Higgenbotham's Dark Age Hovel

[Higgenbotham]

"This report shows that rebuilding soil health is one of the few measures that can improve nutrient density, yields and climate resilience all at once, and farmers can do it profitably today.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 63325.html

Not as easy as they make it sound.

We had 100 plus degree temperatures every day for about 6 weeks as I was working on getting a fall crop started. I experimented with some different soil combinations, all of which were good by nutritional standards. However, they were drastically different as far as ability of the plants to withstand heat and drought. Once the weather broke about a week ago, everything took off; the soil type didn't matter. In fact, the soil that seemed to perform worst in the heat seemed to perform best once the weather broke.

Today the winds are gusting to close to 30 mph so this is not a good time to post pictures. I'll try to post some when the winds die down.

I want to do a follow-up on this as it seems like an appropriate time.

The main idea is the learning curve regarding local gardening conditions is long. This is an example of what may be faced in the coming dark age.

At the bottom I will post 4 photos.

The first is of a typical tomato plant that was planted in local blackland prairie clay soil amended with some organic matter which was mostly cover crops of hard red wheat. These plants survived the hundred plus degree heat wave, all of them except 1 - 14 out of 15.

The second is a picture of the soil.

The third is a picture of a group of tomato plants grown in what might most resemble black forest soil- heavily amended with compost as is often recommended (and rightly so under most conditions in my opinion). In that area only 1 plant in 4 survived the heat wave. The plants struggled mightily, but 3 eventually curled up and died. Those 3 were replanted with backups after the heat broke. The heat wave broke maybe 3 weeks ago and since then these plants have really taken off.

The fourth photo shows this black dirt. The photos don't show the contrast between the plants and the soil to the extent that it appears out in the field.

The main takeaway is that over 2 years after starting this project I still don't know which group of plants will produce better for this fall season harvest. The answer may well be that it depends on the date of our first killing freeze. We didn't do a fall planting last year; thus the "over 2 years" overstates it compared to if I had been more on top of the project.

[Higgenbotham]

The picture below shows black soldier fly larvae doing their work on yard and kitchen waste about 4 inches from the top of the compost pile. The "pile" is in a below ground pit. Further below everything is already decomposed. It takes maybe a month to decompose everything. The black soldier flies find the compost and do everything on their own. I don't have to do anything except minimally maintain the pile so they can find it and do their thing. I pour a couple gallons of urine on it every so often.

[Higgenbotham]

Big Picture of Where We Have Come and Where We Are Going

Western Civilization peaked between 1913 and 1971. Coincidentally or not, with the formation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 and the shutting of the international gold window in 1971. Europe in the first part of the century, then the US in the 1960s. Europe's peak and the reasons for the are given in The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman. After World War II, the US peaked and probably the seminal achievement reached during that peak was putting a man on the moon.

Starting in 1971 or so, Western Civilization, led by the US, entered the maintenance phase of a declining civilization which lasted until approximately 2011. During the maintenance phase, all the surpluses and buffers built up over centuries were spent, mostly wasted.

Once those buffers were wasted, the Federal Reserve, with the enthusiastic support of a corrupt ruling class, began a program of counterfeiting money, euphemistically called such names as "MMT" and "Quantitative Easing" which used the dollar reserve system to distribute fake electronic money to the rest of the world in exchange for their shoddy goods and shoddy "talent". This marked the beginning of the new dark age.

Next around the corner is the acceleration into the new dark age as the worldwide financial system is slowly obliterated with nothing of significance to supersede it.