Tag Archives: #worldorganicnews

Episode 236. The Chaos Garden Experiment

This is The ChangeUnderground for the week ending 2nd of November 2020.

I’m Jon Moore

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

As we do we can learn. Over the past fortnight I’ve been preparing the fields for planting. I’m converting pastures to crops. I’m not inclined to spend my time growing lettuce and microgreens, despite the obvious profit levels apparently available. I trace my way of doing things back to John Seymour and his Complete Book of Self Sufficiency. He talks about growing grain crops. Barley, wheat, maize, peas and beans. To that end I’ve set up a five year rotation with all of the above leading to soil bursting with life for our garlic crop. Continue reading →

Episode 235. The ChangeUnderground!

This is the World Organic News whoops! The ChangeUnderground for the week ending 19th of October 2020.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

So I bit the bullet, changed the podcast name and artwork. Let me know what you think. So what can you expect with this momentous change? Pretty much what I’ve been doing. I’ve just adjusted the name to the content. But as I dive more deeply into this regenerative thing, I’ve started to question everything. 

Back in episode 225 I disclosed by heretical views on compost. Since then and whilst researching, other “sacred cows” of the non industrial food production world have asked to be examined. Continue reading →

Episode 234. The Complexity Is The Joy

This is the World Organic News for the week ending 4th of  October 2020.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

The more we dig into this no-dig thing the more it becomes opaque and at the same time, it becomes crystal clear. It’s a thing I call the Fukuoka paradox. Masanobu Fukuoka of the One Straw Revolution talks about this in one of the later chapters. He’d set up his system, sowing before reaping, allowing fruit trees to grow as central leaders and then not pruning them and loading his orchard soil with food crop seeds to allow them to work out their own rotations when he was approached by ag scientists. Now I’m not going to quote the book but the gist of it is something like this: Continue reading →

Episode 233. The Change Underground Movement

This is the World Organic News for the week ending 28th of  September 2020.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

The Change Underground Movement indeed! 

Over the past month or so I’ve been going through a kind of life realignment. World Organic News and I have been so intertwined since I started the blog back in 2014. It’s almost a part of me, and I hope it’s been a useful part of my listeners’ and readers’ lives too. Continue reading →

Episode 232. Lazy or Working Smart?

This is the World Organic News for the week ending 21st of  September 2020.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

I’ll start this week with a big thank you to Simon who completed the No-Dig gardening course on Udemy, link in the show notes. Well done Simon! And a huge thank you for the five star review. I’ll leave a screenshot in the transcript over at worldorganicnews.com if you’d like to see what Simon says! Thanks again.

This week is about world view. Long term listeners will know my favourite Masanobu Fukuoka quote: “What less can I do?” it came to mind this week as I was reading about an ancient raised bed technique from both Ireland and Scotland. What caught my mind was the name of this bed building technique: “Lazy Beds”.  Continue reading →

Episode 230. Evolution & Response

This is the World Organic News for the week ending 7th of  September 2020.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

Way back in episode 144 I delved into the misunderstandings we have to deal with when the word “Evolution” arises. To give a quick summary: There’s a feral pest in Australia called the cane toad. Introduced in the 1930s into the state of Queensland, against the advice of the scientists but in time for an election. The toads were supposed to eat the cane beetles ravaging the sugar industry at the time. The toad, once introduced, avoided the cane beetles and started chewing through native frogs, toads and reptiles. The toads carry a poison on their back, excreted through glands. These toads have spread south into northern NSW, north through Queensland and west into the Northern Territory. Continue reading →

Episode 229. Ducks! Regenerative Grazers

This is the World Organic News for the week ending 31st of  August 2020.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!

Well as I informed ye last week, I was due to enter the ranks of grandparenthood in the last 7 days. On Wednesday the 26/8/2020 young Rory entered the world. A healthy 4030g that’s just under 9lbs in the old money. Mother, father and baby doing well. Unfortunately with the COVID restrictions in place it will be some time before I can visit the wee tacker but that’s just the world we’re living in at present.  Continue reading →

Episode 228. A Number to Send Chills 

This is the World Organic News for the week ending 24th of  August 2020.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!

This week we’re going on a 30,000 foot overview. 

As some of you may know I’m currently back at Uni, studying for a Diploma in Sustainable Living. This is twenty five years after my Bachelor’s Degree where I double majored in archaeology. It’s been fun so far but. 

There’s one unit entitled: Humans: Earth Shapers. As anyone who’s done any archaeology will know, that’s what humans do. To be fair, all species change their local environments. We, one species, just happen to be on all the continents and we’re armed with technology!  Continue reading →

Episode 227. The RegenEarth Approach to Chooks

This is the World Organic News for the week ending 17th of  August 2020.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!

This week I’ve been waist deep in Uni assignments so I have the latest episode from RegenEarth, a podcast I co-host with Rich Bowden. It’s our first back after a period of reorganisation. Not quite a pivot but more of a tightening of the focus. Anyway here ‘tis, I hope ye all find something useful in it. Continue reading →

Episode 226. We Need a Regeneration Revolution

This is the World Organic News for the week ending 11th of  August 2020.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!

Soil

Today we’re going to discuss regeneration in particular regeneration of the soil and ecosystems. Over the last 50 to 75 years, basically since the second world war we’ve gone through a period of destruction. In effect a faustian bargain in which we gave up 1% of our topsoil every year in return for production returns.

Industrial Agriculture

We did this by using chemicals: chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides and herbicides and fungicides and it worked. There were lots of famines and people starving in the 1970s. A lot of the techniques developed with chemical inputs saved many people, kept them alive. But the cost! That bill is coming due and we need to pay for it now. If we wait, the cost will be so much higher. Continue reading →