We got our soil test back! (wow, he’s excited about a soil test?) It actually looks fairly decent. As expected we need to increase our nitrogen content, quite a bit, and lower the pH, and perhaps boost some of the micro nutrients a bit.

I’m trying to decide if adding a shitload of llama manure (bawdy humor there) will boost the nitrogen levels sufficiently, or if we need to add something like blood meal which has a much higher nitrogen content.

As you may know, my intention is to create and keep the best soil possible in our little farm by using 100% organic methods, combined with cover crops and no-till. I want to do everything by hand for a couple reasons. First, I want the exercise and I want to be more connected with the Earth when I am growing food for all of us. Secondly, I don’t want to use fossil fuels to grow food. I don’t want to use tractors or the rototiller (once the garden is in place), and I definitely do not want to use petro-chemical fertilizers or pesticides. With a small farm like this, I think it is totally possible to do this by hand with not too much additional labor. Considering I have only been a gardener, and not a farmer… I guess we will see what the reality is.