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Keys To Building a Healthy Soil

 
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1) Least amount of mechanical disturbance possible
2) Armor on the soil
3) Diversity
4) Living root in the ground as long as possible
5) Animal impact

 
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Amazing video! Thank you.
 
gardener
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This is really great, Scott! Thanks for letting us know about it.
John S
PDX OR
 
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One of the best video's I have ever seen on this subject .
thanks
 
pollinator
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I love Gabe and his approach. He connects with existing big ag farmers much better than Joel Salatin or Mark Shepard.
 
John Suavecito
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I think you're right R Scott. He is going to get a ton of farmers to say, "I can do this!" in a way that others couldn't. He sounds like a regular guy who figured it out, not some mysterious, eccentric genius. He doesn't look down on people or act arrogant. I think that's really important when you're trying to tell them about a way of farming that can help them to have a better overall life.
John S
PDX OR
 
Scott Strough
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R Scott wrote:I love Gabe and his approach. He connects with existing big against farmers much better than Joel Salatin or Mark Shepard.



Agreed. I have been talking on the phone with Gabe for a couple years now comparing notes. He is actually like that. A very real person. Salt of the earth.
 
pollinator
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I've heard him before but the message is great. My wife just shakes her head when I tell her I've spent the last hour watching a soil video.

I love the line, "We want to sign the back of the check, not the front." That's what it's all about - sorry Larry Laprise.
 
pollinator
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That should be a Ted Talk!!

Some interesting points that I took away.
Radishes store nitrogen
Feed 1/3 of crop to critters above the soil and 2/3 of crop to below ground critters.
He uses no government programs or bankers to provide money to keep the farm going!
His soil holds as much water as the local reservoir.
Benficial bugs VS pests are 1700 species to 1. So by killing one pest you kill 1700 benificials.
His son gets 5 $ /lb for his chickens.
He uses a thing called "batt latches" to automatically open his paddocks.

http://www.novel.co.nz/webapps/site/76545/134711/shopping/shopping-view.html?pid=356247

He mentions Dr Ademir Calegari. Might have to look into his work also.
 
R Scott
pollinator
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Sole U.S. Distributor http://www.msffarm.com/fence-products/fence-products.htm

$395 each. Not in my budget, but I can walk to all my paddocks. If I were spread out across the country or wanting to do twice a day moves while working a job, they would be a good thing for your sanity.
 
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This is so AWESOME!

Just watched the video. He puts so many permie-friendly concepts together and explains it so well in a way that most level-headed farmers could easily understand. I think I've heard of Gabe Brown before but now I sure won't forget.

I'm a bit confused about why the auditorium he's in is so empty though.
 
pollinator
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Holistic Management is such an innocuous name -- not a real sexy headline if you've never heard of it.

Great presentation. I like his style. My ears perked up when he talked about seeding veggies, flowers & cover crops for his 'garden,' a'la Sepp Holzer.

It really is about feeding the soil, isn't it?
 
steward
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Great video thaks for sharing, I'm sorry I'm at large lately and can't contribute more. Greta to read what you all post!
 
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I don't have unlimited internet access.
Does anyone know where I can get a summary of this video? I would really like to get some more info from it.
 
Scott Strough
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klorinth McCoy wrote:I don't have unlimited internet access.
Does anyone know where I can get a summary of this video? I would really like to get some more info from it.

I originally got in contact with Gabe Brown through HMI (Holistic management Incorporated 505-842-5252). They gave me Gabe's phone number a couple years ago. 701-527-5570
 
S Haze
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I'll be attending a conference next week and signed up for a small group Q and A discussion session with Gabe Brown. If anyone has questions for him I'll try to get them answered. I just started a thread here.
 
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Great video, thanks for posting. Found many things which were applicable to the tiny urban garden, so will be putting them into practice this year.
 
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Here is a good site that talks about our soils and getting back in touch with our roots. They way things should be.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/02/28/how-modern-lifestyle-caused-global-problems.aspx?e_cid=20150228Z1_DNL_NB_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20150228Z1_DNL_NB&et_cid=DM68383&et_rid=859014836
 
gardener
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For all that are interested in the Holistic approach to agriculture. Holistic farming Gabe Brown's website expired 2/28/2015 or I would have included his URL as well.
 
steward
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Gabe Brown just got written up in the New York Times:

FORT WORTH — Gabe Brown is in such demand as a speaker that for every invitation he accepts, he turns down 10 more. At conferences, like the one held here at a Best Western hotel recently, people line up to seek his advice.

“The greatest roadblock to solving a problem is the human mind,” he tells audiences.

Mr. Brown, a balding North Dakota farmer who favors baseball caps and red-striped polo shirts, is not talking about disruptive technology start-ups, political causes, or the latest self-help fad.

He is talking about farming, specifically soil-conservation farming, a movement that promotes leaving fields untilled, “green manures” and other soil-enhancing methods with an almost evangelistic fervor.

Such farming methods, which mimic the biology of virgin land, can revive degenerated earth, minimize erosion, encourage plant growth and increase farmers’ profits, their proponents say. And by using them, Mr. Brown told more than 250 farmers and ranchers who gathered at the hotel for the first Southern Soil Health Conference, he has produced crops that thrive on his 5,000-acre farm outside of Bismarck, N.D., even during droughts or flooding.



This article was on the "most emailed" list yesterday, which is cool.
 
pollinator
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Soil conservation! You had me there... I don't care if the mans bald!

Seriously though when is will the soil conservation agency or department or whatever stage a coup de tat. Damn separation of powers...

To steal some lines...

On building healthy.

If things are going well; "time and disregard"

If poorly and in need of intervention; "roots and shoots" be the key.

 
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