Biospheric Resonance

In Part 3 I left off with talking about herbicides and how they affect the soil physically. Part 1 touched briefly on the knowledge expressed in the metaphors of Polynesian mythology, where the soil is pictured as the domain of a cyclical process in which death and decay turns into new life, which eventually dies and decays, and so on it goes. The point I”m making with this analogy is to show how certain kinds interventions in these processes reverberate through the chain and have disastrous consequences for soil retention and fertility. And of course armed with this insight we will be able to implement practices that actually help.

The two sides of this coin are like yin and yang, feminine and masculine, etc. The two of them together is what makes life in this world possible. Take away or change one of them, and the whole system collapses. If you constantly remove all decaying organic matter to get a “clean” look, the soil becomes unable to sustain life. Chemical “fertilizers” do not fulfill the same biological function and therefore cannot restore or maintain soil fertility in such a situation.

Herbicide application can overload the decay cycle with a sudden burst of dead plants that need to be processed. In the field, this often results in a very brief spike in nitrogen production followed by a steep decline. Not a recipe for healthy crops or landscape plants. The beneficial microbes, worms, insects, and other organisms that live in the soil are disrupted and often killed both by direct contact with the applied toxins and by such artificially induced swings in the nutrient balance. Also, because large parts of weeds killed by herbicides tend to remain standing up for long periods of time, they decay by weathering instead of being incorporated into the soil. This is a radically different process in which most of the nutrients contained in those parts end up in the air and are lost to the soil.

It is clear that in order to achieve and conserve optimal soil fertility, vitality, and retention, any cultural measures undertaken must support and enhance rather than disrupt the natural background processes taking place in the soil. A simple principle you can bear in mind as a guideline is: “Feed the soil life, not the plants. The soil life will feed the plants.” In other words, find out what the soil needs for ITS health, and cater to that, and you”ll be able to leave it to the soil to cater to the needs of the plants. How can  this principle be put into practice?

• As already mentioned, avoid herbicides, chemical fertilizers, and any other substances that harm the life forms that inhabit the soil.

• Work  rock dust or sand made from crushed rock into the soil. This is a way of adding mineral nutrients that doesnt”t circumvent or disrupt, but actually enhances the natural soil processes.
• Avoid using fresh chipped tree waste mulch, especially that of the usual medium size. It sucks all the nitrogen out of the soil and forms a shingle-like surface that makes the rain run off it. Extra finely chipped tree waste can be composted together with a high-nitrogen waste such as chicken manure. Very course chip – chunks of several inches long – can be spread very thinly or placed in small piles in woodland landscapes.

• Space plants as closely as possible without crowding them. Wherever plantings need to be widely spaced and leave patches of soil bare and weed-prone, plant soil-improving ground covers, e.g.  clovers, in between.

Beside helping to prevent erosion, these measures also dramatically improve plant health, and in the case where the plants grown are food crops this translates into copious yields of foods with much higher nutritive value than their counterparts grown in dead or no soil. This in turn obviously promotes human health, and so the cycle goes round.

Tags: erosion prevention, land management, land use, landscaping, local ecological knowledge, organic gardening, polynesian mythology, soil conservation

One more serious cause of runoff and the resulting erosion is excessive herbicide spraying. Earlier on, we saw the importance of maintaining full vegetative cover over the soil. In practice, herbicides are used 99% of the time to achieve the opposite effect: bare soil. You only need to take a quick look around some yards, roadsides and farms nearby to see firsthand how the use of herbicides leaves large areas of soil lifeless and bare. These areas are constantly getting stripped by the rain.

There are many alternatives to spraying, alternatives that enhance the soil instead of destroying it. Before naming some,  let’s look at the outcome we want to achieve: all soil covered with vegetation. Preferably vegetation other than what you usually refer to as weeds. Some of these so-called weeds can actually be helpful as soil-enhancers, especially in agricultural settings where looks aren”t first priority. In any case the ones you always need to eliminate are  speciesthat are invasive under your local conditions. You’ll want to end up with beneficial groundcovers, and in most situations you’ll want the result to look attractive.

• Determine which weed species are truly undesirable in your situation and eradicate these as much as possible by manual/mechanical means.
• Control the others by mowing, weedwhacking or – more-or-less level areas only – cultivation.
• Plant suitable ground cover species, preferably ones indigenous to your region, at such a spacing that they may be expected to fill all gaps within about six months.
• Keeping the area handweeded will get easier and easier as your plantings start to fill in their allotted space.
• The time you spend doing this is you are getting healthy exercise without the need for expensive gym memberships or equipment. And gardening nourishes your soul as well as your body. If you lack the time to do it yourself, hire someone to do it.

We have now covered the three most important mechanical causes of soil erosion, the last of which also has a strong biological impact on the soil. The rest of this series will address the biological aspects of soil conservation.

If you have any questions about the topics covered so far, please don’t hesitate to add them in the comments section below.

Tags: erosion prevention, land management, land use, landscape construction, soil conservation, sustainable design

In part one of this series, we introduced the concept of looking to the traditional ecological knowledge contained in the creation myths of the ancient Polynesian cultures. There are to be found clues to the importance of soil and to simple, actionable ways we can conserve this resource. We looked at rainwater runoff as a key factor in soil erosion, and its first cause, deforestation and consequent lack of shade, plus ways to counterbalance it.

Now, let’s continue exploring the causes of excessive runoff. The next one that needs to be discussed is the proliferation of non-permeable surfaces. A non-permeable surface is any surface that collects and then sheds rainwater rather than letting it through into the soil beneath it. In practice this basically means roofs of buildings, and all paved surfaces such as roads and parking lots, most man-made objects that occupy surface space on the earth. Of course we need buildings to live and work in and roads to travel on, etc. So I am not proposing that we eliminate all such things from the landscpe. However, the way we situate, design, and construct these objects has a tremendous influence on the runoff situation. This means there is a lot you can do in that area to minimize their negative impact.

Many roofs still shed directly onto the surrounding ground , eroding it right there and then. Others have gutters diverting it to a sewage system, turning valuable pure water into destructive waste. Every roof needs to have gutters connected to catchment tanks. The supply of clean fresh water is dwindling very fast on this planet and wars are already at this moment being fought over it. Forget oil for a moment, without water you won”t live to enjoy another drive in your car. Even if you”re currently hooked up to a municipal water supply, catching the rain off your roof is extremely beneficial to your security and will save you tons of money in the long run.

Roads and parking lots are part of a complex, large-scale polluted runoff problem. Good solutions are already being applied in some places in the public and private infrastructure. On a smaller, down-home scale, you can minimize problems associated with paved surfaces in the following ways:

• Make driveways and other paved surfaces only as large as they need to be to function.
• Construct flat or gently sloping driveways and parking spaces out of a thick bed of open-grade gravel or cinder.
• Construct steep driveways with two concrete “tracks”, with turf, gravel, or ground-cover plants in between.
• Another good alternative for all paved areas where locally available is interlocking pavers with holes or open spaces. In these holes, grass or groundcovers can be allowed to grow.
• Wherever water sheets or gushes off existing paved surfaces onto the ground when it rains, create small ponds and gardens with moisture-loving plants to retain the water.

For more in-depth recommendations please visit our resources pages.

Tags: better site design, erosion prevention, land management, land use, landscape construction, local ecological knowledge, rain water catchment, soil conservation, sustainable design

Dirt. The lowly stuff we look down and tread upon every day, often thoughtlessly. Actually we should spare it some thought and respect for we owe our lives to it. The mythologies of many ancient tropical planting cultures, especially those of the Pacific, contain stories of how the culture’s staple food plants sprouted from the buried body of a sacrificed deity. In The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell says:

… so in the forest and planting cultures, there is a sense of death as not death somehow, that death is required for new life.

The ancient Polynesians thus likely celebrated life and death equally, as two sides of one coin, spinning in a continuous cycle to sustain the culture.The concept may be uncomfortable for some of us to grasp, but it is well worth the effort to try and understand it. Through their traditions the tropical planters of old expressed a remarkably acute insight into the immense powerhouse contained in our soil as home to the cyclical process of life and death. Understanding these ancient concepts offers us a key to a future of improved health and prosperity for Polynesia and the rest of the world.

The first step toward this goal is to address the alarming rate of soil loss through erosion we are experiencing. Secondly, we can explore ways to conserve our soils with their biological processes intact. Reviewing some principles that govern soil health and retention reveals several simple things we can do to preserve our soil and its vital qualities and hopefully inspire others around us to do the same.

An important occurrence that influences soil erosion happens when rain hits the ground. Rainwater will either be absorbed into the soil or it will run off the surface. Runoff can cause serious problems. As raindrops run off, they consolidate into ever larger and more powerful rivulets that scour the earth and carry off an increasing amount of soil with them. Often valuable soil is eroded from a place where it is needed and deposited where it literally mucks things up and causes damage.

Rainwater’s absorption into the soil is a far more desirable option. Rain diffuses into the soil as it is absorbed making it available to the myriads of plant roots and surrounding organisms. The remaining water spends considerable time filtering through the earth into underground aquifers. These aquifers are the source of pure refreshing spring water that resurfaces or remains in storage underground. When the soil gets over saturated with water the surplus is not absorbed but drain into streams or rivers that generally lead to the ocean. Water naturally tends to stay contained within the banks of these established waterways except in the most extreme flood conditions.In a healthy soil ecosystem most rainfall is absorbed while very little runs off.

Unfortunately, many modern cultural practices have tipped the scale in favor of runoff. Deforestation is one of the primary causes for this imbalance. Established trees and shrubs hold lots of soil with their root systems. But in addition to that, they do another important thing in terms of erosion prevention, something so overlooked, it’s like the Secret, the Holy Grail of soil conservation. They provide shade. When the blazing sun beats down on our landscape the ground heats up. Without trees or other vegetation in place to keep the soil cool by intercepting the solar energy to create growth and oxygen, the exposed hot soil repels the cool rain causing run off. Of course, the steeper the grade, the worse the effect.

Here’s what you can do:

• Plant trees and shrubs to provide at least dappled shade to every square foot of your property that isn”t used for vegetable gardens, lawns, or other sun-loving purposes. The steeper the slope, the more densely shaded it should be.
• Limit sunny areas to those needed for above mentioned purposes and choose the flattest possible sites for them – create more level areas by terracing if necessary.
• When clearing for construction, select the site carefully and clear plants only from areas that are really needed for the project.

We”ll explore more causes of runoff and erosion in part 2 of this article series. In the meantime, please post your comments and questions about erosion prevention here, or contact me if you are looking for helpful and effective advice on your soil conservation challenges,  whether residential, agricultural, or industrial.

Tags: better site design, erosion prevention, land management, land use, landscape construction, local ecological knowledge, polynesian mythology, soil conservation, sustainable design