.html
Also, check out Medicine County Herbs’ blog Radical Vitalism at, https://radicalvitalism.wordpress.com/
Please note: The content in this post is meant to inform, not to diagnose or treat any ailment. Always use common sense and consult with your healthcare provider before attempting to treat yourself or others.
Lost Crops of the Incas
Everyone seemed to enjoy the Lost Crops of Africa so much, I thought I’d mention another treasure from the National Research Council: Lost Crops of the Incas (published in 1989). This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in ethnobotany and heirloom varieties, whether for research, study or growing purposes, but especially for farmers and gardeners in Latin-, Central- and Caribbean-America region!
Like Lost Crops of Africa, the purpose of Lost Crops of the Incas is to remind us of the existence of little-known (at least in the “developed” nations) crops native to Latin-, Central-, and Caribbean-America and to outline their potential for expanding and diversifying food supplies in those regions and around the world. The materials are interesting and well organized. Each crop mentioned is illustrated with photos and drawings, plus growing, harvesting and handling information, as well as an index. There are also “boxes” containing additional material about individual crops, which make it easy to browse for information. The crops covered include:
Roots and Tubers:
Achira
Ahipa
Arracacha
Maca
Mauka
Oca
Potatoes
Ulluco
Yacon
Grains:
Kaniva
Kiwicha
Quinoa
Legumes:
Basul
Nunas (popping beans)
Terwi
Vegetables:
Peppers
Squashes and their relatives
Fruits:
Berries
Cherimoya
Goldenberry (Cape Gooseberry)
Highland Papayas
Lucuma
Naranjilla (lulo)
Pacay (ice-cream Beans – yes, it’s a thing and now don’t you want to grow some?)
Passionfruit
Pepino
Tamarillo (tree tomato)
Nuts:
Quito palm
Walnuts
In addition to the crop information, there are selected readings, information on centers of Andean crop research, and research contacts. Altogether, this is an enjoyable and useful source of information on native food varieties for everyone, and like it’s sister publication, IT’S FREE!!
To view and download this publication for through the National Academies Press, go to
https://www.nap.edu/catalog/1398/lost-crops-of-the-incas-little-known-plants-of-the
Enjoy!
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