Why I follow the work of Elaine Ingham, Ph.D.

http://kjpermaculture.blogspot.com/2008/01/bacterium-that-almost-ate-world.html

Jae Koenig to present at 2010 Low Impact Design Conference / San Francisco Apr-10

Abstract
Bioassay of Microbial Diversity in Compost
Written by Carole Ann Rollins, Ph.D., Nature Technologies International LLC and Jae Koenig, Principal, Ethos Landscape LLC

Application and use of compost in urban and agricultural landscapes has become a common practice for maintaining healthy soils and restoring ecological balance. While testing protocols have improved since 2006, many materials labeled as “compost” are only anaerobic decomposing organic matter due to both processing and packaging. This paper presents research indicating that aerobic compost, with confirmed active and diverse microbial populations, provides the environment necessary for proper nutrient cycling performed by the soil foodweb. This paper will propose a revision to the quality testing protocols specified by the U.S. Composting Council (“USCC”), the American Society for Testing and Materials (“ASTM”) and the US EPA Report SW-846 to include biological assays to reflect the diversity of microbial populations in compost using expanded methods to include direct microscopy, updated molecular techniques, phospholipid fatty acid analysis, and plate counts using numerous agar food sources. Currently, a bioassay of compost analyzes only possible existence of pathogens, stability of compost by measuring oxygen consumption, or seed emergence and seedling vigor relative to positive controls. This paper proposes that compost, meeting this expanded testing requirement, will ensure nutrient and water retention in soils to maintain and improve health of stormwater runoff and related environmental impacts.

Vegetable gardens and deer

I work to bring beauty to the deer fences built in our designs. To coexist with our animal neighbors is essential. As is growing tomatoes for our own table!

I have begun a collaboration with Troy McGregor of Garden Natives; Troy brings his graphic art skills to Ethos through renderings.

- Jae

Humates, as explained by Mark Turner of Catalyst Product Group

In response to my inquiry as to the product Activate 80 Micronized Humate produced by Catalyst Product Group and its affect on fungal populations, Mark replied with the following (extraordinary and marvelous):

Lesson #1: Humates (lignites or leonardite, or leaonardite shale) are what humic, fulvic and ulmic acids come from. Naturally occurring humates that are mined are found all over the US and world. These products are often found around Coal mines. This black to dark brown shale which should have no BTU (can't burn) is where humates come from. Read my letter to the industry about these products on my web page. The pH of these products are usually around 3.5 to 6.5.

Lesson #2: Humic acids (liquid) are "ONLY" soluble at alkaline pH's, above 9. So you use something like potassium hydroxide to extract, much like gold is extracted. Phosphate can not be used to extract humic acid.

Lesson #3: Fulvic acid (liquid) is soluble at any pH with solubility going up as pH drops. This is where most people use Phosphoric acid to extract. WE DO NOT, we ferment our extraction process to preserve the carbon molecules that chelate.

Lesson #4: Fungi are interesting creatures (not animals), they like high organic soils that are not disturbed. Every time you disrupt the soil you will kill many forms of fungi. This is why most agricultural soils are bacterial dominant. Yes, any of the above 3 products will stimulate fungi in a compost tea, but the fungi and bacteria will only live as long as the food source(s) in your tea are available and the soil is not disturbed. Yes, some fungi will live, but most of what is in your teas will not colonize in the soil.

Lesson #5: What to do. Use good compost and good fertility programs to promote the health of the soil (add humates, humic and fulvic acids). Feed the naturally occurring soil micro-organisms that are already in the soil. You will get more fungi out of compost than compost tea. Activate 80 micronized can be put in tea's and is all over the place. It is not soluble and needs good agitation to stir it up. Activate 80 is a naturally occurring humate, not fortified with anything. Call Peaceful Valley Farm Supply in Grass Valley Ca to order the product.

Children and nature.

We learn so much from them, when we simply observe and listen. The patterns of Nature as imaged by my youngest son, age six.

Deluge of water? Not a problem, when Permaculture methods are deployed.

Permaculture is a design science that renews natural resources and enriches local ecosystems. Through our work at Ethos, we seek to implement landscape solutions under the practice of Permaculture.

The Ethos crew completed installation of a French drain on a property; our intent was to relocate the water and yet keep it on the property. This practice not only ensures the health of the ecosystem of the site, it prevents additional flow into the storm drains, thereby retaining nutrients on the land.

Water would previously collect at this site in the front yard, creating a pond for many months of the year. I designed the drain to move this source back along the fenceline, then into a percolating drain where it now waters a hillside with mighty redwoods towering above.

The drain runs parallel to the left of the waddle shown below (I installed the waddle as a precaution before the storm).

NB this image is "before"

We experienced a huge storm over the past two days - 4.7" with a high rain rate of 2.4"/hour. Suffice it write - tons of water in a short time. I am pleased to report the drain not only moved the water as we intended, the percolating area remained intact with no land loss and the front yard - previously a pond in this situation - was solid and as I walked over it, next to the drain, my boot sank only about 1/4". Very exciting, to a soil geek such as me.

Now, onto the design for this marvelous space.

Update Oct-10: we have completed the site. Quite a transformation. The image to the right is taken from the same vantage point at the "before" above.

Healing and laughter,

Jae

Dung Beetle Field Day

I have long admired the dung beetle for both legend and function. Now it is being recognized by a broader community, given its great value to pasture health.

http://www.rinconvitova.com/dung%20beetle%20field%20day%20dvd.htm

Lafayette Farmer's Market!!

The City of Lafayette will have a trial farmers market at the downtown Plaza Park on the first three Thursday evenings of September (9/3, 9/10, 9/17) from 4-8pm. This market will be have a local focus with most of the farmers coming from less than 100 miles! The purpose of the trial is to see if there are any traffic or parking issues, and to gauge the impact on local businesses. So, please try to find an easy place to park and then walk to the market, (Mt. Diablo Rd., east of the new library has many parking spots) or ride your bike, and consider visiting other stores and restaurants while in town. Please spread the word and help make the farmers market a big success!! http://www.cccfm.org/pages/laf.html

I will be working with Feral Kevin at table "From Our Backyards". I will be selling golden delicious apples from the tree at our home. The family who grew up in this house planted the tree as a graft from a tree in Wisconsin. Lots of love in these apples...

Wendell Berry

Within the circles of our lives
we dance the circles of the years,
the circles of the seasons
within the circles of the years,
the cycles of the moon
within the circles of the seasons,
the circles of our reasons
within the cycles of the moon.

Again, again we come and go,
Changed, changing. Hands
join, unjoin in love and fear,
grief and joy. The circles turn,
each giving into each, into all.
Only music keeps us here,

Each by all the other held.
In the hold of hands and eyes
we turn in pairs, that joining
joining each to all again.

And then we turn aside, alone,
out of the sunlight gone

Into the darker circles of return.

--Wendell Berry

Transformation and healing.

Our landscape, when we found it...

and now.

"Work, motion, life. All rise from the dirt and stand upon it as on a launching pad." From Dirt, The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth by William Bryant Logan.

http://www.citydirt.net/

Experiencing the wisdom of others

When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego,
And when we escape like squirrels turning in the
cages of our personality
And get into the forests again,
We shall shiver with cold and fright
But things will happen to us
So that we don’t know ourselves.

Cool, unlying life will rush in,
And passion will make our bodies taut with power,
We shall stamp our feet with new power
And old things will fall down,
We shall laugh, and institutions will curl up like
burnt paper.

--D.H. Lawrence

Opportunities and choices

The urban American landscape has reached a critical state wherein it may either settle again into equilibrium or it may destroy itself. The opportunity for the restoration of ecological balance is reliant upon the choices made with regard to urban development. The anthropogenic activities that include creation of vast impermeable surfaces, as well as regular applications of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, have created a condition wherein the decline of soil health is rampant. At risk is the health and wellbeing of all life. The journey of humanity in the urban landscape can become one of healing and this can be achieved through education. If we begin to understand the essence of life in the soil – its microbiology, the soil food web, nutrient cycling and the affects of urban development – our recognition of the interconnection we share can be articulated. From this we can refine the decisions that affect our soils, choosing sustainable options. Through presentation of the general structure of soils and the microbial life therein, this opportunity for integrated learning includes discussion of quality composting methods as well as ecological landscape design and maintenance methodologies.

Healing and the Soil

Wisdom is often found in the uncomfortable. Picris echioides L., known as Bristly Oxtongue or more fondly by a friend as Velcro Plant, was the day's assignment for me in a garden. The intent was to prevent proliferation of the already plentiful plant by cutting its stems and flowers prior to its seeds being dispersed by the wind. As I cut each, Felco pruners in hand, the common names for these plants found expression on my garden gloves, bristles spearing through the glove's thick mesh. Tolerable. The occasional plant merited a tug and as I pulled out the strong tap root, the dialogue within me transformed. In our rich clay soils that can result in broken shovels, these tap roots become a path over which water, insects and microbes can travel into the soils. FeralKevin has found it beneficial when planting among the Picris, as the roots of a more delicate plant can follow this fearsome tap root down into the soil on a quest for moisture and nourishment. On this particular day, I was thankful that I had not time to dig each plant out; in fact, my small shovel had broken in the clay after just two attempts. As I gathered the cuttings, I reflected upon the similarity of Picris and Comfrey, the marvelous healing plant with high biomass, whose name is from the Latin word conferta, meaning "to grow together". Shall we then keep the Picris within the garden and attend to it with a simple pruning? Coexistence? I think so. Conferta? With open minds and resilient choices, we shall.

Heroes, Microbes and Earth

My interest in the Microbiology of Soil is rooted in the fact that the health of our plants begins and ends the level of microbial diversity in the soil. It is this that creates the essence of the soil food web. You can glance at this page and it illustrates beautifully the topic. http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/soil_food_web.html My fascination with this information allows you to understand why Soil Geek is an appropriate title for me.

One of my heroes is a microbiologist, Dr Elaine Ingham. She now heads a firm, Soil Food Web Inc. http://www.soilfoodweb.com/03_about_us/approach.html My work with her has transformed my vision of how we can work with soil and nurture plants. Another hero, Dr Carole Ann Rollins, brews the Actively Aerated Compost Tea ("AACT") that I apply to my own and clients' gardens. http://www.nature-technologies.com/

Organisms live in the microscale environments within and between soil particles. Differences over short distances in pH, moisture, pore size, and the types of food available create a broad range of habitats. Therefore, dirt doesn’t turn to soil overnight nor does compaction transform in a short time. However, if we nurture the opportunity for microbiology to regain its natural state in a situation where dirt and compaction exist, we can create the opportunity for the soil food web to become engaged and, thereby, soil is made. We just provide the conditions for the abundance.

Our response to conflict impacts the outcome. Our response to change impacts its effect. Ethos Landscape implements the principles of Permaculture with recognition of the socio-economic and environmental impacts these decisions imply.

We are about nurturing—plants, soil, creatures, individuals, communities. No chemicals, no synthetic fertilizers, no toxins. We plan lush gardens that are drought tolerant. We incorporate natives as often as possible. Simply, we seek to design, install and maintain beautiful and functional landscapes that enhance work, rest, learning and play while honoring the ecosystems within which we all live.

- Jae Koenig