fertility

We do not use industrial fertilizers and are moving away from soil mineralization. Instead we are interested in a more complete diet when building soil. We are interested in whole nutrition like compost and manures. And we are interested in adding fertility as locally and cheaply as possible. We want our inputs to be as local as possible to reduce fossil fuel travel, but also to promote localized microbes and other life that is well suited for our ecology. Can we grow our own fertilizers?

Mulch

We use a lot of local hay and straw, salt marsh hay, or local leaves as mulch for weed suppression and as they break down adding fertility.

Cover crops

We are experimenting with growing cover crops to build soil. Growing plant biomass is a great way to build soil and to sequester carbon into the soil carbon sponge. Materials that the plant collects from the atmosphere is added to the soil after they decompose. 

Compost tea

Putting comfrey leaves, weeds, or a handful of compost into a bucket of rainwater and letting it sit for a week or so creates a very rich fertilizer that we dilute and water our plants with when they need a boost.