The Art and Science of Making a Hugelkultur Bed – Transforming Woody Debris into a Garden Resource
Compost, Conservation, Fungi, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure, Water Harvesting — by Melissa Miles August 3, 2010
 Wooden debris will decompose faster, (and be transformed into a resource) when hugelkultur techniques are employed. |
Used for centuries in Eastern Europe and Germany, hugelkultur (in German hugelkultur translates roughly as “mound culture”) is a gardening and farming technique whereby woody debris (fallen branches and/or logs) are used as a resource.
Often employed in permaculture systems, hugelkultur allows gardeners and farmers to mimic the nutrient cycling found in a natural woodland to realize several benefits. Woody debris (and other detritus) that falls to the forest floor can readily become sponge like, soaking up rainfall and releasing it slowly into the surrounding soil, thus making this moisture available to nearby plants.
Hugelkultur garden beds (and hugelkultur ditches and swales) using the same principle to:
Comments (9)A ‘New’ Discovery – Soluble Nitrogen Destroys Soil Carbon
Compost, Economics, Fungi, News, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Craig Mackintosh July 27, 2010
How many times must we ‘discover’ something we’ve discovered before – particularly when our lives and our futures depend on reacting appropriately, and shaping society, to incorporate the lessons learned?
One of the most transformative experiences in my life was from studying soil science many years ago. Getting something of an understanding of the inner workings of that thin skin which covers our earth created thought-connections in my mind that had me looking at the world in a profoundly new way.
Comments (10)Soil Carbon – Can it Save Agriculture’s Bacon?
Biodiversity, Compost, Conservation, Economics, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Food Shortages, Fungi, Global Warming/Climate Change, Health & Disease, Irrigation, Land, Plant Systems, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Structure, Water Contaminaton, Water Harvesting, peak oil — by Christine Jones PhD July 22, 2010
Editor’s Note: Thanks to Darren Doherty of ReGenAg for sourcing and getting permission to run this.
The number of farmers in Australia has fallen 30 per cent in the last 20 years, with more than 10,000 farming families leaving the agricultural sector in the last five years alone. This decline is ongoing. There is also a reluctance on the part of young people to return to the land, indicative of the poor image and low income-earning potential of current farming practices.
Agricultural debt in Australia has increased from just over $10 billion in 1994 to close to $60 billion in 2009 (Fig.1). The increased debt is not linked to interest rates, which have generally declined over the same period (Burgess 2010).
Fig. 1. Increase in agricultural debt (AUD millions)
1994-2009 vs interest rates (%pa)
The financial viability of the agricultural sector, as well as the health and social wellbeing of individuals, families and businesses in both rural and urban communities, is inexorably linked to the functioning of the land.
There is widespread agreement that the integrity and function of soils, vegetation and waterways in many parts of the Australian landscape have become seriously impaired, resulting in reduced resilience in the face of increasingly challenging climate variability.
Agriculture is the sector most strongly impacted by these changes. It is also the sector with the greatest potential for fundamental redesign.
Comments (8)Municipal Waste Compost Agreement Signed with Local Council in Far North Queensland
Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Compost, News, Rehabilitation, Urban Projects — by Kym Kruse July 16, 2010
Close to nine months ago, a group of passionate young Far North locals decided to approach their local council with the idea of making high quality compost for agriculture from municipal waste. A few days ago we marked a moment in time when, after a steep learning curve or two and 1000’s of hours of work, we signed the contract under the shade of a eucalypt on the bonnet of a Holden Commodore. The Tablelands Regional Council had voted and now signed to support Trust Nature FNQ in its “Vital Soils Initiative”.
Comments (8)Measuring Soil Carbon Change
Biodiversity, Compost, Conservation, Fungi, Global Warming/Climate Change, Health & Disease, Rehabilitation, Salination, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Structure, Water Contaminaton — by Craig Mackintosh June 24, 2010
 Measuring Soil Carbon Change 2mb PDF |
Thanks to Darren Doherty for the head’s up on this new draft document from the Soil Carbon Coalition on measuring changes in soil carbon levels – the key indicator of soil health and fertility.
As we all (should) know well, land use changes over the last several centuries have significantly increased atmospheric CO2 levels. Soil mismanagement, which has increased in tandem with our burgeoning human population, has released mammoth amounts of carbon from the soil, where it is a positive, into the atmosphere, where it becomes, in its present excessive levels, a negative instead. Correct soil management, in contrast, can play a significant role in reversing that trend by pulling excess atmospheric CO2 out of the sky, through photosynthesis, and returning it to the soil in humus, the stable, final state of decomposition of organic matter – thus transforming excess CO2 from being a pollutant into a rich habitat for the micro- and macro-organisms that are the foundation of all life on this planet. Permaculture, through its favouring small scale, low-to-no till polycultures, and where the soil is always protected by a ’skin’ of plant or mulch cover, and maintained by appropriate naturally harvested moisture levels, is a powerful system for restoring the Gaia state of carbon balance.
Comments (3)The Story of Soil
Compost, Fungi, Rehabilitation, Salination, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Structure — by Rob Avis June 17, 2010
by Rob Avis
What is the difference between soil and dirt?
Soil is alive. Dirt is dead. A single teaspoon of soil can contain billions of microscopic bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. A handful of the same soil will contain numerous earthworms, arthropods, and other visible crawling creatures. Healthy soil is a complex community of life and actually supports the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet.
Modern soil science is demonstrating that these billions of living organisms are continuously at work, creating soil structure, producing nutrients and building defence systems against disease. In fact, it has been shown that the health of the soil community is key to the health of our plants, our food and our bodies.
Why is it then, that much of the food from the conventional agricultural system is grown in dirt? The plants grown in this lifeless soil are dependent on fertilizer and biocide inputs, chemicals which further destroy water quality, soil health and nutritional content.
How did we get here? How do we turn this around? This is the Story of Soil….
Comments (16)Compost Heated Hot Water in Canberra
Compost, Energy Systems, Urban Projects — by Patrick Blampied
Leigh Blackall has set up a compost water heating system after being inspired by a series of Youtube videos including one featuring Zaytuna’s compost heated shower.
He’s documented setting up his system here:
Part I Comments (1)
Permaculture Soils DVD Trailer
Compost, DVDs/Books, Fungi, Rehabilitation, Salination, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Craig Mackintosh June 9, 2010
It’s a wonderful thing to behold when permaculture passion and top-notch multimedia skills intersect in world-changing ways. Frank and Jane Gapinski of Ecofilms have spent countless hours working up highly educational and highly watchable productions for the PRI for a few years now. It all began with the initial Greening the Desert clip that took the world by storm; then followed the Water Harvesting DVD, the Food Forest DVD, and very recently the Introduction to Permaculture Design DVD. The incredible uptake of these films is living, encouraging proof that there is a new generation emerging who understand what needs to be done, and want to know how to do it!
But wait, there’s more! We’re now awaiting the soon-to-be-released Permaculture Soils DVD! This DVD gets to the very heart of what’s needed for a permanent culture, examining that magical muck that is the foundation of all the aforementioned productions. This work shares insights from Geoff Lawton’s two and a half decade’s worth of worldwide experience in soil creation – an experience gained in some of the world’s most inhospitable environments – helping to make the impossibly complex come to life in wondrously understandable ways. I personally think that holistic studies in soil science should be compulsory, foundational elements for every school syllabus – and that if they had been we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in today – and we hope this DVD will go some distance in making up for this major shortfall in mainstream education.
Check out the trailer, and then stay tuned for future updates on release.
Comments (11)The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all. – Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America, 1977
Great Soil Biology – The Silver Bullet
Compost, Courses/Workshops, Food Shortages, Fungi, Podcasts, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Patrick Blampied May 27, 2010
Talking with Soil Biology Wizard, Paul Taylor
When you put the Permaculture lens on and look at where our food comes from there are hundreds of dead canaries trying to warn us it’s time to wake up and make a change to something better.
As I look closer I realise the industrial food system is a planet destroying system that deprives people of health and well-being, putting more value on short-term profits and perfect looks than nutrient content and building resilient communities that have sustainable access to food. Not only that but it appears to be edging towards collapse as failing unproductive farms are propped up by more and more chemicals and machines that run on not-so-cheap-anymore oil.
So just as it was all looking a little bleak I was lucky enough to speak with Paul Taylor from Trust Nature. He is a true genius when it comes to understanding soil biology and restoring land back to fertility.
Comments (5)Urban Worm Farm Solution – Step by Step Setup
Compost, Rehabilitation, Soil Conservation, Urban Projects, Working Animals — by Patrick Blampied May 24, 2010
After discovering our family compost bin was in a dangerously anaerobic state I decided a worm farm would be a much more suitable and productive way to deal with organic waste from the kitchen.
Comments (3)Regeneration – an Earth Saving Evolution
Compost, Conservation, DVDs/Books, Food Shortages, Fungi, Irrigation, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Salination, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Structure, Water Contaminaton, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh May 8, 2010
 Regeneration – an Earth Saving Evolution How biological farming builds healthier soils, healthier plants, healthier animals and certain hope in an uncertain world. |
In a kind of army style ‘about-face’, society is increasingly turning away from the reductionist, extractive agriculture that rushed onto the world after WWII. Today people are, thankfully, realising that you cannot convert biodiverse natural systems into monocultures – into a factory floor environment – and expect success. With the soils that support all life on this planet getting rapidly eroded and diminished in critical organic matter, people are realising that farming is far more about biology than it is about chemistry, more about feeding the soil than feeding the plant, and are realising that our futures, our very survival, depends on our coming to grips with biological processes and learning to harness them.
I’ve just uploaded the new Regeneration – an Earth Saving Revolution DVD to our online store. This DVD examines the thoughts and work of some of the many individuals who are now leading the way forward in farming techniques that are simultaneously highly productive and entirely sustainable. It’s an inspiration-packed DVD that’s worth circulating to all.
Our survival now truly depends on how fast this kind of information can be made to pervade society at all levels, and how rapidly we can rebuild society to accommodate, integrate and harmonise with it.
Trailer to follow:
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The Food Nightmare Beneath Our Feet: We’re Running Out of Soil
Compost, Consumerism, Deforestation, Food Shortages, General, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Structure — by Rhamis Kent May 1, 2010
It’s good to see someone from the American press shine a light on what is arguably the most pressing ecological issue facing us. It effects any and all aspects of environmental health and stability. Without significant efforts made to address the massive amounts of topsoil lost each year, all of our “environmentalism” rings rather hollow, I’m afraid.
The following article is highly recommended reading:
The Food Nightmare Beneath Our Feet: We’re Running Out of Soil
Further Reading:
Comments (0)Make Your Own Worm Farm from Car Tyres
Compost, Fungi, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure, Waste Systems & Recycling, Working Animals — by Craig Mackintosh April 8, 2010
A certain truck driver in Asia has discovered the value of good road-hugging (or bridge barrier-hugging, as the case may be) tyres.
But, that’s not the topic of this post. Here, instead, we offer the suggestion of taking well worn tyres not capable of such extreme feats, and putting them to other worthwhile purposes – like feeding your garden with nutrient rich worm casts.
At Zaytuna Farm we use a couple of old bathtubs for this purpose, but if you don’t have a bathtub at your disposal, this simple car tyre system (700kb PDF) looks like a great alternative.
Comments (5)Green Burials
Community Projects, Compost, Consumerism, Land, People Systems, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Conservation, Waste Systems & Recycling — by Brad Lancaster March 24, 2010
by Brad Lancaster, who is, incidentally, co-teaching the upcoming PDC in Palestine – a course many may wish to attend so as to support this valuable regenerative work!
A conventional cemetery
When I was little I was terrified of death. I often cried myself to sleep as I thought of the end of life. It seemed so bleak, pointless, and severe.
Mom tried to comfort me with the concept of going to heaven. This did not reassure me at all. “How do you know there is a heaven?” I’d ask. “Have you been there?”
Comments (5)Compost & Soil Fertility – A Shitty Topic
Compost, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Food Forests, Food Shortages, Health & Disease, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Structure — by Patrick Blampied March 23, 2010
Wow, here’s a topic I could write more about than what I wrote in the About Me section! Now that must sound ludicrous to you because everyone knows how I like talking about me but we’ll see how I go since this is about the most important issue humanity is about to face.
Forget climate change (don’t do that but you get the point)…. Humanity’s number one environmental issue is poor soil and soil loss. It unpins all else and is therefore bigger than deforestation and pollution. But how is that, I hear you asking? Well, every living thing needs food and soil happens to be the food that feeds everything above it so before you can grow vegetables and fatten up beef to feed yourself and before you can plant a tree to clean the air you breath, you need healthy soil.
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