A no non-sense look into regenerative agriculture, sustainable farming and modern life on the prairies. From plant health, soil ecosystems, and microbes to fertilizer and micro-nutrients; the Prairie Serf is here to investigate what regenerative farming has to offer.
Just a few generations ago, when the prairies were first broken, pioneering farmers were able to produce good yielding, high protein crops without the addition of synthetic fertilizers. However, years of conventional farming practices (e.g. monocropping, heavy tillage, etc.) have interrupted natural regenerative processes (e.g. carbon, nitrogen and water cycles) which restores soil fertility. As …
Continue reading “Five Principles for Soil Restoration: Revitalizing the Carbon Cycle”
As cover-cropping is becoming more and more popular, the idea of a cover crop cocktail has been attracting more and more attention on both farms and gardens. While many cocktails are custom mixes – designed by growers to perform a specific function(s) – the practice refers to any seed mix that contains three or more …
It’s called Liebig’s barrel. The contents of the barrel represent a crop’s yield potential, while each wooden slat represent a different nutrient required by the plant. The barrel is meant as a visual representation of Liebig’s Law of the minimum – a crucial concept when calculating the nutrient needs and yield potential of any field …
Across the great American plains, where the seasons are stark and natural grasslands still dot the prairie, the land is mostly covered in the rich dark loam known as chernozemic soil which have developed since the glaciers receded a few millennia ago. There are five key factors that determine the type of soil that is …
“You’d think, wouldn’t you, that a carrot is a carrot – that one is about as good as another as far as nourishment is concerned? But it isn’t; one carrot may look and taste like another and yet be lacking in the particular mineral element which our system requires and which carrots are supposed to …
Continue reading “If it ain’t in the ground, it ain’t in the food”
Throughout the history of the human species, there have been innumerable inventions and discoveries that have left an indelible but often unappreciated mark on history. Many of these discoveries, like paper, the compass, and the clock changed the course of history and have allowed humans to achieve new levels of greatness. Though today, these discoveries …
Healthy soil is alive. It is a living, thriving cesspool of microorganisms feasting on decaying organic material. And that’s just the way plants like it. Many of these microorganisms reside in the rhizosphere, a micro-biome directly surrounding a plant’s root system. These soil microbes (e.g. bacteria, fungi, algae, etc.,) host functions beneficial to both the …
Continue reading “Mycorrhizae: Meet your friendly neighborhood fungi”
Not all soil is equal. Dozens of factors, like colour, mineral content, salinity, and pH level, all affect the productivity of soils and create unique agricultural challenges for farmers and gardeners around the world. One particularly useful characteristic used to classify soil is texture. Identifying soil texture gives valuable information about how to condition the …
Hello friends and welcome to the Prairie Serf. Modern farming has come a long way in the past hundred years; the changes so vast, so drastic that the pioneers who first broke the prairies would hardly recognize their own trade. New technologies and techniques have allowed the modern family farm, once capable of tending to …
The Prairie Serf 