True Excellence in Growing Food By Hugh Lovel Obtaining true excellence relates to the way nitrogen works within each farm. This can be complex and sophisticated or crude and rude. Nitrogen is the essence of protein chemistry, which is what gives us the character and flavour of what we grow. Each farm has its…
The Importance of Winter
The Importance of Winter © By Hugh Lovel Most of us have covered up a patch of sod in late autumn, only to find it ready to take off growing again in spring. However, in summer if we cover the same patch of sod up, it is dead and decaying in less than a…
Drought and the Importance of Soil Cover
Drought and the Importance of Soil Cover Hugh Lovel It’s dire days when so many Australian farmers along the Murray/Darling have burned up the carbon in their soils and turned their paddocks into salt flats resembling some of the dry salt pans of Arizona. It is puzzling, having viewed Channel 9’s special (28/5/2006)…
Boron, Overgrazing and Soil Building
Boron, Overgrazing and Soil Building Hugh Lovel All too often I find paddocks which once yielded excellent growth now have declined to the point the grasses, clovers and other plants look like bonsai miniatures. I just did a soil test for someone who had enough of every other nutrient except boron, which…
Soil: The need for Total Testing
The Need for Total Testing Hugh Lovel reprinted from Acres USA What many farmers probably don’t know is that most soil tests only tell us what is soluble in the soil. They do not tell us what is actually there in the soil, no matter what fertiliser salesmen might like to imply. To find…
Field Broadcasting 25 Years On
FIELD BROADCASTING 25 YEARS ON by Hugh Lovel T. Galen Hieronymus introduced his first ‘Cosmic Pipes’ in the mid-1980s and shortly thereafter Jerry Friedenstein introduced what he called ‘Towers of Power’. These were early versions of passive, self-driven field devices using pattern energy to set up induction fields that enhanced biological processes. The Hieronymus…
Philosophy on Healing the Land; Accepting Responsibility
PREREQUISITES TO HEALING THE LAND By Hugh Lovel As above so below. As without, so within. We may think to renew agriculture, but how can we change our environment without transforming our selves? How can we expect to effect agricultural renewal without bringing about social renewal? The two can only go hand-in-hand. Help Help…
Introduction to Biodynamic Agriculture
Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and Peter EscherBack when I started farming, my first biodynamic mentor was Peter Escher, Ehrenfried Pfeiffer’s partner in setting up his laboratories at Threefold Farm in Spring Valley, New York. Pfeiffer was Rudolf Steiner’s right-hand man in his agricultural work, and he devoted his life to carrying out Steiner’s wish that we apply…
Peppering: Controlling Weeds and Pests
Control is not a synonym for kill. It is one thing to control a lawn mower, and another thing to kill it. When we seek to control weeds we need find out what gets them started and how they may change under various circumstances. This will help us understand what they do and why…
Field Broadcasters and Soil Chemistry
Field Broadcasters and Soil Chemistry Hugh Lovel Dear Eddie, I’ll try to respond to your long letter in as much detail as I can. I want to let Shabari in on the discussion as she will learn more about the chemical/mineral side of things that way. I had your problem with the disappearing…
Quantum Agriculture 