Methods

As I browse the net I often find interesting techniques.  Fukuoka, Bokashi, and Hugelkultur are three that I've recently become interested in and wish to try in my backyard

This post only serves as a collection of sites and descriptions I'd like to bookmark and share with you.

This first method is my favorite.  The video is 2 hours long.  I enjoyed the entire presentation, but it gets a bit repetitive after the first hour.    

Back To Eden

 http://vimeo.com/provisionsproductions/backtoeden.

Basically the Back to Eden copies the nature of a wooded forest to bring dirt back to rich living topsoil.  

A similar method is Fukuoka.  The theme of  each method is mulch. As with anything in life, the simpler the better.

Fukuoka -
No-till mulching gardening and wild gardening Fukuoka

 

Bokashi  -    

Fermented food waste

Wheat Bran  10 lb
Sea Salt (C90)          1 Tablespoon
Ceramic Powder     1 Tablespoon
Molasses                30 ml          1 part
Water                     3 Litters  100 parts 
Inoculate                30 ml         1 part

  Korean Natural Farming  - Making Essential Microorganisms

Making Essential Microorganisms from Scratch.
Mix one cup rice with two cups water and shake.  Strain out the rice.  Cover and secure a paper towel over the top of the jar.  Leave in the dark, between 68 and 77 degrees F for five to seven days to culture the active microbes.  The mixture should smell sour.   Add 10 parts milk (about 5 quarts) to the one part strained rice wash, and let it ferment for 14 days.  The rice wash grows many microbes,  both beneficial and pathogenic.  The milk kills off everything but the lactobacillus. Strain the solids off the top of the bucket. The yellow liquid is purified lactobacillus serum.  Dilute the lactobacillus serum in a 1:20 ratio with water and add it to your compost.

Hugelkultur  -  
Soil on wood makes a raised garden bed that can support your favorite garden plants all summer without irrigation.

 

Water is becoming a scarce commodity.  Aquaponics is one way to grow with less water.

Here is a another brilliant alternative for dirt based farming.

 

  http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

I'm currently building my own hugelkultur beds, and will post a video here when I've completed the first bed.  This method has proven to be incredibly labor intensive.  My body aches and each day I go forward with the pleasure of knowing I'm closer to finishing this project.  I can't access this area with a backhoe so I'm forced to do move all the dirt and logs (some must weigh more than 200 lbs) by hand.

  Bio-Char

Albert Bates wrote this lengthy article with in depth scientific research 

I posted this article in ChicoAquaponic which contains many good links.

  No Dig Garden

Bob Jones and Myk Rushton show how to install a 'No Dig Garden' which conserves moister and provides nutrients.

 

 

The Kratky Method & Floating Raft