naturally to the mini-farm through rainfall, wind, the
breakdown of the soil’s parental rock material, and the
upsoaking of groundwater. With GROW BIOINTENSIVE
sustainable gardening and mini-farming, the gain in
nutrients may eventually near the loss of nutrients and
the soil’s nutrient balance may be maintained if all
nutrients are recycled.
According to the second law of thermodynamics, all
systems proceed toward a state of entropy or disorder.
Therefore, no system, including agriculture, can be
sustained inde nitely. At the extreme, all life will cease
as we know it when the sun burns out millions of years
from now. However, until this happens, we can maintain
our soils at a level close to complete sustainability
(instead of close to complete insustainability as is now
the situation with most agricultural systems). Within a
garden or mini-farm, some soil nutrients may not be
replenished by natural forces, or the same natural forces
may add soil nutrients in excess. In both situations, if
proper soil nutrient maintenance is not pursued, the soil
may cease to be able to grow signi cant amounts of
crops in a very short period of time.
A [farmer] took up land [in Saskatchewan], dug a cellar and built a
frame house on top of it; ploughed up the prairie and grew wheat and
oats. After twenty years he decided the country was no good for
farming, for eight feet of his soil had gone and he had to climb up into
his house.
— RICHARD ST. BARBE BAKER, My Life, My Trees