INTELLIGENT DESIGNS

“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves. With wrong farming methods, we turn fertile land into desert. Unless we go back to organic farming and save the soil, there is no future.”
Mahatma Gandhi

KISS THE GROUND

JM Fortier is another Leader in the Farming Industry

As an educator, JM places a strong emphasis on intelligent farm design, appropriate technologies and harnessing the power of soil biology as key components of successful farming. A storyteller who weaves the technical aspects of farming with anecdotes from his farm, he has facilitated hundreds of workshops, seminars and conferences in Canada, Europe, Australia and the United States.  His methods and practices are featured in The Market Gardener's Toolkit, an educational documentary produced by Possible Media, and in The Market Gardener's Masterclass, an online course for professional growers.

BIODYNAMIC AGRICULTURE

Biodynamic Farming Bio refers to life and organisms while dynamic refers to the changing cyclical rhythms of nature. Thus, Biodynamic agriculture refers to a way of farming that is full of life, rhythm and variety.

“We must work together to create a new education system in which business development, technologic advancement always serves the planet first, before it serves the consumer”
Zach Bush MD.

VOLUNTEER, LEARN, LIVE

A great way to live and learn Organic farming is being a volunteer on sustainable properties near you. Here is the link to a world-wide organization called WWOOF. I am grateful to have "WWOOFed" in Australia and New Zealand.

10 Gardening Tips to make your back yard into food production

1. Make a design plan (think about what you want to use your back yard for, e.g. fire bit, kids play house, compost area, water source, pond, work out area etc.) Also, you may want to collect a soil sample from your back yard where you want the garden. You can send it here for a soil analysis. A great resource for this is SOILFOODWEB:

2. Once you have a plan you can cover the area you wish to make into garden beds with card board boxes which will kill the grass over a couple of weeks which makes it easier to build up from keeping that good quality top soil.

3. Start thinking what you want to plant in your garden, take into consideration your climate and time of year, moon cycles, gather data from people growing around you what grows good in your area that particular time of year. Also, you may want to do a bit of research on the plants you choose to see how tall they get how much sun they need etc. and design your veggies so you are looking at a well composed design with different elevations of plants.

4. Start sewing your seeds inside so they can be transplanted when your soil is prepared. If it’s possible have a barrel collecting rain water so you can water your babies until their ready to go in the ground.

5. After a couple of weeks, you can remove the boxes and scrap the dead grass and place in a compost bin if you have. And if you have results back from your soil analysis then you know what ingredients you need to add to your soil to make it nutrient dense.

6. Start building your soil with whatever you think you need if you did not get your soil tested, somethings like mushroom compost, worm castings, good quality organic soil, peat moss, seaweed, crushed quartz, ash. I like to make a bit of a concoction. Take this step seriously and with love because building your soil is key to healthy plants.

7. Transplant your babies when your soil is ready, do this when the soil is moist in a low sun point of the day and give them a drink afterwards. Having a good water source and a compost bin will save you time and money in the future.

8. Once your babies are transplanted you want to keep the area well weeded so all the nutrients go into the plants you want to grow. And make sure you water every evening if it does not rain that day.

9. Talk to your veggies J Give them your attention daily even if its just to look at them, your attention has power.

10. When your plants are ready to harvest, try to pick any above ground veggies such as cucumber, lettuce, tomato’s etc. mid-day when the sun is at its peak this will be at it’s sweetest point due to all of the sugars raising to the surface because of the sun. For underground veggies such as potatoes, carrots etc. pick them when the sun goes down, this ensures the sugars move down into the roots. You can measure tis with a Brix measuring device which measures sugar content. Enjoy your Harvest!

How can we come together in the food production industry? ANSWER: Evolving Human Thinking

One way to explore this more is with “Thought Storms”® to reveal core concepts we can focus on.

Thought Storms® have Inspired the creation of thousands of businesses and sits on the bookshelves of some of the wealthiest people in the world. Deceptively simple, yet profound, its ability to generate insights into problems is a priceless technology. Developed by Harry Palmer, Writer of the Avatar® Material.