Soil Erosion in Linxia County, Xihe Township, China - source: Wikimedia Commons
I’ve blogged extensively about the second house we bought last year, now named somewhat grandiosely as Terra Farms. One of the reasons was to diversify our assets into land.
From that perspective, productive land is and always has been a reasonably good investment. If lucky enough to blessed with extraordinary foresight and be thinking in terms of location, location, location, one could buy some raw land near an expanding city, and in due course hit the proverbial jackpot, much like SingleMomRichMom’s Father did.
Besides being a weekend getaway and a renovation, I’ve also been also looking at this little nine-acre patch with a little different eye. I’ve recently finished reading “Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations“, by David Montgomery, an interesting book on how the treatment and use, or more correctly, the abuse of a nation’s or empire’s productive soils affects its long-term prospects of survival as a civilization.
Briefly, the book lays out a good case of how farmers generally know how to conserve soil through good crop rotation between extractive crops such as wheat and cereals, and restorative nitrogen-fixing crops such as legumes and alfalfa, which help to conserve and even produce topsoil. Eventually, as the nation or civilization grows, societal changes such as population pressures and large absentee owners (in Roman times, large estates worked by slaves – in modern times, megafarms owned by corporations) lead to constant and intensive agriculture, in turn causing severe soil erosion and loss of production, and possible collapse.
Spend enough time around “peakist” websites (peak oil is even getting good play in the PF blogosphere – see Darwin’s article “Peak Oil is Here – We’re Screwed), and you’re bound to run across the factoid that topsoil is the United States’ top export both in terms of value and volume. Erosion is a killer. The great productive plains of Iowa and Kansas have been losing foot after foot of topsoil to water and wind erosion for years, and the combination of massive, mechanized monoculture and now corn ethanol production.
Other areas in the world are not much better off. The rich Loess plateau in China has been suffering from severe erosion for a very long time, although at an ever accelerating pace as China increasingly affluent population demands more in the ways of food production (National Geographic has an excellent article on soil loss, mentioning China as well: National Geographic – The Good Earth)
Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff. Will Rogers
Back to our pasture, it’s not much good for anything right now except for growing hay, and then only with applications of fertilizer. I’ve made a deal with my neighbor that he can grow, cut and bale the hay on the two pastures, all for free, provided he leaves one single round bale (not terribly happy about the fertilizer deal, but until I get me a tractor/brush hog – or a cow – to maintain the pasture, I’ll have to live with that).
My one round bale of Hay - ready for deployment
The garden patch area by the house, although the size of a couple of basketball courts, is not especially “good dirt”, as one neighbor called it. The relatively loose topsoil clay in the garden goes down about a foot before hitting compacted hard-pan (versus about two or three inches for the pasture). Given the relative lack of biomatter and humus deep into the soil, I think the previous owners grew vegetables only with tilling and very liberal applications of commercial fertilizer.
Mulch on one side, weeds on the other - it looked better by the end of the weekend, after much pulling and chopping and dropping
So besides the initial investment, what do I do to grow the resource? Simply put, I’m making good dirt. Following no-till methods such as heavy mulching and chop-and-drop on the many weeds that sprout up, I’m hoping to build up the organic matter of the soil to where it will eventually in a couple years be nice rich humus-ey dirt all the way down (my neighbors offered to till up the garden for me, and looked a little nonplussed when I explained that I prefer not to till). I’ve built up a two or three inch layer of hay, grass clippings, mulched leaves, weeds, and wood chip mulch on the pathways between the raised beds, and will gradually expand that over the entire garden area. Other garden areas (and eventually the pastures) will be planted with over-wintering cover crops such as hairy vetch or rye or buckwheat. It’s not a fast process to returns on investment, but then again, neither is socking away money in a 401K bond fund. It just takes time. If and when we sell the place (big if), it’ll be during growing season, to buyers who will see the value of productive “dirt”.
When I get a tractor, I’ll be ready to tackle the pasture.
Sounds like your neighbor is getting a really good deal; in my area the hay is split 50/50 between the haymaker and the landowner, although it may be split a little differently if the haymaker sells the landowner’s share for him.
Also, by allowing your neighbor to hay your property, you are giving him your micro-nutrients and organic material for free. The fertilizer inputs that he is putting into the soil will not make up for what he is taking out.
Which leads me to the question – what is your rationale for having the land hayed? You’re such an avid gardener that I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know soil-health wise, so I’m curious to hear your thoughts.
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Hi LG – you are right, it’s a good deal for our neighbor. On the other hand, since we’re only there every other weekend or so, they keep an eye on the property for us. One time, the father came over and fixed our storage shed door which had blown open in the wind, exposing the lawn tractor and the go-kart stored inside to open view from the road. Another time, he came and checked up on the contractor that was doing some work for us. And, what part of the pasture can’t be hayed they run a brush hog over. As for biomass, I get all I need and more from the acre or so of frontage lawn. So, for now, I’m OK with the deal.
… and, point well-taken on the micro-nutrients.
A very unique post 101C! Looks like you’ve put in a lot of thought on this one!
On tractors I was eyeing them in Home Depot the other day – but sadly our yard space doesn’t warrant a tractor!
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Hi MC – our Cub Cadet “tractor” is really only a slightly heavier version of a riding lawn mower. Before buying a tractor, I’m going to have to get a whole new grade of education.
Check your library for back issues of Mother Earth News magazine. They usually have reviews and solid advice on tractors and homesteading equipment every two years or so. In my pile of back issues I’m sure there’s one about this subject.
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It’s wonderful to read that you’re concentrating on building the soil. It irritates me immensely to see how much organic material is wasted and how ignorant people are about how doing something that requires minimal commitment such as not tilling and sheet composting can make a huge difference over a short period of time.
As I was weeding my front yard one day last year a neighbor from down the block stopped to admire my perennials and asked how I grew things so well. “Compost,” I said, “with manure from the chickens.” I took her to the backyard to show her the compost bins and the chickens and she said I was “very clever” for having such a system. “No, this is just the way things used to be done,” I said. *sigh*
Linda recently posted..Home maintenance
Hi Linda, you are the clever one, with all your compost-fu..
My dark magic is limited to worms and worm castings, since we can’t have chickens within city limits… yet.
I too think this is awesome. I think we treat our land so bad most of the time I am amazed it recovers from year to year. There is definitely a need for more organic land and organic food in this world so kudos to you for doing your part.
We also compost and love it. Our plants do so well after getting some added to their pots. Plus I love how little garbage we put out every week.
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“Little nine-acre patch” are words that don’t go together in NY. A full acre would feel like a mansion.
So, I get building upward, but wouldn’t turning things over help too? Trying to educate myself on this.
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Hi Sandy – regular tilling disturbs the soil structure and releases carbon into the atmosphere. To quote a scientific explanation from Mich State U “When soil is disturbed by tillage, the soil layers mix with air, resulting in a great deal of soil microbial activity. This microbial activity causes soil organic matter (crop residue) to be broken down quickly and carbon to be converted from organic carbon to carbon dioxide, which escapes to the atmosphere. Under no-till farming, the soil remains undisturbed and organic matter can accumulate faster than it decomposes, resulting in soil carbon gain.” Even considering that, for an initial fix I’ve turned over some patches of the garden by hand with a sharpshooter shovel, mixed in compost and hay, and then planted pole beans over it with a cover of mulch. The legumes will fix nitrogen, and at the end of the season, I’ll chop the vines down (not pull them up) and use the vines and leaves for mulch or compost, with the roots staying in the ground.h
As for nine acres being small, it is when compared to other spreads in OK. Finding reasonably priced properties between 5 and 40 acres is surprisingly hard. Many 160 original Sooner farms get sold and ten subdivided into 5 acre lots.
Andrew, have you ever read “Holy Shit: Managing Manure To Save Mankind”?
It’s written by the guy with this blog – here’s a post where he talks about the move for small places to use draft power vs. tractor power:
http://thecontraryfarmer.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/farmers-ditch-tractors-for%E2%80%A6-oxen/
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Hi Jacq – I’d heard or read of the book several times, but not have not read it. I once saw it reviewed in a sidebar article on Mother Earth News. Thanks a heap for the link to his blog, I wasn’t aware that the author had other books.
We’re taking you approach and slowly building up the organic matter on our land. Last year I moved the chickens and the chicken tractor over some desert grass and was amazed how happy it was so quickly.
As far as your neighbor goes it sounds like you are both getting some value out of the trade!
Hi Molly – we’ve been blessed with having good neighbors all around. If we lived at this place year round the first animals we’d get are chickens – and then ducks.
This is an interesting, smart perspective, 101. I haven’t really thought of this angle when it comes to land, but you’re providing food for thought…might be a pun there somewhere
Nothing wrong with puns… Time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana.
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Fascinating post. Since I live in the concrete jungle, the closest I’m coming to seeing a farm is a picture. Is everyone in your neighborhood, town, a green thumb? What would happen if city folk moved in. Would they need to learn farming to fit in? If they didn’t, would they be looked at as an outcast? Just curious.
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We know very little about farming in general, and we fit in just fine. When my neighbor informed me that he got 8 full bales of hay from the pasture, I had to ask “And that’s good, right?” (it was)
It’s surreal to think about how the most basic things we take for granted may be the source of strife and war in the future… water, dirt, clean air. It’s crazy what it’s coming to, but alas, the price of progress and population growth I suppose. The retail investor is certainly keyed into most common commodity plays now, but this “dirt” theme is a new one I have to think about. Thanks for enlightening us – oh, and thanks for the mention! Appreciate it.
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Hi Darwin – My pessimist side says that wars over scarce or premium resources are a human condition. The incurable optimist counters that with all our accumulated knowledge, we should be able to move past current practices, more towards sustainable and eventually *regenerative* agriculture.
Wow! This sounds like quite the project. Are you composting your food waste as well? I have been composing mine for eventual use in a garden, but have no garden yet to put it in.
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