[compost_tea] Re: Re: Information for Newcomer & Newton (one more time:)

From: Kirk Leonard <kirk_at_oregonatural.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 13:12:41 -0800

Ted -- I agree with Nic. We shouldn't be beating one another up. ACT
challenges are greater than all of us. If we don't try to work together, ACT
loses. Your self-promotion can be pretty eggregious, too, hmm? None of us
have the last word on ACT yet, and yes, we all realized good compost was key
to good tea years ago, sometime before you joined up, I believe. Wish more
people could get good compost, but it isn't available widely in most of the
world yet, as far as I can tell.

The little machine you described sounds good, although I couldn't understand
what you were describing today. Is that a different aerator setup or what?
What is the impeller doing? Might be a fantastic notion if I could
understand it.

The problem I had was with the amount of sugar - dry sugar (molasses has a
lot of moisture) at 1.25% of water volume. Doc has shown that is real risky
IF there are pathogens in the compost, so it shouldn't be generally
recommended, I believe, especially to folks just learning about ACT and
compost. A smaller proportion is likely safer - unless you have major air
capacity, which isn't the case with the setup you recommended - which again,
is a good basic small setup, I think, provided the stone is easily cleaned
and
nutrients used modestly. Fungal teas need different nutrients, though.
Even a fungal compost won't work well with sugar only (unless molasses and
air are massive, apparently).

I thought you might have meant 5 liters per minute, not cubic feet. For $45
(or less, actually) you can get that ~.18cfm. To clarify my own $75-100
response, that's per cfm. A 1cfm pump will likely cost more, but you can
get to $75-100/cfm on good deals for larger pumps. Also didn't mean to say
half sugar half compost, rather half sugar TO compost. 2 cups sugar to a
quart of compost really seems a bit much, and potentially counterproductive.

Back to Newton and thermodynamics (largely irrelevant ditty here but
interesting subject - these are the first principles of The Natural Step, so
I'm curious). It's been a long time and I no longer have my texts, but I
want to remember the first law had to do with "entropy" and the second with
"atropy," thermo law word for atrophy, it seems. I could have these
backwards, but recall the former has to do with energy and mass conversion
principles and limits, the latter with their dispersion-diffusion-wasting
processes. Still seems to me the making of compost and compost tea is a
reflection of first law, their use a reflection of second. Would someone
informed better clarify for us?:-) I can eat crow when I have to - do I
have this backwards? Are not both laws relevant?

Peace. Progress. Synergy. Go ACT! Let's get through USNOP hoops this
year! It's possible if we speak up. Have you connected with your
congressperson yet? Ted - yours may be one of House Organic Caucus chairs
(Sam Farr)... how
'bout sending some energy and info that direction?

-- Kirk







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Received on Tue Feb 24 2004 - 22:25:46 EST

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