Biology Archives

Chicken Soup for the Soil

Sometimes the mineral balance in the soil is just fine, the pH is in the correct range, but the plants are diseased and not growing well. That's what happened with my friend Kristy's soil. She lives in an area of class 1 prime farmland which, like so much farmland in…

The Energy That Fuels Life

Life on Earth ultimately relies on photosynthesis, the reaction that turns sunlight into energy to fuel plant growth, which feeds all animals, including us humans. This is what I was taught in school. Every living thing is alive because of sunshine.

Deer in the Garden

There are many ways to fail to keep deer out of the garden. We found one way that hasn't failed yet: 3D deer fence. Hopefully you can learn from our failure and success...

A practical rhizosphere test

A simple, practical rhizosphere test is to pull a plant or two and look at the roots. Is the soil clinging to the roots? If it is, you have plants that are producing root exudates for the soil microbes and soil microbes that are exchanging nutrients with the plant roots…

No-Till Gardening

No-till gardening is great for creating diverse soil biology and reducing weed pressure. We found that after 3 years the soil biology also included invasive tree roots. Applying amendments in a no-till garden takes some thought. We explain how on this page and on the page, how to apply amendments.

Biochar

Biochar is a wonderful soil amendment. It is made from organic material burned in the absence of oxygen via pyrolysis. Once burned, the char is processed in a method called activation which hydrates the char and gives the mineral retention and microbial life a kick start. Biochar is an excellent…

Our Great Grandparent’s Food

Wisconsin 1890's farmhouse

How to make bokashi bran

We buy wheat bran in a 50 lb. sack for about $25 at our local feed store (2018 prices). Other people use newspaper or sawdust instead of bran but we haven't tried that yet. Rice bran (used for horse bedding) looks like another great low cost alternative. Week 1... Assemble…

How to make bokashi serum (for free!)

There are plenty of good suppliers of EM1(TM) microbes, such as TeraGanix, but to start with I made my own serum from scratch. I got the recipe from Hawaiihealingtree.org but the link is now gone. Blessings on you, healingtreehawaii.org, I think you have helped a lot of people. Week 1..…

Bokashi Vermiculture

Bokashi and vermiculture are great alternatives to composting. Bokashi Vermicomposting puts it all together!