Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Standard agricultural methods can be described as having
mined all the nutritionally necessary minerals out of the soil.
Those methods return a handful of elements in the form of
fertilizer, but only thirteen elements are generally required to
grow a good-looking and marketable food commodity in a
competitive market that doesn't distinguish one tomato from
another. All of the other elements needed for human
health—elements that were abundantly present a century
ago—are either absent or severely depleted.
Compost contains and preserves these micronutrients that are
so important to human health. So if you grow a garden for
your health, you really need to use compost otherwise you are
largely wasting your time.
Why Make Your Own Compost?
If you weren't already convinced of the value of adding
compost to your garden soil, I hope I have convinced you.
But the next question is: why should you make compost
yourself rather than just buying it?
Cost-effectiveness in a home garden requires different
methods than those employed in large commercial farms.
Substantially enhanced nutrition and major cost savings can
only be achieved in a home garden through the use of
sustainable and organic methods,
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and the primary practice
that enables these methods is composting.
If you have read Mini Farming: Self Sufficiency on ¼ Acre,
you know that I put a great deal of emphasis on compost.
That emphasis is not misplaced, because composting is the
primary method that will help to retain the elemental content
