No Till

[Good Mind Seeds]

i started out thinking that i needed to develop the gene pools and methods to farm in a sustainable way, without the ability to move around to replenish rotational grounds, without the importation of resources such as soils, fertilizers, and most importantly, water. when i have more area set aside for wildlife restoration and native plant reintroduction, and i am keeping the area free of most woody species, then i get alot of tall grasses, weeds, invasives and whatnot to use as mulch. the same soil the crops are grown in is what the weeds compete in so the weeds that are designed to accumulate what the soil in my crops' hills lack decompose releasing those minerals and nutrients. this reduces the need for rotation. also a perennial polyculture is maintained around the circumference of every hill, making soil retention and microbe/insect habitat ideal for fertility and disease/pest suppression. the mulch assists with the issue of no irrigation as the increase of biomass holds more water, the light cellulose barrier at the top, instead of a dense soil exposed, traps water and deflects heat. the mulch also breaks down slowly to feed the soil at the rate at which is can be fed, rather than force feeding, or starving. as a soil learns to take more, it is capable of giving more, and vice versa. it is important to have thick mulch, but not so thick as to create compost like conditions as this would be the wrong kinds of decomposer cultures for healthy root systems. without tilling, the soil needs to be free of compaction forever more, so walking on the hills is a sin. as the years progress and biomass accumulates the hill grows, and the soil loosens deeper and deeper. the plume of microscopic and macroscopic biological activity from the mulch sinks into the earth creating passageways for the water, air and roots, even in hard clay soils. the dark skin of the top is highly active eating away the mulch. as the mulch is broken down, the proteins release their nitrogen as ammonias and feed the plants. when the hard clay is tilled it destroys this cycle, and the digestive system of the soil. in order to fit the most planting space together with consideration of walkways, i instantly think back to traditional hill patterns of my ancestors. the same as the beehive, or the seal of solomon. with seven hills as close together as possible you get a hexagon. i put my feet apart to see how far i can spread them to be able to reach the center, and i have my standard measurement for how big i make them. i have 3 main methods of preparing soil for planting, mulching heavily and coming back to a weed free, insect loosened soil to plant the following year is the easiest way to plant and i do that for most things, but for my hills i do that too, only starting out with a shovel only the one time to turn the sod and shape the hill. i turn the soil once to get the sod flat and even upside down, then i rake the soil into a mound and then i mulch heavily. i try to do this early in the year right as its being planted so the broken soil that is releasing a nitrogen bomb will feed the first generation, and they will trap some of that fertility for the next year. at this point there is little that will grow back and you will be effectively weed free. just keep up with the mulching. at the end of the crops lives, the mulch is the thinnest from age, and i cut the plants at the base, lay them flat, and then lay a thick layer of the mulch of grasses and weeds on top. becuase i grow a high diversity of crops (when the animal deterrents work) this also reduces the need for rotation. becuase the diversity is planned it is even more effective still. the ideal thing would be for the pioneer crops you grow to produce more biomass than the pioneer weeds that would replace them if your hill was abandoned, as to continue increasing the fertility for next year. the growth of plants does not deplete soils as 2% of the plant is produced from the soil, the rest is from air, water and alchemy. its when we break the soil that the carbon breaks from the nitrogen, causing erosion on a chemical level, called mineralization of the humus.

[Good Mind Seeds]

you can find metaphors for life in a garden endlessly.

tilling your soil creates the conditions that require tilling.

hmm...

relationships between humans are like what the companion planting relationships are. if the corn outgrows the beans then the beans wont get enough sun to climb the corn and be healthy. if the beans outgrow the corn and sprawl vines all over it, it will smother and push over the corn. the plants are not capable of pruning themselves so when they grow into those positions and they destroy the beneficial relationship, it cannot be undone. you merely have to wait until the next generation, or the next relationship.

people want to control the growth of the plants in their gardens and make them be healthy, and make them grow. we cannot be inside the plant to do so. we cannot mess around too much or it weakens the plant. people who try to hard kill their gardens. what plants want most is to be left alone, and i think a constantly manicured and minded relationship may be stressed the same way. you cannot force growth of a plant or a relationship. you have to allow the natural pattern to take its course

when you abuse your soil, and it begins to erode, that is the soil running away to a new place where perhaps it will be capable of living and growing more. when we treat others like they are lesser, or we treat non-human people or the earth with disrespect, or as anything other than equals, it will lessen or destroy the ability to have a relationship, and when you consider the plants and microbes and soil equals to you, then you will care for them, feed them as they feed themselves in nature, and their increased trust in you and fertility will only benefit you. land will produce more when it trusts those that live on it. when you betray the trust of the land or hurt it, then the land will not bear the fruits it used to. it takes more time for the trust to be regained than it does to destroy it, sometimes millenia.

[Good Mind Seeds]

non-human-compacted soils will become more fertile and more ideal for plants roots, after it has been rooted by other plants, and some of the other root systems are decomposing. complex combinations of diverse root structures and purposes (N fixation or accumulation, balancing your guilds) and diverse fungi colonizing their roots to lessen stresses and pollution damage and increase plant health and yield, a thick layer of living mulch and/or rotting mulch everywhere in the garden protecting and feeding the soil, these are the things that keep your soil from degrading physically and chemically.

after years of tilling, no till techniques will not work as well as if they were implemented on a healthy soil. it will take a few years of recycling biomass and building the un-tilled top layer of topsoil before you start seeing real benefits. this is one reason you dont see many people who till changing their ways, becuase tilling creates the hard and infertile soils that necessitate tilling.

nitrogens bound into the humus will combust with contact to air and become ammonias and other water soluble forms that allow the nitrogen to be lost to the water table which it pollutes. the chemical alterations of the soil that take place due to tilling reduce the accumulated humus which had taken a very long time to amass.