Welcome to Rivenrock Gardens. We are a small family owned and run nursery and market garden. Our nursery is for the propagation of the plants we use in our landscape business which specializes in xeriscaping and desert landscapes. Our market garden is run in the old-world traditions of French-intensive. All our operations and the plants we sell are certified organic by California Certified Organic Farmers. (CCOF)
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I have been gardening most of my life, I do it because it is a
natural activity for the human animal. The sense of being in contact with the Earth, with
the soil and the great outdoors is not easily replicated with other outdoor activities.
Many of us were raised gardening by parents who were raised on farms,
in those days and locations one had to garden to have fresh vegetables. We are luckier now
days, we can go and buy vegetables any day of the year of an astounding variety that would
have been unimaginable a few decades ago.
Yet there has been a price gathered from this grocery shopping
mentality, the price can be measured in the reduced knowledge of, and appreciation of the
fact that we are all interconnected. Because we are not intimately connected with the
cycle of life and death; our estrangement has resulted in a loss of connection between
actions and their consequences vis-ą-vis the interrelation between what is living and
what has died to make being for the newly born. For instance, most people in the USA have
never killed a chicken to eat a meal, in a natural process the chicken would be killed and
the blood and entrails would go into the soil to feed the plants that will in turn feed
the new batch of chickens and us. If we poison the chicken with antibiotics and harmful
ingredients we poison the soil and in turn ourselves. Man has lost touch with the bounty
of the land in a personal sense, that is not to say that we do not utilize that which the
Great Creator gave us, but the average person does not appreciate it. This has led to a
demoralization of the entire society whereupon even members of one's own 'tribe' are seen
not as fellow inhabitants, but merely 'resources' to exploit as we exploit the Earth.
Is there a way out of this quagmire of moral decay in which we find
ourselves? Besides inner awareness, and a personal religious awakening, one can garden to
sooth the soul and rekindle the realization that all systems interconnect. When one
gardens one has to consider the repercussions of one's actions, and the effects to the
environment in which one is working.
A way to consider this is the correlation between pesticide use and
crop insect damage. Even though we in the 'Western' world use prodigious amounts of
pesticides we still experience the same amounts of insect crop damage as occurred at the
turn of the century. This is due to several factors, one of which is the process of
'natural selection. In time insects will develop a resistance to the poisons we use, this
means that we must constantly switch poisons in order to keep up with the insect breeding.
The problem is that the insects like most prey species have a much quicker life cycle than
their predator opponents, the vegetarian insects will always be quicker to adapt to the
poisons than the predators. This means that the amount of insect control provided by the
predators will be negligible, yet the poisons will soon be rendering little effect on the
target species.
Could it be that going the 'natural' way will result in little or no
reduction in the food supply? Could be, the problem is that much of the research in this
area is done by the large agricultural schools, they receive large grants from the
chemical companies who are reluctant to have adverse results obtained. I have seen tests
that were skewed to show that organic farming will reduce yields by unacceptable amounts,
and cost twice as much for input at the same time. These tests forget to take into account
the interrelationships between the fungal, bacteria, insect and animal populations of the
soil.
The main idea behind organic farming and gardening is to encourage the
animals and micro-plants of the soil to flourish and generate food particles from the
native soil and a small amount of additives such as compost. If the soil is sterilized
from years of chemical saturation and then organic methods used, the crop will indeed be
meager. The sterile soil cannot support the plant growth required without the constant
additions of chemical 'soup' that the soil requires once the micro-population is gone. It
can take up to five years for a soil to be 'renewed' to the requirements necessary for
optimal organic growth.
So in order to renew your soil, stop using the fertilizers and
pesticides that cause undue hardship on all that comes into contact with it, switch to
organic methods and expect and ready yourself for reduced yields, and increased insect
damage for the first couple years, after a time you will learn more about the organic
methods and have better soil that can well support the plant life that you expect.
This page will be updated and more information added in time, so be
sure to come by in time to see the information that I will add, and the links that will be
added to appropriate text.
FRESHLY HARVESTED EDIBLE CACTUS LEAVES
Rivenrock Gardens Home
Cactus adaption to arid environment
Cactus Growing Tips
Organic Insect Control Tips
Modern Soil Conservation Techniques
Benefits of Compost
How to Compost
Frequently Asked Questions
The Benefits of Soil Microbes
Ancient Agriculture and studies
of
Organic Cactus removal
Terraces for home and farm
Water Conservation in the garden
Thoughts on Weeding
Copyright ©Rivenrock Gardens, 1997-2004 All rights
reserved.
http://www.rivenrock.com/philosophy2.htm
Last updated 28 August, 2001
