Ecology Action’s Pursuit of Sustainability
When Ecology Action began the Common Ground Mini-
Farm in Willits, California, the soil was so infertile that
many carbonaceous compost crops did not grow well. In
an e:ort to improve the soil, so it could grow all of the
carbonaceous compost material needed to provide
su+cient cured compost, high-carbon content compost
material (sawdust mixed with nutrient-containing horse
manure was imported to the mini-farm). This approach
eventually was deemed inappropriate because of the
signi cant importation. Consequently, we limited our
compost building to include materials produced by the
mini-farm whenever possible. However, because many
crops we were testing did not contain much carbon, the
mini-farm produced signi cantly less carbonaceous
compost material than was needed to increase and
maintain the soil’s fertility. Without su+cient cured
compost, the soil began losing the humus it had, and its
ability to grow su+cient organic matter declined. By
1985, we began to grow more of our own compost
material than before and supplemented our supply of
carbonaceous compost material with purchased straw
and alfalfa for special compost tests, and goat litter (from
outside fodder inputs).