David, Thanks for responding. The soil type is the same--glacial till--sandy with lots of rocks in it. We also get windblown laos from all the agricultural fields to the west of us. It's too late not to do it. It's a project I've been working on for about 10 years. The weeds are the same: we're named them. There's a huge long weed list, but we're just targeting spotted knapweed, common tansy, yellow and orange hawkweed, Canada and musk thistle. Over a long period of time, we've gotten more and more support from road residents who are willing to do handwork on their own right-of-ways to keep from being sprayed. "No Spray" attitudes are in the majority on this road.
I have in my possession Pfeiffer Field Spray that the county bought for me last year and paid a lot of money for from JPI. We're just waiting to see what the state does. I talked at length on the phone with the lady in charge of registering and I sent an email to her boss, the Director of Plant Industries, whom I have met. They could ask Hugh for ~$1200 in fees to register each separate BD prep. There are only two farms I know of in the state that are certified organic, mine and one down in south Idaho. I have no clue how many families Hugh sells to in Idaho, but it can't be many. He is registered with the USDA. If he had to register with every state in the union, he'd be backrupt. It's not going to be embarrassing for Merla. Randy, the Chair of the Weed Committee, has been harrassing me from the beginning. He doesnt let an opportunity pass. He's even been chastized for it. An easy solution to this is not to use the Pfeiffer Field Spray on the road this year and make my own preps this year. It's just about buying and selling, not about the preparations themselves. People on the Weed Committee, who are supposed to be neutral, are proponents of herbicide. Where they should be supporting this neighborhood project, they are very threatened. Their paradigm is faulty because it isn't holistic. It's not about doing something about the causes of weed infestation--overgrazing, chemicals, poor soil. They're trying to cure, short-term, one of the symptoms--weeds, and they have already failed even though they spray 1/3 of all the county roads each year. As you know, every thing in the ecosystem affects everything else. When land is owned by a timber company for miles on top of a hill range and they go in there with a harvester machine and take out the maximum amount of trees that they can by law, it make the whole watershed drier. When those county commissioners in 1999 O.Ked the contract sprayer sneaking onto our road, the general public recognized their motivations and that they were off the wall. That contributed to their not getting re-elected. Idaho code does not mention herbicide. It talks about containment, eradication, restoration. We are doing all those things and we have $2200 coming to us from the state of Idaho in a cost-share grant. The majority of the Weed Committee do not want us to get that money. There are changes that need to be made and it can at least be made on one road in this county since we have had a chemically sensitive person who was very sick and we at present have four persons with cancer, not to mention the dead fish where the culvert was oversprayed. The state and county recognizes this, but the Farm Bureau, the organization that most of the Weed Committee belongs to, doesn't I don't want Hugh Courtney and JPI to pay the state of Idaho a red cent. Idaho has all kinds of fees that they charge for every little thing. Why should he have to pay the same fee per product as Eli Lilly or Monsanto who sell to most every family in Idaho? If I have to do this without BD because it will hurt BD then that is our road's loss and the loss of Bonner County. I understand your concern, and I will take it into my deliberations. Thanks again for your input, Merla D & S Chamberlain wrote: > Merla: I think you are getting in over your head. > Anyone: Isn't there someone with US experience who can advise on this? 8 > miles of road is a large area and could cover a lot of different soils and > weeds, this has the potential of being very embarrassing for Merla and not > good for BD. > David C > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Merla" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, 10 March 2002 9:59 PM > Subject: Re: Official BD in Brazil > > > Jose, Hedleys, anybody, > > > > When I read all this about Brazil BD not working, it makes me wonder > > about what I am doing on the road right-of-way. It sounds like it might > not > > work to just spray Pfeiffer Field Spray on very sandy, dry soil. Right > > now, my ability to use it is in question and I'm waiting for a resolution. > > Should I actually get a soil test of the road right-of-way and try to add > > soil amendments? We are trying to grow native plants and grasses and > > discourage plants that have been named "noxious" by the state and county > > so they won't spray us with 2,4-D and Clopyralid. You wouldn't want to > > have garden soil, would you? Anyway, how could you accomplish > > this on 8 miles of road? We wanted to use the Pfeiffer Field Spray > > so that we wouldn't have to make all those trips down the road with BC, > > 500, 501, 508, Horn clay. I need to learn how to make preps myself so > > no one has to pay the state a fee to register a BD prep as a soil > amendment. > > We have peppers for all the weeds and wanted to spray them in BD preps. > > The Hedleys suggested three sprayings a long time ago when I first > > started on this list. I still haven't firmed down what we're going to do, > > but I feel we should do something to help the soil, especially since the > > county sprayed it in 1999. > > > > We are planning to plant allelopathic plants--rye and oats--to compete > > with the weeds and then eventually seed native plants we do want. > > > > Merla > > > > > > Jose Luiz Moreira Garcia wrote: > > > > > >From what I have seen there was very little > > > Composting operation with regard to the size of > > > the whole farm. > > > Secondly, one can enhance natureīs way by adding > > > some key minerals that are in short supply in our > > > geologically old and eroded tropical soils. Lack of nodulation > > > in legumes could very well be a lack of Molybdenum, > > > as I have noticed there. > > > In a soil without a good microbial life one can expect little to > > > no transmutation and therefore I see no chance to correct > > > any defficiency without adding what is missing. > > > This strategy is highly criticized as being " non sustainable" > > > by those fanatics and the situation goes on and on. They regard > > > adding outside farm supplies almost like a sin. They want to free > > > themselves from the "system" and so do I but in a situation like > > > that I donīt think it is intelligent to condemn your soil to > > > starvation simply because they decided that this is "non-sustainable" > > > In my oppinion there should be a another way to face the situation. > > > Some criteria has to be found like level of microbial activity, level > > > of nutrients, etc... > > > Finally, BD is a proven system worldwide and if it does not work in > > > a particular farm or particular region it should be seen simply as > > > incompetence from those who are running those places and in our > > > particular case the official Demeter people. > > > > > > Jose > > > > > > > > > > > On Friday, March 8, 2002, at 07:07 AM, Rural Center for Responsible > > > > Living wrote: > > > > > > > > > Dear Bonnie, > > > > > > > > > > Rudolf Steiner made it very clear in the lectures to farmers that > the > > > > > preparations were meant to enhance a sound animal based compost > > > > > fertility > > > > > management program. > > > > > > > > Thanks Christy. Yes. This was my understanding. > > > > > I am a little confused at the Brazilian practices described by > > > > > Jose, since most of the preparations are to be added to compost, and > to > > > > > think of adding compost for 27 years and see no results? Were they > even > > > > > composting? > > > > > > > > That is why I was confused about him telling of folks using the preps > > > > alone. It sounded like they might not even be making compost. > > > > > > > > Bonnie York > > > > > > > >
