{"id":113,"date":"2014-05-25T01:29:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-25T01:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merribee.swcomputerlab.org\/index.php\/2014\/05\/25\/soils-for-life-compost-and-compost-tea-workshop-may-20-to-22-inclusive\/"},"modified":"2014-05-25T01:29:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-25T01:29:00","slug":"soils-for-life-compost-and-compost-tea-workshop-may-20-to-22-inclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merribeeorganicfarm.net.au\/index.php\/2014\/05\/25\/soils-for-life-compost-and-compost-tea-workshop-may-20-to-22-inclusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Soils for Life! Compost and compost tea workshop MAy 20 to 22 inclusive."},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Through photosynthesis, plants\u00a0convert CO2 into sugars to power growth.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
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Our planet Earth is perhaps named after the substance that all terrestrial life depends on, but that substance is being lost into the ocean at a rate of 75 billion tons per annum.<\/span><\/div>\n
However a good soil<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>doesn’t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>readily blow or wash away<\/span>, <\/span>but then again it should never be ploughed and\/ or exposed or it will loose microbes and therefore its quality. <\/span>A quality soil\u00a0 is dark and crumbly, full of the entire range of minerals in plant available form and in perfect balance. It has good tilth or structure which means air and water move in \u00a0deep and are available to the plant roots<\/span>, which follow the ever deepening topsoil profile<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>When you learn that it is the activity of millions of tiny microscopic creatures (the members of the soil food web) that create healthy soil, and that they are killed by pesticides, clearing, ploughing and synthetic fertilizers, it is easy to understand why they are extinct over vast areas of farmland. Food plants are on artifical life support without their friends the microbes. Farmers \u00a0are left with disease, pests , weeds and mounting bills for poisonous inputs. \u00a0Acidification, aluminium toxicity and non wetting sands are the challenges faced in the wheat belt and many more areas are simialrly turning to desert. The biology’s disappearance means<\/span><\/span>carbon \u00a0has largely\u00a0left the soil and entered the air. Deterioration in our climate and human health is the understated result<\/span><\/a>\u00a0. Good soil however<\/span>\u00a0produces healthy plants unaided by man, plants which naturally \u00a0resist pest attack and disease , and confer radiant health to the animals and people that eat them. The\u00a0 resources of soil, oxygen, \u00a0precipitation and nourishing food are things \u00a0made by a diversity of plants in conjunction with a diversity of animals (from the microscopic to the large).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>“The Soil can Save Us ” is the title of a brilliant book by Kirsten Ohlsen, but of course it is the ancient partnership between soil microbes, plants and animals which we need to foster to be saved.<\/b>
\u00a0As<\/span><\/span><\/span>
climate change , 6th \u00a0X \u00a0( the sixth mass extinction event on Earth currently taking place \u00a0due to our use of toxins) peak oil , peak fish, peak phosphorus, peak everything approaches like a\u00a0 perfect storm we now need to learn about soil. Knowledge of \u00a0biological systems, not \u00a0financial systems, is now required in earnest . After the oceans, the soil is the earth\u2019s
largest carbon sink \u2013 but a plant pumps carbon from the air \u00a0into the ground ONLY WHEN it knows bacteria and fungi are there in the soil to trade with!
The activities of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, microarthropods , and all the macro life they support,\u00a0 enable excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to be combined
with soil minerals and made into stable humus, which locks the carbon\u00a0 away in soil for likely\u00a0 thousands of years. Desperately climbing CO2 level in the air is mirrored by diminishing carbon in soil. This situation\u00a0 has led to the greenhouse effect and global warming, and it is quite terrible as most farmers recognize.\u00a0<\/span>From the pioneering work of a few we see that\u00a0 lush green food forests can grow where once there were\u00a0 dusty deserts. \u00a0Auroville India, Portugal’s Tamera community, the restoration of the Loes Plateau in China,\u00a0re-vegetation\u00a0of Rwanda and Nigere, Geoff Lawton’s\u00a0greening of the desert near the Dead Sea and Allan Savory’s work in Africa are all wonderful examples of what can happen when man applies soil health \u00a0principles to the land.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n


<\/span>On our farm we inherited in places the worst possible non wetting sand and on the steep slopes clay with topsoil removed but slowly our whole farm is being transformed from dust to chocolate mud cake soil. Samples of our improved soil were praised by Dr Maarten Stapper at a March 2015 soil Restoration \u00a0conference in Boyup Brook with 85 farmers in attendance. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Why you should come to \u00a0 Merri Bee Organic Farmacy ‘s<\/div>\n

“Soil for Life ” workshop:<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a>This will be the distillation of all we’ve learned from Bill Mollison, Dr s Elaine Ingham, Maarten Stapper, Christine Jones, Walter Jehne and many more luminaries. We will draw also on our own discoveries \u00a0from \u00a030 years of farming here in Nannup and many hours of looking down the microscope at soil.\u00a0<\/span>
When I show groups the photos to the left of my friend Haydn who has used compost tea for a few more years than us, most people are dying to ask if Haydn\u00a0 is a midget. I can assure you he is over 6 foot tall. His strawberry below is as big as a small apple.<\/span>
\u00a0<\/span>At our workshop lunch and drinks will be included in the price, \u00a0and will be just about fully organic \u00a0from our \u00a0farm. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>We want you to taste the difference, feel the difference and leave \u00a0knowing \u00a0how to \u00a0make a difference on your farm or in your garden.<\/span><\/div>\n

We promise \u00a0 lots of hands on practical \u00a0activities and on farm examples of the soil health principals at work.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0 We<\/b> will focus on water harvesting and quality compost making , with the operative word being QUALITY. \u00a0Soils ain’t soils, and compost can be mediocre or fantastic, it all depends on how you do it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/b>
\u00a0Learn all about compost tea…..taking a small amount of our quality compost and spreading the millions of beneficial life forms \u00a0over broad acres, plus explain the keys to keeping them alive and breeding.
You will \u00a0leave with a sample of fungal dominated \u00a0aerated compost \u00a0to inoculate your compost heap or worm farm.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>You will go home with our Nourishing Soil Manual which is jam packed with information: recipes and photos \u00a0of \u00a0everything covered , everything you need to do to improve your soil and \u00a0reap an ongoing \u00a0rich harvest.\u00a0<\/span>
\u00a0Quality compost works!\u00a0See the results of our corn experiment here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0Our ultimate goal is \u00a0to be reaching \u00a0broad acre farmers with this ecological, safe and cheap system of growing , so please spread the word as far \u00a0east as you can! Thanks to the South West Catchment Council NRM, farmers can receive a subsidy to attend . The\u00a0 full price as follows:<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

The cost of this \u00a0catered 2.5 day intensive soil fertility course \u00a0is $314\u00a0 . You may book by ringing Bee on 0897561408 ( night time best) whereupon bank details will be provided for a netbank transfer of registration cost\u00a0 or by visting this page:https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/soils-for-life-tickets-33881408204?aff=es2<\/a><\/p>\n

Testimonials on our courses and produce can be found
here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here on our events page<\/a>\u00a0 where you can read what former students have said about this course.
We hope to see you at Soils For Life, May 20th\u00a0 2017<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Side by side trial…..The corn in front of Stew did not receive compost tea. The corn behind him did.<\/p>\n
Please email \u00a0today and \u00a0register \u00a0to learn the powerful secrets of soil : \u00a0beewinfield@westnet.com.au\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through photosynthesis, plants\u00a0convert CO2 into sugars to power growth.\u00a0 Our planet Earth is perhaps named after the substance that all terrestrial life depends on, but that substance is being lost into the ocean at a rate of 75 billion tons per annum. However a good soil\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0readily blow or wash away, but then again it should… <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28,32,36,44,48,49,90,109,112,119,132,150,153],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-beneficial-fungi","tag-biodiversity","tag-carbon-farming","tag-chemical-free","tag-compost","tag-compost-tea","tag-humus","tag-microbes","tag-natural","tag-organic-growing","tag-plant-available-nutrients","tag-soil-fertility","tag-soil-improvement"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/merribeeorganicfarm.net.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/merribeeorganicfarm.net.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/merribeeorganicfarm.net.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merribeeorganicfarm.net.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merribeeorganicfarm.net.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/merribeeorganicfarm.net.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/merribeeorganicfarm.net.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merribeeorganicfarm.net.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merribeeorganicfarm.net.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}