Soils N stuff

Tour de France 2024  The dust is chalk, and this limestone is great for producing soils for grapes.  It sets nicely after rain but can be treacherous when trying to ride on when dry.  It is normal to call a non paved road gravel but in civil engineering terms, gravel size starts grows from the millimeter range up.   Thankfully like alkanes, the long history of the earth has given most continents, layers of this essential mineral on their edges.  We near the Otway's have some great resources as a result   

The greatest opportunity for better planning and security in this dry continent is just not happening.    This blog was created mainly to provide a stimulus for studying soils but as I, as a soil and water conservationist know how planning for either involves planning for both.  Planning for both builds sustainable agro-ecosystem in an area. Forget the rule books and forget that it's just engineering - its geomorphic planning at its heart,  Our kids should be getting careers in it still .  The West has gone wrong by making STEM the single focus issues when the big picture GEM Geomorphic Ecological Management is the primary BIG picture BASIS for service industries to our most basic resource needs and production systems.   I also have had my Facebook account for "Conservation that Works"  removed for reasons I don't understand. Lot of work there wasted until they restore my access to my work.  Just to remind you of the simple ideas I presented at shows in the late 80

 It's winter here in Australia and the people are panicking about how to keep warm.  With the constant barrage of talk about Climate Change and Global warming, the people are afraid to burn wood or let their cows fart and breath freely ( yes our cousins in New Zealand are talking big about saving the world.) There is no understanding that fast and slow burn of carbs is OK.  The  concern for better resource ( esp of fossil fuels ) is fine but not the ignorance,  the fear and the manufacture of evil agents other than human beings ( called projection )   My neighbour recently screamed at me for burning up prunings from the garden.  Incompetence and ignorance of natural cycles is all around us .  Time to ditch the cynics and their  full blown incompetence (see article below )  The ignorance, projection and panic has to stop .   Clearly the world has gone mad and sound science has gone out the window. After all fungi ( in particular ) will burn up the carbs if we don't and they hav

  NSW NEWS today Wonderful to see that 3yr old autistic boy recovered from a hole after 3 days. Was he worried? . We as children weren't worried when noone could find us in the tunnel hole someone found on Ingram Road. It was 2feet deep and nearly 3 feet wide Tunneling is common in old soils in hilly landscapes in Australia as the salt builds up in subsoil making it very dispersive . .

The Australian landscape is very very old .  Its soils are most commonly shocking old degraded things that set like concrete in summer , and turn to soup in winter : In SW Victoria some deep sands would grow mainly insects until the soil processes were modified. Now some of these deficit rich soils are some of the most productive in Australia    Most landscapes have been exposed to extremes of weathering, wetting and drying and our vegetation  is a  bit mono cultural and predictable because of burning and these drivers Trees sustainability can for example be improved on many of our old soils ( always check your type ) The one below is called sodic because the sand clay mix is dispersed by sodium salts. By mixing the million year ago soupy layers with other layers  or carefully removing some of the soupy stuff  you can improve the sustainability and health of most plants on your patch . You have to make sure you save some topsoil and deal  with the increased erosion risk created - li

Three examples from Victoria Australia ( first week August 2019). While all sites have been visited, some comments should be regarded as preliminary, as limited  soil profile information was  collected  . This study is mainly to support a thorough Commonwealth review of biodiversity , environmental and people protection legislation.    The specific component issue issue here is the Victorian  Governments abject  failure to prevent  unsustainable and dangerous situations with trees in particular. Some ways to improve biodiversity understanding ,protection ,vegetation managemnet and the credibility of government in effective actions are listed at this link site  . The wider issue is that our governments and the public have been infected with the mindset of new narrow minded religious types who refuse to deal with Natures big picture and deal in practical  realistic and scientific ways with our interactions. Trees that should have been cut down Site 2  Fernshaw   (Dash cam

Sachets of sand-like material called QuikClot are carried by every US marine and navy soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan. When poured into a bleeding wound, it accelerates clotting by more than 80%, dramatically increasing the likelihood of survival.Now you know what to do if you live in a war zone. The trouble with using the local stuff would have to be the millions of nasties/ goodies that come with real soil. from NEW SCIENTIST this week