Launch a revolution in your backyard with a micro eco-farm

Posted by clnews _Featured_, Farming, Food Friday, June 15th, 2012

(NaturalNews) From edible landscaping to biointensive gardening, Americans around the nation are discovering the financial beauty of creating practical solutions to our food woes. Beyond the dangers of GMO’s and industrial farming, a basic fact remains: food costs are skyrocketing. Savvy individuals are recognizing the value in growing their own food to ensure nutritious, organic, and cost-effective produce. A revolution is quietly gaining momentum in backyards across America that resists dangerous farming practices, nutritionally depleted produce and increasingly restrictive governmental control over our food supply.

Not all backyard garden farms are created equal

The biointensive style of gardening is a breed apart from standard practices. In 1966 Alan Chadwick, an English master horticulturist, synthesized the theory of biodynamics by Rudolph Steiner with the French intensive system. John Jeavons of Ecology Action in Stanford, California adopted Chadwick’s biointensive theory while subjecting it to careful observation, testing, and modification. Crop harvest, using Jeavons method, produces up to six times the average US yield.

Incredibly, the biointensive approach uses 99 percent less energy and one-third the water than conventional farming. Jeavons estimates that it would be possible for an average gardener to generate $10,000 per year from produce grown on a 1/10 acre plot. All without toxic chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

The secret to the tremendous crop yield of biointensive gardening stems from the soil preparation and plant placement. By digging the soil twice and incorporating rich compost, the earth becomes loose and nutrient dense which supports healthy plants along with deep root growth. This allows plants to thrive when grown tightly together. More compact spacing ensures the soil remains moist while hindering undesirable weeds. Companion planting is also an important element where plants help each other, such as placing beetle repelling tomatoes alongside cabbage.