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Episode 41 A New Look at Dirt

By Jason, on December 3rd, 2010

Mycorrhizal fungi on a plant root system

Sorry about the hiatus everyone.  Its been a busy few weeks with Thanksgiving, the launch of my new podcast/site and work in general.  Sorry about the blips and changes in audio quality today.  I record at lunch in my truck and today the digital recorder kept dying on me!

I hate to keep rehashing the same subjects but I hope I keep adding new facets.  This one is about soil (at least the third one I’ve done on soil) but I think you’ll find some different subjects I explore such as…

*Why soil isn’t just a planting material.  Its a living ecosystem that almost acts like one giant organism.

*What lives in soil and their functions.

*Why chemical fertilizers are bad.  Not just the in-your-face green movement stuff.  The practical reasons and the science!

*We talk about legumes fixing nitrogen but did you know there is a fungi that attaches to roots and simply pulls in more nutrients for your plants?  People who constantly spray their plants kill this wonderful organism.

*Why compost tumblers sometimes give less than stellar results and how to fix them.

*Some ways to avoid fungal and bacterial infections.

Be sure to check out our sponsors in the RH margin.  It isn’t extremely expensive to run this show and I’d do it anyway but sponsors can help me pay for hosting costs and other upkeep fees.

Check out Saveourskills.com – Nick LaDieu has some great information on breaking down pallets for wood to make things (I made a beehive, a coldframe and a raised bed all out of pallet wood).

Check out Growing Your Grub – Steve Howard has some information on gifts that are great for gardeners.

Check out Country Consultant - Dene Brock documents the end of her fall garden.  Plus she made our neat new banner!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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  • Panhandlephillips

    Love the podcasts! However in this podcast you mentioned that soil micro organisms could “break down” lead, mercury and other toxic elements.

    Elements can not be broken down any further. What the micro organisms can do is sequester or combine these elements into less or non toxic compounds.

  • Jason

    Thank you for the correction (and the compliment). You are absolutely right. Break down is definitely not the right term and I should have researched the actual process a little better!

    Jason

  • Hd_gump

    Please explain what words I put in your mouth. I don’t feel its probably very likely that evolution stories like life came from rock soup are based in fact at all.
    I like your show but I’m always insult by those who think their faith in evolution is superior to my faith in creation. If you have ever wondered why the evolutionist don’t debate the creationist in recent years is because the creationist slam dunk the debates.
    http://www.phy.syr.edu/courses/modules/ORIGINS/origins.html

  • Jason

    HD

    You presupposed that I’m an evolutionist or that I had some type of belief that could easily be defined or lumped into a category that makes it easier to explain away or disregard. In fact, at one time I believed that evolution could be a creation mechanism for a creator. One of the things that turns me off about some religions is this hardcore literal belief in anything that is written or said. Who says that God didn’t create evolution.

    That being said, I don’t believe that any longer. I really don’t care about defining it. It simply isn’t all that important for me to define how I got here but rather why…

    If you listen in the podcast you can tell when I realized I made a mistake by saying myth. But let’s face it. Is the Hindu story a myth? The Jewish? The Christian? Not everyone can be right.

    So, I am sorry if I offended. I don’t think my belief is superior to yours or anyone elses’. In fact it just doesn’t even come on my radar that I should think that way. The show (as much as I try to not) is chock full of my opinions and beliefs. I’m probably going to offend people again. But hey, we are all brothers and sisters on this Earth, we can’t always agree on everything.

    Jason

  • Hd_gump

    I’m sorry for putting words in your mouth. I did assume that anyone that went out of their way to use the term “myth of creation” was a evolutionist. I was using logic,which seems to out dated form of reason. You can imagine how frustrated I am watching the news.
    I apologize!

  • Jason

    No need to apologize.

    Jason

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