Sher Miller

There is also the alternate name, olivine. That's what we call it in Hawaii. It's just about the only gemstone that can be found in Hawaii. It comes embedded in basalt from the volcanic eruptions. There is one beach that has so much the sand is green and called "greensand beach." There is so much even the coral offshore has a green tint.

What a well written article! I have been spouting off about racial wood and soil ecosystems for years. I've also written articles about choosing materials from ecosystems that match the crops. I was very excited to see your post.

And I have to say your garden pictures show a glorious garden indeed.

And I love the way you describe each block as a nation state. That's how I think of plantings.

THANKS 👍👃🌱🌳🌲

Ben Zumeta wrote:More diverse soil constituents will usually work better. Any habitat with more diverse food and shelter will have more biodiversity than those with less. I would be concerned about biocide contamination with most straw though.

There are benefits to diversity. There are also benefits to stability. When you have a highly diverse ecosystem that is stable and works well as an integrated system? Ah, that's where the magic happens.

(Diversity for it's own sake is chaotic and the system loses strength and efficiency by needing to stabilize the system. Soil systems have millions of species and billions of organisms. That kind of complexity is more efficient if there is some stability.)

I have found in my work that following permaculture guidelines of using what is at hand is effective and prevents the need to buy or bring in outside materials.

M Ljin wrote:

John Suavecito wrote:How do you know if what you are adding are indigenous microbes? Under a native tree?
John S
PDX OR

“Indigenous microorganisms” is I believe a term from Korean natural farming that refers to microbes from wild forest soils.

Yes it comes from Master Cho Han-Kyu 's method of Korean Natural Farming. It does not need to be collected from wild forest soils. That's a myth. The collection site depends on the crops it will be used on.

John Suavecito wrote:How do you know if what you are adding are indigenous microbes? Under a native tree?
John S
PDX OR

Yes you collect from under a rich local tree or from under a stand of grass. The idea is to collect an ecosystem that matches the growing system of your crops. So where? It depends, although you want as local as possible.

The I. M. O. technology was developed to get massive concentrations of balanced soil biology in a crumble form for effective application.

John Suavecito wrote:I don't know how one would increase indigenous microbes instead of other ones. It's an interesting idea.

John S
PDX OR

This is done by adding a culture of Indigenous Micro-Organisms to the soil. A few bio-nutrients are also usually added and the soil is typically mulched after applying.

I can offer more info if anyone is interested.

Great video! Thanks for sharing. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I encourage anyone to try this.

In my work I have found that an Inoculated Deep Litter System (IDLS). Is far more effective.

No flies, no smell, no manure. The bedding always stay fully composted at all times so is always available for immediate use. The bedding is warm enough to brood chicks without a hen or heating devises.

Once I started using the inoculated deep litter system, I never had another chicken disease including mites. When I eventually sold the farm, the coop hadn't been cleaned out in 7 years at all ever. It housed an average of 50 chickens, 12 sheep, two pigs and for a while a rabbit.

Thanks again for sharing your video, it was great!. I'm headed over to YouTube now to subscribe.

Thanks for sharing the study. It looks like they focused more on carbon emissions then microbial activity which is to be expected. That's how you get grants these days.

From my scientific work I found that biochar works mainly as housing for microbes. Organic matter functions as food for microbes since their function is to recycle organic matter. It's understandable then that the two together would be more effective.

However, I found that using a soil foundation inoculated with Indigenous Micro-Organisms, I.M.O, is the most effective way to create soil with massive soil microbial activity and the consequent benefits.

If you're not going to use I.M.O. Soil Foundation, any organic matter will have the same effect. There's nothing magical about straw.

Have fun and let us know how it goes.

I'm curious what issues people struggle with the most. So many things can go wrong, and so many things are hard. Yet when we talk about it we often find someone else has found a workaround or a better way.

Gurkan Yeniceri wrote:Korean Natural Farming is established by Cho Han Kyu after he studied natural farming in Japan. He mixed the Korean cuisine with farming practices to come up with cheap solutions for farmers.
Later he and his son established JADAM (not an abbreviation) which means "People that resemble nature" to help farmers to produce high yield without using corporate fertilizers.

I must respectfully correct this statement. Cho Han-Kyu, the father, developed a system for farmers with little to no money and resources, and he gave away everything except his proprietary mineral solutions (Mineral A-D). He did not contribute to the son's (Youngsang) work. In fact, it drove father and son apart. The systems of KNF and JADAM are in direct conflict. I can elaborate if anyone is interested. Most followers do not understand how the two systems are fundamentally opposed.