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)Terry McCosker Joins the Dots on the Challenges and Solutions of Food Production, Landscape Health and Human Health
Conferences, Conservation, Food Shortages, Plant Systems, Podcasts, Population, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Biology, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh July 20, 2010
I’d never heard of Terry McCosker of Resource Consulting Services before, but here he is giving an excellent talk to ABC Rural’s Bush Telegraph Radio on the need to go ‘back to the future’ in our agricultural systems as our populations balloon in combination with disturbing land resource declines. Terry talks about how cheap fossil fuels have been used for soil mining, and that current and upcoming energy/soil/water constraints will force us back to where we need to go to solve our food production challenges, with the effect that this can also solve our environmental and human health problems. Terry also refers to David Montgomery’s excellent Dirt – the Erosion of Civilizations book, talks about peak phosphorus, compost, compost teas, the need to ‘fire up the biology’ in our soils to harness the inherent energy found in natural systems – thus replacing the artificial ‘propping up’ of those systems with fossil fuel energy, and in doing so increasing plant health to further reduce/remove the need for chemical inputs.
The podcast is well worth a listen. Click play below:
Terry McCosker Joins the Dots on the Challenges and Solutions of Food Production, Landscape Health and Human HealthI love to see people joining the dots like this!
Should you be in the area, Terry and others will be speaking at a three-day conference in Brisbane, titled ‘Farmers – Heroes of our Future‘ from July 20-22. You can view the conference program here. Given it’s July 20th as I type, it may be too late to register and go along, but if you’re in the Brisbane area I’ll leave you to make your own enquiries if you’re interested. Sounds like it’d be a great event to attend.
Comments (1)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)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)Back to the Future: Terra Preta – Ancient Carbon Farming System for Earth Healing in the 21st Century
Courses/Workshops, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination — by Planet People Passion May 25, 2010
Terra Preta, meaning "Black Earth" in Portuguese, is a soil building technique developed by ancient Amazonian civilizations at least 7000 years ago as a solution to permanently solve the problems of poor tropical soil fertility. Large deposits of this black earth are still found today with depths of up to 2 meters. The first deposits where discovered in 1870, but it has only been in the last 10 years that significant interest and study have been initiated.
This soil is attributed to the complex civilizations that reportedly once thrived in the Amazon. Prior to the onset of diseases brought on by the western settlers, this expansive web of communities is estimated to have totaled over 100 million people. It is speculated that Terra Preta soils are what sustained them in harmony with their ecosystems.
Comments (9)Tropical Soils: Less is More in Fast Carbon Pathways, but Only with Standing Forest
Courses/Workshops, Deforestation, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Fungi, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure, Trees — by Planet People Passion May 16, 2010
The Amazon rainforest is one of the most amazing displays of symbiotic relationships one can experience in the world. This complex and layered eco-system thrives through the many systems and cycles that interweave through the layers of canopy, creating one of the most bio-diverse displays of life on the planet. Nature designs the most magnificent Permaculture systems – it is quite an experience to spend time in this magical place and humbly observe her teachings.
Amazon rainforest boundary
Observing the thriving and abundant rainforest, it is hard for some to comprehend why neighboring agriculture in the region experiences quite the opposite affect, but the answer is quite simple – it’s all about the soil.
Comments (0)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)Geoff Lawton Talks to ABC Radio About Dryland Salinity
Land, News, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Salination, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Structure, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh March 29, 2010
A couple of weeks ago ABC Rural’s ‘Bush Telegraph’ radio show featured an interview with Dr. Christine Jones about how to deal with the major problem of dryland salinity. Her ‘radical’ thoughts on it prompted a heated response from Mick Fleming, a former principal research scientist with CSIRO Land and Water, who was ‘gobsmacked’ with her ideas, and countered with his own.
Geoff found the discussion of great interest, and ended up being interviewed by Michael Mackenzie of ABC radio on the issue – it makes for a very interesting listen.
Click play below to hear the talk:
ABC Talks to Geoff Lawton on Dryland Salinity Comments (7)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.
Comments (5)
