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Just as there are many ways to pivot in regenerative farming, there are just as many ways to explore the regenerative approach in your own backyard. What’s wonderful about improving gardening techniques is the journey of exploring and trying out new strategies. I urge you to not only pick up a book, but listen to podcasts, talk with your neighbors, and visit a demonstration by your local extension office.
A fascinating read of a Hidatsa Indian expert gardener. Buffalo bird and her family raised large crops of corn, squash, beans and sunflowers on the rich bottomlands of the Missouri River in North Dakota. The Hidatsa’s fields were near the earth lodge villages that they shared with the Mandan and Arikara.
The book describes tools, methods, plants, recipes – everything to immerse you in the true time period experience.
Many years ago we toured one of the Mandan sites and learned about their way of farming and gardening. It was a memorable visit, particularly the woman’s role and ownership in the community. Lodges were designed, built and owned by the women of the tribe, and ownership was passed through the female line. Here is an image google link to quickly understand their unique Mandan housing and food preservation structures.
The term “lazy gardening” is synonmous with Ruth Stout. Known as a “loveable eccentric”, Ruth won the hearts of millions when she promoted the idea of heavy mulching and no weeding.
In Ruth’s words, “My way is simply to keep a thick mulch of any vegetable matter that rots on both my vegetable and flower gardne all year round. As it decays and enriches the soil, I add more.”
What can a Ruth Stout book reveal? A delicious freedom from conventional ideas of what a garden should be. Just cracking open my books on “Gardening Without Work for the Aging, the Busy, & the Indolent” I find a mention of planting potatoes in with the Iris (think I’ll try that tip!).
Ruth gained popularity writing a down-to-earth newspaper column that readers eagerly looked forward to every week. Ruth was the Ann Landers of garden advice, her common sense and matter-of-fact style endeared her to many (remember, this is before the days of the Internet).
Although I don’t think I will be gardening in the nude anytime soon (yes, that is one of the many Ruth Stout claims to fame), I delight in scooping up her contagious enthusiasm.
Jerry keeps the old-time wisdom at the forefront. His many books are written in the format of quick-reads, short info panels, and optimistic style. Although not so much focused on regenerative garden techniques, it’s a nice resource into non-chemical garden solutions.
I was always intrigued by his “compost teas”. Recently I came across a comment that they are not all that affective, as the only true value of it lays in the limited sludge in the bottom of the bucket. That comment probably came from the Back to Eden documentary film.
At some point, you will eventually come across the Back To Eden Gardening movie on how to grow a regenerative garden. The Back to Eden documentary shares the story of Paul Gautschi and his lifelong journey walking with God and learning how to get back to the simple, productive organic gardening methods of sustainable provision that were given to man in the garden of Eden. Just a heads up, it’s just shy of 2 hours, and filled with many references to the Bible, adding to the length. I appreciate his faith, but a summary would have also been appreciated! It is truly remarkable and inspiring what Paul has achieved. Since watching the movie, I see there are many conflicting views that can be found on Youtube. It’s always wise to remember that gardening, farming, and ranching are always LOCAL. This means that what works for one person in their environment and geographic location, may not work for someone else. Nevertheless, this is a must-watch movie.
Full title: The Regenerative Garden: 80 Practical Projects for Creating a Self-Sustaining Garden Ecosystem. Author Stephanie Rose spends a respectful amount of time on soil health and the concept of adding cover crops as a way to amend the soil.
To me, the most valuable parts of the books are the chart of common “green” manures, AKA cover crops, a chart on wild plants and how they fix the soil, and the chart on soil amendments. The latter includes uses, benefits and warnings of different types of manure sources.
Ms. Rose touches on types of mulch and highlights the unusual hugelkulter mound, watering methods, and inter-mixing crops. The first third of the book touched on regenerative garden techniques, and the rest of the book were projects (thus the title) that may or may not reflected regenerative gardening.
Truthfully, it wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for. I felt that it was not deep enough on techniques. I’m not sure if there is a book out there yet that meets that need.