The Regenerative Agriculture Resources Thread.
Books
Videos
Websites
Other Stuff
It's all going in here so buckle up and prepare to get a better sense of what #RegenerativeAgriculture is all about.
Discussion
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake.
From fungal relationships of plants, trees, whole forests, and the Human mind to Bioremediation, this book has it all.
https://www.bookpeople.com/book/9780525510321
The Biological Farmer: A Complete Guide to the Sustainable & Profitable Biological System of Farming by Gary Zimmer.
This book is a must-have with well over 500 pages on soil chemistry, Cation Exchange Capacity, biochemistry, and soil critters. It doesn't matter if you are working at a "broad-acre" scale or are simply trying to improve your backyard vegetable garden. Everything you never knew about soil collides with everything you don't understand about the things that make it are in this tome.
This book needs to be in your bookcase because you will refer to it over and over again as questions about the structure and function of the soil that feeds you, keeps you healthy, and provides beauty all around you inevitably arise.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X9V84QD
The Biological Farmer: A Complete Guide to the Sustainable & Profitable Biological System of Farming by Gary Zimmer.
This book is a must-have with well over 500 pages on soil chemistry, Cation Exchange Capacity, biochemistry, and soil critters. It doesn't matter if you are working at a "broad-acre" scale or are simply trying to improve your backyard vegetable garden. Everything you never knew about soil collides with everything you don't understand about the things that make it are in this tome.
This book needs to be in your bookcase because you will refer to it over and over again as questions about the structure and function of the soil that feeds you, keeps you healthy, and provides beauty all around you inevitably arise.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X9V84QD
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Been watching that guy for years. Good catch.
This looks great, thanks for sharing! đ
A Soil Owner's Manual: How to Restore and Maintain Soil Health by Jon Stika (@humusphysicus on Twitter)
https://www.bookpeople.com/book/9781530431267
A book that is short but jam-packed with the basics of soil function and structure as well as a plan to ameliorate degraded and destroyed soils. A must-have in your library.
Quotes from the book:
"The problem lies in that most people do not know what a healthy soil looks or acts like, nor what makes it healthy or unhealthy."
"The five main functions of soil are: maintaining biodiversity and productivity, partitioning water and solute flow, filtering and buffering, nutrient cycling, and structural support."
"There are three main classes of soil properties; physical, chemical, and biological."
#RegenerativeAgriculture
đđđ oh shit nunya be dropping that hot hot
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Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, a New Earth by Charles Massy
Charles Massey used #RegenerativeAgriculture techniques and saw astounding changes to his own farm. This book ties together the vital connection between our soil and our health. The bulk of this book is a deep dive into regenerating Five Landscape Functions:
- Solar-Energy Function
- The Water Cycle
- The Soil-Mineral Cycle
- Dynamic Ecosystems
- The Landscape: Role of the HumanâSocial
This book changed my perspective on "ecological" writing and its value as non-fiction. It's well-written, engaging, hard to put down, and deeply philosophical.
https://www.bookpeople.com/book/9781603588133
Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture by Gabe Brown
Gabe's first years of farming were terrible. Four consecutive seasons of 80-100% crop failure. But he was observant and noticed the hail-mangled crops fed his soil. LEGENDARY BOOK! Read it twice.
"Then, on the day before I planned to start harvesting the spring wheat, a devastating hailstorm claimed the entire crop. It was a total loss." - 1995
"A late July hailstorm once again wiped out our cash crops. Our hearts sank. Things had become very serious." - 1996
"The heat continued through the summer, and by fall, growth was so poor we were not able to harvest a single acre of our cash crops." - 1997
"Today, I tell people that those four years of crop failure were hell to go through, but they turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to us because they forced us to work with nature instead of against her."
"Dr. Jones clearly explains how soil carbon is the key driver for much of soil health. Soil carbon is also critical to water-holding capacity. Thus, she concludes, soil carbon is the key driver for farm profit."
"Planting cover crops is a key step in transforming dirt into soil."
For the Love of Soil: Strategies to Regenerate Our Food Production Systems by Nicole Masters
Land Management begins with managing soil. This book is a road map to restoring soil to a healthy state and is in my 'Top 5' list of books for #RegenerativeAg. Nicole is a master of her craft and an engaging author to boot. A deep appreciation for soil and why it should be considered a living organism is imparted to the reader well before the end of this work.
On the lack of soil mycorrhizal fungi:
"While itâs not unknown, the few cases where Iâve seen this have been associated with high disturbances; poor irrigation management, heavy chemical use, and following canola."
On where you won't find the virtually indestructible tardigrade in some soils:
"The only place on the planet you wonât find the tardigrade? âŚwhere there has been a long history of cultivation and herbicides."
On completely 'missing the point':
"Weâve been so focused on fossil fuels and the short-term methane from burping cows that weâve missed the significant amount of carbon (and water) being lost from under our feet to the air and to the seas."
Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, 2nd Edition by [[Toby Hemenway]]
One of the best ways to learn the monster design science that is #Permaculture is to practice the techniques on a small scale: your backyard. You will learn all of the basics of Permaculture and youâll get highly productive, permanent assets as well.
For the Love of Soil: Strategies to Regenerate Our Food Production Systems by Nicole Masters
Land Management begins with managing soil. This book is a road map to restoring soil to a healthy state and is in my 'Top 5' list of books for #RegenerativeAg. Nicole is a master of her craft and an engaging author to boot. A deep appreciation for soil and why it should be considered a living organism is imparted to the reader well before the end of this work.
On the lack of soil mycorrhizal fungi:
"While itâs not unknown, the few cases where Iâve seen this have been associated with high disturbances; poor irrigation management, heavy chemical use and following canola."
On where you won't find the virtually indestructible tardigrade in some soils:
"The only place on the planet you wonât find the tardigrade? âŚwhere there has been a long history of cultivation and herbicides."
On completely 'missing the point':
"Weâve been so focused on fossil fuels and the short-term methane from burping cows that weâve missed the significant amount of carbon (and water) being lost from under our feet to the air and to the seas."
Interesting đ§
Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets
One of Paul's earlier works, this book is a staple of the amateur mycology movement. More mushroom growers learned how to grow mushrooms for themselves and for sale from this book than any other.
Humusphere by Herwig Pommeresche
Are you just not satisfied with lack of tin-foil hattery in your books about soil? Look no further! This guy has you covered.
Herwig takes you on a ride in this one as he suggests the notion of "remutation": A theory suggesting both mitochondria and chloroplasts can survive and thrive in the soil outside of their host plant cells. Itâs a brash theory but fascinating nonetheless.
For the #Bitcoiner:
"Her writings suggest that decentralization probably represents the only hope for new humus production."
"This weakened soil yields weak harvests for weak animals and weak people."
For the soil nerds:
"A significant proportion of the bacteria regenerated from plant cell organelles present in cow dung return to the planting soil. Unlike artificial fertilizer, this kind of fertilizer is filled with life and enriches the soil with bacterial life, increasing its fertility.â
"The question thus becomes: Do we save energy, or do we use it to destroy life?"
https://www.amazon.com/Humusphere-Humus-Substance-Living-System/dp/1601731485
Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets
Food, medicine, communications, soil structure and function, nutrient cycling, and bio-remediation. This book covers a lot of topics and is very accessible. This book is a must-have even if you arenât directly interested in fungi. What they facilitate in the soil, however, is critical and without them, life would look very different on planet Earth.
In the pine forest up the back of ours you can dig down into the needles and find the white gold. If you dig it up and put cuttings in it they grow like đ
That's the good stuff! I do that all the time when I'm at the house in Colorado. Deep drifts of pine cone shreddings (thank you, squirrels) beneath ancient pines on the corner of the lot provide tons of the stuff.
Thanks for the recommendations. Most available on Z-lib. I'm looking forward to digging in.
Do you know the work of this Mr. It's amazing, I think you'll like it. I had the honor of studying with him for 10 days on his farm in the interior of Bahia!