Fertility – again

I discussed soil fertility in the past – see the entry on growing green manure crops.

As I indicated earlier, the basis of our fertility program is growing green manure crops and recycling nutrients – compost, crop residues, etc. We grow a lot of green manure crops and I feel like it should be enough to maintain fertility to grow our crops; however, I see signs that our efforts fall short. The most obvious sign is that whenever I spread manure on fields, the crops respond dramatically – ie. they grow taller and are much greener, and in short, much more robust. This indicates to me that our crops would like/appreciate more soil fertility.

We do not have animals on the farm – other than our laying chickens, turkeys, and pets, which produce little manure. Organic certification standards prohibit us using humanure.  Sometimes, we purchase some fertility amendments – mostly trace minerals such as zinc, boron, sulfates, and very occasionally, potassium and calcium.

We are fortunate in that a friend of mine who works for the town, which is our county seat – Memphis MO, makes compost from the city’s leaves, grass (lawn) clippings,  dirt, and a little cattle manure. He also maintains huge wood chip piles: both fresh (great for paths and mulching berry plants) and aged, which look like compost and I spread on fields for organic matter. Roy began making compost several decades ago – mostly because he wanted to keep all the leaves and grass clippings from being land filled.

The photo shows us spreading the compost from Roy’s piles in one of our fields: we drive the truck (with trailer) into a field on frozen ground (although we are in the midst of a January thaw) and then slinging the compost as far as we can with a shovel. We keep moving the truck forward until we have the field covered or we run out of compost. How much fertility do we add this way? Compared to conventional (and also some organic) farming inputs, the amount of material we add is very small – but it’s what we can do and we feel good about the product.

The tricky part is waiting until the ground is frozen, we have the time/energy, and the snow is not too deep. Hey! it beats going to the gym to get my exercise!

Forestry/Heating with Wood

Almost half of our 135 acre farm is in woods – we like it that way. A few benefits of having our own woods/forest:

* they provide us with firewood

* we harvest logs to be sawed into lumber for our construction needs

* they are good habitat for wildlife (including deer – currently, our primary source of meat)

* they are a carbon sink – offsetting global warming

* they nurture the spirit/soul – winter time is my favorite time to be in the woods: walking, skiing, cutting firewood. The woods feel like a sanctuary (comparable to church/temple for some) to me – it’s where I feel connected to nature, the universe – my spirit feels nurtured.

It feels appropriate for us to heat with wood: currently, we heat two residences, a common house/kitchen, and a green house. That’s a lot of fires to keep feeding; on these sub zero nights, we burn a lot of wood; additionally, we use wood to cook down our sorghum and maple syrup. How much wood? I don’t know – I’m not in the mindset of thinking in terms of cords, etc. Of course, there is the old adage: firewood warms you twice: when you cut & split it and when you burn it. We like the cozyness of wood stoves – coming in from the outside, it feels so good to toast myself in front of the wood stove.

The photo show us about to go off to the woods to cut firewood. Our 3 dogs always come with us, although once we start the chainsaws, they go off on their own adventures.
Sustainability? We have more wood in our forests now than 30 years ago – the trees are growing much faster than what we use for lumber and fire wood – so it appears a sustainable practice. Two years ago, for the first time, we cut logs to sell to a local saw mill – primarily because a lot of trees died due to “Red Oak decline” (for more on this, see Missouri Dept of Conservation literature – it is a widespread disease). We simply could not use the wood fast enough; further, we reasoned that it is consistent with our lifestyle and values. We sell products from plants that we grow intentionally (garden and field crops) – so why not sell from the wooded part of our land as well? As with the crops we harvest, we sell only the “extra” – that is, what we don’t consume.

For us, forestry/wood heat is an integral part of the “good life.”