Fixating on Nitrogen and Spreading Manure

Nitrogen is the most common substance in the atmosphere, existing mostly as two atoms held together by a triple bond. Nitrogen enters the system through the activity of various bacteria (some associated with plants but others free living). Nitrogen in natural systems also falls with rain... lightening will fuse nitrogen and oxygen together in several water soluble configurations (also fusing oxygen to itself forming ozone, O3). Ever noticed how green things look after a thunderstorm? In part because there was a dose of N added.

Nitrogen is essential for life as we know it. N composes the nucleotides that spell out our genetic code. Nitrogen based amino acids perform the work of cells as enzymes, are woven into cell membranes and facilitate transport. Most lifeforms are carbon based, but dependent on nitrogen.

It is the balance of carbon and nitrogen that is fundamental to soil fertility. Last week we discussed the importance of biomass in gardens and fields. The feature I failed to emphasize is that those materials should be surface applied...not incorporated. Soil critters need both carbon and nitrogen (and many other nutrients). When you plow in or mix lots of carbon into the soil, the critters will soak up the available nitrogen to fill their needs, and rob your plants of this essential nutrient.

However, surface application minimizes this nitrogen robbing effect. In part because of the nature of soil activity...watch this 2 min time-lapse to understand...

Having earthworms in your garden is a sign of it's fertility.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/sustainable-f...

Earthworms can also directly supply fertilizer to the plants through its excretion called casting that really rich in nutrients. As we all know the earthworms feed on organic material such as the decompose leaves and woods therefore when they excrete the cast, their castings are fully rich with nutrients that are already available for the plants intake. Scientists have found that the soils that have been digested by the earthworms are 5 times more rich in Nitrogen (N) compare to the normal soil that is undigested.

https://thegardensofheaven.com/do-earthworms-improve-soil-fertility

Many bean family plants form a relationship with a nitrogen fixing bacteria, Rhizobium sp. There are also free living nitrogen fixing organisms like Azotobacter. The plant bacteria relationship is somewhat species specific. That is you need a different inoculant for each general species of legume. https://www.smithseed.com/legume-inoculants

In many parts of the US you can grow a winter legume cover crop...a green manure. These crops can be inoculated with the Rhizobium bacteria to insure nitrogen fixation. I like to add a water sugar mix (or sugar based drink) to lightly dampen the clover, or vetch, or pea...seed. Large bags can be inoculated easily in a cement mixer. Smaller quantities in a bucket or wheelbarrow. After wetting with a sticker add the black peat based bacterial inoculate. Mix until you see the black peat on all the seed. Finish by adding a little agricultural lime to dry off the seed and provide a protective seeding zone. Then you're ready to plant your nitrogen harvesting crop. The nitrogen will be contained inside the plant material which can be chopped and surface applied to the garden.

I've had the best luck in my region with Crimson Clover.

There a many nitrogen fixing crops...clovers, beans, peas, alfalfa, vetch, and so on...both winter and summer crops. The first two links below provide several examples and offer sample prices.
https://www.greencoverseed.com/product-category/legume/
https://www.greencoverseed.com/product-category/legume/page/2/
Some other techniques....
https://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books/Managing-Cover-Crops-Profitab...
http://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/phag/2017/06/09/late-summer-legume-cover-...

So in practical terms, we can supply our gardens with nitrogen by growing nitrogen fixing crops in some beds in some seasons. Rotating them from year to year. Another concept is applying nitrogen in the form of manure. Different manures have advantages and disadvantages. https://www.allotment-garden.org/composts-fertilisers/farmyard-animal-ma...

Nitrogen-rich manure is a classic tool for promoting healthy plant growth. The nitrogen content in the waste of different animals varies, which in turn determines how much you need to add to your garden. Each 100 square feet of garden benefits from between 25 to 100 pounds of composted manure. If your manure source is one of the lowest in nitrogen content, use more of the material -- especially if you haven't fertilized the garden in the last year or two. If the manure is rich in nitrogen, you'll be able to get away with using less.
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/important-manure-nitrogen-52320.html

You can burn your plants if you apply manure directly to them. The nitrogen becomes ammonia and kills plant tissue. Chicken waste is the highest in nitrogen, and while we do need nitrogen in the garden, this type of animal waste is so “hot” that it will burn your younger plants or seedlings if used fresh. Compost it for at least six months before using, making sure to turn the pile on a regular basis. Or, make manure “tea”: Add some dry, aged droppings to a bucket of water and let it sit for a day or two, stirring occasionally. Strain out the droppings, then pour the tea around the bases of your plants. This is particularly good fertilizer for leafy greens, which need extra nitrogen to help them grow a steady supply of new leaves to replace all the harvested ones. Out of courtesy for your neighbors, be aware that fresh poultry manure is perhaps the stinkiest of all, and place your compost accordingly.

Other organic forms of high-nitrogen fertilizers exist. Blood meal contains up to 14 percent nitrogen, while feather meal contains 12 percent nitrogen and fish meal 10 percent. If you're seeking plant-based nitrogen sources, look for cottonseed or soybean meal, which both are made up of 6 to 7 percent nitrogen.

If your plot is terribly infertile you might consider participating in this chain mail gardening club...

Dear Friends,

This letter is being sent to you for I know that you are certainly interested in your garden. The spring season is about to arrive, and it is time to act if you want a truly spectacular garden this summer.

This is a fertilizer chain letter. It will cost you nothing. Upon receipt of this letter, go to the address of the person on the top of this list and shit in their garden. You will not be the only one doing this so don’t be embarrassed.

Then add your name and address to the bottom of the list and send out five copies of the letter to five of your friends who appreciate a good organic garden. You will not get any money or checks, but within a few weeks, if this chain is not broken, there will be 9,255 people shitting in your garden. Your reward will come next year when you have the greenest most productive garden in your neighborhood.

Mrs. Harry Butt
235 Corn Cob Alley

Mr. Smell B. Hind
275 Diarrhea Way

Mrs. Lucy Bowels
298 Bedpan Road

Mr. C. Howie Fartz
267 Fertilizer St.

A. Bigger Movement
145 Enema Drive

Mr. Charlie Syringe
340 Suppository Lane

Mrs. Minnie Crap
690 Rectum Lane

P.S. If you are constipated, pass this on to a friend or neighbor. Do not break the chain. One man didn’t give a shit and lost his whole garden. Also, If you just have a small garden, you may only want to send out 3 copies of this letter instead of 5 or things could get a bit messy.

It is easy to get carried away in BS isn't it? Laughter is a good release. Ironic how BS leads to fertile ground. I find looking at the natural world...nature...to be instructive at so many levels.

Plants and soil are intimately connected...reflecting each others nature. Some plants are a sure sign of acid soils, other indicate infertility. Plants will tell you if they are deficient. A dose of compost tea usually cures the problem. Side dressing manure in a wad beside the plant allows the roots to selectively make use of the nutrients.
Nitrogen deficiency will cause a yellowing of the older leaves first...
in broad-leaf crops

and grasses

Looking at what plants tell us is a lifetime worth of entertainment...especially here in the rich eastern deciduous forest.

So the answer to nitrogen is not the energy intensive Haber process, but the natural absorption by plants as green manure and the use of animal manure and compost aided and abetted by earthworms (add organic material and they will come). Like most issues we face, there are real, practical, and in many cases simple solutions.

So what other manure in being strowed into the public sphere?
Let's look at this week's news...

I've been feeling great irony of late. So many issues seem evident, really undeniable, even in the current light...The attack on Ilhan and our blind support of Israel, the attempted US coup in Venezuela, the push for war with Iran, the humanitarian crisis the US promotes in Yemen, the imprisonment of Chelsea and Julian for telling us the truth, and so on. How can we fail to see the evil empire the US has become? Even with the bias of the MSM I think most people are at least beginning to question the narrative...I hope they are. Even with eyes wide shut, you can tell these stories don't pass the smell test...BS indeed.

Let's start with Ilhan's story. I like the way she spoke for herself... (video or text)
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/8/ilhan_omar_in_her_own_words

Gideon Levy, Haaretz columnist and member of the newspaper’s editorial board discusses his latest piece “Keep It Up, Ilhan Omar.” (video or text)
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/8/its_time_to_tell_the_truth
Joining in the conversation with Gideon Levy is Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies who serves on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace; and Remi Kanazi, a Palestinian-American poet, writer and organizer based in New York City.
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/8/debate_over_ilhan_omar_highlights_new
Andrew Bacevich, retired colonel and Vietnam War veteran, author and professor emeritus of international relations and history at Boston University adds his 2 cents (video or text)
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/7/bacevich_questioning_us_israel_tie...

More from Phyllis on the real news..

I think that what Ilhan Omar was doing here, and I thought it was terrific, was focusing on AIPAC, which is the biggest and most influential parts of the pro-Israel lobby, a lobby which is not only Jewish, includes amazingly powerful and wealthy organizations like CUFI, Christians United for Israel.

It includes a whole host of fundamentalist Christian organizations, it includes most of the arms industry in this country, which makes a killing, if you will, on selling arms to Israel because the U.S. gives them money, which goes to arms that goes to Israel, 3.8 billion dollars every year, a total of 38 billion dollars over ten years has been pledged over ten years directly to the Israel military. That’s all what is at the root of this notion of the power of the pro-Israel lobby, it’s the reason that it’s so powerful.

https://therealnews.com/stories/llhan-omar-anti-semitism-or-fear-of-open...

Against this backdrop is the UN study

...this is the unfortunate part of international law, that the rules are often quite clear, but the mechanisms for enforcing it tend to be underdeveloped. It’s a pretty horrific read. I think there’s no question, reading the report, that there are credible allegations, credible evidence that Israeli forces committed war crimes, committed crimes against humanity, just like you said in the introduction.

https://therealnews.com/stories/un-commission-report-accuses-israel-of-w...

The criminal rot of imperial polices that is highlighted by the U.S.-Israeli “special relationship” rests on lies and ridiculous absurdities and is therefore vulnerable, but it runs deep and it will take a very determined critique to dislodge. Many are now saying #StandWithIlhan, but a huge question is how firmly she will stand.
https://therealnews.com/rep-omars-choice

Yemen

A group of organizations, including a Yemen-based human rights group, released the damning report on Wednesday, claiming that between April 2015 and April 2018, 27 coalition attacks killed at least 203 civilians and injured at least 749 people. The report found that 22 of the attacks likely involved weapons produced in the United States. The other five attacks were carried out with weapons either produced in the United Kingdom or with parts produced in both the U.S. and the U.K. Radhya Al-Mutawakel, the chair of Mwatana for Human Rights, the Yemeni group that helped write the report, testified Wednesday before a House subcommittee on the report’s findings.

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/7/war_crimes_in_yemen_us_uk (video or text)

Andrew Bacevich: The U.S.-Saudi Relationship Is a Principal Source of Instability in the Middle East (video or text)
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/7/andrew_bacevich_the_us_saudi_relat...

The Monroe Doctrine and Destruction of Socialism? You gotta be kidding...

What's it all about?

US crude rises 44 cents, settling at $56.66, after choppy trading session

• Crude futures continue to draw support form OPEC-led supply cuts and further signs Venezuela's PDVSA is struggling to export oil amid U.S. sanctions.
• Oil prices briefly gave up gains as equities slumped following a sharp downward revision to the European Central Bank's growth forecast for the continent.
• U.S. crude oil stockpiles surge as American drillers pump at all-time highs near 12 million barrels a day.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/07/oil-markets-opec-supply-cuts-us-sanction...

Venezuela

At least folks seem to be talking about the US coup in Venezuela...
Even some house members... (video or text)
https://therealnews.com/stories/end-venezuela-sanctions-says-rep-ro-khan...
I liked the way Sharmini schooled Ro on the fairness of the elections in Venezuela, but he wouldn't accept her story.

Max Blumenthal reports on his recent trip to Venezuela. He thinks the US coup has devolved into a mere virtual (for media) revolution. (37 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfD-7_kXs9E

Greg Palast and Jimmy had a good conversation about Venezuela, elections, and more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeNCbXVHrR8 (28 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs-FiLFFDnk (28 min)

Noam has good insight on Venezuela
“What is happening is a soft coup, a stranglehold which will lead somehow to the overthrow of the government and a return of Venezuela to the kinds of circumstances that you see in the other U.S. run countries of the region. You want to look at atrocities, crimes and so-on, simply look at the countries where the U.S. has maintained control.” Noam Chomsky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjVHUEI_0-o (6.5 min)
I think this is an excerpt from his recent interview with Ralph
https://ralphnaderradiohour.com/noam-chomsky/

Why doesn't this get covered in the US? Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus talk to US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams (as President of Switzerland Ueli Maurer) about invasion of the US in Venezuela and freezing of Maduro's accounts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWLBoinpJOw (23 min)

...and then to top it off...we jail the truthtellers. (video or text)
https://therealnews.com/stories/chelsea-manning-jailed-for-refusing-to-c...
Legal issues: Chelsea Manning, AU anti-whistleblowing laws
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwFhI7WNGEI (18 min)

Most Americans support Medicare for All, higher taxes on the rich, a Green New Deal, and other major items on the progressive agenda—so why has Congress failed to enact them? The reason, Columbia University Law School professor Tim Wu argued in an op-ed for the New York Times on Tuesday, is that the influence of corporations and the donor class on the American political system has drowned out the policy desires of the public.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/05/call-it-oppression-supermaj...

Some people are holding out hope...

However, survival of humans really boils down to nature and our effects on climate...
As Chris suggests this week ...Civil Disobedience Needed to Stop Ecocide (28 min)

Greta's out there fighting and encouraging others...
http://www.solarnavigator.net/education/Schools_Strike_4_Climate_Global_...
https://www.thenation.com/article/greta-thunberg-climate-change-strike/

We need a whole new way of thinking. The political system that you have created is all about competition. You cheat when you can, because all that matters is to win, to get power. That must come to an end, we must stop competing with each other, we need to cooperate and work together and to share the resources of the planet in a fair way. We need to start living within the planetary boundaries, focus on equity and take a few steps back for the sake of all living species. We need to protect the biosphere, the air, the oceans, the soil, the forests.

https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/news-media/videos/speech-greta-thunberg-cl...

Some manure is a good thing. Too much manure is down right deadly. We have to be in tune with the system...with our soil communities...and with one another. The similarities between natural systems and human behavior echo like a bell. The garden can teach us much about the world at large. The trick is to learn to listen. Stop yelling...LISTEN...to the natural world and each other...we mirror one another. It isn't about marching in step, but marching in the same direction....toward a fertile and productive future.

I look forward to your stories about productivity or the struggle toward that lofty goal.