The creation of your own personal “Mother Patch”: purposely engineered and aggregated entomological, mycelial and microbial systems that solid-state ferment rather than compost (decompose) solid-state postconsumer waste back into plant food in situ in a carbon negative manner. Fermentation further chemically reduces (redox) carbon (plant biomass) by adding electrons to it, turning it into fuel versus chemically oxidizing the carbon, taking away electrons, and turning it into exhaust carbon or CO2.
Translation: systems of bugs, mushrooms and microbes that break down yard and kitchen waste in your garden exactly where the plants need the nutrients & in perfect balance with their needs. Just in time production, never lacking and never superfluous (too much) Fermentation with visible organisms captures the vast majority of solid-state carbon in the biomass- leaves/woodchips/cardboard (paper) & kitchen scraps used to feed the system. In composting (decomposition), 50% to 75% of the valuable carbon that plants took the whole season & converted from CO2 into solid biomass is dumped back into the atmosphere as hot (140-160 degree) CO2. This hot CO2 rises strait up into the air as if it were coming out of a chimney. In the solid-state fermentation model with macro-organisms, the only carbon that is lost is cold carbon- the breath of the organisms that did the work- which is heavier than air and tends to linger on/in the ground & around plants. A portion of which is reabsorbed by the plants, a triple (carbon) dip.
The system works basically like Bokashi except even more carbon is sequestered by the fact the visible bugs and mushrooms, that do most of the bulk work, are made out of carbon. Not only made out of carbon but eat more carbon (biomass) for breakfast, lunch & dinner. What carbon they don’t turn into themselves, they leave as manure & participate in biological succession. One organism’s poop/leftovers are the food supply for next organisms in the line of succession. They also persist as a macro-polyculture and expand (reproduce) in the ecosystem versus a monoculture of Lactobacillus which is a microbe and temporarily ferments the bulk material. The material never has to be moved in this system once placed and visible organisms have a much wider range of materials that they can solid-state ferment simultaneously.
See 4.5 Bokashi @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost
“Bokashi (horticulture) offers several advantages:
· Fermentation retains all the original carbon and energy. (In comparison, composting loses at least 50% of these and 75% or more in amateur use; composting also loses nitrogen, a macronutrient of plants, by emitting ammonia and the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.)[30]
· Virtually the full range of food waste is accepted, without the exclusions of composting. The exception is large bones*
The importance of the first advantage should not be underestimated: the mass of any ecosystem depends on the energy it captures. Plants depend upon the soil ecosystem making nutrients available within soil water. Therefore, the richer the ecosystem, the richer the plants. “
*Large bones (dried thoroughly w/ meat, fat & marrow intact- bone jerky) are used exclusively in our system as a source of long term phosphorus, calcium & trace minerals, as well as a short term nitrogen supply. Think long term super bone-meal.
The history of the “Mother Patch” is from Terra Preta in South and Central America. Besides the ash and charcoal (biochar) from the Native Americans fires, all of their kitchen and agricultural waste was also added to the agricultural fields and inoculated with material from the mother patch. This contained a balanced ecosystem of bugs, mushrooms and microbes that would break down the material spread on the surface of the fields. The fertility was maintained by the fact that the charcoal (biochar) allowed the microbial community to shelter inside of it as not to be leached from the soil due to heavy seasonal rains.
The history of our modern/engineered “Mother Patch”
Mushrooms (mycological systems) saprophytic (independent fungi), mycorrhizal (root associated fungi) and endophytic (fungi that lives inside of plants) mycelium (the “roots” of a mushroom): For the last 10 years, samples (bioassays) from hundreds of ecologically interesting Front Range locations- from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs to Aspen to Steamboat Springs- were appropriately added to the system in small amounts as well as samples from Iowa, Missouri, Connecticut and Massachusetts. These were quarantined for a year, blended with the local system in a confined setting and then added to the overall system.
Bugs (entomological systems) worms, multiple collaborative species (in situ virmiculture), pill bugs, millipedes, centipedes, beetles, mites, wood lice etc.: For the last 10 years, samples (bioassays) from hundreds of ecologically interesting Front Range locations- from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs to Aspen to Steamboat Springs- were appropriately added to the system as well as samples from Iowa, Missouri, Connecticut and Massachusetts. These were quarantined for a year, blended with the local system in a confined setting and then added to the overall system.
Microbes (microbial systems): for the last 8 years, kitchen waste- which was from produce imported from Terra Del Fuego to Alaska, Asia to Europe & sea to shining sea in America (the produce section of the grocery store)- were carefully solid-state fermented year-round in the Mother Patch. This allows for the capture/integration of all appropriate microbes associated with all of the produce that passed through the kitchen in the last 8 years. Biodiversity that is perfectly appropriate to consume any and all kitchen waste.
This is more or less a “shotgun” approach (AKA throwing poop @ the wall & seeing what sticks) to collecting the appropriate organisms to do this solid state fermentation work in the system. Based on Biomimetic’s (biomimicry) this is how a virgin forest is a virgin forest. In need of no human intervention (Interference?) Know your place in the system. If you practice/follow biomimetic’s, there is no such thing as composting in nature. If there is a purpose for plants in the natural ecosystem, it is to convert exhaust carbon, CO2, back into bio available/bio usable/chemically reduced labile carbon through photosynthesis. To purposely convert 50 to 75% of the carbon fuel/energy that the plants create in a season from reduced labile carbon into oxidized labile carbon is anathema to Mother Nature.
How does this work at my location?? The solid-state postconsumer/AG/yard waste that you would like to turn directly into plant food (remediate) is collected (aggregated) into an appropriately placed pile within your personal ecosystem & inoculated with the organisms above. You will also be given instructions for long-term maintenance & expansion of said Mother Patch.