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Showing posts from December, 2009

Don't give a cow. Give seeds

Holiday gift season. Giving a cow is still a popular program, but I wish there was some programs where you can give vegetable seeds or fruit trees to people who need them. http://www.heifer.org/ I don't necessarily think giving a cow, chickens or a goat is bad idea considering livestock can add foods to diet of those people as long as the environment is right.  When you give a cow or sheep, there must be grass growing naturally.  or when you give chickens, there must be enough feeds naturally obtained from the wild area.  Why not Cow, sheep or goat? Grazing animals require large pasture comparing to available garden space.  Unless there is large pasture area for animals to graze, it is not very desirable.  I have 4 sheep and they do not eat any grain feeds although they like them.  I share some of my crackers or granola sometimes, but they are on their own eating grass most of the time.  when grass is abundant and there is no garden space conflict, it is quite a good help to

Weeding your ego

In the natural world plants can coexist and flourish together.  However, in human eyes coexistence of plants appears as a conflict, therefore to grow one plant, the others become weeds, and to grow their crops, weeds need to be removed. by Masanobu Fukuoka We conveniently categorize anything that we disregard as weeds.  Whether it is a small herbaceous plants or large trees, when I sprinkle some compost or organic fertilizers, it makes me wonder how much of fertilizers or compost actually goes to our crops, and how much to other weeds and yet more lost to leaching and air.  Often times I find roots of large trees in the rows of tea. Then I realized that there was beautiful dark soil even before I started farming.  Who created that?  Apparently certain types of plants are better at building soil than others.  Under some trees soil is always better than open field. If we leave some weeds and do not fertilize, it is possible that they enrich soil as they die.  Of course, it is no

How the soil is created

Over quiet winter period I have much to ponder and observe while sipping our farm grade unfinished tea. Soil, as it seems, is always there and we take it for granted, but it is a remarkable process of creating hospitable environment for plants and small creatures. I walk on a dirt path after heavy rain or while in pouring rain following where all the rain water is carrying the top soil or what is keeping it in place. sometimes my boots become like high heels with mud stuck to the bottom of my rain boots, walking like not knowing how to walk in high heels. I then remember that the spot where it used be pasture for horses and sheep with only grass growing and dirt is heavy clay. Clay in rain creates mud and get stuck to boots. I learned this first hand by walking in rain. Some places down the path I come across beautiful dark forest soils in its natural state. Nobody did any work there but nature. Certain types of trees and plants growing there create that beautiful soil. Good Soil