Composting Toilets and Other Aids to Sustainable Agriculture & Sustainable Non-toxic Communities |
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AlkalizeForHealth
"The doctor of the future will
give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the
human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease." Allan Savory - How to Green the World's Deserts and Reverse Climate Change 1, 2 Small farmer
Joel Salatin earns up to
$5,000 per acre
using
Allan Savory's principles. See Joel Salatin YouTube videos: Beavers vs. Droughts 1 Urban rooftop commercial greenhouse Trash to fuel - cellulosic ethanol Inexpensive greenhouse heat 1, 2, 3, 4 New way to grow rice may double yields. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) "Take 100 pounds of dry soil, 12 x 36 x 6 inches deep with 4 to 5% humus, it can hold 165 to 195 pounds of water. That is equal to holding a four to six inch rain. On the other hand, take a similar block of soil, 1.5 to 2% humus, it can hold only 35 to 45 pounds of water, which is equivalent to 0.5 to1.5 inches of rain." - Neil Kinsey, Hands-On Agronomy. Surface ponds and the ability of humus to absorb water like a sponge, combined with the transpiration of water into the air by trees may provide an alternative to storm drains in many areas. Violin sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach broadcast to a Canadian wheat field resulted in a 66% increase in yield. In India, music called Charukesi raga increased production of paddy rice by 25% - 60% and peanuts by 50% Bats produce sounds at 50,000 cycles per second (cps) and are the natural enemy of the European corn-borer moth. Broadcast of 50,000 cps sound to corn fields reduced damaged corn ears from 50% to 5%. The buzzing of certain insects and bird song enhances plant growth. Certain frequencies of sound
unique to each crop can: This results in Cows like music 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Paramagnetic rock mixed in the soil will enhance the Earth's magnetism and improve plant growth. Sensitive photometers demonstrate that paramagnetic rock emits light. Magnetite is iron ore of too low a grade to be commercially mined. Passing magnetite through a strong magnetic field in order to magnetize it and then mixing it with soil has been shown to improve plant growth. Volcanic ash and seaweed are mineral rich fertilizers. For millennia, coastal forests have been fertilized by the bodies of salmon after the spawning season. Spraying the soil with certain preparations of soil bacteria can restore life to lifeless soils. Tree seedlings planted in soil with live earth worms grew four times higher than seedlings in identical soil with dead earthworms. This sort of agricultural research is of no interest to agrichemical companies. Frequently, government research dollars require matching grants from industry which ensures that only research of benefit to industry gets done. Topsoil is eroding globally. Topsoil is the basis of civilization. Global warming or new ice age?
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This is the final page in our three page mini-series on agriculture to prevent cancer. This page discusses the use of composting toilets and other means to rebuild farm soils, plus we discuss some of the innovations in agriculture that help make the use of toxic chemicals unnecessary. We also briefly examine the construction of healthy homes and communities. Composting Toilets Can Help Improve Farm and Garden SoilComposting toilets may seem an odd topic for a web site devoted to cancer. However, if you read the Better Farms and Refractometer pages on this web site you will see that there is a direct connection between the quality of health we enjoy, the quality of food we eat, and the quality of soil on which the food is grown. "Organic gardening food seems to be the answer to the cancer problem." - Dr. Max Gerson Just as there is a hydrological cycle involving water evaporating from the ocean, raining down on the land and flowing back into the ocean, so there is also a mineral cycle. The minerals erode from rock and become the rock dust which, together with decayed organic matter (humus), form the basis of soil. The minerals are removed from the soil in the harvest and are washed out of the soil by rain. The rain carries them into the ocean. To maintain the fertility of the soil, what is needed is a way to close the loop and return the minerals to the soil. The most fertile soils in the world are flood plains. During the periodic flooding, minerals in the form of silt are deposited onto the flood plain rebuilding the soil. However, with the damming of rivers, building of dikes and other flood control programs, flood plains around the world are losing the benefit of periodic renewal and, like farmlands elsewhere, are in need of an alternative means of remineralization.
In China and other far eastern countries soil fertility has been maintained for centuries through recycling of night soil. Local merchants bid (with payment going to the city government) for the privilege of collecting night soil in cities and then sell it to farmers. Traditionally, farmers have placed night soil directly onto farmland. However, a consequence of this was the spread of parasites from night soil onto food grown on the soil. More recently it has become the custom to compost night soil before spreading it on the farmland, because composting destroys the harmful life-forms (bacteria, viruses, parasites) in night soil. Composting is the natural means of purification and recycling of human waste. So long as human waste is not mixed with industrial chemicals, then the resulting compost is entirely safe for gardens and farms. The result is that a significant portion of the minerals removed from the soil are returned. Composted biological material becomes humus. Humus is black in color, like coal, due to its carbon content (plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen, incorporating the carbon into their own structure). You can judge the humus content of soil just by looking at the color and texture. Rich black soil has abundant humus. Long biological molecules in humus give structure to the soil, binding it together. Without the humus, soil would be dust. Humus acts as a sponge soaking up water and holding it. In this manner the humus reduces flooding, prevents erosion, and gives drought resistance to crops. (This is the real answer to prairie flooding - not dams, dykes and spillways.) Humic acid from the humus dissolves rock dust, helping to make minerals available to plants. The fact that the natural nitrogen cycle in high humus soils (5% humus) can provide sufficient nitrogen for crops is not a favorite topic for fertilizer sales people. Prairie soils across North America were once 4 1/2% humus. Now they are down to 1 1/2% humus. The inevitable result is increased flooding and erosion. In the United States, 4 million acres of cropland (an area the size of Connecticut) are lost each year due to soil erosion (US Soil Conservation Service). In the past 50 years half of the topsoil in the US has been lost. All waste plant and animal material must be constantly returned to the soil to be turned into humus.
Healthy soil consists of an abundance of minerals, soil bacteria, earthworms, and humus. Earthworms loosen the soil as they tunnel through. Air and water penetrate the soil via the earthworm tunnels. Earthworms emerge onto the surface of the soil at night and grasp a piece of plant material which they take into their tunnel to eat, thereby fertilizing all levels of the soil. Soil bacteria live in the gut of the earthworm and assist the digestion of the plant material. Plant material that has been fully digested by bacteria is humus. Humus is essentially the dead bodies of bacteria. Earthworms spread both the humus and bacteria throughout the soil and play an important role in the creation of healthy soil. Healthy soil will contain more than a thousand earthworms per square meter. "Actually the earthworm eats of the humus and of the soil and passes them through its body, leaving behind the casts which are really enriched earth--perfectly conditioned for the use of plants. Analyses of these casts show that they are some 40 per cent richer in humus than the surface soil, but very much richer in such essential food materials as combined nitrogen, phosphate, and potash. Recent results obtained by Lunt and Jacobson of the Connecticut Experiment Station show that the casts of earthworms are five times richer in combined nitrogen, seven times richer in available phosphate, and eleven times richer in potash than the upper six inches of soil. It is estimated that on each acre of fertile land no less than twenty-five tons of fresh worm casts are deposited each year." -Sir Albert Howard, Farming and Gardening for Health or Disease. Read this book online for free. Highly recommended! No farmer can afford to purchase and spread the quantity of fertilizer that earthworms provide for free. This makes the care and feeding of earthworms essential to successful farming. The earthworms need to eat, and fresh mulch is just what they need. One approach is to use seedbeds instead of rows. Each seedbed is about one meter or 3 feet across, so from each side you can easily reach to the middle of the bed. The seedbeds are heavily mulched in the fall, which prevents weeds from sprouting in the spring. The aisles between the seedbeds are grass that is mowed regularly, with the clippings scattered about for the worms to eat. These aisles are about 2 feet wide, just wide enough to kneel on when working on the seedbeds. Seeds are planted in the rotting mulch of the seedbeds, so no plowing is ever required. Never is bare soil left exposed to the elements, a situation that starves the earthworms and contributes to erosion. This no-till organic farming is economical because little machinery is required, and it is possible for such small farms to be productive virtually year round. Earthworms are easily killed by toxic agricultural chemicals. Agricultural chemicals are like stimulants. In the short run they seem to produce more. In the long run they destroy the soil, produce weak plants vulnerable to pests and disease, create inferior foods deficient in trace minerals, and damage the health of the community. Access to genetic materials from around the world has led to some useful "green revolution" victories. Hybrid plant varieties used today generally have a much higher yield than varieties previously used. However, many over-bred hybrid crops are now sterile, unable to reproduce themselves, and their increased bulk is associated with reduced protein and deficiencies in seven to nine minerals. Farmers grow these crops because they are paid by volume, not by nutritional content. However, why would consumers want to eat such nutritionally poor food? The answer is, they wouldn't, not if they knew. Now there is a new danger. Through horizontal gene transference, the reckless introduction of genetically modified crops threatens to change unpredictably both our food crops and life in the soil on which it is grown. The long term consequences of genetic modification of food crops is not known because no long term safety testing has been done. Most plant life on Earth is inedible by humans. The few plants we use as food are now being changed in unpredictable ways through the inclusion of DNA from viruses, bacteria, etc. Once released into the planetary ecosystem, these altered genes cannot be recalled. If there is an accident, the companies involved will simply go bankrupt. It is all of humanity that is taking the risk. Moreover, there is no benefit promised by the proponents of genetic engineering that cannot be safely accomplished by other means.
By improving the mineral and humus content of the soil, plants and trees have increased resistance to frost, drought, disease and insects, better storage characteristics, and they are more nutritious. Composting toilets have an important role to play in returning minerals to the soil and increasing the soil's humus content. Composting toilets were invented in Scandinavia in 1939 for use in national parks where permafrost prevents any "in-ground" system of sewage disposal. The waste remains in the composting bin beneath the toilet for about a year during which time it decomposes and turns to humus. No uncomposted material enters the environment. Flushing in "effluent" societies creates a false sense of cleanliness. Composting is an aerobic process during which the material being composted is consumed by aerobic bacteria. During composting, the volume of the material is reduced by about 90%. The 10% that remains is humus, filled with the minerals that were withdrawn from the soil where the food was grown. Animal manure in large quantity from dairy farms and factory farms should also be composted before being returned to the soil. This humus is a valuable resource and if it is properly recycled onto farmlands the quality of food will improve and the health of the entire population will benefit. Benefits of widespread use of composting toilets include:
The waterless composting toilet by Sun-Mar has a heater that evaporates liquids. The composter rotates automatically and finished compost drops into a container at the end of the drum. There is a constant flow of air from the bathroom, through the composter and out a ventilation pipe. Why not pass this outgoing air through a heat exchanger to moderate the temperature of fresh air coming into the home? There are many YouTube videos regarding composting toilets, plus much information on the Internet.
For more information see: Clean the bowl of a composting toilet with a brush just like a regular toilet, but with hot water mixed with baking soda. "Agrihoods" bring the farm to table movement one step closer to home. Learn more on the Internet and then start your own agrihood wherever you live. "Although our towns are fed from the countryside, little or no return of urban wastes to the land takes place. The towns are, therefore, parasitic on the country. This will have to stop. The wastes of these areas must go back to the soil." -Sir Albert Howard You can place your kitchen waste into an extra Vitamix container, add water, and blend it. Then pour the mix at the base of garden plants. Plant material composts faster when it is in smaller pieces, and the blended kitchen waste composts very quickly. Grass clippings can be spread around the garden as mulch every time you mow the lawn.
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution of a vegetarian diet." - Albert Einstein |
