A Chipping Bin made from trees felled around the farm. As we briefly touch on in our post, Life: It's in the Soil, one of the essential crops we need to grow before any other crop can grow is a vigorous Community of organisms in the soil.
This plays out in how the crops are managed, doing things to nurture the soil organisms, rather than either directly killing them (with fungicides) or letting them fizzle out (leaving the soils bare).
Michael Phillip's book, The Holistic Orchard: Tree Fruits and Berries the Biological Way has been helpful in getting us started. It led to the purchase of a chip mulcher for Ramial Woodchips (this is chip mulch derived from wood 3" or less in diameter). And the building of a chipping bin, which holds enough chip mulch to cover 4 -72 foot rows
This plays out in how the crops are managed, doing things to nurture the soil organisms, rather than either directly killing them (with fungicides) or letting them fizzle out (leaving the soils bare).
Michael Phillip's book, The Holistic Orchard: Tree Fruits and Berries the Biological Way has been helpful in getting us started. It led to the purchase of a chip mulcher for Ramial Woodchips (this is chip mulch derived from wood 3" or less in diameter). And the building of a chipping bin, which holds enough chip mulch to cover 4 -72 foot rows
 | The Holistic Orchard also opened our eyes to Compost Tea, used to activate the microbes both in the compost and in the soil. Basically. this is a quick fermentation process in which a quart of high-quality compost is put in a large tea bag (or fine-mesh cheesecloth), and added to a bucket of aerating water infused with a Catalyst. We're using this product from Peaceful Valley, and have also used Molasses. |
But, I must back up a bit. Before the soil (& the resident microbes) can drink the tea, some other steps have been taken, beginning with pruning back the spent raspberry & blackberry canes, pulling back the mulch from last season, and putting down a layer of finished compost.
Now, the soil gets a drench of Compost Tea, and is promptly dressed with a new, fresh coat of Ramial chip mulch (branches and twigs 3" diameter or less). Replace the drip tape, and the Raspberries are ready for a new flush of spring growth --- in three months time!
What does this compost tea actually do? In many ways, it seems counter-intuitive to add more microbes to the soil, since microbial activity actually consumes and reduces the organic matter content of a soil. In natural, or organic, systems, organic matter IS consumed, but is also added to at a greater rate than it is being consumed, so the resulting soil is ever increasing in organic matter. These microbes, then, are helpful in making nutrients in the compost, the soil, and the mulch, active to the plants. Certain organisms in this compost tea can also be beneficial by out-competing disease organisms and colonizing roots to generally protect them from attack. These added organisms play a great role in encouraging greater diversity of all shapes and sizes of living things in the soil, enabling the productivity of the soil and the crop it supports to be sustained.
What does this compost tea actually do? In many ways, it seems counter-intuitive to add more microbes to the soil, since microbial activity actually consumes and reduces the organic matter content of a soil. In natural, or organic, systems, organic matter IS consumed, but is also added to at a greater rate than it is being consumed, so the resulting soil is ever increasing in organic matter. These microbes, then, are helpful in making nutrients in the compost, the soil, and the mulch, active to the plants. Certain organisms in this compost tea can also be beneficial by out-competing disease organisms and colonizing roots to generally protect them from attack. These added organisms play a great role in encouraging greater diversity of all shapes and sizes of living things in the soil, enabling the productivity of the soil and the crop it supports to be sustained.
Incidentally, 2015 is the International Year of Soils, which ties us together with the multitude of others around the globe who are seeking to nurture this precious resource so prone to neglect & abuse.
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