Sustainable Soil

2010 Corvallis Youth Garden

August 31, 2010 Community Garden
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Potting Soil Of The Gods

August 30, 2010 Environment

Making your own compost and once it is ready, sifting it, then turning it into a rich planting medium is both economical and a nutrition boost to young plants. Rick Gush has lived in Italy since 2000 and writes about his cliff garden and other experiences in Italian urban agriculture on UrbanFarmOnline.com,
I cleaned out [...]

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Using The Ordinary To Cultivate The Mysterious Power Of Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms

August 26, 2010 Compost

Lisa M. Hamilton reports on RodaleInstitute.org,
Like a cut-rate magician, Philippine farmer and scientist Gil Carandang teaches farmers how to use cheap vodka, generic brown sugar, milk, rice and local soil to harness local microorganisms as invisible workhorses on their farms.
Who wouldn’t be suspicious? Right from the get-go this workshop is promising cure-all concoctions that bring [...]

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Industrial Agriculture

August 23, 2010 Environment

We hear it all the time; industrial agriculture flacks on the teevee boasting about “feeding the world.” Well, as we are seeing with the 550 million egg recall, and previous recalls on beef and other fresh produce items, what good is it producing all the food that they boast about if nobody can eat it? [...]

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GMO Roundup Ready Canola Evolves Into Vexing Weed

August 22, 2010 Environment

I read this article and scratch my head… they are basically saying, “it is nobody’s fault” that GMO Roundup Ready canola seed has jumped the borders of the fields where it was grown and is now considered a “noxious weed.” WTF? This will become the battle cry as GMO plants continue to spread out from [...]

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Why Compost Tea Gets A Bad Name

August 22, 2010 Compost

Some scientists and college professors criticize and put down the use of aerated compost tea. Why? First they analyzed compost tea that was made with inferior brewers that didn’t aerate (inject oxygen) the brew enough. Then they analyzed tea that was brewed using inferior compost that had manure in it with the possibility of creating [...]

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Manure Provides Higher Returns Than Chemical Fertilizers, Economist Says

August 19, 2010 Compost

The supporters of industrial agri-business farming will not like this little tidbit but organic farming using animal manure makes is more profitable than chemical farming as reported on ScienceDaily.com,
No significant differences in corn yield were found between organic and chemical sources of nutrients, but a Texas AgriLife Research economist said manure generates higher economic returns [...]

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Urban Farming For Cash Gains A Toehold In San Francisco

August 19, 2010 Community Garden

Who knew it is easier to get permits for a medical marijuana garden in the San Francisco area than it is for an urban farm to grow and sell vegetables? In cities across the country urban zoning laws are being changed to allow people to grow food for a profit as Zusha Elinson reports for [...]

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GMO Crop Sabotage On The Rise: French Citizens Destroy Trial Vineyard

August 17, 2010 Environment

Rady Ananda reports on the site Info-Wars.org,
Early Sunday morning, French police stood helpless as sixty people, locked inside an open-air field of genetically modified grapevines, uprooted all the plants. In Spain last month, dozens of people destroyed two GMO fields. On the millennial cusp, Indian farmers burned Bt cotton in their Cremate Monsanto campaign. [...]

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GM Crops Facing Meltdown In The USA

August 17, 2010 Environment

The bright public relations and sales pitch shine that GM companies painted for their crops is rapidly losing its luster as Dr. Mae-Wan Ho writes about ever increasing problems for genetically modified crops on the Permaculture.org.au site,
Major crops genetically modified for just two traits – herbicide tolerance and insect resistance – are ravaged by super [...]

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