Homesteading

[Julie Le]

Hi all new to the group, I have been studying farming for some time and have just purchased a 23 acre farm in San Diego County. The land has been farmed synthetically for many years and my goal is to remineralize/regenerate the soil and create an eco system I can live off of completely. Where would you start?

Discussion

[Kev]

Would have to think more about it more, and there are so many approaches I think, such as strategic cover crops that can revitalize the soil — think in terms of how “weeds” exist where they grow as a function of serving a purpose, to bring balance to soil generally speaking, or to act as revitalizers — with examples being nitrogen-fixers, or deep taproots that break up compacted soil, or the thistles that serve to detoxify soil.. I was turned onto soil science by a consultant named Brian Maisenbacher.. It all makes sense, and he backs it up with chemical analysis of soil.. But there are many books on soil science, and there’s one that many folks consider one of the definitive guides (can’t think of it off the top of my head)..

This comment is totally spontaneous by the way, just typing away.. But, my very first thought on all of this is that ruminating animals are best.. If you’ve got all sorts of wild plants (“weeds”) and/or grasses, you could let loose some goats (in an enclosure).. Cattle might be out-of-budget.. But I’ve seen big transformational work done with pigs.. Where there is overgrowth or poor soil, folks will put pigs in an enclosure and let them root out the wild plants and roots, eat them, and then their manure re-mineralizes and enriches the soil.. and then you can move the enclosure to a new location.. In this case, it’s highly recommended to throw bails of hay into the enclosure, as the pigs will tear them apart and work that into the soil.. I have a buddy that works a family farm in the desert of Western Australia, and he does this very thing with pigs.. Oh, and it’s also important to add an outside input of food for the pigs, such as kitchen scraps (and a water trough)..

I’m really big on the idea that cattle always know what to eat (wild plants & grasses) in terms of their own health, as well as infusing their milk with what you need for your own health.. My hunch is that in a wild area, they will know what to eat to best revive the soil, while possibly ignoring other plants.. I look at it that way, as a greater intelligence at work..

In terms of detoxifying the soil that’s been infused with industrial farming chemicals, just enriching the soil is what you have to do, as soil microbes (bacteria) and fungal networks do the detoxification.. My whole approach would simply be to compost as much as possible (including human manure) and just ramp up soil microbes and soil fungus..

Forgot to mention, chicken manuring, and using chickens to process plant scraps and kitchen scraps would be good too, and then use the resulting compost from all that.. And possibly use one of them chicken enclosures on wheels that you can move down the line periodically — Joel Salatin does this as a key component of building up his soils over time..

Does any of this help??

[Kev]

Wanted to add the point that the chop-n-drop approach is good to feed back nutrients and build up soil over time, but I think processing/alchemizing plant scraps through the guts of animals is even better (such as giving chickens plant scraps to eat)..

And also, if you have native worms there, would be a very good idea to start a vermiculture worm farm to breed worms and then work them into the soil.. Since you’ll probably be starting small with a garden to start growing your own food, this could be a very valuable approach, to get worms going in the soil.. But, not sure if worms are thing there in SD County.. I know it’s pretty dry and desert-like generally speaking, so I don’t know for certain.. But worth considering..

[Julie Le]

It does help lots thank you for your time!

[Amber]

Plant sunflowers to purify the soil and remove chemicals. That’s my first idea 💡

[Kev]

Good one!

[Mike]

Welcome! Sounds like an epic project! I would look into myco-remediation to help pull out the toxins. Our friend Levon Durr over at Fungaia Farms in Humboldt are experts at that! https://www.fungaiafarm.com/

fungaiafarm.com

Fungaia Farm

Fungaia Farm specializes in culinary and medicinal mushroom products. We provide mushroom spawn to home and commercial growers for food production and Fungal Remediation. Fungaia Farm offers high quality grain spawn, plug spawn, sawdust spawn, sterilized grain and cultivation supplies. … Continue reading

[Julie Le]

If finances weren’t an issue is there an consultants you guys would recommend?

[Julie Le]

Im essentially looking to be guided by an expert while my I and my team do the physical labor.

[Kev]

I mentioned Brian Maisenbacher above, and I have heard him give presentations many times and talk about soil health and soil analysis, etc., and so I think his organization, Earth Grower, might be a good place to start and something to look into..

They do consulting work (I have no idea the affordability), but they do at least offer a free 15-minute phone conversation to see if they’d be a match for you and what you want to do..

The website is full of resources too, such as book titles.. and a long list of links to podcasts.. Might be worth listening to him and what he says and has to offer.. And I do believe they are headquartered in SoCal, so possibly relatively near you..

https://www.earthgrowerllc.com/

earthgrowerllc.com

earthgrowerllc.com

We provide consulting services on soil health, regenerative practices, vegetable production, permaculture design, whole systems thinking, lean farming, making your own inputs, integrated pest management, composting, orchards, greenhouse management, irrigation systems, seed saving, controlled growing...

[Julie Le]

thanks so much Kev where do you live?

[Kev]

Portland, straight north of you..

[Kev]

And whereabouts is the parcel of land that you’ve acquired??.. specifics not necessary of course, but curious in general, especially regarding climate zone and rainfall.. I know the topography and local climates are quite varied in SoCal.. and so I just looked at the Sunset climate zone map, which indicates 10 distinct zones in the SD area in their system..

https://sunsetplantcollection.com/climate-zones/zone/san-diego-region/

[Julie Le]

the land is in San Diego County

[Julie Le]

Bonsall California

[Kev]

Oh nice.. I had to look that up.. There’s a plant nursery in Fallbrook called Planet Desert I’ve been a customer with for years.. I’m guessin’ Bonsall doesn’t get a lot of rain.. And isn’t that area referred to as The Inland Empire or something like that??

[Julie Le]

I think it gets some rain and as far as the inland empire I dont think so because its in San Diego County.

[Kev]

Ah yes, I actually just looked up Inland Empire — totally different area east of LA..

[Emily]

Congrats, exciting project! Have you worked with biodynamic preparations? If it were me, I would start by dowsing to ask which preparation would best serve the land at this time. The preps can be very powerful in activating the forces that will help heal the soil.

[Kev]

Definitely something I wanna learn, and watch someone do it to see how it all works out..

[Julie Le]

I haven’t but I am familiar with BioDynamics

[Eliza]

Congratulations Julie! Sovereignty Ranch owned by Molly Engelhart blew me away when she gave the farm tour and I ended-up going back to school near my homestead and so I’d recommend checking out local colleges and vocational agricultural programs because lots of young professionals are itching to “get their hands dirty.” The lab I’m taking in August is called “<strong style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;”>Microscopy And Soil Microbial Analysis For Regenerative Agriculture” for example this fall.

[Julie Le]

I also practice radiesthesia on a beginner level so I should be able to ask the soil what strengthens it energetically through these means.

[Eliza]

Sorry for my phone awkwardness – lol the lab is called >Microscopy And Soil Microbial Analysis For Regenerative Agriculture” <

[Julie Le]

thank you!

[Eliza]

Oh my gosh..how could I have spaced on this? At confluence I met a girl who allocated funds and connected farms to regenerative agriculture…first she worked for Ryland Engelhart’s philanthropic organization (he produced the documentary common ground) – I’ll reach out to her from my text and see if there see any leads to start sucking any nasty pesticides out of the soil ASAP 😉

But of everyone’s awesome comments..I of course like SUNFLOWERS the most. Haha if only it was that easy.🌻

[Kev]

Don’t forget Brother Mike’s suggestion of focused, intensive myco-remediation!.. Love that approach.. I wonder what fungi would grow in the particular region of SoCal in question.. 🍄 🌻 🐛 🐷

[Julie Le]

Yes it makes lots of sense.

[Julie Le]

love it thank you!!

[Eliza]

Hey Eliza!! Good to hear from you

girl. Gabrielle Lanzoni by the way

I would say to go to

kisstheground.com and read

everything they have on regenerating

land. Also Allen Williams work /

Farmer Gabe Brown / Ray Archuleta

have a lot of great information on the

ways they’ve restored degraded land

using regenerative management

principles. Those four will be a good

starting place

[Eliza]

Meg has something about EM’s (pasted below)

Just figured I’d stick it here…I just called my town and that’s how I figured out what was “allowed” which I regret because now THEYtm know too much – and they know that I know that it’s not allowed.

It sounds like land patent stuff that Mike understands is the long term solution but you need a short term fix with a local who has done this before….

http://home-n-stead.com/homestead/tipsandrecipes/ems.html

home-n-stead.com

EM Probiotics for the Homestead

EM Probiotics for the Homestead

[Julie Le]

thanks alot

[Julie Le]

Did you happen to rest this girl !!

[Julie Le]

Reach*

[Julie Le]

Im a bit swamped right now with life and I want to start moving in the right direction With this project do you guys know of anyone that handles research on coding licensing permitting for certain areas? or is anyone here interested in payment to find this information.

I want to know what I need to do to acquire the permitting for certain livestock and animals and also move forward on putting in the proper documentation to secure these permits.

what the pursuit looks like to secure my own water source/ well on the land.

does anyone have experience dealing with these types of litigations? and have any interest in working with me to move forward in these areas.

[Charlotte]

i can show you how to make your own em. it sounds to me like the person who told you you could not use it did not know that they were talking about. i use both em and mycorrhizae to grow with deepening top soil, no amendments and after the 3rd year no water. i just wrote some in the land group if you want to read more.

[Julie Le]

sure I will check it out thank you!

[Charlotte]

MY idea in making your own em is that you can call what you make anything you like.

[Author]

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