How to Optimize Your Syntropic Agroforestry Site

How to Optimize Your Syntropic Agroforestry Site

By 2023 apprentice Seb W

Syntropic agroforestry is an agroforestry system developed by Ernst Götsch. Its philosophy lines up contrary to the Darwinian model of evolution, being driven by competition. It is based on seeing evolutionary processes as driven by cooperation among members of the living system in a way that benefits the system as a whole. It aims to maximize of diversity and productivity through aligning Stratification (space) and Succession (time) of its plants. Furthermore, it subdivides these plants into target and biomass species which allows for it to become self-sustainable over time. In its essence it means trying to mimic the real forest as close as possible.

What follows are factors to be integrated into your syntropic agroforestry site to optimize its potential outcome. If syntropic agroforestry is new to you, read What is Syntropic Farming first.

Image by Orchard of Flavours

Consortium of Plants for Syntropic Farming

Since every climate and microclimate offers different qualities, therefore being able to habitat different plants, just putting out a chart of plants won’t help a lot of you. Instead we want to explain at this point how you can write your own consortium. A consortium is basically an optimized garden guild which integrates the succession of its plants over time. Stratification still applies but it is now planned over time. To plan a good consortium you want to research a list of edible plants viable for your microclimate, their height at maturity as well as time until maturity. Based on that you can then categorize your plants into the different strata as well as time stages.

When planning  a syntropic site we also want to keep in mind, that it will take at least 20 years until the climax stage is reached (if well managed). Within the first two years (until the end of placenta II) you can still add plants to the system though usually everything is planted in the beginning all at once. The only exception to that rule are climbers (exg. Vanilla or maracuja) as long as there is enough sunlight coming through to the ground.

Types of Plants to Plant

Whatever edible plants you want to grow, in syntropic agroforestry systems edible plants are not the only plants to be grown. Usually one aims to grow around 30% of plants just for biomass, of which again 30% are meant to be nitrogen fixers. Those biomass trees will then be cut down to chest level before the rainy season (or at the end of autumn in temperate climates). Applying this pruning technique will not only build good quality soil over time but also trigger a growth hormone release throughout the whole system pushing growth of everything within it. To attract native bird and insect species you should also consider adding some local plant species even though they might neither add to your table nor fix nitrogen.

Spacing Plants

To get a better understanding of how to finally design such a system, a spacing key is useful:

• Tree line to tree line (wideness): 80cm first tree line – 50cm walkway – 70cm biomass plants (e.g.. Vetiver, Mexican sunflower, pigeon pea…) – 200cm filled with veggies – REPEAT

In the lines themselves the trees are planted super dense together.

Depending on size and needs one might combine walkway, biomass plants and/or the veggie area (veggies will only grow until end of placenta II due to shade coverage).

The minimum tree spacing key looks as follows:

• Emergent to emergent tree: 12m

• Emergent to high tree: 10m

• Emergent to medium & low tree: 2m

• Emergent to biomass tree: 0.5m

• High to high tree: 9m

• High to medium tree: 7.5m

• High to low tree: 2m

• High to biomass tree: 0.5m

• Medium to medium tree: 6m

• Medium to low tree: 3m

• Medium to biomass tree: 0.5m

• Low to low tree: 3m

• Biomass to biomass tree: 0.5m

Ideally this spacing key is used on contour.

If you, like Ernst Götsch, are not a friend of tree lines, what Ernst recommends doing is: select an appropriate amount of diverse seeds, mix them all together, scatter them over your site and later decide which trees will stay and which won’t (negatives: some edible species vary heavily in flavour and consistency when grown from seed. Positives: way less work, good growing genetics only through natural selection, no row pattern).

Thoughts

Syntropic Agroforestry has received a lot of attention over the past few years. That being said, it is one of many different practices within the field of agroforestry practices and certainly has its negative sides. Contour is often times neglected in favor of north to south rows, invasive grasses instead of the mentioned vegetable rows will be a pain to manage over time, and proper spacing especially regarding tubers needs to be respected.

Hopefully this short how-to helps you get started on planning your own syntropic site to live more self-reliant.

Read These Past Blogs

What is Syntropic Farming?

The Problem with Permaculture

Applied Permaculture Principles

Learn More

Join us for one of our annual workshops on farming, plants, permaculture and more!

Foundations for Success: 10 Considerations to Create a Healthy Project

Foundations for Success: 10 Considerations to Create a Healthy Project

By Core Team Member Tim O’Hara

After more than 20 years, we have been able to identify some trends that have led to our survival as a business and a community.  The following advice is appropriate, and perhaps some of it even necessary, if you expect to live successfully in a communal work and living environment doing land-based work.

Students in our annual Permaculture Design Course

Communal Continuity

It’s imperative to assemble a group of individuals that you can depend on, year after year.  If the only people that are visiting your project are there for shorter or medium length stays, you will never feel as if you have a community to lean on during the harder stretches of running a project of this nature.  Create realistic and concise agreements with one another and develop incentives that make everyone feel well taken care of.   

Privacy

We learned the hard way that having your own private space is critical for long-term happiness.  We decided to focus on building before planting in our early years.  That has meant that our agroforestry spaces are a bit behind where you’d expect after 20 years of working in those spaces.  But without privacy, it’s impossible to keep people around who are doing the important work in the orchards and other spaces.  Create private spaces for everyone, with a focus on creating lovely, comfortable, healthy homes for your core team.   

Collective Decision Making

Micromanaging is a recipe for burnout.  Don’t fall into the trap.  Develop trust with your partners and allow each leader to make decisions in their realm up to a certain value.  Big decisions, that affect everyone, should be discussed by your entire team, but small decisions, like whether to buy 5 or 10 avocado trees, should be left to those managing the orchard spaces.

Balance and Rest

It’s imperative to figure this out before burning out.  Burnout can be permanent, leading to the abandonment of your passions.  Build into your day-to-day lives the time to run, breathe, nap, walk, draw, meditate and think.  The work will never be done, so don’t try to do it all each day.  It will be there waiting for you in the morning after a great night’s rest.    

A Solid, Well-Taken Care of & Committed Core Team

We’ve got an amazing core team.  But it took us longer than it should have to realize the importance of building a strong team at the center of our project.  If we expect community members to stay committed, they need to have their needs met.  And everyone has a unique set of needs.  Create a compensation agreement that makes everyone feel valued.    

Community Connection

Be an active member in your town.  Demonstrate, over and over again, that your project exists to benefit everyone in your community, especially those most in need.  Join your local woman’s group, offer free yoga classes once a week, develop a kids soccer camp, or create a language exchange.    

Fair Share

Share what you have.  It’s your easiest path to acceptance though far from the easiest practice to bring to fruition.  It has taken a lot of time, energy and sacrifice to create Rancho Mastatal, and sometimes our knee-jerk reaction to “spreading the wealth” is instead to move to protect what we’ve created in the interest of stability and to prepare for future unforeseen issues.  But true stability comes with sharing.

Communal Meals

This may be the hardest bit of advice to embrace for some.  Sharing a meal takes more social energy, but weighed against the time you save on cleaning and cooking, it’s worth it.  Communal meals encourage group debate, laughter, learning and the development of a strong social fabric.  Humans have tended towards eating in front of screens or on the run.  These trends lead to poor eating habits and encourage humans to disconnect from one another.  To eat well today means a monumental and coordinated effort growing, processing and cooking food.  Celebrate this activity each and every day and you will be rewarded in ways unexpected.

Make Time to Dream

We “talk shop” a lot around here.  We love what we do  and enjoy talking about what we’ve created and how we can improve it.  It’s important for us to create spaces that allow for dreaming and scheming.  Having the space to “zoom out” and move for a time away from the day-to-day allows for creative brainstorming that can lead to breakthroughs and new ideas that might otherwise never come to the surface.  Dare to dream, and dream to create your ideal version of life.   

Don’t Get in Over Your Head

This is much easier said than done.  When you commit to a land based project, your to-do list immediately seems endless.  There’s never enough time in the day to do everything that you need.  Start small and work towards simple solutions whenever possible.  Build and perfect one system at a time, as much as you can do that.  Don’t add chickens, goats and fish in the same year but rather add one species and then see how that changes your life before adding another.  We made the mistake of throwing too much at the wall early on in our development and when not everything stuck, it felt overwhelming picking up the pieces of many systems simultaneously.      

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We try to share our failures and successes frequently so that others can get to where we did in less time and with less effort.  Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions and all the best in your journeys.    

Check Out These Past Blogs About Permaculture and Community

Why Rootedness Matters

How to Run a Permaculture Internship

Enriching Community Soil: 5 Simple Strategies That Support Sustainable Relationships

What is Syntropic Farming?

What is Syntropic Farming?

By Joshua Wright, apprentice 2022

Syntropy and entropy are two forces at work in this universe. Entropy being the movement of matter and energy towards chaos and simplicity over time. Syntropy being the opposite, of the movements of matter and energy towards higher levels of complexity and order over time. Syntropic farming is tapping into this universal force and leveraging it to produce a product useful to humans, food.

On Earth plants are the drivers of syntropy. Through photosynthesis they accumulate solar energy and make that energy available to other forms of life. Over time this accumulation of energy has led to the ability of our planet to support the order and complexity of life we see today.

To understand how we can use this for food production we need to have an understanding of a natural forest system and how it evolves and accumulates energy.

A forest cycle: 

We define a forest cycle as from clearing to clearing.

Starting with a blank slate, "weeds" and grasses colonized bare ground. Slowly energy accumulates supporting shrubs, small trees and eventually a mature forest. Then an old tree dies and falls creating a new clearing.

This is one cycle. This process can take thousands if not millions of years. Then the next cycle begins anew. However this cycle isn't starting from the same point as the cycle before. The system has millennia of accumulated energy stored as organic matter, topsoil and biodiversity. The time taken in cycle two to reach a mature forest is dramatically reduced compared to cycle one. 

This is syntropy at work!

When we start a syntropic agroforestry system we start by creating a clearing, kick-starting cycle two.

So what do we plant in this clearing?

When selecting our plants we want to make sure to represent all the different layers in a mature forest. The layers are categorized as Emergent, High, Medium and Low.

Mimicking a forest our emergent layer should occupy 20% of the canopy. Below that our high layer will occupy 40%, Medium 60% and low 80%.

Image by Orchard of Flavours

These layers are directly related to how much sunlight a plant needs to thrive. E.g. Papaya is emergent needing full sun. Most of your familiar fruit trees occupy the high layer, cocoa would be in the medium or low layer along with coffee as they tolerate lots of shade.

Another consideration when deciding what to plant is how quickly a plant will grow.

This takes us to a key idea in syntropic farming.

Maximizing solar energy capture

We don't want to have to wait several years for our fruit trees to be mature to have a closed canopy with maximum solar capture. We want to harvest this energy immediately.

To do this we have to design our syntropic farm not only in space but also in time.

A helpful tool is to further categorize our plants by their life cycle. In syntropic farming these categories are labeled: placenta 1, placenta 2, secondary 1, secondary 2 and climax. 

Placenta 1 are fast growing annuals that mature within 6 months. E.g. Radish, arugula (note. these are also part of the emergent layer, not because they are tall trees, obviously, but because of how much sun they need.)

Placenta 2 are slower growing annuals or biannual that are ready to harvest between 6 months and 2 years. E.g. Banana, pineapple, yuca.

Secondary 1 are fast perennials ready between 2-10 years. 

Secondary 2 are slow perennials, 10-15 years. E.g. Most fruit trees.

Climax, this category takes over 15 years to mature. E.g. hardwoods and nut trees.

Now I know this is sounding awfully complicated and it is.  So let's take a step back and see what this looks like when we start putting it all together.

Image by ECHOcommunity

Understanding our layers and succession planting

We have our clearing, the stage is set. 

In a mature forest all the seeds of the different layers are present in the soil together at the same time. When that clearing occurs they all start growing together, some fast, some slow, occupying all the different layers. We will do the same. 

Sowing a variety of annuals, perennials, fast and slow growing plants. With good planning what we get is our annuals popping up, harvesting sunlight, shading the soil and providing us with a crop in the first few months. When we harvest those annuals, light and space is opened up for the next succession of plants to come through. There is always a cover of green, growing leaves on our site, photosynthesizing and shading the soil.

After a few years, after the harvest of placenta 2, our fruit trees will be well established saplings. They have been protected from wind and harsh sun, they have had the soil loosened by the roots of all the plants that came before and they are in the perfect position to thrive!

Your Syntropic orchard awaits

Through observing how natural systems work, partnering with nature, humble stewardship and intentional management, humans have the potential to shepherd and accelerate succession. Regenerating eroded landscapes, reversing desertification and growing plants to eat. Let's make our food production systems part of the solution.

Learn More

Join us for one of our yearly workshops about permaculture, farming, plants and more!

Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ) and Its Application

Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ) and Its Application

By Connor Gilmartin, apprentice 2022

Earlier this year, I wrote a short article on preparing a garden amendment called Water Soluble Calcium (WCA). That short essay focused on how to make small batches of WCA in the comfort of your home using discarded eggshells and vinegar. Water Soluble Calcium is one of the five pillars of Korean Natural Farming (KNF). The remaining four recipes KNF methodology encourages us to utilize are Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB), Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ), Oriental Herbal Nutrient (OHN) and Fish Amino Acid (FAA). Because this article won’t cover the remaining three ferments in-depth, I highly recommend looking into the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture’s papers on this subject. The authors of those articles do a great job at explaining the process of making and applying these homemade amendments. These KNF ferments we’re talking about have a symbiotic relationship with one another. Generally speaking, they serve your garden’s needs best in the presence of each other – especially when they’re used to inoculate biochar or indigenous microorganism (IMO) culture.

It’s worth mentioning the obvious here - everyone’s gardening environment is completely unique, and every soil system has different nutritional requirements. For the sake of brevity, it’s necessary to generalize a bit. If you’re interested in diving deeper into soil science and plant nutrient uptake, I would highly recommend Jeff Lowenfels’s books Teaming with Microbes and Teaming with Nutrients, as well as Steve Solomon’s The Intelligent Gardener. 

I chose to write my first article for Rancho Mastatal on Water Soluble Calcium simply because of the abundance of eggshells we have here, and our robust supply of homemade vinegars. While Calcium is an essential macronutrient in plant growth and fruit development, it is only one piece – albeit a very important piece - of the puzzle of plant nutrient uptake. So, with that being said, lets learn about another pillar of Korean Natural Farming, Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ).

“Growth is controlled not by the total amount of resources available, but by the scarcest resource.”

— Justus Von Liebig

Before we learn about FPJ’s, dynamic accumulators, and the fundamentals of fermentation, I want to ramble about Justus Von Liebig’s Law of the Minimum - a very important concept in regard to plant nutrient uptake. Liebig’s law states, “Growth is controlled not by the total amount of resources available, but by the scarcest resource.” This is particularly relevant when trying to rebalance minerals and macronutrients in your soil. In, Teaming with Nutrients, Jeff Lowenfels discusses the Law of the Minimum and writes, “plant growth is limited by the least abundant mineral, no matter how abundant the other minerals happen to be.” So, with that in mind, we can make more informed decisions when choosing how to fertilize our gardens.

Before we fertilize at all, a soil test is probably in order. The informed gardener understands that N-P-K listings on commercially available fertilizers only account for three of the seventeen elements necessary for plant life. Many of us have been tricked into thinking Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium are the only elements we need to consider when fertilizing our soil. This couldn’t be farther from the case, and has resulted in massive amounts of excess nutrients polluting our watersheds and harming aquatic life essential in maintaining Earth’s homeostasis. I am a firm believer in a balanced approach to gardening, and certainly don’t believe all bagged fertilizers and amendments are the devil’s work. There are amazing, conscious companies that specialize in producing ethically sourced organic fertilizers. I have purchased bulk earthworm castings, mycorrhizal inoculants, crustacean meals, bokashi grain blends, and many more amendments that did not come from my garden. Does this violate Albert Howards’s Law of Return? Certainly. I am importing ingredients from hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away into my garden’s soil. The very nature of gardening for consumption violates the law of return. This is okay – gardening is a dynamic process, yields can be achieved and measured in many ways. As Masanobu Fukuoka writes in One Straw Revolution,

“It doesn’t matter how the harvest will come out. Just sow seeds and care tenderly for the plants and soil… The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”

— Masanobu Fukuoka

I learn something every season I germinate seeds. I feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction and joy when I feed my plants a nutrient-rich tea, or spread a cover crop on a resting hugelmound. Maybe these more philosophical “yields” are really what I crave… Who am I kidding – I also want massive, nutrient-dense broccoli, that I can brag about – and share – with my neighbors. Point in case, there are many ways to address fertilization requirements in the garden. I’m not a devotee of any gardening guru, and I’m not advocating for any one specific strategy. I’m interested in holistic plant and soil stewardship that integrates many approaches.

Now, lets get down to business. FPJ’s are made using two simple ingredients. Chopped up biomass and brown sugar. There are a whole lot of plant species that can be used to make FPJ’s. I’ve used the young, vigorously growing tips of mugwort, comfrey, stinging nettle, wormwood, tulsi, and Mexican sunflower to name a few. I’ve also used unripe persimmons, pumpkins, and other fruits and vegetables to make Fermented Fruit Juice (FFJ).  There are a whole lot of individual plant species and combinations that experienced horticulturalists have found to be beneficial in their gardens. It’s been observed that certain plants have a tendency to accumulate one macronutrient more than others. In the Korean Natural Farming and biodynamic gardening community, these plants are generally referred to as, “dynamic accumulators.” The concept of dynamic accumulators is a bit contentious, and some people doubt the idea. To be fully transparent, I do not know enough to say with 100% certainty that certain plant species have an affinity to accumulate one macronutrient over the other. However, I’ve visited many extremely productive, beautiful garden spaces whose caretakers embrace this idea, and it certainly doesn’t seem to be hurting anything. I will leave this entirely up to you to decide for yourself. Horsetail (Lorim ipsum) is known to have a high concentration of silica in its stalky biomass. Bamboo shoot FPJ is known to contain high amounts of nitrogen. FfJ made from young, unripe fruit can contain high amounts of phosphorous. With mindful intervention, we can amplify the nutritional impact these biomasses have on our garden by utilizing the friendly yeasts and other microorganisms drifting about. By feeding the microorganisms that reside on the biomass of these plants organic brown sugar, we catalyze the process of fermentation. The weak alcohol that is produced by the yeast as they nibble on the sugar we’ve so graciously provided them extracts chlorophyl from the biomass and other ethanol-soluble compounds contained in the plants via the process of osmosis. These compounds are called phytochemicals. The following section will cover the materials needed and list the step-by-step process to produce and apply FPJ.

Materials

I’ll begin by listing the materials you’ll need to make a batch of Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ). They are as follows:

1. Glass jar or food-grade plastic container

2. A sharp, clean knife to chop up the biomass

3. Organic brown sugar

4. A breathable cloth to act as a “lid” (cheesecloth or nut milk bags work quite well)

How To Prepare a batch of FPJ

1. Collect plant material

   • It is ideal to harvest the biomass before sunrise. Cut the young, vigorously growing tips of your desired plant and store in a clean container

   • Harvesting before sunrise ensures the plants are in respiration-mode, not photosynthesis-mode

   • Avoid collecting biomass during or after a heavy rain event

2. Cut and weigh the plant material

   • Do not rinse collected plant parts, to conserve surface microorganisms

   • Record weight of biomass

3. Add brown sugar

   • 1:1 (brown sugar to biomass) ratio. If you have one pound of comfrey, put in one pound of brown sugar. Coat as much of the surface area of the plant material as possible to encourage the fermentation process

4. Pack the brown sugar-coated biomass into a fermentation vessel

   • Pack tightly

   • Attach breathable lid using string or a rubber band, depending on the size of the fermentation vessel

   • Store the covered container in a well-ventilated area away from light and extreme heat or cold

5. Check the container after 24 hours and adjust the volume if necessary

   • Your fermentation vessel should be no more than 2/3 full. If the container is too full, the microbes will not have enough air to properly ferment.

6. Let the contents ferment for 4 -7 days

   • You will know that fermentation is occurring when bubbles start to form in the liquid

   • Fermentation is complete when the plant material floats and the liquid settles at the bottom, there is a slightly alcoholic smell due to breakdown of chlorophyll and the liquid tastes sweet, not bitter. It is possible that the plant material doesn’t form a distinct layer in the solution, so these are loose guidelines – everyone’s fermentation environment is different. This process is heavily influenced by the ambient temperature of the environment you live in.

7. Strain the solution

   • Separate the plant material from the liquid

   • The spent biomass can be added to compost or mulched directly into your soil

8. Store the FPJ

   • Transfer FPJ into a clean ball jar or food grade plastic container

   • Cover with a loose lid - the microorganisms in the solution are very much alive and will continue to produce carbon dioxide as they consume leftover sugar. This could cause a jar to explode if the lid is on too tight.

How To apply FPJ

1. Dilute at a ratio of 1:500, 1:800 or 1:1,000. This translates to 4-8ml of FPJ per gallon of water. It’s powerful! You can always add more, you can never add less.

   • The dilution of 1:800 or 1:1,000 should be used if:

     • You’re applying a mixture of different amendments (ex. WCA + FPJ + FAA)

     • You’re applying FPJ in hot weather

2. FPJ can be applied as a soil drench (diluted in a in a watering can or other water dispersal system) or as a foliar spray. Apply the solution once a week or so, no more than once a week. Try and apply FPJ’s that were prepared using biomass that was collected at a similar stage of the plant’s growth cycle to the ones you’re feeding. For example, use a light dilution of young mugwort FPJ for young plants, and use an FFJ of unripe, green fruit when those plants are beginning to enter their reproductive stage of development.

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Korean Natural Farming is a dynamic process that requires familiarization with the unique terroir of your gardening environment. Just like baking sourdough or making kombucha, preparing KNF amendments might require some trial and error. I feel inclined to repeat – “dilution is the solution.” These ferments are highly concentrated. Apply wisely, consciously, and out of direct sunlight. Take your time, enjoy the process, and revel in the beneficial microorganisms you’re stewarding.

Learning how to prepare these ferments will not only add macronutrients to your soil system but will increase the bioavailability of preexisting nutrients in your soil. Gardening really boils down to being a soil steward, which basically means we’re ranching microorganisms. Imagine yourself as a benevolent god, feeding trillions of beneficial soil macro and microbiota for the betterment of the world. Your plants will thank you.

Happy gardening, mulch love.

Connor can be contacted via email with any questions or professional inquires (connorjgilmartin@gmail.com).

“I sometimes think that never blows so red
The rose as where some buried Caesar bled;
That every Hyacinth the garden wears
Dropt in her lap from some once lovely head”

— Omar Khayyam

Read these Past Blog Articles

Amending Calcium-Deficient Soils – A Tropical Permaculturist’s Approach

Nitrogen Fixing Trees (NFTs) at Rancho Mastatal

Using Mountain Microorganism to Create Organic Fertilizer

Amending Calcium-Deficient Soils – A Tropical Permaculturist’s Approach

Amending Calcium-Deficient Soils – A Tropical Permaculturist’s Approach

By 2022 apprentice Connor Gilmartin

A walk through our orchard systems

Wade Davis once wrote that the Kogi people of Columbia believe “The surface of the Earth itself is an immense loom upon which the sun weaves the fabric of existence”. The garden and orchards of Rancho Mastatal are proof of this eloquent observation. While walking through the orchard spaces of the Ranch, your field of vision is overtaken by a mosaic of emerald green foliage, and gem-like, plump tropical fruits. This intentionally designed agroforest is abundant - however, a productive tropical orchard or garden does not come without hard work. Without mindful intervention, these orchards and gardens would not reach their fullest potential. It is our goal to listen to Madre Tierra, and help her achieve her most resilient, healthiest form.

Tropical Soils

While the jungle soils of Mastatal are abundant in in biodiversity, they are lacking in potential hydrogen (pH), which results in acidic soil. This low-pH, high acidity soil presents a bit of a problem for a gardener like myself, who is keen on optimizing a plant’s growing medium, in search of nutrient-dense, boast-worthy fruits and vegetables. Simply put, acidic soil results in low levels of available calcium. It is a known fact that calcium plays a crucial role in plant health and development. So… how can we remedy this issue? I’m glad you wondered.

A tropical permaculturist in this predicament is faced with two options; purchase bulk calcium carbonate in the form of ground limestone to apply as a top dress, OR use all those eggshells sitting on the top of the compost bucket to make Water-Soluble Calcium (WCA). WCA is one of the five inputs developed by Master Han Kyu Cho, the prolific South Korean gardener responsible for what is known globally as Korean Natural Farming (KNF). I’ll note that topdressing with limestone (CaCO3) does play a role in our agroforested zones - foliar feeding 12 acres of orchards would be unrealistic, to say the least. Foliar feeding a quarter acre of raised garden beds is a different story. Preparing WCA is fulfilling and presents a phenomenal opportunity to help close the loop between your garden and kitchen, while also providing your plants a calcium-rich tonic they’ll thank you for. When you see your pepper’s shiny leaves praying towards the morning sun, you’ll see what I mean.

How to Make Water-Soluble Calcium

I’ll begin by listing the materials you’ll need to make a batch of Water-Soluble Calcium (WCA). They are as follows;

1.)    Two clean glass jars (I am personally Ball Brand loyal, but any clean glass jars will do)

2.)    Eggshells (Rinsed after cracking to remove organic matter)

3.)    Brown Rice Vinegar (3% acetic acid is what you’re shooting for if you make your own vinegar like we do here at the Ranch)

4.)    A cast iron skillet

5.)    A breathable cloth to act as a “lid” (cheesecloth or nut milk bags work quite well)

Washed egg shells and homemade bottles of vinegar

One of our alternative wood fired cooking stoves

I chose not to list specific quantities of eggshells and vinegar because the amount of WCA you might want or need is variable, depending on the size of your garden space or application schedule.  By weight, the solution will be prepared using a ratio of 1:10 (eggshells to brown rice vinegar).

To prepare the WCA solution:

1.)    Collect eggshells, gently wash with water after cracking.

2.)    Lightly roast the cleaned, dried eggshells in a cast iron skillet for approximately 30-45 minutes. This removes any potential leftover organic matter stuck to the shell. Shells should be dry and toasted golden but not charred.

3.)    Add toasted shells to a glass jar filled with brown rice vinegar. You will see carbon dioxide being released as the eggshells float up and down the vinegar. This is good. This is a sign the calcium is being dissolved into the solution.

4.)    Cover your jar with a breathable cloth. This prevents pests or large organic matter from entering your prized water-soluble calcium solution.

5.)    Place jar in a cool, dry location for 7 to 10 days.

6.)    After this time has passed, check to see if the solution is still bubbling. If it’s not, that means your solution is saturated and all set for the final step.

7.)    Strain your solution into a clean glass jar to remove eggshells. Cover with airtight lid, label, and store at room temperature out of direct sunlight.

Toasted egg shells

Egg shells sitting in vinegar

Voila! A week has passed and now you have a jar of homemade water-soluble calcium. You must be excited to go give your plants a taste. I’d recommend doing so in the early morning. Greet the sun, sing to your plants, and remember, your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds, you can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds. Happy gardening!

Want to learn More?

We have been applying permaculture principles to our agriculture systems for the past two decades. Join us for our yearly Permaculture Design Certification to learn more about designing and implementing sustainable tropical systems.

Check out these past blogs on Tropical Agriculture

Tips for Working with Tropical Soils

Using Mountain Microorganism to Create Organic Fertilizer

Making Microbes: Fungal vs Bacterial Soil Life

Nitrogen Fixing Plants at Rancho Mastatal

Improving Soils in the Humid Tropics of Costa Rica

Improving Soils in the Humid Tropics of Costa Rica

By Anthony, Apprentice 2020

Syntropic farming workshop at Rancho Mastatal

In permaculture and agroforestry circles it’s common to hear the idea that we’re not growing plants so much as we’re cultivating rich, healthy soils in which plants will do their own growing. Yet, to this end changing the make-up of soils seems like a daunting job. So how can we go about the task of improving our soils in a simple and efficient way that corresponds with permaculture principles?

The challenge of Tropical Soils

Soils in humid Tropical America are generally found to be eroded and leached. In this region’s ecosystems, about 85% of nutrients are held in plants and animals, so the soils themselves are infertile. Only terraces, floodplains, and new volcanoes keep some soil fertility replenished if land is cultivated (Mollison, 2004). This yields soils that are high in clay content, poor in nutrient content, and often quite acidic. As we say here at the Rancho Mastatal, a permaculture farm in Costa Rica, it’s soil that’s great for natural building, yet not ideal for growing an abundance of food.

The goal with soils like ours is to improve soil texture, increase mineral and nutrient content, reduce soil acidity, enrich microbial life, and increase the quantity of organic matter held in the soil.

Planting a fruit tree during our annual Agroforestry Skills Workshop

Permaculture & Agroforestry based strategies

In a recent agroforestry workshop held at the Rancho Mastatal here in Costa Rica, a class that worked through concepts of a multi-strata, diverse style of permaculture, the holy trinity of soil amendments for the humid tropics was revealed. The three pillars of improving cultivated soils are

1. Biomass

   The strategy of biomass organized on contour (lines running perpendicular to the direction of the cultivated slope) is the most visible method used here at Rancho Mastatal to improve the soil’s structure and nutritional/mineral content, our ‘organic’ way of applying fertilizer. In the humid tropics, biomass tends to be available in great quantity, and can be used to build up the mentioned contours. Over time these will build to form terraces that greatly reduce soil loss related to erosion and leaching.

2. Mountain Microorganisms

   Mountain microorganisms is a world of its own. Through the fermentation of leaf litter from nearby forests, we cultivate microorganisms which are then applied to our soils, the foliage of our plants, and our compost. We are reproducing healthy bacteria and yeast that, when used in our permaculture systems, will in turn help our plants absorb more nutritional benefit from our soils. To read in more depth about how to make Mountain Microorganisms read this article.

3. Biochar

   Biochar will then provide a long-lasting refuge for these beneficial microorganisms. This is due to its incredibly high surface area within its structure. This special form of charcoal is extremely slow to break down and both directly provides nutrients and minerals to our soils as well as creating a positive feedback loop of topsoil production.

Many ways to develop tropical soils

There are other solid permaculture concepts for improving soils in the humid tropics that should be mentioned here. To deal with highly acidic soils, adding lime at regular temporal intervals is a useful strategy. We tend to avoid planting annuals while opting for perennials, by which we disturb the soil less and reduce potential erosion.  Read our article about which perennial greens do well in the tropics here. Over time these plants will help build humus and topsoil. There are plenty of pro tips from the world of permaculture that you’ll find helpful, like adding shredded cane and bamboo species as a mulch for silica and calcium enrichment. This will in turn help to raise pH levels (lower acidity) of soils and reduce leaching and erosion. We add Humanure and effluent from our Biodigestors, this helps build our soil and use commonly wasted products to grow food!

Want to Learn More?

If you’re interested in agricultural concepts such as improving soils, make sure to check out Rancho Mastatal’s workshops, including:

Permaculture Design Course: Fall & Spring

Past Blogs on Soil and Permaculture in the Tropics

We have a lot of past blogs on this topic. Here are a few to read:

Applied Permaculture Principles

Making Microbes: Fungal vs. Bacterial Soil Life

Tips for Working with Tropical Soils

Our apprentices doing some chop and drop in the orchards