These are thoughts on simplifying various natural farming techniques, specifically Korean Natural Farming. I have read studies on KNF and results range from positive to mixed so I’m not 100% sold on all their claims but I do look forward to more published studies because if the promises are true, this could save farmers a lot of money on inputs.
I have no idea how any of these compare to the original formulas—these were thoughts bouncing around in my head and I wanted to hear what others thought.
Also, I have been experimenting with this myself in my home garden. Nothing has died yet but I’ve also been using wood chips, cover crops and compost so my small sample is far from scientific.
Fish amino acids (FAA)
This is made by mixing equal weights sugar and discarded fish parts, maybe a bit of lactic acid bacteria serum and IMO-2, and fermenting for months. The sugar pulls moisture from the fish and the fermentation process breaks proteins into amino acids. It’s claimed that the result is high in nitrogen but my understanding is there are cheaper forms of nitrogen and I would bet the big benefit comes from sea minerals, if salt water fish is used, and proteins and lipids which presumably break down into amino acids, which I guess fungi love. In some workshops people actually taste the 9-12 month old solution.
So this got me thinking: doesn’t this sound like Asian fish sauce, or old Roman garum? Other than the addition of salt instead of sugar, the process is the same: fish, salt/sugar, and time. It’s also the same as fermented soy sauce or other high-protein vegetables and the end result are also amino acids. So if you’re not one with easy access to fish scraps, or don’t want to wait months for a result, I would guess you could use fermented fish sauce instead. Or you could make your own bean ferment, mixing a whole bunch of different cooked beans and grains to get a variety of amino acids.
I understand there are some soy and fish sauces that may not be first pressings which, I believe, are done cold while the subsequent liquids may be processed with high heat and/or acids and then mixed with hydrolyzed* vegetable protein. If that matters, and I’m not sure it does but I’ve seen no studies, then grab the cheapest, bottom shelf fish sauce or tamari (made by fermenting soy beans and not chemical hydrolysis) and use that as a substitute for FAA.
Cost wise: I bet they would be comparable. FAA is used diluted and the largest hard cost of making it traditionally is sugar.
Would the salt content in fish sauce be an issue? I don’t think so because first, the original FAA is diluted heavily. And if saltwater fish is used, well, they’re already salty. Additionally Bryant Redhawk has noted that it takes a whole load of salt to harm the soil and some cultures actually use salt water floods to prep for planting in order to get non-terrestrial minerals into the ground. Plus, KNF uses diluted sea water in their formulations anyway. I’m biased because I’m in Oregon and the rain would wash a lot of the salt down in time.
Indigenous micro-organisms (IMO)
Per Su Ba’s comment, she learned at a KNF workshop that one can substitute dark, moist, non-sunburnt leafmold into compost piles instead of collecting them in a rice box and cultivating them with sugar. I like this very much since it would save about 5-7 days and one can skip right to the IMO mixing portion. Me, I’m even more lazy than that and just mix leaf mold and duff into my compost, but that is not The True KNF Way so whatever, I’ll be sent to KNF Jail.
But this also got me thinking: I make rice wine and have a lot of leftover rice solids, rice lees, which are full of fungi (aspergillus oryzae or some sort of rhizopus, depending on the supplier) that convert starches to sugars and yeasts that convert sugar to alcohol. Typically, the lees are used to make a slightly alcoholic soup, can be used to preserve fish and vegetables (sake kasu) or as a flavoring or condiment. And these fungi are related to, if not the same, as used in soy sauce fermentation and natto, a strong-tasting Japanese fermented soy bean dish. Since the indigenous fungi collected in the original KNF recipe likes to eat rice, why not use leftover rice lees as a substitute and mix it into your IMO pile and continue the technique from there? I realize this fungi may not be indigenous but they are relatively harmless and I would imagine the subsequent cycle of microorganisms that dominate after they’re gone are indigenous.
Oriental Herbal Nutrients (OHN)
I have no idea if OHN works at all. I’ve seen no studies but farmers, commercial and otherwise, are enthusiastic about it so I’ll give them a benefit of a doubt. I know that cinnamon is believed to be a rooting agent by some and garlic has potent anti-microbial effects but the other stuff I just don’t know. I’d like to see more studies (most of the English ones I’ve found were out of the University of Hawai’i) but despite my skepticism, I made my own batch.
Boy, that liquor can be expensive, even the cheap stuff. I know the original formula was made for Korean farmers with access to their own rice wine, makgeoli, and had I started making rice wine before I made OHN I would have substituted it for the vodka, but if I were a low income farmer who had no idea how to make any type of beer or liquor, I might be prohibited from alcohol extracting those 5 ingredients.
Recently I remembered another thread by Bryant Redhawk. It was a book by a lady (I’m sorry, her name escapes me but I read her book) who came up with her own spin on faster biodynamic preparations. Her main idea was to grind up dried flowers and herbs, mix them in water and incorporate it into compost. Now in OHN, all but the garlic and ginger is usually dry and the first step is to rehydrate them. Why don’t we copy her homework: grind up dried angelica and licorice in the spice grinder and use a few shakes of their powder into these preparations? Cinnamon is available in the West already ground, as are garlic and ginger, so that saves time. Other than the fermentation step that the garlic and ginger undergo, and I don’t know how valuable that is since everything will be broken down by bacteria and fungi in the soil anyway, I don’t see how it’s all that different. Is it like making a fish amino acid preparation vs. burying a whole fish like Native Americans used to? Maybe. I’m not one to say but I think that would be a good experiment.
How have I been using these?
I first started making compost tea with vermicompost from my bins, and traditional KNF additives like OHN, lactic acid bacteria serum, IMO-2, brown rice vinegar and a plant extract.
Ever one toward making my life easier and cheaper, I’ve changed to using vermicompost, ground powders of OHN ingredients, lactic acid bacteria serum, rice lees leftovers from rice wine, a few teaspons of fish sauce and old kombucha that started to sour. I have no microscope so I couldn’t say which had more organisms than the other but they both smell like cinnamon and garlic and my plants and lawn have not suffered. I’m a simple man so I’m going to assume that’s good.
Again, these are just random thoughts. I’m a tinkerer by nature, I don’t have anything to sell and have no horse in this race. My passion is for growing things and experimenting keeps me curious. I spend my nights reading science papers and the last few nights I’ve been fascinated with hydrolysates and their many uses. I’m sure I’ve made false assumptions above and look forward to having them corrected.
Thanks for reading this far.
*Chemical hydrolysis involves mixing a protein under high heat with an acid and, after some time when the proteins are broken down into amino acids, it’s neutralized with something else (baking soda, maybe something else I think?) we’re left with sodium. Some soy sauces are made this way because they can turn soybeans into sauce in days versus months with traditional fermentation, but the drawback is a harsher flavor due to a more complete break down of proteins into amino acids. Is one a better garden amendment than the other? Got me.
Edit: The book--upon research, more like a booklet--I mention above is called Common Sense Compost Making: The Quick Return Method by Maye E. Bruce and I heard about it from a
post by Rory Turnbull.
