About the Project
In 1972 Nic Pawson set himself the task of finding answers to a rigorous list of questions about the sustainability of soil-fertility, by his organic methods. He compares his findings with current extractive growing-practice worldwide which leaves soil-fertility continuing to diminish.
 |
| Nic's allotments during the project |
In Questioning Garden he describes with text, diagrams and pictures his detailed trials of many crops, carried out over 25 years, on an impoverished allotment site of poor thin soil in Devon.
He found that the yields were outstanding in volume, quality and resilience.
Nic based the first document on a series of questions, as below:
1. Can a given level of food production be maintained, or even increased, with systems that are, as far as possible, self-contained?
2. Where there is nothing bought in, can there be an annually-increasing biomass? Can this be achieved by deep-rooting crops breaking down the Earth’s crust and retrieving minerals?
3. Natural ecosystems build towards one form or another of a biological climax. Can crop-rotations emulate this sustainably, using both shallow and deep-rooting crops?
Nic closes Questioning Garden with an epitaph:
Earth without humus is dead
With humus it becomes Soil
Left bare it is dying
With mulch it ticks over.
Plants deepen,
Animals quicken the cycle.
If humans break the circle,
Change it into a line
- This is the route to extinction.
Degeneration of the World's Soils looks at soil management - citing the importance of earthworms - as well as meat consumption, practical suggestions concerning the rotation of crops and afforestation, and a vision for possible changes in land use.
It draws on ideas from Questioning Garden, offering further background information on broad environmental issues, such as the 'tipping point', rising sea levels and future transport issues.
The document finishes by highlighting crucial spheres for long term radical action. These include an emphasis on restoring soil-fertility worldwide, a drive towards totally organic food production and self-sufficiency in food production.
Nic closes Questioning Garden with an epitaph:
Earth without humus is dead
With humus it becomes Soil
Left bare it is dying
With mulch it ticks over.
Plants deepen,
Animals quicken the cycle.
If humans break the circle,
Change it into a line
- This is the route to extinction.
The second document: Degeneration of the World's Soils: And what Happens Next in Global Countdown? is a sequel to Questioning Garden. It looks further at the 'ecological web' of the world's environmental problems, and how different farming methods could face up to these challenges.
Degeneration of the World's Soils looks at soil management - citing the importance of earthworms - as well as meat consumption, practical suggestions concerning the rotation of crops and afforestation, and a vision for possible changes in land use.
 |
| A hand drawn diagram from Degeneration of the World's Soils, p18: 'Possible Changes in Land-use' |
It draws on ideas from Questioning Garden, offering further background information on broad environmental issues, such as the 'tipping point', rising sea levels and future transport issues.
The document finishes by highlighting crucial spheres for long term radical action. These include an emphasis on restoring soil-fertility worldwide, a drive towards totally organic food production and self-sufficiency in food production.
Comments
Post a Comment