continued from the 30 March 2014
April 15th, 2014 → 1:03 am @ Shanti
Okay! Seeds prepared as you saw today, are really great and there are some methods you can use, to make them even more beneficial for you, than just plant them in the best soil.
A small bit of information: Anastasia wrote about keeping the seeds to be planted in your mouth for a while, before planting them into Mother Earth, to take on YOUR special vibrations and your ailments (if you have any) to make the food grown from them, very special indeed and even more beneficial for you when you eat the produce when you reap the harvest. They will be like a special, personal medicine for you.
The only problem is that this may be a little difficult when you are a broad acre farmer. Can you see yourself with a bag full of seed grain in your mouth? Bag after bag?
I suggest you read the series called “The Ringing Cedars of Russia”, by Vladimir Mègree. You will learn so much from these writings in every aspect of life. Another book that inspired me was “The One straw revolution” by Masanobu Fukuoka. I read this book many years ago and it really got me started in growing my food. OKAY, let’s move on.
When I was on the farm, I used to use worm castings as the first medium, the seeds or seedlings would touch, when planted.
By preparing a bed for seedlings, I would spread some dolomite on the ground, over the weeds and all; wait a few weeks and grow a crop of green manure and let it come up to just before these plants would be seeding. Then I would cut this crop down in 3 stages, so the pieces would be about 200 mm long and I NEVER pulled the plants out of the soil. Yes, weeds are important gatherers of minerals and must never leave the garden bed. Each “weed” has its own way of getting a particular mineral from the deeper layers of the soil, so if this weed is discarded, you have just got rid of some natural mineral the garden needed and which you got for free. If you do pull them out, make sure they finish up in the compost heap or worm farm.
Why I say this, is because around the roots, a lot of fungi, bacteria, microbes and small critters gather during the growth of any plant and they must be preserved. By using natural growing methods and NOT artificial ones, they will proliferate and increase. Once the artificial methods are used, the soil will be devoid of living creatures. That is the problem with Super phosphate. On broad acre farming, this has been used for years now and there are NO worms or anything in the soil, to keep it healthy and aerated. They die on the spot. If farmers used just the phosphate, the bird dung in other words, this would not happen, but they are told by the big companies, that super phosphate is immediately taken up into the plants and works so well. The problem is, that after the first shower of rain, it basically dissolves and finishes up in the water table and runs away into the rivers, polluting them. Pure phosphate however, is a lot less water soluble and stays in the soil, slowly dissolving over about 5 years and continually leaching a small amount every time it rains. Using pure sulphate would be so much more economical too, as it only needs to be applied every 5 years, a great saving for the farmer.
Okay, back to the garden bed.
Allow these cuttings to drop down on the garden bed.
Cover these with some mulch, till the green turns to brown; about 3 weeks as a rule.
Very lightly fork these dropped stalks into the top layer of soil only, as not to disturb the root systems. Then apply a liberal amount of compost and a layer of mulch of about 30 to 50 mm. as a cover.
I then made a small impression with my bare hands in the mulch, just pushing it aside, a handful of worm castings and in went the seedling, firmed a little, but not too tight. I used to water them just before dark, but only lightly to start, allowing them to settle down a little. During the growing time, I fertilised them with worm pee or fish emulsion, maybe kelp, all of which were also used as a deterrent for unwanted invaders. These plants would never look back and produced beautiful food, as the compost was also prepared bio-dynamically. I also found, that I did nor have any real problems with unwanted invaders, because plants grown this natural way, are tough and the modern bugs only like soft food, like some people do. White bread in stead of whole meal, the real stuff and a bit more difficult to chew.
I mention bio-dynamics a lot, because it is so special.
Next time I am writing a few short stories about farmers using bio-dynamics that will impress you.
Good luck and PLEASE start as soon as you can,
Shanti with love.
The promised stories next time.
