Gardening,organics,sustainable gardening,food crops,etc

[Cjay]

Posted by Wings (here)

Posted by DianeKJ (here)
Can anyone suggest a gentle way to keep snails and earwigs from eating all my basil? They tend to make short work of it. I don't mind sharing some of it with them, but I would also like to enjoy some myself
Thanks,
Di

Copper strips around the plants should help. Garlic spray is another alternative. You could try something like cayenne pepper or chilli powder as a barrier around your plants (I have never used this technique but I'd imagine it would work). .... and beer (as suggested above) does work.

A ring of sawdust around plants is a good deterrent for snails and slugs.

- EDIT -

Great advice on snails here: http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=122



Great advice on earwigs here: http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=146

Index to lots more pests and solutions: http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?page_id=4320

If any of the links get broken, go to Sustainable Gardening Australia:
http://www.sgaonline.org.au
then click the Gardening Fact Sheets link on the left.

[DianeKJ]

Thanks for all the advice on earwigs and slugs. I'm partial to the beer method I like the idea of sending them off in delicious, drunken splendor. I hope they like it too.

Has anyone here had any luck growing quinoa? I love the stuff but wasn't sure if it was a very viable thing to actually grow. I don't live on a farm either, but would like to give it a try.

[Cjay]

Posted by DianeKJ (here)
Has anyone here had any luck growing quinoa? I love the stuff but wasn't sure if it was a very viable thing to actually grow. I don't live on a farm either, but would like to give it a try.

I have never tried but I did a search on "growing quinoa at home" and I found this...

Q. Anyone tried growing quinoa? Is it worth it for the home gardener? Difficult to grow? It's expensive and hard to find at grocery stores around here! I would love to grow enough for occasional vegetarian dishes. It has such a striking appearance, too...

A. I grew it in the past just as an ornamental, and I grew about 100 plants this year for grain. It's very easy to grow (it's just a pigweed/goosefoot, after all).

The only thing about it is that, sort of as with dry beans, etc., it's really a lot of work for the yield you get, and very time consuming.

Mine is stripped off of the stems now, but not cleaned. I have a couple of garbage bags of stripped-off seed heads with a lot of chaff and debris. I need to sit there and rub it between my hands, or find some faster method, to extract the seed, then I'll have to clean it further by sieving and winnowing, etc. I'm not really sure how much actually purified grain I'll get from this.

I think the most practical home-grown grain is probably flour/dent corn, in terms of the yield for the effort it takes to grow and process it.

My advice is... it's a plant. How hard could it be? Plants grow themselves. Me thinks, that answer above came from a lazy gardener who wants everything to be as easy as growing corn. That's fine if you want to eat corn 350 days each year.

Then I found this far more helpful website: http://www.quinoatips.com/grow-your-own-quinoa-part-1/

[DianeKJ]

Thank you so much, yes it will either grow somewhere in my backyard or it wont, lol. It has some good protien in it and if it grows, it would totally be worth any extra time I would need to give it. Processing/cleaning, well that might be a pain in the arse, but certainly something to learn about.

I know the stuff we by in the store has not only been cleaned, but rinsed pretty good as well. Not sure how much water it would take to clean it. I have read that the water used to remove the bitter coating, can then be used to wash things later. kind of interesting.

[Cjay]

You could probably wash your quinoa in a plastic tub or even a bath tub, then use it to water your garden or add that water to your compost... which leads to my next exciting instalment...

COMPOST TEA

Compost tea is a living gold for plants and gardens because it contains beneficial micro-organisms that:

• help protect plants from pests
• "digest" nutrients in the soil to convert them into a form that plants can absorb through their roots, so you will need much less fertilizer
• some types of bacteria "fix" nitrogen from the atmostphere into the soil when used with legumes (plants like peas, beans and acacia trees or shrubs)

thus dramatically improving soil quality very quickly so you can grow very healthy, vigorous plants that give you extraordinary yields.

It is extremely easy to make compost tea at home in just 24 hours.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXGqJbFZzCo

...or if you have a farm, you can make larger amounts in a bigger system like this one:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geFf4USPKSA

You can build your own votex compost tea brewer that uses an air pump, not a water pump, to move the water.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWS20uo0UVI

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It2dgq1s22g

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSYlqTuteHM

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNNPxf7mL0k

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDDAl8NeoHY

[Arrowwind]

Posted by Cjay (here)
Compost tea is a living gold for plants and gardens because it contains beneficial micro-organisms that:

• help protect plants from pests
• "digest" nutrients in the soil to convert them into a form that plants can absorb through their roots, so you will need much less fertilizer
• some types of bacteria "fix" nitrogen from the atmostphere into the soil when used with legumes (plants like peas, beans and acacia trees or shrubs)

thus dramatically improving soil quality very quickly so you can grow very healthy, vigorous plants that give you extraordinary yields.

It is extremely easy to make compost tea at home in just 24 hours.
]

Please explain why it is worth the work to make compost tea as opposed to just putting compost on your garden? I need less work, no more... but will do what is of value.

[Cjay]

Final video in the series about home-made vortex compost tea brewer.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vicfxM6O27o

Testimonials regarding compost tea:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doZKvLzcoAc

Posted by Arrowwind (here)

Posted by Cjay (here)
Compost tea is a living gold for plants and gardens because it contains beneficial micro-organisms that:

• help protect plants from pests
• "digest" nutrients in the soil to convert them into a form that plants can absorb through their roots, so you will need much less fertilizer
• some types of bacteria "fix" nitrogen from the atmostphere into the soil when used with legumes (plants like peas, beans and acacia trees or shrubs)

thus dramatically improving soil quality very quickly so you can grow very healthy, vigorous plants that give you extraordinary yields.

It is extremely easy to make compost tea at home in just 24 hours.
]

Please explain why it is worth the work to make compost tea as opposed to just putting compost on your garden? I need less work, no more... but will do what is of value.

Sorry if my previous explanation wasn't clear or detailed enough. It is mostly about having good soil biology - LIVING soil as opposed to dead soil. By adding billions of good bacteria and fungi to the soil, you will super-charge the growth of all plants growing in that soil.

People who understand soil often say that you do not feed your plants. You feed the soil and the soil feeds your plants.

Compost tea:

• feeds the plants through the leaves
• coats the leaves with BENEFICIAL bacteria that repels pests
• inoculates the soil with beneficial bacteria
• the bacteria in the soil break down fertilizer that you add to the soil, and the bacteria breaks down the minerals in the soil and converts them into a form that plants can absorb through their roots. If you don't have these bacteria in your soil, your plants might survive but they will never thrive.

As the gentleman said in the first compost tea video - The Secret is in the Soil - about 4 minutes into the video - "it (the compost tea) is the equivalent of about 500 to 1000 pounds of compost". What he means is, the number of beneficial bacteria that have multiplied in the tea in just 24 hours of brewing, starting with just 8 cups of compost.

You should use the compost tea as soon as possible after making it because it is full of living bacteria.

The effort required to make compost tea is minimal - it takes about 5 minutes, once a week (or less often if you like), to prepare a batch of compost tea. The results are truly amazing.


If you want to get good results (but slightly less stunning results) with less work, learn from the people who developed the concept of Permaculture - Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. Here is a Bill Mollison video to whet your appetite (total running time 51:42).

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5iHc3oTgao

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_LUpWflNtk

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXRnZTUPy9g

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di1qcGdHhCE

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ-PmiXanSI

If you add BIOCHAR to your soil, that greatly improves the soil - producing up to 890% as much harvest as the same soil with no biochar.

If you use PERMACULTURE techniques, you can achieve amazing results, even if you don't add biochar to your soil.

If you add COMPOST, you can achieve amazing results, even if you don't use permaculture techniques or add biochar to your soil.

Using COMPOST TEA, will give you the fastest improvement to your soil biology.

If you combine ALL FOUR of the above, you will achieve truly outstanding results because it is like intensive care for your plants. You could literally turn a barren desert into a lush paradise within a few years.

[Cjay]

PERMACULTURE ETHICS AND DESIGN PRINCIPLES

I strongly recommend that every gardener and farmer studies this information closely.


David Holmgren is co-originator (with Bill Mollison) of the permaculture concept and author of the recent book, PERMACULTURE: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_-J71k2bXE

Much more information: http://permacultureprinciples.com/

[oceanz]

Cjay - I must've watched that same documentary on biochar in the Amazon. After watching that, I tried a small experiment years ago of mixing charcoal and soil and then later on planted some flowers. The flowers planted in the soil without the charcoal were not as healthy and did not last very long.

I must look into doing this again.

On another thing, I have heard ash is very good for citric plants.

Maybe, like Carbon in charcoal (biochar), the ash which contains rock & glass (silica) is something that all insects, plants and humans need to stand upright and maintain a healthy exterior.

[Cjay]

Posted by oceanz (here)
Cjay - I must've watched that same documentary on biochar in the Amazon. After watching that, I tried a small experiment years ago of mixing charcoal and soil and then later on planted some flowers. The flowers planted in the soil without the charcoal were not as healthy and did not last very long.

I must look into doing this again.

On another thing, I have heard ash is very good for citric plants.

Maybe, like Carbon in charcoal (biochar), the ash which contains rock & glass (silica) is something that all insects, plants and humans need to stand upright and maintain a healthy exterior.

Plant ash contains potassium, the K in "NPK" fertilizers - one of the three essential nutrients for plants. My personal opinion is that all the trace elements are essential for healthy plants - and animals, including humans.

[Arrowwind]

Posted by Cjay (here)
Sorry if my previous explanation wasn't clear or detailed enough. It is mostly about having good soil biology - LIVING soil as opposed to dead soil. By adding billions of good bacteria and fungi to the soil, you will super-charge the growth of all plants growing in that soil.

People who understand soil often say that you do not feed your plants. You feed the soil and the soil feeds your plants.

Compost tea:[LIST]
As the gentleman said in the first compost tea video - The Secret is in the Soil - about 4 minutes into the video - "it (the compost tea) is the equivalent of about 500 to 1000 pounds of compost". What he means is, the number of beneficial bacteria that have multiplied in the tea in just 24 hours of brewing, starting with just 8 cups of compost.

You should use the compost tea as soon as possible after making it because it is full of living bacteria.

The effort required to make compost tea is minimal - it takes about 5 minutes, once a week (or less often if you like), to prepare a batch of compost tea. The results are truly amazing.


.

Sorry cjay, I just didn't have time to watch all those videos... you work hard on your post and I do appreciate that... but Im to busy doing the garden to read about it... growing season is so short here.. and weather so iffy that when a good day comes I have to be outside....

I do want to watch that vortex thing... reminds me of photonic water... eventually I will be doing all my garden watering with photonic water.... www.photonicwater.com

[Cjay]

Posted by Arrowwind (here)
Sorry cjay, I just didn't have time to watch all those videos... you work hard on your post and I do appreciate that... but Im to busy doing the garden to read about it... growing season is so short here.. and weather so iffy that when a good day comes I have to be outside....

I do want to watch that vortex thing... reminds me of photonic water... eventually I will be doing all my garden watering with photonic water.... www.photonicwater.com

Dear Arrowwind and all gardeners and farmers,

I understand about your short growing season. I totally understand about being busy. Most of us THINK we don't have time to pause and learn better ways to do things.

Try to invest just one hour per day for the next seven days to study again each of my posts in this thread AND watch the videos I have posted.

The things you learn will save you a lot of time and money. You will get back every minute you invest hundreds of times over and your garden or farm yields will be dramatically improved in quality and quantity, very easily and very cheaply by working smarter, not harder.

[Cjay]

HARVESTING RAIN WATER

Harvesting Water the Permaculture Way (total running time 63:58) is a great documentary about harvesting rain water using simple permaculture techniques - by Geoff Lawton, one of the world's foremost permaculture experts.

Geoff is wll known for the video series "Greening the Desert" where he teaches Jordanian locals how to grow a highly productive food forest in one of the world's harshest deserts close to the Dead Sea. Watch the full version of Greening the Desert here:
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...l=1#post187963

Geoff is managing director of The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia.
http://permaculture.org.au/

Geoff and his team are establishing a worldwide network of Permaculture Research Institutes.
http://www.permacultureglobal.com/

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kICfi7i-rOA

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NPdunTcksA

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmoNtoIF4G4

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6U1B2AcfJU

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jv4yIvl8Vc

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUcvjsAYZ0w

[Cjay]

GEOFF LAWTON'S GUIDE TO PERMACULTURE DESIGN AND STRATEGY

(Total running time 34:47)

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMQ8eSm92xQ

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHIYXmGgiuw

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGK1iymrYq4

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9bTKEOJ0v4

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-uKzGaUmzg

[Cjay]

PERMACULTURE & PEAK OIL: Beyond 'Sustainability'

David Holmgren is co-originator (with Bill Mollison) of the permaculture concept and author of the recent book, PERMACULTURE: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.

He talks about the need to move beyond the lulling hope that 'green tech' breakthroughs will allow world-wide 'sustainable consumption' to the recognition that dwindling oil supplies inevitably mean a mandatory 'energy descent' for human civilization across the planet. He argues that permaculture principles provide the best guide to a peaceful societal 'powering down."

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFjFG24BeX8

[Cjay]

BILL MOLLISON - GLOBAL GARDENER - Permaculture Series


Bill Mollison, co-originator (with David Holmgren) of the Permaculture concept, shows Permaculture principles being applied in different situations and climate zones.

more information: The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia: http://permaculture.org.au/
and the worldwide network of Permaculture Research Institutes: http://www.permacultureglobal.com/

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxJDCy9BjFQ

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE5KGJlqUSI

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8NT1smJoWY

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxMIVdPNP1w

[nomadguy]

This is a well-becoming post, This is all great material that has taught me so so much about my craft in building ecosystems.
I am making ample attempts to get more traffic to this post as well.

Cheers
C... Keep it up yall!

[Cjay]

SOIL BIOLOGY


One teaspoon of soil could contain billions of bacteria and viruses. One study found 4,600 different varieties of bacteria in one soil sample. Some of these are known to be very beneficial; some are known to be very dangerous. They all have a role to play in the complex web of life and nature has ways of maintaing balance in ecosystems. Sometimes when humans disturb the natural balance, things can go horribly wrong.


Words of caution about dangerous bacteria in soil.

I don't want to make people paranoid but we need to be aware of potential hazards in everything we do, so we can take precautions. Some bacteria and viruses are extremely hazardous - they can cause serious illness or death if they enter your body through broken skin, by inhalation or ingestion from eating contaminated food or eating with dirty hands.

Basic precautions include:

• wearing gloves when gardening
• wearing a surgical mask when handling compost to avoid inhaling harmful micro-organisms or spores
• washing hands thoroughly with soap before preparing food or eating
• washing raw food with clean water before eating or cooking
• having a first-aid kit and MMS on hand, in case of accidents or infections.

Just to give you an idea of some of the potentially dangerous bacteria in soil, here is a short list of some of the better known "nasties".

• Escherichia coli (commonly called E. coli) - commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded animals. Can cause food poisoning or gastroenteritis in humans.
• Listeria monocytogenes - causes listeriosis.
• Vibrio cholerae - causes cholera in humans.
• Salmonella - found worldwide in cold- and warm-blooded animals (including humans), and in the environment - can cause illnesses including typhoid fever and gastroenteritis in humans.
• Clostridium botulinum - produces botulinum toxin, said to be the most toxic substance known to science - causes botulism in humans.
• Clostridium perfringens - is the third most common cause of food poisoning in the United Kingdom and the United States. Can cause a range of other nasty effects.
• Clostridium tetani - causes tetanus.
• Bacillus anthracis - causes anthrax.
• Bacillus cereus - causes gastroenteritis.
• Legionella - at least 50 species including one that causes Legionnaires' disease or Legionellosis.

I acknowledge the common practice and the benefits of using animal manure for fertilizer and in compost... BUT... It must be composted for a long time at high temperatures - even if you do that properly, some very nasty bacteria and viruses can survive.

I would avoid using manure from animals that have been given a lot of antibiotics because the likelihood is increased that they might be carrying some antibiotic resistant "super-bugs". We can't blame animals and antibiotics for all of these nasty micro-organisms as most of them have existed for hundreds of millions or even billions of years. Bacteria and viruses can multiply extremely rapidly and they can mutate (change) quite rapidly.


It's not all bad news. I recommend gadeners and farmers learn more about soil biology. Here are some excellent articles to get you started on your research:

• http://permaculture.org.au/category/soil/soil-biology/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_life

Gardening Soil Inoculants – Benefits Of Using A Legume Inoculant
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vege...inoculants.htm - many commercially made soil inoculants are available. These products usually contain only a small number of varieties of safe, beneficial micro-organisms with none of the dangerous ones. You can use compost-tea brewing techniques to mass-produce these from a small amount of commercial soil-inoculant product.


The following videos are worth watching. Michael Martin Melendrez talks about soil micro-organisms. The difference between aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, facultative anaerobes, hypervirulency and its causes an then he relates these to possible problems with compost 'tea', food safety, etc.. Be aware, this guy runs a business and some of his comments may be designed to get people to buy his products (I have never tried his products - they might be great). However, I still recommend his videos.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8MiDpAtcFg

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vcoo3DxYQk

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UusQ4i4FNu0

[Cjay]

This site has a huge amount of useful information about organic farming.
http://www.bfa.com.au/

...including these menus (just to give you a quick overview of the site content):

Home

News

About BFA

BFA Membership
Employment
Privacy Policy
BFA Position Statements
BFA Advisory Groups
BFA Services

Media

BFA Media Kit
BFA Media Releases
BFA Publications
BFA Spokespeople
BFA In the News

Why Organics?

What is Organics?
Benefits of Organics
Where to buy
Read about Organics
Celebrity Chef Campaign
Organic Wine
Why Organic Cosmetics
Why Organic Fashion
Organics for your Garden
Organic Recipes
Organic Crusader

Forums

Where to Buy

Buyhosting webgreat rates

Site Uptime Monitor

Industry Resources

BFA Publications
Advertising
Papers and Submissions
Australian Organic Standard
Processor Fact Sheets

Primary Producers

Organic Classifieds
Organic Certification
BFA Fact Sheets
Organic Farming Inputs
Trade Information
Soil Health Workshops

BFA Shop

webhosting

Media

BFA Media Kit
BFA Media Releases
BFA Publications
BFA Spokespeople
BFA In the News

Events

BFA Roadshows
Organic Expo
Training Courses
Certification Workshops
Value Adding Workshops
Networking Dinners
National Organic Week (NOW)

Contact BFA

...also including this very comprehensive reference document. While it is typical of bureaucracy and government or industry over-regulation, it offers some valuable - and some very frustrating - insights:

AUSTRALIAN CERTIFIED ORGANIC

AUSTRALIAN ORGANIC STANDARD 2006 - page 1 OF 114 - March 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1
INTRODUCTION 3

BACKGROUND ON BFA 4
1. SCOPE 5
2. DEFINITIONS 6

HOW TO USE THIS STANDARD 101

CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: GENERAL 13

3. BASIC CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS 13
3.1. CERTIFICATION PROCESS 13
3.2. MAINTAINING CERTIFICATION 18
3.3. NON-COMPLIANCE AND CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUESTS 18
3.4. DOCUMENTS, RECORDS AND AUDIT TRAILS 20
3.5. LABELLING, PACKAGING, MARKETING MATERIAL AND INGREDIENT SPECIFICATIONS 21
3.6. PARALLEL PRODUCTION 23
3.7. TYPES OF CERTIFICATION 25
3.8. CERTIFICATION TRANSFERENCE/RECOGNITION ARRANGEMENTS 26
3.9. DEFERRAL OF CERTIFICATION 27

STANDARDS REQUIREMENTS: GENERAL: PRIMARY PRODUCTION 29

4. GENERAL PRODUCTION STANDARD – PRIMARY PRODUCTION 29
4.1. SOIL FERTILITY AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT 29
4.2. BROUGHT-IN MATERIALS, STOCK AND EQUIPMENT 30
4.3. COMPOSTS 31
4.4. WATER MANAGEMENT AND ECOLOGY 33
4.5. PEST, DISEASE AND WEED MANAGEMENT 34
4.6. HACCP BASED ACO FARM FOOD SAFE CERTIFICATION 35
4.7. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL POLICY 38
4.8. CONTAMINATION (CHEMICAL, GENETIC, PHYSICAL) SOILS AND PRODUCE AND BUFFER ZONES 39

STANDARDS REQUIREMENTS: SECTOR SPECIFIC 43

5. LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION 43
5.1. LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT - GENERAL 44
5.2. POULTRY – MEAT AND EGG PRODUCTION 50
5.3. PORCINE (PIG) PRODUCTION 52
5.4. DAIRY PRODUCTION 53
5.5. CAPRINE/GOAT PRODUCTION 53
5.6. MISCELLANEOUS INTENSIVE PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENTS 54
5.7. EXTENSIVE RANGELAND PRODUCTION 54

6. PROCESSING/PREPARATION 57
6.1. PRODUCTION FACILITIES, PROCESSES, RECORDS & PROCEDURES 57
6.2. ANIMAL PRODUCTS 61
6.3. DURABLE FOODSTUFFS 62
6.4. PERISHABLES (FRUITS, VEGETABLES) & WET PROCESSING 64
6.5. BEVERAGES 64
6.6. MISCELLANEOUS PROCESSED PRODUCTS 64

7. MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION SYSTEMS 67
7.1. HONEY AND BEE KEEPING 67
7.2. GREENHOUSE PRODUCTION, FLORICULTURE AND NURSERIES AND SEED PRODUCTION 70
7.3. SPROUTS INCLUDING WHEATGRASS 71
7.4. MUSHROOMS 72
7.5. WILD HARVEST 73
7.6. SILVICULTURE / FOREST MANAGEMENT 74
7.7. AQUACULTURE 75
7.8. SPECIAL PROJECTS, PLANTATIONS AND ESTATES – INTERNATIONAL 77
7.9 FAIR TRADE 79

8. MARKETING & HANDLING 82
8.1. RETAIL AND BUTCHER 82
8.2. WHOLESALER/EXPORTER/IMPORTER 83
8.3. RESTAURANTS AND PREPARED FOOD SUPPLIERS 84
8.4. TRANSPORT AND STORAGE OPERATIONS 85

9. MANUFACTURED INPUTS, AIDS & ADDITIVES 86
9.2. AGRICULTURAL INPUTS – SELECTION CRITERIA 86
9.3. AIDS AND ADDITIVES – SELECTION CRITERIA 88
9.4. CLEANSERS, SANITISERS AND DISINFECTANTS 89
9.5. EDIBLE MINERALS 89
9.6. SPRING AND PURE WATER 90
9.7. APPROVED SERVICES 91

ANNEXES 92

EXPLANATION TO ANNEXES FOR CROP AND LIVESTOCK INPUTS & TREATMENTS 92

ANNEX I: CROP PRODUCTION INPUTS 94

ANNEX II: LIVESTOCK TREATMENTS & INPUTS 102

EXPLANATION TO ANNEXES FOR PROCESSING AIDS & ADDITIVES, AND CLEANSERS, DISINFECTANTS & SANITISERS 105

ANNEX III: PROCESSING AIDS & ADDITIVES 107

ANNEX IV CLEANSERS, DISINFECTANTS, AND SANITISERS 110

ANNEX V - BIODYNAMIC STANDARD 111

ANNEX VI – LOGO TYPES 113

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

full document: http://www.bfa.com.au/Portals/0/ACO_...ndard_full.pdf

[sygh]

Dear Cjay,

I can't thank you enough for this thread. You have presented so much information about food foresting, permaculture, compost tea, the ethics of ecologogical design... in short, the garden of Eden, and it's wonderful. When the student is ready, the teacher appears, LOL this is exactly what I needed.

First of all, I've got about an acre of land on the coastal plains of NC, right at the mouth of the Cape Fear River (sandy soil and brackish) I'd like to set up. Can you suggest a good book that instructs the reader on what the the best way to do this might be?

Also, I am finally finishing up my college career studying solar, thermal, and geothermal sustainable energy sources and solutions, to include architectural and ecological design. I had been trying for a Electrical Engineering Degree because I wanted to design alternative energy systems. However, I would have had to move, which was impossible for me. Consequently, the road I have taken has led me to exactly where I needed to be. Where I live, a group of us have spent a lot of time promoting, and talking in front of voters (bond issues) and patrons to incorporate alternative energy solutions and design into the local community college. YEAH!!!!! Now I get to attend these classes. HURRAY!!!!

Further, I am blessed to be involved with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) showcase project, right on the Cape Fear River, here in Southport, NC. We find ourselves in the home planning stages. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have all of this knowledge you have shared, as an inspiration. With permission from everyone involved, maybe I can post some of the progress.