Adrienne Rayna

As I read this thread, I wonder, why we want to measure non-tangible capital of relationships (social), creative expression (culture), spirit...

Physical resources are often measured to see if we have enough to accomplish a building or doing something.
We may need Natural resources, Materials, Finances, Intellectual & Experiential (know how), labor.  And we need to know if we
have enough or need to get more capital to do what we want to accomplish.

Or if you are asking others to support something with their time, energy, resources and money, you may want to quantify and qualify the good that you do, to persuade them.

Or if you just feel you need to motivate yourself and the people who share the task, you may want to see you've reached some goals or set some goals that include measuring the less tangible.

It may be important to know why you feel a need to measure less-tangibles.

Personally, I think we need a monetary system that pays us for improving community relationships, spiritual connection, creative expression, for caring, for bringing our true selves to the table ....  
For using materials that grow again, and energy that is ubiquitous, and nutrients that cycle - never running out ...

On the other hand, it seems to me finances / money can be exchanged for most tangible capital: material, know-how, labor, land... If you have finances, you can get the capital you actually need.  But giving the less tangible (i say less, because you can 'feel' spirit and beauty)  financial value, it's like we are making it a commodity.  I would rather move toward a world where the less tangible remains free and the tangible become more and more free.  

So, Why?  Umm???

'... since you respect them (the EPA) enough to mention them..'...

- Well, 'respect' might be very optimistic term for how I feel.   It's more that I have no idea at all what soil test numbers actually mean to the healthiness of the plants we eat. So I was just hoping to at least get a clue from the EPA or Agricultural extension agency.  Seem the National Institute of Health might have more info than anyone.  But since, I am thinking, there are all kinds of 'Special Interests" in all of these organizations, I try to look at what they say critically.  Probably, lots of well-meaning people, many educated (but perhaps mainly in conventional systems).  

The lack of information about heavy metals in backyard gardens... is case in point.

I imagine, the thinking goes something like this  (Hoping & Wishing to be wrong):  
If safe limits were found for a greater range or soil contaminants they would become 'enforceable' and big ag would have a fit.
It would be expensive in time, money, and enforcement to check all places where our food was grown for all potential heavy metals.

Lead has the lead... this one does get a lot of attention.  Do farmers who sell on the open market have to pass a soil lead level test?  

Wow, this is all very helpful.  

While I have tested different areas of the yard, I have not tested various depths, this I might do in a really small area where I could remove some soil, if a test shows deeper levels to have lower levels of arsenic.  

The fungus / mushroom ideas sound like the most feasible possibility for the rest of the yard.  I see mushrooms pop up every year.
While we have a sunny, medium to dry area, (not wet) where I want to grow food, there are a lot of twigs and tree limbs and rotten wood laying around.
I believe Dr. Elaine Ingham, says decaying wood produce a fungal dominated soil, while grasses / greens produce more bacterial dominated soils.  So if fungus can help, we got the stuff for Huegel culture.  

It's important to me to try to do this with what we have.  I really don't have much money or equipment.  It's me and my shovel.

We do not have any ponds on our site, but until I found out we had higher than normal arsenic levels, I had thought about creating at least some small pools.
but I do wonder about our well water.  It's not hooked up as yet, but when I tested that water for Iron it came back very high.  If understand correctly, acidic water leaches metals from rocks.  As we live in an area where coal mining was and is still being done.  I would not be surprised if the aquafer that feeds our well is effected by the mining.  

Thanks for all the info.

Recently, through a soil test, I learned that our soil has higher than normal amounts of arsenic in it.
I tested the soil for lead and arsenic because I learned that our property used to be a fruit tree orchard, and that in the past it was common practice to use a lead-arsenic type of pesticide on fruit trees.  The lead levels were within normal background levels for our area.  But the arsenic was high.
I asked our Penn State Agricultural Extension Agency and Pennsylvania Master Gardeners about what this means for the us growing our food in the soils.
No one seemed to have a definitive answer.  
The Environmental Protection Agency has 'safe' limits for arsenic in water, but no guidelines for arsenic in soils.

I would be grateful to know how to remediate our soils, and how to be sure that the food we grow is healthy.
I also wonder if the higher than normal arsenic levels is an indicator that we could have any other heavy metals in our soils?

The Test Results:                         17.00 mg/kg,  
Normal Soil Concentrations:      6 to 10 mg/kg -1      (I don't know what -1, superscript, means?)

Thanks Community!  It's wonderful to have a community to share my challenge with!

I hoard information & ideas.  Dgitalizing has enabled me to move my clutter from my bookshelves and real desktop to my
digital books & virtual laptop.  But this hasn't helped me find what ideas I need when I need them.

Since I have retired, I am finally going through all the thousands of virtual docs with miscellaneous ideas and hundreds of emails I sent to myself to save a link, I love.  
In the process, it finally, came to me that I don't just need to organize things by Topics but also I need to organize the ideas by:
    Information I need to use on a current project and information I might need for a future project.  
             This has been extremely helpful in decluttering my mind.

This blog got me playing with some ideas for Vocational Agility Chart / Scale.
I tried to attach it, but can't preview it, so I'll just see what happens when I click submit?

Our Prep for Power Outage in a Little Old Trailor in Eastern Pennsylvania,
Where we would lose water, heat, and cooking ability.   (We would also lose refrigeration, but not a concern if our trailer becomes one.

     Water: Gallons of Jugs of Water (to flush toilet), Spring Water to Drink, Squirt bottles for rinsing off dishes.
     Hot food: to help keep us warm, if loose power and therefore heat.
          Stew in electric CrockPot... which is insulated and should keep food hot for 4 hours of more.
          Hot Tea, wrapped in my yogurt making 'cooler', so we don't drink cold stuff that will make us colder.

  Hot water bottle can hopefully get at least one hot water bottle filled from the water in the hot water tank, before loosing water pressure, to help us stay warm, until the power comes on again.

I think each circumstance calls for different preparations.
           

This sounds really interesting.

I suggest that some $ be given just to participate, for startup expenses so that gardeners have $ to get the water system, fence, tools, equipment to initially clear and shape the garden.   So that you are starting with just soil.  

And since, 'conventional' gardening requires that fertilizer / nutrients are imported and pests managed with chemical controls this too will require maintenance $ money.    

A comparison of costs could be a really great measurement to include in the outcome.

No one starts with Just "dirt", soils have differing amounts and qualities of micro-organisms in them.
And depending on water availability, rates of evaporation and life in the soil differing rates of decomposition.

Would the gardeners be form all over the world to show how Permaculture can works better than conventional gardening everywhere?

The deer, groundhogs and rabbits eat my garden.  But deer are also my main source of above ground poop (indigenous microbe inoculate).  So, I would want to control the timing of when deer can access the garden with the fence, not keep them out entirely.  

Which brings me to animals.  Are large domestic and / or wild animals: birds, ruminants for manure, pest control, above ground material breakdown...)  going to be part of this test?      What type of animals and the timing of them might vary a great deal.

There may be as many variations in systems as there are gardens set up in permaculture.
Comparing the same size garden of conventional to permaculture at each site could show that permaculture works better all over the world at less cost.  However, what you may see is that the initial year or two the conventional garden produces more food.
Whereas the change in soil fertility and costs really start differ after a couple of years.  Also, while organic / permaculture harvest may show more insect damage than conventional, the Nutrient Value in the permaculture garden would I presume be far superior.

So Cost and Nutrient Value, Diversity of Foods grown, Soil improvement level (which soil has more life in it, more humus, more carbon capture)   Should Calories be the only thing compared?  

I hoard what I fear I won't have an opportunity to be.  For me this is books.
I have so many more books than I will ever read.  My Fear / Sense of Lack & Loss that makes me hoard these is the feeling
that I will never have the time to, the resources , the energy to learn and develop myself as I beleived I 'should',
as a part of me that never got the chance, or I never gave the chance to develop.

Instead of validatiing that time mulling over all the areas of interest to me was valuable, I baught books and set them on a shelf.
I dust my books, foundly.  I organize my books, to remember to discover what it is I am 'Quest-Ion-ing".   I have moved crates of books 6 or more times.
But I have read - relativley- only a few pages.   I never give myself the permision to take the selfish time to develop Me.

LIfe demands seem to steel this away.  It is a loss, a fear, a sense of great lack that makes me hoard my books.

Now that I am aware of this.  I am indeed giving myself permision to explore my interests - Even if I don't know what value this knowlege could
possibly have.  Even if it will never make $, energy, food, or any other accomplishment.  If I'm interested, I give myself permision to spend hours on exploring it.