How to farm is complex y'all! You've gotta get your hands in the soil and kill a few plants to really understand what it means to be a farmer. Soil conditions, climate, and quality need to be taken into consideration too.
The pH of your garden soil should be around 6.5-7.5 for most things to be happy, with some outliers like blueberries likin' it around 4.5 if you've got them in containers up in Colorado like I do. But out here on the western slope you'll find the soil pH runs about 8.5.
No-till practices are key - tilling destroys the fungal network in the dirt, and them fun guys are the liaison to all the plants and other microbes underground. Tillage kills off around 30% of the microbiology with each pass of the plow. That's a lot of lost fungus and nematodes!
Instead of turnin' the earth, I like to add inputs like wood chips and compost, or make up a batch of compost tea. That puts carbon and nitrogen back in the soil to feed them microbes. It also decreases the pH over time without rippin' everything up. No-till means less weed pullin' too!
Don't forget to check your soil with the local extension office to see what it needs. A test'll tell you which elemental things you need to adjust the pH, but be careful - long term that changes the biology and can disadvantage your crops.
Keep it simple like that fella Masanobu Fukuoka said - pile on some animal manures and carbon if your soil's lookin' hungry. No need for those NPK fertilizers that just wake the plants up without buildin' real health.
And you can check how alive your plants are with a refractometer - most conventional crops these days only clock in around 3.5-4 Brix, but you want to see 12 plus for something truly nutrient dense. Sickly plants are more prone to problems while the hardy ones can fight off disease themselves.
There's a direct correlation between the soil microbiome and what's stirrin' in our own guts too. So pay attention to Mother Dirt means attention to our immune and mental health as well. Glyphosate's no friend there - it started out as a descaling agent to strip minerals from pipes! Now it's labeled as a herbicide but acts like an antibiotic, killing off nutrition for our plants and ourselves.
Is it any wonder with all this SAD (standard American) diet of genetically engineered corn and soy plus the overuse of antibiotics on CAFO (confinded animal feed operations) cattle that we're seeing more health issues? I say it's time to take a "soil first" approach and focus on gettin' more nutrients into our food through regenerative practices. Nothin' beats observin' and participatin' in the garden and on the homestead - brings you back to what's really important in life. Carrots sure as heck don't come from no grocery store!
Alright friends, I best get back to it. Gonna do a experiment soon swapin' out store bought personal care for some homemade goods. Stay tuned and get them hands dirty!
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