This week, our questions revolve around observation and interpretation of nature.
What is the natural pattern? How can we grow and move in cooperative ease with our environment?
Nature has healed, cycled, and provided for as long as humans know. In nature nothing is taken without giving back. Under modern society many view humans as separate from nature, seeing our differences to other living things as something that makes us better or different. Western agriculture is a major component in this thinking. Nature is not something we know more than, agricultural theories from one place most likely won’t work the same in a different place, and altering the natural cycles of the earth will only lead to detriment.
This week’s resources include: GRuB Garden Growing Guide, Tend, Gather, Grow Curriculum Module: “Ecosystem Garden Guide,” “The One Straw Revolution,” by Masanobu Fukuoka, and chapters four: “Restoring Degraded Land,” five: “Feeding the Soil,” and thirteen: “Youth On Land” from Leah Penniman’s Farming While Black
Principles of Doing
1. No plowing or turning of the soil
When soil is turned over and left bare there are many negative outcomes. Soil loses aggregate stability, water-holding capacity, and ability to hold nutrients.
By basing our agricultural doings on observation and imitation of our environment we can learn from nature’s cycles. “The soil in the forest is never exposed; rather it is covered with humus, leaves, and growing plants. The forest does not stir up its earth; rather it enriches from above. In restoring degraded soils, it is essential that we heed these lessons” (Penniman 86).
To examine this way of thinking with cultivation still in mind, is to observe that “the earth cultivates itself naturally by means of the penetration of plant roots and the activity of microorganisms, small animals, and earthworms” (Fukuoka 34).
This video shows Carbon Dioxide as it is released into the atmosphere. The giant red cloud that appears in March and carries on until July is a direct result of tillage. Tilling removes nutrients stored in the soil and releases them into the atmosphere.
2. No use of chemical fertilizers, fungicides, or pesticides
We plan to have a rich permanent ground cover crop of leguminous nitrogen fixing plants to help the soil naturally maintain its fertility and structure. These crops will be spread throughout the plot and act to enrich the plant and animal community/ecosystem. These plants will also serve as blooms for pollinators and other insects to use.
We know that chemically grown food is not medicine.
3. No weeding by tillage or herbicide
“Weeds should be controlled, not eliminated” (Fukuoka 34).
Weeds can help build soil fertility and the balancing of biological communities in and above the soil, they also help form the structure of soil.
4. No chemical use
“Harmful insects and plant diseases are always present, but do not occur in nature to an extent which requires the use of poisonous chemicals” (Fukuoka 34).
Pests and diseases will be an issue if the environment is unnatural. Natural predators, repellants, and diversions all exist and can help reduce pest damage. Diseases run rampant when the soil and plants are weakened (tillage, dependence on sprays or fertilizers, non-native plants).
Ground Cover & Weeds
When cultivation is stopped, weeds greatly decrease in numbers and variety.
When we think about sowing ground cover, we aim to sow these seeds after cutting back and/or thinning the weeds. After ground cover is grown we will cut it and the weeds back and sow our main crop seeds. This could look like sowing seeds while a proceeding crop is still ripening and having an understory to the garden as a result.
Clover,
Dutch White Clover is a short in height perennial that fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere. This plant is very tolerant of wet environments. Its small white flowers will also serve to attract pollinators.
Vetch,
Hairy Vetch is an annual with great nitrogen fixing capabilities. This leguminous plant improves soil texture and helps to suppress weeds. The crop will overwinter and does most of its nitrogen fixing the following season. Hairy Vetch is often planted with Rye as a nurse crop.
Alfalfa,
Alfalfa is a perennial that fixes nitrogen. It has long taproots that break up compacted soils and brings up subsurface materials. It is also a good plant for bees to forage from.
Compost?
A plot compost bin might be in order. When we think of composting in relation to our soils, we do not wish to amend them so they do not become reliant on supplements. We imagine that a plant in a forest would live, die, and decompose where it grows. This encouraged us to think more about how to imitate or replicate this cycle of life, death, and rebirth within the garden and with safety in mind.
Because compost should be left to rest for three to six months and no crops should be grown in it during that time, we cannot simply allow the plants to return directly to the soil after a harvest. Our goal is to have food available at all times of the year, so we cannot take breaks to wait for compost to break down naturally on our plot. Instead, we hope to build a plot compost bin where all plant materials except for harvested food, can be returned to this bin, which we will use as a light top-dressing to the soil.
“The forest offers an even simpler composting model in the natural decomposition process on its floor. The forest deposits leaves and debris on the ground and microbes eat that detritus from below, forming new soil in the process.”
– Leah Penniman, Farming While Black…95
Non-Native Plants
Plants that are not native to the land you plant them on are not adapted to that part of the world. They may be affected by plant diseases and pest much more, they may overrun native species, they can seriously deplete soil health, and harm animals.
“The foods that are nearby are best for human beings, and things that they have to struggle to obtain turn out to be the least beneficial of all.” (Fukuoka 103)
