Matthew Sargent

Rob Lineberger wrote:Just to give you a frame of reference, there was a widespread distribution of mislabeled compost here in central NC this spring.  The compost had been made with an herbicide-tainted hay stock that had been labeled as organic.  This was one component of many in these tons and tons of compost, which were sold to garden supply centers, and they in turn mixed that compost into their own diluted mixtures.

Everyone in our local gardening groups who bought that tainted compost, their gardens are ruined.  I don't just mean for this season.  I mean they have to dig out the garden beds, and either find some isolated corner to dump the tainted soil or pay to have it hauled away.  Picture after picture after picture of stunted, blighty, yellow-brown, crumpled plants. Large swaths of bare ground with nothing growing but a few weeds. The owners desperate to find out what is happening.  I've probably seen that dozens of times this year.

There was a press release where the guilty party in conjunction with the ag board stated that the tainted soil could be composted for two years with some additives to neutralize the herbicide, then they could test for traces of it and the soil should be OK.

So if you have a few years to let this compost somewhere, maybe you'll be OK.

I had a small patch contaminated two years ago, and then grew oyster mushrooms in a thick mulch on the affected area, it grew most fall crops fine last summer. More anecdotal than science...

So having fungi on the farm/ homestead is super beneficial, cool, and easy. However reading this post I feel like there’s some clarification needed. If your compost is a hot pile your turning frequently then don’t bother. If you want to compost with fungi it’s a cool process, ie leaf mold... the easiest fungi that I’ve used in the garden are wine caps and oysters both of which I grow on straw or wood chip mulch which typically has compost under it, I disturb the mulch frequently planting, weeding, adding compost and the established mycelium is unaffected. Also I frequently will take a cover crop blend into the mulch and let it do it’s thing the result is a great cover crop stand and typically void flushes of mushrooms. I like to then hand crimp the cover and add more mulch then the fungi has even more food.

If it’s hot it hasn’t finished composting, plain and simple. Is it straight manure or are they adding a carbon source?  If this is the only place you can source bulk compost and the route you desire to take you may have to get both the manure and the cow and mix it up and make a real finished compost...

Adam, if you understand the principles of keyline patterning you could start utilizing that as a cultivation pattern at almost no cost which would still improve water catchment. Who knows it might even be the pattern a future buyer would just use, therefore becoming a permanent land improvement...

Adam, sounds fun. There’s no economic way to spread compost or biochar over 500 acres, that said you can still do “permaculture on 500 acres. First look into keyline design, it’s a bit complex but there are people out there who can map your keyline and it’ll pay off in the long run  Basically it’s a water harvesting strategy that is mindful of your equipment needs. Second consider alley cropping. Basically having rows of trees maybe Almond.. planed along the keylines then you have the hemp in the alleys. The USDA has lots of studies going way back showing that alley cropping actually increases crop yields, due to the many benefits trees offer. Third look into pasture cropping, the only economic way to regeneratively spread nutrients is with grazing animals. Maybe if you planted the whole acreage in white clover a cool season perennial you’d be able to lease the land for grazing when the hemp is out, then graze it low before planting and plant with a no till seeder or transplanter into the stubble. Ideally the grazer would utilize high density rotations to maximize grazing/ manure distribution.

I decided to build an earthen shelter for my freezer since it’s taxing my battery bank now that we’re in the heat of summer, I thought I’d make a video about the process.  

Cassie, I noticed it’s already been mentioned but look into Colin Seiss and his “pasture cropping”. www.pasturecropping.com he’s just. Small farm only 40,000 acres. What he’s done is kind mind blowing, you could step it up and plant tree crops or keyline but he’s producing more bushels/ acre than his neighbors and stocks higher density of sheep with no “cides”. He feeds more than most large farms do with lower operating costs.

I think it's good and it just felt to hot to me after working in the sun all day( I know I'm a sissy), thanks for all the input. Also it did sit for roughly a week after the two weeks.

So I got the thermometer out and it's just under 100 deg Fahrenheit if that helps

So I just finished a berkley style pile did the whole correct ratio of c:n and built it let set for for days and flipped every other day for 2 weeks, exhausting. However a week later now I went to collect it to spread and it's hot, don't have my thermometer on me but can't stick my hand all the way in hot, any thought? Thanks in advance.