posted 10 years ago
Congrats Zenais on getting on the online Geoff Lawton PDC! It was my introduction to permaculture. Geoff mentioned these volumes in one of his Q&As. So I bought them. I didn't regret it.
These volumes are worth millions of dollars in knowledge! We're so rich, we're dirt poor! (plenty of puns here!) We're dealing in the black market of dirt. The currencies are the major plant nutrients, the banks are bedrock, mineral soil particles, soil water, and organic matter, and the players are soil organisms, and plants. Each of the currencies have different amounts being traded and the less common ones may need to be added for stimulus. Major economic downturns caused by acid rain, major water events, or loss to the atmosphere are controlled by the banks and the players. The more diverse the number of banks and players, the more the currency stays around to be traded. The plants play a major role like the government or the Fed controlling markets for currencies, removing/adding stimulus (removing water to reduce leaching), government welfare feeding soil microbes, and storing currencies for use later. Soil organisms are companies and individuals doing the main economy.
I don't think I can continue the metaphor. As anyone can see, it is a complex situation under our feet. Roots are fascinating! They can avoid other plants or work with them? What? Or even graft onto each other. I watched a Paul Stamets video where he said trees found in the dense shade of an old growth forest shouldn't be alive except they are root grafted to trees to give them nourishment. The roots are the bulk of the tree, even reaching way beyond the canopy. The discussion on herb roots seems too much for me. I have no background of seeing any of it and I'll need to reread this a couple of times to get it. The kinds of herb roots identifies the means of moving around. Relating the two will help me out later. So, the take home message about roots in a polyculture is, "it would appear that mixing plants with different root pattern types, aboveground phenology, and nutritional profiles will lead to fuller use of the soil profile - and hence, reduced competition and increased production."
Not everyone can have get a biology degree in soil science to get it. Luckily, the info can lead you to other permaculturalist who can help. The Soil Food Web part felt like an introduction to Elaine Ingham's work. She has an online class I would love to take. It would really help with my understanding of soil life.
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