Welcome to The Good Earth Soil Magazine

 

Your soil should be
built this way. 

There are a great many sustainable agriculture methods and systems. A few were the main means of getting nutrition out of the ground for hundreds of years before being largely replaced by "modern" machine agriculture of the 19th and 20th centuries. World War Two, and the need to feed a recovering planet, gave us many chemicals which seemed to speed up food production. In the 1970s these chemical practices were accelerated greatly to help control food costs to a world in economic recession. This is where many believe humanity left the righteous path toward good food and a sustainable environment. But some saw a different food future. 

In the 1970s many "organic" methods for farming were introduced into garden spaces, but until the turn of the twenty-first century few were adopted as economically viable farming methods. Most "organic" methods were used by backyard gardeners interested in the hobby of growing their own food and sustainable practices were not much of a factor in market spaces. When "organics" became profitable many entered the markets using dubious practices and regulation set in on organic farming to protect valuable markets.

Today, sustainable Agriculture has progressed to the point where true economic viability is nearing a reality in the niche, and small market, food production spaces.  We are fast approaching a time when organically grown foods are being produced in numbers large enough to displace industrial farming at much the same cost to the consumer. But there is still work to do and solutions to be found. 

The Good Earth Soil Magazine (GESM) was created to spread the message of sustainable cropping to market gardeners and those interested in taking part in the Sustainable Agriculture Movement. Each Contributing Editor is,at least, a successful gardener or market garden farmer or serious agricultural scientist and each has his or her own reason to share what they know. 

My Market Garden Farm

Some of us are interested in working to repair an environment generally being degraded by a high dependency on petrochemicals and hydrocarbons. Some are more interested in solving some of the problems modern food production uses that are injuring those who consume their produce. In my own case I am interested in many areas of educating people in those things I have learned as a scratch homestead market gardener. A few of might simply be interested in working the land in a way which is less expensive, and at least as productive, in a world of cost averse capitalism. The reasons we do what we do is important, but it is the wide base of people's interest which is pushing the Movement forward and the knowledge base of successful methods to work the soil efficiently and sustainably which may help to repair some of the damage done to food and farmers in the past century. So lets get started . . .

The paragraph above, if thought about philosophically, says that "Sustainable Agriculture" is interested in reducing the use of petrochemicals and hydrocarbons to its absolute minimum. So it can be assumed that, where possible, we will be promoting the idea that chemical fertilizers borne of hydrocarbons are generally not a good idea and offer organic and sustainable replacements for these things. The use of hydrocarbons to operate machinery, where we can, should be reduced to a logical minimum; so we will offer ways to reduce the movement of things into our Gardens and out to the Markets. Water and land uses ought to be controlled better. Labor costs need to be kept to a minimum wherever we can to increase profits and keep prices down at markets. And those things we grow need to have a market in order to encourage more people to join in the Sustainable Agricultural Movement as producers.  All of these things will help us all to achieve the goals we are working toward and these are the ideas we will attempt to expound upon in the articles of The Good Earth Soil Magazine. But there will be other articles as well.

In a planet inundated by mass marketing schemes and dubious informational sources, having a reliable place to find good information is a big part of our motivation.  Some articles in GESM will be to offer advice on tools, some on soil inputs, and more than a few will be concerned with using labor to its best advantage. Many articles will be to describe good soil practices and give scientific insight into why these methods are better, or not. And in a world filled to bursting with social forums, groups, classes, and meet-ups, GESM will try to give those involved in the Movement a starting place for finding help and human interaction which is free of politics, violence, and other sources of strife. 

We hope you find help in achieving quick success in your gardening or farming efforts. If you have success, we hope you will contribute to our efforts by offering articles of your own to fill in the gaps in our knowledge base.  

GESM Contributors are here to help. Feel free to ask questions and offer comments in a positive and helpful manner.