Soil and Health Library
 

Lots of good info here. I met Steve Solomon years ago right after he published "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades". He was the founder of Territorial Seeds, and in 1995 he sold the company and bugged out to Tasmania.

http://soilandhealth.org/index.html

Last time I communicated with him, about a year ago, he said he was working on a new book about high yield growing in a small amount of space. Emailed him today to ask whether the book was out yet or not. Will report back when I hear back from him.

Re: Soil and Health Library
 

Very good. Thanks eyeo, there is an awesome amount of information in your friends site. It will keep me busy for sure.

Re: Soil and Health Library
 

Just heard back from Steve, who had this to say:

"I remember our conversation. Good to hear from you. The book you ask about is called "Gardening When It Counts," and is the opposite of intensive. The publisher is New Society, Gabriola Is, B.C."

http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3920

From the description:

"The decline of cheap oil is inspiring increasing numbers of North Americans to achieve some measure of backyard food self-sufficiency. In hard times, the family can be greatly helped by growing a highly productive food garden, requiring little cash outlay or watering.

Currently popular intensive vegetable gardening methods are largely inappropriate to this new circumstance. Crowded raised beds require high inputs of water, fertility and organic matter, and demand large amounts of human time and effort. But, except for labor, these inputs depend on the price of oil. Prior to the 1970s, North American home food growing used more land with less labor, with wider plant spacing, with less or no irrigation, and all done with sharp hand tools. But these sustainable systems have been largely forgotten. Gardening When It Counts helps readers rediscover traditional low-input gardening methods to produce healthy food.

Designed for readers with no experience and applicable to most areas in the English-speaking world except the tropics and hot deserts, this book shows that any family with access to 3-5,000 sq. ft. of garden land can halve their food costs using a growing system requiring just the odd bucketful of household waste water, perhaps two hundred dollars worth of hand tools, and about the same amount spent on supplies - working an average of two hours a day during the growing season."

Sounds pretty good, and I like Steve's writing style. Think I'll pick me up a copy!

Re: Soil and Health Library
 

HA! Just got that one!! I haven't started on it yet.

Re: Soil and Health Library
 

I've finished reading that book, and it has been a revelation to me. Most gardening books do not explain in detail how to successfully grow a garden no matter what. This book is written for people who can't have a bad gardening year or they might not survive. Interestingly enough it is written with a SHTF type atmosphere (he seems to be a survivalist).

Soloman explains scientifically how things work, but in a layman's language that is easy to understand. I now understand why sometimes I have had good success in gardening, and why other years, I have yielded little in my garden due to improperly balanced soil.

Since reading his book, I have stocked up on most of the ingredients for his organic compost, while they are still cheap. I'm surprised how most of the people on this site talk about storing seeds, but not lime, rock minerals, bone meal, kelp meal, etc. To grow a productive vitamin and mineral enhanced garden, these items are essential. These items are cheap (today) in 50 pound bulk bags if you buy them at an agricultural supply store. They may not be easily available later.

Re: Soil and Health Library
 

Can you post a list of the things to stock up on please?

Re: Soil and Health Library
 

Also of interest:

http://kinseyag.com/

I've actually started using the Albrecht method on my farm this year, and so far so good. The important thing to remember about soil amendments is that you cannot manage what you cannot measure, one needs to use a reliable soil test. I believe that Kinsey's tests are the best.