This is the World Organic News for the week ending 24th of February 2020.
Jon Moore reporting!
Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!
The growing of soil, the apparent apathy towards action on climate change in some parts of the world and the need to do something, now has me in a reflective state today.
Mindset is critical to the process of removing weeds from the land you are caring for. It takes time, it takes the correct actions too but essentially it’s a matter of mindset. Yes I have weeds to deal with, no I probably won’t solve the problem overnight, in a week or even a season but I will work with the ecology of the weed to remove that weed. It all sounds a bit jedi but it really works. Holding onto the plan based upon the lifecycle of the weed when everyone else in the district is splashing about with the glyphosate takes some courage of your convictions.
This gives you a hint of what it can take to try things a little or a lot outside the conventional viewpoint.
Given that the conventional industrial way of growing food has us in our current situation. Not just the food, obviously, the whole industrial system of production is a problem.
Where not here for that today, anyway.
So assuming that we want to make a real difference and we’ve chosen the no-dig route, know we will be attacked, derided and watched closely. The last part is the part to remember. You will be watched. In the watching is another opportunity to teach, by example.
This has been going on at work. I suspect my methods have never been seen by co-workers before. Lots of head scratching, lots of intelligent questions and offers to spray the “weeds” between the potatoes. It is a thing to know I am both being judged for different methods and supported to make everything look like it’s supposed to, in inverted commas.
I must point out those suggestions have dried up and withered on the vine as the food gardens have gone gangbusters. It was a little trying. After all I’m in a new climate zone, not sure of the weather patterns and keeping my fingers crossed that nothing out of the ordinary or, more accurately, outside my experience would turn up. It didn’t.
So as you move further along your journey, know you actually have the skills to change the world. You will learn more as you go, you have the heart to make a difference. Maintain the rage, as they say in the classics.
A mantra I kept repeating to myself as the garden beds were built, the land fenced, the planting plan evolved and the seeds went in was: Plan the garden, garden the plan.
This had the effect of keeping the mind clear and the focus on the plants. They will always tell us if there’s an issue we need to deal with. This happened in the glasshouse when the white fly arrived. Only the second time I’ve had to deal with this beastie. There are very few predators, none arrived in the glasshouse so I went with neem oil. It was supposed to kill the eggs as well as the flies. It appeared to not have done so. So three days straight of spraying, the removal of deeply infected climbing beans to the compost and it seems to have worked.
Worry won’t help, staying clear in your mind and know you won’t win every trick. And that’s ok too.
There’s lots more on this in the free ebook over at WorldOrganicNews.com, drop your email and first name into form on the front page to get a copy of the No-Dig Gardening eBook, for free. The techniques and examples there will help you to feed yourself and your loved ones and to:
Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!
Thank you all for listening and I’ll be back next week.
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LINKS
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