Remineralize the Earth

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Water purification and lava/lava-basalt dust!
By Marc Daelemans

More than 60 years ago prominent German scientists, under the guidance of Dr. K. Seidel, rediscovered, by observing nature, the self-cleansing process of natural rivers, streams, and waterways.

Botanical sewage purification, a natural process, is an outgrowth from classical land treatment of wastewater. Today, this classical method of application to land has been updated and serves as an ideal, natural way to purify human, animal and industrial sewage. It also has the potential to clean rainwater, reservoirs, and groundwater. The system consists of shallow basins connected by pipes. The purification is accomplished through a symbiotic relationship of substrate (lava and lavadust) and anaerobic and aerobic bacteria and certain aquatic plants. The process is subdivided into two steps: Pre-purification and Main - Purification.
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Remineralize the Earth Embarks on a Research Project at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

[Click here for the Spanish translation / en español]

By Dan Kittredge

Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st the nutrient density in our food crops has been consistently declining. USDA studies show that an average apple from the 1960's had 5 times the nutrition of that same apple produced today. This is an average of course, and there are many farms who have figured out how to produce high nutrient density crops even while the national average has been plummeting.

Remineralize The Earth has just embarked on a research project in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts to document the effect on nutrient density of crops with the application of rock dusts and biological amendments.
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Project for Soil Remineralization and Reforestation in Guanacaste, Costa Rica
from Remineralize the Earth and Ocean Arks International

For over forty years the unique dryland tropical forests of Guanacaste Province in Costa Rica have been clear-cut for timber and planted to exotic grasses in order to expand cattle production. In recent years the land has been exhausted in many places and cattle production is down. Erosion and exposed soils support a diminished flora. Atmospheric carbon sequestration by the plants is at an all time low.

The great exception is the nearby Guanacaste National Park. Under the gifted leadership of Professor Daniel Janzen, fires have been suppressed, and cattle grazing has been reduced or eliminated. Over the last twenty years a new forest has begun to appear and the flora and fauna that encourage the forest's biodiversity have also begun to return. Despite progress in reforestation efforts, the rate of reemergence of the forest is constrained by poor soils.
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How to Remineralize the Earth: Getting vital nutrients back into our soil
We know that "traditionally grown" fruits and vegetables we see in supermarkets are both lacking in vitamins and minerals and have added chemicals from fertilizers and pesticides. These toxic additions in particular fueled the demand for organic produce but did not completely address the lack of nutrients.

Going back in time, our soil was rich with minerals, which found their way into our foods in healthy doses. Mineralized soil grew healthier crops providing the vitamins and minerals we now need to take as supplements. Additionally, hardier plants were capable of repelling insects and other pests that are now a constant and costly threat to growers.
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The Quest for Nutrient Density
By Jon C. Frank

Food... The mere mention of this single word brings so many images to mind; enjoyment, family, celebration, community, satisfaction, creativity, and exploration to name just a few. Around the world cultures and food are inextricably intertwined. Food, like language, defines a culture.

In America a culture war of sorts is going on between an industrialized food supply and those who wish to celebrate food as a labor of love. We also see a tremendous surge of interest in the nutritional aspect of foods. On the one hand we see a society facing an ever-increasing amount of degenerative diseases and on the other hand we hear many people calling for a return to wholesome foods that truly nourish.
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High School Students Astonished!
Under the tutelage of Botany teacher Michael Collins at the Reeds Spring High School in Missouri, students have been testing a natural trace mineral product making its mark in organic and traditional growing circles. Students found that the addition of AZOMITE^(R) to the planting medium dramatically improved germination, growth, size, vigor, bloom life, bloom color, leaf color, reproductive organ size and the number of babies produced.
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Minerals for Aging Soils
By Dr. Lee Klinger, Ph.D.

Now that I've passed the half-century mark I feel fortunate to be only slightly worse for the wear as my body copes with getting older. None-the-less, lingering aches in my joints and bones are telling signs that my body is aging. These aches come as no surprise of course. Scientific studies indicate that as organisms grow old their metabolisms slow down and their tissues acidify. Acidification leads to a departure from the chemically balanced, neutral pH state preferred by most living systems, around pH 7. I'm quite aware that the buildup of acidity in the human body is associated with any number of health problems, from osteoporosis to diabetes. All the more reason to stay active, eat good organic food (grown here on the farm), and take mineral supplements to buffer my body against the buildup of acids that would attack my bones and cartilage. But that's only half of the story.
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Courtesy of SEER Centre and Angus Horticulture.

Stone Age Science: Rejuvenating the Earth with Rock Dust
Dylan Keating explores the global implications of rock dust and explains why applying it in our gardens can transform our crops.

By Dylan Keating

Imagine you go to your local shop and buy an apple. You place it on the counter and pay for it. The shopkeeper cuts it into five pieces, takes four and gives the last one to you. Sounds crazy right? Actually it's the closest to the truth than you might think. A recent report, based on U.S. agriculture records has found that the nutrient content of fruits and vegetables has been dropping since records were first taken in the early 1960s. So I'd need to be eating five apples today just to get the same nutrients my father did in 1965.
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Magazine Archive
Revisiting the 1994 USDA Symposium on Soil Remineralization
US Bureau of Mines Overview
Where Do We Go From Here?
Soil Remineralization for an Economically and Ecologically Sustainable Agriculture in the Pioneer Valley

Remineralize the Earth Magazine Archive:
Speeding up the transition time from chemical to organic farming through remineralization
Dairy Farming with Rock Dust
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Mother Nature's Call to Humanity
By Don Weaver

Cal-Organic of Grimmway Farms, the largest organic produce farm in California and the world, has decided it likes the results of remineralizing its organic acreage...
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SEA-90
Remineralize Soils to Optimum Elemental Balance

SeaAgri, Inc. introduces SEA-90, a 100% water soluble, natural, non-synthetic, mined mineral fertilizer approved for use by certified organic farmers is avaiable in North America. SEA-90 is a remarkable new product containing 90+ essential elements.
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Success in Brazil with Citrus and Ornamentals
By Eng. Agr. Carlos Alberto Cristan

In 1992, as a young citrus consultant and agronomist, I observed in an orchard that was doing very poorly in Dourado (SP), Brazil that on a particular parcel the orange trees developed more quickly and had more fruit than the other trees on the property.

In the area where the citrus trees were thriving, the ground was very flat with splintery "rusted" rocks that had a dark, almost black color. On researching further I did mineral analyses and began to do practical experiments in the field. I began to research various rock deposits in the region and studied variations in their mineral constituents.
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People Planting Paradise: Stephan Reeve on Maui
By Don Weaver

In October 2001 I made my 3rd trip to Maui to visit my good friend, dedicated horticulturist, and tree planter, Stephan Reeve, who, like me, is a long-time health and raw-organic foods enthusiast. His "Fruition" orchard-farm project is an inspiring ecological model. This evolving Garden of Eden models the kind of conscious and natural human-Earth symbiosis which can enable us to outgrow our parasitic habits born of real or imagined threats of scarcity, hunger, and related fears; a symbiosis whereby people, like Stephan and co-workers, understand that giving wisely and generously to the living soil-Earth system initiates the powerful process of Earth Regeneration. Earth revitalizing and regenerating its health and fertility is Earth freed to give generously back to us, to all creatures, all the innate nourishment and beauty of this Paradise planet. "Heaven on Earth," as I clearly saw at Fruition, is really not just a utopian or distant dream--it is an ever-present potential awaiting release, as soon as people learn to give to Nature all She needs, and to receive all She abundantly gives in return.
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The Eco-Logic of Vermiculture
Earthworms and Bacteria Enjoy a Symbiotic Relationship

By Uday Bhawalker

Each organism has a role and occupies a niche. In fact, shown by the Russian ecologist, Gause, about 30 years ago that each niche has only one organism with its specific food. If another organism is introduced, it either gets wiped out or creates its own micro-niche by living symbiotically with the first, for example, by using the waste matter of the first organism as food.
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Mr. Natural, Carrot Shaman Bob Cannard
Carrot Shaman Bob Cannard grows the most celebrated designer vegetables in the Golden State.

By Christina Waters

With its unruly hedgerows of peach trees and musical creek meandering down the mountain, Cannard Farms in Sonoma, California is by any standard a rustic Eden. It was an exuberant endorsement by Greg Steltenpohl, founder of Odwalla juices, that brought me here: "Bob's carrots are amazing--he's a carrot shaman!" Steltenpohl had put his money where his mouth was, retaining Bob Cannard to develop Odwalla's new 65-acre carrot patch, whence flowed the very roots of the company's ubiquitous carrot juice.

After putting two and two together and realizing that this was the same Bob Cannard who grew some of the most famous designer vegetables in California--those adorning the menu of Alice Waters' Chez Panisse and Wolfgang Puck's Postrio--I had to see for myself.
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