The compost piles at the Sebastopol Energy Garden that have been decomposing for the last 6 months are now ready to be sifted and made into seedling mix. Sifting the compost with a 1/4" screen produces a fluffy, aerated compost blend, that when mixed with sandy loam at a 1:1 ratio functions as a seedling mix. Through producing nutrient rich soil onsite and processing it into seedling mix we are able to reduce our dependence upon external sources of nutrients and lower our impact upon ecosystems outside of the Energy Garden.

The compost sifters were both constructed onsite from an old fence that was donated to the garden. The pickets from the old fence make excellent handles and the salvaged 2x4" functions as a durable frame. All that was required to convert the fence into the compost sifters was a screw driver, screws, wire mesh, and a jig saw. All cuts were based upon the dimensions of the wheelbarrows onsite.

With the seedling mix that we produced, we used our seed block press to generate flats , into which we planted our seeds. The seed block press makes twenty 1 1/2" blocks with small depressions in the tops for seeds which allows for labor efficient planting. Planted flats are then transfered to the straw bale cold frame where they are incubated and protected from external conditions.

Through allocating energy towards our crops in the early stages of their development we ensure the vaiability of our crops early on. Healthy crops bring higher yields and are less susceptible to pathogens.

With spring fast approaching, two needs recently became apparent. We needed to increase our sheltered growing space as well as our soil building capacities. To accomplish this, we created several designs for increasing our growing abilities, and in the end, we decided to build an integrated system.

Currently, we have a worm bin and three bins for compost. We built the new system in the middle of the garden and it will serve as the fourth stage of composting. From this bin, we will sift the compost and create our soil mixes. Because of its placement, it is ideal for distributing the soil and seedlings throughout the garden.

Twenty-one straw bales were used for the walls, and we used onsite scrap lumber for the frame of the cover. The cover is plastic, and we plan on upgrading it with windows from the local recycle center. The growing space is separated from the compost bin by a wall of straw bales.

To integrate the two spaces we cut sections of rain gutter, which was onsite from our water catchment project, and put them through the straw bale wall. This allows the solar gain from the cold frame to heat up the compost pile during the day, and it encourages the compost pile to release some of its heat into the cold frame during the night.

We have extended our growing season, soil building capacity, and when the system starts to decompose the straw will make an excellent top dressing throughout the garden. The cold frame and compost bin are also well insulated by the straw bales.

Winter is almost over, and with it the time for introspection also draws to a close. The heavy rains and shorter days have given us time to create a sign system that illustrates our priorities in the garden. In the coming year some focuses like crop selection and soil building will stay the same, and this season they will be enhanced by a winter of planning that we did not have last year.

Education is also a key priority as we enter the 2008 growing season, and one of the primary tools that we developed this winter is our garden didactic system. This collection consists of 23 concept signs and 30 profile crop signs. They will be scattered throughout the garden to greatly enhance its accessibility.

This project was beneficial to the Energy Garden initiative because in the process compiling the content, we were able to summarize our work to date. In addition, the signs helped us to identify the focal points of the garden and the methods that influence its development.

The concept signs consist of:

· Goals of the Sebastopol Energy Garden

· Community Compost Collection

· The Sebastopol Energy Garden Growth Collage

· Square Foot Gardening Method

· Natural Farming – The “Do Nothing” Method

· Cover Crops

· The Water Catchment System

· Drip Irrigation

· Culinary Herb Spiral

· Mandala Garden: The Sheet Mulch Technique

· Methods of Season Extension: Towards a “Four Season Harvest”

· Appropriate Technologies

· Processing and Harvesting Techniques

· Tree Guilds: Edible Forest Gardening

· Garden Cycle Tracking

· Ethanol Production

· The Fractional Still

· Recycling and Compost: Designing “From Cradle to Cradle”

· Chickens

· Biointensive Concepts

· Permaculture Principles

Each sign corresponds to something that is happening in the garden or that has influenced its progression. There are also 30 profile crops that we have chosen because of their ability to help us adapt to Peak Oil. Instead of a lawn, we are selecting a great range of crops to benefit humans and the environment. Please see http://www.energyfarms.net/node/1495 for a list of these crops.

These signs will enable people with a wide range of understanding of sustainability to experience a transformed suburban lawn. When people visit this year, during our second growing season, they will be introduced to a diversity of crops with a large variety of functions. In addition, they will be exposed to techniques and technologies that are easy to learn and have the potential to make a big difference in their lives.

The rains will soon stop, and spring will bring a time of action. We will sow seeds of diversity in the garden and hopefully, inspiration in the community. The Energy Garden is always open to visitors and we look forward to helping more people experience the resilience of the Earth.

Part of the fertility plan at Brookside Farm is the cycling of food waste. The intent is to replace the minerals that leave the site with food export, and we are using a vermiculture system (red worms) to make a compost media. Worms are used because they more rapidly break down food waste, which may otherwise attract rats to the farm if left out in open compost piles.

One of our concerns is how well a worm bin will hold up to the weather here, which varies from hot and dry summers to freezing, damp winters. Our worms did fine during the summer with occasional watering, and now that we have had extended periods of hard frost (nights down to 20 degrees F) I thought it would be good to check on them.

Many weeks have passed since the worms were last fed, and I expect a large mass of compost media will not be subject to freezing. Our bin is also sunk into the ground by about a foot, giving it temperature stability but perhaps making it susceptible to water logging during heavy rain episodes. The past week had over 4 inches of rain and last night it was very cold. If there were going to be problems I expected to find them today.

I pulled back the protective straw layer and found nearly homogenous bedding. As I forked it into a consolidated pile I did find clusters of worms, perhaps wrapped around the remaining food pockets. The worms were generally fairly large for the species.

The bin seems to be working well. Worms are not frozen, they are still active, and the moisture content is high but not soggy. I put all the nearly-finished media into a third of the bin space and am going to start the process again in the remaining 2/3.

Chris and I recently finished a Brookside Farm site map and fertility plan. This is a great thing to do in general, and we were encouraged to get it done now by a local organic certifier, Mendocino Organics. I am glad to report that we passed muster!

The process of making this plan brought to mind some differences between what we are doing at Brookside Farm and your typical local organic farm or backyard gardener with respect to fertility inputs. Brookside Farm is in Little Lake Valley, home to numerous piles of manure of various stripes-horses, sheep, goats, etc. Anyone with a pick up truck can drive a couple of miles and load up with tons of free, aged manure. So why don't we just go ahead and get that stuff? Chris and I spend a lot of time building and monitoring compost piles, and fretting about how we are going to maintain good soil in the future. We could avoid ourselves much hassle with a few pick up truck loads a few times a year.

If you think about it though, where did those animals get the food that created the poop in the first place? If they are pastured some of it certainly has come from Little Lake Valley, but if there are piles of compost lying around this is probably because these animals are in pens much of the time and being fed hay and perhaps supplemented with grains. For example, one local goat dairy farmer had me really interested in the sustainability of his operation when he told me they grow all their own hay. Then he let the other shoe drop-they import about 100 lbs of grain per day and admit they don't have the acreage to grow it themselves.

That goat poop is therefore full of imported fertility.

When we think about local, sustainable agriculture, we have to start working through all our inputs, and many of the inputs to our inputs, and not assume that one bit of organic matter is as good as another. The embedded energy of the giant manure piles in Little Lake Valley don't represent the bounty of local fields alone, and if we want to establish sustainable food systems we need to work towards living within our local carrying capacity.

Some of the details of how to use local carrying capacity are given for Brookside Farm (and we cheat a bit with accepting imported food scraps), but we still don't have a grasp on what that might mean for our little area, let alone the big blue planet.

Our site map and fertility plan is available for download.

Over the weekend a group of thinkers working with Post Carbon Institute have been discussing the mineral content of rain. Often when we discuss minerals and rain we are talking about the manner in which minerals and inorganic nutrients are readily leached from the soil. Leaching is when minerals are not able to hold in the soil and are thus washed out by the natural flow of groundwater. A soil’s tendency to leach is influenced by the way that the soil is tilled, cropped, and fertilized.

For instance, inorganic fertilizers provide crops with plant available nutrients in the form of chemicals like nitrate (NO₃^-). The problem is that nitrate readily washes out of the soil if the plants are unable to utilize it before heavy rains. Many farmers are beginning to realize that heavy fertilizer application in the fall amounts to a waste of money since a majority of the nutrients are lost by spring due to sever washout by winter rains or spring snow melt.

Leaching of minerals also occurs when soil is left bare to face winter rains. In this case, leaching is accompanied by a loss in top soil from the process of erosion. Imagine rain drops as tiny explosions on bare soil, blasting minerals loose, collecting in water particles, and flowing away as surface runoff.

Fortunately, farmers do not need to resign to the fact that rains always mean a loss in minerals and nutrients. By cover-cropping and the addition of compost, a farmer can protect the soil from direct rainfall and increase the organic matter in the soil in the form of root biomass. Roots and organic matter create a healthy habitat for soil microbes that play a key role in mineralizing soil nutrients and forming soil aggregates that resist leaching.

One great benefit to having a diverse soil food web of fungi, bacteria, and protozoa is because organic minerals are “sequestered” in the biomass/bodies of microbes and recycled through in their metabolic processes. Instead of washing out of the soil, the minerals actually become the body of bacteria and fungi! In a series of food chain and energy exchanges the minerals in the soil are converted from one form to the next; changing from plant detritus to the body of a soil organism, then to metabolic wastes of that organism and into plant available forms of, and then consumed and incorporated into the body of another soil microbe. All these changes occur in and around in the rhizosphere (root-zone) of plants, and demonstrate an interconnected web of energy and nutrient cycling and nutrient retention.

Also consider the fact that bacteria and fungi create a natural glue that sticks to everything. Through the production of “glomulin”, nutrients are retained and soil aggregates are formed. As organic matter is decomposed, the biology in the soil help to form stable negatively charged humic (humus) molecules which bind together with positively charged cat ions, electrically holding minerals and preventing them from leaching. Important cat ions retained in colloidal humus particles include: calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and copper.

As you can see, there is a lot happening below the soil, and farmers and gardeners have an opportunity to utilize cover crops, compost, soil biology, and appropriate timing of fertilization to prevent soil erosion and leaching of nutrients.

Broadcasting a Cover Crop of Crimson Clover in October to Protect Bare Soil from Winter Rain

Recently Sown Cover Crop of Legumes mixed with Rye and Barley Provides Root Biomass and Use Boilogy to "Fix" Nitrogen from the air

During July we have been working to produce aerobic compost at the Willits Energy Farm. The compost project of July and August is important because we are seeking to demonstrate a model of sustainable farming practices that focus on soil fertility and includes an on-site composting center. The challenge for this project is to produce 10 piles of aerobic compost by sometime in August.

Currently, there are three piles that have reached high temperatures of up to 150°F and are now entering their “cool down” phase where they will sit until the fall. These piles have turned from a mixture of green and yellow to a dark brown/black color. Three other piles are beginning to decompose and will need to be turned a couple of more times before being allowed to cure. We are going to let the piles sit for a couple of months so that they can mature and allow the compost to develop a diverse set of micro organisms including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and macro arthropods.

Quality compost is the substance and inoculum in which a farmer can add organic matter to the soil and promote nutrient cycling. This is a natural way in which a farmer can promote healthy plants, resist soil born diseases, and ensure the fertility of the land for years to come. By producing quality compost it is possible to eliminate the need for non-organic fertilizers and pesticides because the soil will be very healthy and feed the plants in a way that will help make them less susceptible to pests. It is useful to think of pests as a way that nature “selects against” diseased and unhealthy plants. When a plant is unhealthy it puts out a signal that insects tune-in to. Soon the bugs come to eliminate the sick plant from the area, effectively selecting against the weakest plant

Three Piles Under 50% Shade Cloth to Prevent Drying-Out

Compost Section Evolving to Accommodate More Piles

I checked material from one of the compost piles under my microscope today to see which types of micro organisms were present. Since the pile was previously hot and newly developed I noticed a good deal of bacteria, some dormant protozoa, and some fungal spores. I knew that I would see bacteria, but I wanted to set a "before" image in my mind about what was occurring inside the pile. In a month I am curious to see whether or not there are more diverse microbes or if biology in the pile slows and becomes dormant.

This method, termed "direct count," is an alternative way of examining soil and compost that and differs from the standard chemical analysis that most people are accustomed to. The soil, roots, organic matter, and soil-based microbes are all interconnected and work together to produce healthy plants and living soil. The direct count method is useful because it provides a picture of the life within the soil. We can use this "picture" to make predictions about the nature and the health of the soil based upon the presence or absence of certain organisms.

Below is a link to the article: Soil food web - opening the lid of the black box. This was written by Bart Anderson and appeared on Energy Bulletin in late 2006. It is a great article that provides a synopsis about a truly sustainable way to maintain soil fertility and also describes the importance of Dr. Ingham's work related to uncovering the interconnected world of the "Soil Food Web".

During the early part of July we have been working to produce aerobic compost at the Willits Energy Farm. The compost project of July and August is important because we are seeking to demonstrate a model of sustainable farming practices that focus on soil fertility and includes an on-site composting center. The challenge for this project is to produce 10 piles of aerobic compost by sometime in August.

Currently, there are two piles that have reached high temperatures of up to 150°F and are now entering their “cool down” phase where they will sit until the fall. The two piles have turned from a mixture of green and yellow to a dark brown/black color. Two other piles are beginning to decompose and will need to be turned a couple of more times before being allowed to cure. We are going to let the piles sit for a couple of months so that they can mature and allow the compost develop a diverse set of micro organisms including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and macro arthropods.

This blogcast features Bill using a scythe to harvest the compost crop that was planted last November. He is working on the infield of an abandoned baseball diamond. In November, we seeded a cover crop in the infield section in order to loosen soil in the compacted soil, test the suitability of the infield for growing crops, and to provide a carbon component for our compost piles. Oats, Rye, and Barley have been grown under dry land conditions and make up a majority of the carbon that is being harvested from this section.

There are big plans in store for the compost area in the month of July. Now that we have a good amount of carbon to work with, we can begin to mix it with the abundant nitrogen that we are obtaining from food scraps and plant detritus from harvest and weeding. If we are going to grow vegetables in an intensive spacing then we will need to ensure that we are returning micro nutrients and organic matter back to the area where they have been grown. We have five sections in rotation and I would like to add two piles to each section, thus our goal is to have 10 piles of aerobic compost curing by the end of the month. This is an ambitious goal, but it is essential as we rotate our crops and continue to build the fertility of the soil.

Click here to watch the blogcast related to harvesting compost crops and to see the compost section.

Carting Pallets to the Compost Section

Mature Oats, Barley, and Rye Provide a Carbon-Component for Compost

Is Bill Working or Having Fun??

Two of Ten Piles in the Compost Section