Biological Farming: Increasing soil health naturally - here's my methods.

It has been a little over five years since I began a Master of Applied Science research project called: Accelerated Thermophilic Aerobic Digestion for rapid composting of poultry wastes and I can finally say I am research qualified and able to provide advice on building soils and increasing soil microbiome health.

What I learned during my research degree was that diversity is the key to all living systems. It is the foundation of resilience, and helps mitigate against extremes in weather, pest pressure and pathogens. If we have a balance of microorganisms in our gardens, our bodies and in the environment, we don't leave an opportunity for pathogenic microorganisms to gain a foothold. We must therefore strive to provide habitat and a food source for the trillions of microorganisms that sustain us. There are simple things we can do including composting all organic materials, mulching soils or growing a diverse ground cover crop, and using natural fertilisers and microbial inoculants to provide a balance to soil chemistry and biome abundance and diversity. In this BLOG I will provide my thoughts on composting and mulch and ground cover crops and mixed species pastures, and follow up with another post about microbial inoculants and natural fertilisers.

So lets get started...

Composting basics

We try to minimise what goes to landfill and composting is the easiest method to do that. We use big round open-bottom compost bins made from recycled plastic and fill one at a time to the brim. We do not actively consider the ideal ratio of inputs as well as soil moisture as most of our organic waste (aside from what goes into our composting toilets) is predominately kitchen scraps, paper bags and chicken coop floor waste. When one bin is full, we move onto the next. We have four in rotation, which seems ideal for our family members and lifestyle. We have situated the compost bins within or at the edge of our gardens, with stepping stones to access the one within the rainforest. On our deck we keep a stainless steel lidded container for kitchen scraps, and once full we transfer it to the bins. On the odd occasion the compost bin may be a bit whiffy, we add a handful of wood ash from our fireplace. We do not hesitate to throw in waste that many people warn you about, such as avocado seeds, onions and weeds with seeds. Our bins heat up and the thermophilic composting stage seems to degrade even the most difficult substrate.

Brassica seedlings emerging in newly laid compost with mulch over the top.

Composting with mulching, the basics

When we apply compost to the gardens, we do not hesitate to cover it in mulch. The compost benefits from this 'skin' in more ways than purely retaining moisture. We choose lucerne mulch, which adds nitrogen and combined with the compost, stops what we call nitrogen-drawdown. This can happen when microorganisms use the carbon source as food and pull nitrogen from the surrounding soil, often robbing plants of this vital nutrient.

Ground cover crops and mixed species pastures

We have four new paddocks that have sat fallow for many years. Over time and through slashing I dare say, they have a diversity of summer active grasses but as we are surrounded by cattle farms, also species such as leucaena trees and Townsville stylo. Both species are considered valuable fodder crops, but as can happen, they naturalise and spread readily.

Frosts turn many paddocks in our region brown by about this time of year (June) so we have oversown with a winter active mix combined with compost by broadcasting by hand. The pic on the left shows some of the seeds we have included, while the pic below shows our mix ratio.

We purchase our cover crop seed from a variety of places such as Kadanga Farm Store (who post out smaller quantities as pictured), Eden Seeds and wholesale seed and native seed suppliers, depending on what we are after.

Many of the species we use also have a matching inoculant that provides a seed coating and introduces a strain of microorganisms which improves the health of the plants as they grow. The bacteria cover the surface of the seed, the seedling, and the roots and are classed as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) which may be competitive and/or commensal species, providing pathogen protection, and plant growth enhancement properties. Cover crop species are site and livestock dependent, and information about what to plant where is readily available online.

This leads me to my next blog: Microbial inoculants and natural fertilisers. Look out for my next email...

While this was just a quick introduction to our biological methods for healthy people, planet and pocket, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have HERE.

We leave you this evening with a couple of photos of the magic of our newly grown rainforest set against the black-clad pavilion at night.

We are all this together! Goodnight.

Sonia Petersen