Korean Natural Farming: No-Smell Pig Pens
When pigs are to be kept in a permanent or semi-permanent hard pen, a deep bedding system inoculated with indigenous micro-ogranisms (IMOs) should be used to improve sanitation for the animals and people tending them and to eliminate the smell of pig manure. This method for healthy, low-maintenance, pleasant smelling confinement pig rearing was developed…
Primer On Green Septic Systems
What Are Green Septic Systems? Green septic systems utilize aerobic biology to fully digest and break down sewage effluent, utilizing it as a fertilizer to grow valuable herbaceous and woody biomass. What Are The Components Of A Green Septic System? A green septic system utilizes traditional greywater and blackwater collection plumbing, a traditional septic tank…
Off-Grid Soil Fertility For Sovereign Food Systems ~Epi-068
If you are serious about food sovereignty, you’re serious about building soil. In this episode I detail 4 methods for creating your own soil fertility inputs from what you are already growing, can source on your property or very close to home, or are already in the course of putting food on your table. They…
DIY Soil Fertility – Part 6: Charcoal and Biochar
Charcoal vs. Biochar – What Is The Difference? Charcoal is the carbonized solid that remains after biomass has had all moisture and volatile compounds removed from it via pyrolysis, the slow heating of wood or other carbonaceous materials in a low to no-oxygen environment. Biochar, generally speaking, is charcoal that has been “charged” with nutrients…
DIY Soil Fertility – Part 5: Fermented Plant Juice
What Is Fermented Plant Juice? Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ) is a fermented extract of the saps and chlorophylls of specific types of plants. It is enzymatically rich and full of lactic acid producing bacteria and yeast that can help to invigorate plant and animal growth (a probiotic). FPJ is simple to make with typical home…
DIY Soil Fertility – Part 4: Thermophilic Compost
What Is Thermophilic Composting? Thermophilic composting processes are set up to favor thermophilic (“heat loving”) microbes that are capable of rapidly breaking down organic matter into humus. Thermophilic composting is a way to make large quantities of quality compost in a relatively short period of time, and is typically done in meter square piles (the…
DIY Soil Fertility – Part 3: Compost Tea
What Is Compost Tea? Compost tea is nutrient and microbe rich liquid that is aerobically brewed to maximize the number of beneficial microbes, fungi and bio-available nutrients for the soil food web and plants. Basically it’s an immune-boosting, growth-enhancing, nutrifying power drink for your garden! Why Brew Your Own Compost Tea? The benefits of regular…
DIY Soil Fertility – Part 2: Bokashi Composting System
What Is Bokashi Composting? Bokashi is an anaerobic method of fermenting organic wastes (i.e. pickling them) – as opposed to typical aerobic thermophilic composting that decomposes organic material. Bokashi systems in this sense are more a pre-composting method, as they do not yield finished soil, but instead microbially-rich fermented food wastes that are primed for…
DIY Soil Fertility – Part 1: Vermicompost
What is vermicomposting? Vermicompost systems employ compost worms (Eisenia fetida) – a.k.a. red wigglers – to transform a wide variety of organic wastes into nutrient-rich worm castings. The worms don’t actually eat the organic material – they eat the microbes that are breaking down the organic material. Why do vermicompost? The worm castings (worm poop)…
040 – All About Amazing Vetiver Grass
Homestead Super Plant Showcase – All About Amazing Vetiver Grass If you haven’t heard of vetiver grass and are homesteading in USDA zone 7b or higher, this is a must listen! Vetiver Grass – Chrysopogon zizanioides – is a perennail, tufted, clump-forming grass that grows up to 9′ tall in the tropics, and typically 6′ tall…
