The transition phase...continued

Continued from the previous post.....

This image shows composting grass pulled out from under a heap of grass cleared from a field in Vinho, Mozambique, and had been piled there for only about a month. Note the advanced state of decomposition.

This image is an example of how quickly nature takes hold, if it is allowed to do so. The problem on farms is that nature is kept at bay and the natural balance of things is lost. The compost in the picture was moist in an area that had received virtually no rain in two months and the reason it was moist is that the sunlight could not penetrate past the outer layer, this is why mulching is vital. It was full of earth worms and a myriad of other life including fungi. Our aim here is to explain how to revive the natural balance of an environment, so I will not digress into the roles played by all of these terrestrial life forms. Suffice to say, everything has a role to play and in a balanced environment, the desirable natural elements thrive and keep the undesirable elements at a level to which they are not detrimental to the health of the plant life in that environment.

In the next article, we will begin with the practical things we can do on the farm, to rejuvenate the soil, showing how natural fertilisation occurs, and then we will move onto the control of pests and diseases using Mother Nature as our guide.