"We're treating soil like dirt"

a reply to: Unity_99

Yes, I can see where living in a smaller home can be very difficult to accommodate government imposed composting. Maybe I can help you keep bags to a minimum. Do you have a yard, if so and you own I have some great methods that can help you cut down...if you rent and get permission from the landlord then we can do the same.

Aquaponics is one of many awesome sustainable systems that we can utilize. Composting can be very easy if you have a good system, they can be very unobtrusive as well IE. Verma-composting, or simple food composting then transferred to a small home garden to rebuild the soil and remove some bags that way.

Let me know your level of interest and I can bust out some pretty good ideas and how to do them for you.

a reply to: BlueJacket

Totally agree ....the negative towards it that i have found is permaculture food forests are not as pretty to the eye so people that have land steer away from it and stick with the organized chaos as it is more pleasing aesthetically and sadly many land owners just dont understand they are degrading the land and polluting it.....

a reply to: BlueJacket

My family purchased a small older house on a large lot, 30 miles from our shopping, with organic soft fruit orchards/farms all around and newer immigrants farms that are taking over this organic area and spraying nonstop. We so far haven't built the bins, for the recycle bags outside, so they just pile up in the garage as its every 2 weeks, with 7 people now, and lots of recycle things. Feel like a recycle factory in here, with one bag always under the table as it doesn't fit anywhere else.

But there are bears, coyotes, owls and not going to put them outside unless we build a recycle center.

In a civilized world, every block would have bins for both garbage and recycles, that everyone could access, anytime during the week they need to, because its insane what they're doing.

What we're going through must be really hard on the elderly.

When you think of building up your soil, composting, and creating Compost Teas, you have to ensure its not GMO, organic if possible, though the GMO is the big one, and also that your compost Tea doesn't have commercial fish oil.

Thank you, I am very attracted by this information. I think it is a diamond in dirt.

a reply to: bitsforbytes

You are welcome. Putting it into practice is where the real challenge and fun starts, I am going to make a thread of our effort to combine a couple forms of Perma-Culture, composting and companion planting in order to facilitate a more or less functioning self sustaining mini eco-system on 3 acres. The trick is to use what is native in your region, but you can add alternaitve plants for fun and beauty, however that alters things and requires additional effort. The most important thing is it maintains and creates new soil, sequesters carbon where it belongs, holds moisture in the soil, requires vastly less irrigation etc... and lots an lots of food and medicine

a reply to: BlueJacket

Looking forward for that!

Thanks for an excellent post on a most important subject!

We do take the soil for granted, not realizing it contains a literal universe of life within it. Within a cubic foot of soil there are literally billions of microbes and bacteria. Our existence is truly at stake if we fail to care for the soil, it's the incubator for everything we eat or the feed for the livestock we consume.

A fascinating book titled "Collapse - or why civilizations choose to fail" had a neat chapter where he describes how the dust carried by wind from the Gobi desert in central Asia is what created the soils on the islands in the Pacific Ocean. Over centuries it adds up, millimeter by millimeter until deep enough for plants to take root in.

The different types of soil is another mind-boggling subject by itself, clay soils, loamy soils, volcanic soils - each with it's own chemistry, biome and community of plants that thrive in it. Clay for instance actually has a crystalline structure to it that allows water to pass through it and forms tiny niches where bacteria thrive. Another book titled "The 7 Mysteries of Life" by Guy Murchie has a good deal of information on soil as well.

I am fascinated by this kind of thing and enjoyed your post very much. Thanks again!

I also got to thinking about the insects, mammals and worms and how critical they are to the entire process of soil creation and retention. Out on the great plains of the US there were endless grasslands of various types and heights, where the buffalo once roamed their scraping to create dust baths formed shallow pools that retained surface water, same as elk do. This allowed frogs and salamanders places to breed and became critical watering holes for all the birds and animals.

The prairie dogs that were exterminated by the billions brought valuable minerals to the surface and turned the soil constantly enriching it. Their tunnels became homes for ferrets, toads, snakes and even owls. Cattle farmers couldn't accept the losses attendant with their cattle breaking a leg in their holes and so began the prairie dog wars.

There are countless other ways animals enrich and retain the soil and water and we are just beginning to understand the complex relationships that nature has established. It's heartening to read of people like yourself who are trying to address this issue in a meaningful way and restore the balance to the land. What I've found out is that nearly every so-called "primitive" tribe managed to maintain that balance in their agricultural practices. It is up to us to rediscover their genius and methods and use their tried and true ways to keep not only ourselves thriving but our environment as well. One cannot exist long without the other.

Collapse. .Jared Diamond.....Guns Germs and Steel being the 1st in the 2 book series thus far as Im sure you know....really brought me to Perma culture.
Thank you for the great input...im ginning up for adding to this thread..the planning and beginnings are under way. reply to: Asktheanimals

a reply to: BlueJacket

Yes, Jared Diamond - couldn't remember the name it's been 5 -6 years since reading it. Guns , germs and steel is also excellent. Thanks!