by Higgenbotham » Sat Mar 28, 2026 10:22 pm
aedens wrote: Sat Mar 28, 2026 8:22 pm
We let the land rest since 2019. To heal from the chemical farmers.
I've been meaning to comment on this and things related.
What aeden is doing is a net positive for the soil. Cover cropping and letting the land lie fallow.
In my case, I am building soil using the discards from industrial civilization, which is good, but also using some materials at the expense of the surrounding land, which is not so good. So what I am doing is a net positive versus how industrial civilization operates, but a net negative versus how nature operates unmolested.
Earlier in this Dark Age Hovel I had discussed location and how a borderline location could be beneficial if someone prefers to fight the problem of fertility of the land instead of denser populations. To do that, someone has to "borrow" from the surrounding land somewhat. When growing up in Upstate New York, which is a very good vegetable growing area, our first garden was put into production by tilling, adding a little cow manure and lime, and planting immediately. Yields were good right from the start. That's not the case in the borderline area of Central Texas where I am now. While the soil is OK as a base, it will not support crops with minimal amendments because the depth is not adequate and it has too much clay. Currently, the surrounding area is grassland that is being used as pasture for cattle. So in addition to discards from industrial civilization, I gather a relatively large amount of material from the pasture and surrounding area out back, which depletes it slightly. As an example, just a few days ago, in about a 250 square foot area of grassland behind the house, I pulled up about a quarter of the dead grass, chopped it up, added it to about a 15 square foot area of newly dug garden, then used the remainder to mulch a newly planted area of about 80 square feet. Normally, that grass would die back as this season's grass grows up, gradually enriching the land. Now about a quarter of that is gone.
Also, the fertility of the area prepared 2 years ago seems better than it was last year, indicating that it can take at least 2 years to optimally prepare ground for growing vegetables in this location.
[quote=aedens post_id=93904 time=1774743767 user_id=182]
We let the land rest since 2019. To heal from the chemical farmers.[/quote]
I've been meaning to comment on this and things related.
What aeden is doing is a net positive for the soil. Cover cropping and letting the land lie fallow.
In my case, I am building soil using the discards from industrial civilization, which is good, but also using some materials at the expense of the surrounding land, which is not so good. So what I am doing is a net positive versus how industrial civilization operates, but a net negative versus how nature operates unmolested.
Earlier in this Dark Age Hovel I had discussed location and how a borderline location could be beneficial if someone prefers to fight the problem of fertility of the land instead of denser populations. To do that, someone has to "borrow" from the surrounding land somewhat. When growing up in Upstate New York, which is a very good vegetable growing area, our first garden was put into production by tilling, adding a little cow manure and lime, and planting immediately. Yields were good right from the start. That's not the case in the borderline area of Central Texas where I am now. While the soil is OK as a base, it will not support crops with minimal amendments because the depth is not adequate and it has too much clay. Currently, the surrounding area is grassland that is being used as pasture for cattle. So in addition to discards from industrial civilization, I gather a relatively large amount of material from the pasture and surrounding area out back, which depletes it slightly. As an example, just a few days ago, in about a 250 square foot area of grassland behind the house, I pulled up about a quarter of the dead grass, chopped it up, added it to about a 15 square foot area of newly dug garden, then used the remainder to mulch a newly planted area of about 80 square feet. Normally, that grass would die back as this season's grass grows up, gradually enriching the land. Now about a quarter of that is gone.
Also, the fertility of the area prepared 2 years ago seems better than it was last year, indicating that it can take at least 2 years to optimally prepare ground for growing vegetables in this location.