All in Favor of Manure!
Cristina Soriano '11
Food For Thought Seminar Fall 2008
In current society, manure unfortunately has negative connotations. This modern disgust, however, was actually quite the opposite in ancient times. Dried dung cakes were (and in some areas still are) the main providers of fuel throughout history; nomads journeying the Oregon Trail, for example, collected buffalo feces as a firewood alternative. Today, manure is seen as an essentially useless waste product—but in fact, possesses very valuable qualities—it is an incredibly beneficial substance for plant life and growth.
Manure that comes from macrobiotic grain-fed cows is an organic fertilizer because it contains no artificial or synthetic chemicals. Manure compost is an infusion of the waste excretions of large animals, such as cows, sheep, and pigs, as well as decomposing hay and other plant matter. Spreading manure over cropland to enrich the soil has been an old farming custom used for centuries, and is actually superior to the modern invention of chemical fertilizers.
Organic residue is beneficial to crop growth because it is a “storehouse for anions essential for plant growth” (Follet, Murphy and Donahue). Anions, such as “nitrates, phosphates, sulfates, borates, molypdates and chlorates” (Follet, Murphy and Donahue), are negatively charged ions that are formed when an atom gains electrons in a chemical reaction. Plants rely heavily on the uptake of anions because they are key in helping plant cells adapt to environmental stresses. They act like the plant’s immune system, assisting their acclimation to severe and rapid weather changes. The applied organic fertilizer enriches the soil with vitamins and minerals, improving the vigor of the previously depleted soil. The foe, synthetic fertilizer, also provides soil fortification but in an artificial manner. Synthetic fertilizers need to be mixed with chemical substitutes of anions. It therefore seems quite disadvantageous and futile to use the synthetic alternate if Mother Nature complimentarily provides the natural.
A second reason that manure fertilization is successful in establishing a sustainable agricultural practice is because it protects the surface soil from rain and irrigation water erosion. The layer of fertilizer provides a buffer for the soil against capricious climates such as early frosts, excruciating heat, and turbulent acidity and salinity levels.
Thirdly, organic fertilizers are effective because it retains superfluous nutrients. The fertilizer fosters an ecologically balanced environment for mud-living animals. One such vital creature is the earthworm. As compared to synthetic fertilizers, manure-based compost permits the survival of earthworms because there are no chemically added anions. Earthworms are vital in creating a nutritional and prosperous ecosystem, they are an important ingredient in producing fertile soil just by their monotonous movements through their extending and compressing actions. They convert large pieces of organic matter into humus, or enriched soil. This process also mixes up the soil, leaving open channels for drainage and aeration. Worms consume some of the soil, and through digestion, grid it into a fine paste and then excrete it back into the earth. What is wonderful about earthworms is that the casts (worm feces) are deposited in the deeper levels of the soil, surrounding the longer roots of larger plants, providing them with vitamins.
In an era with a great drive to eat green, chemical free produce, it is evident that manure-based organic fertilizers should be implemented throughout the entire agricultural industry, and, locally in Hamilton’s 1812 Garden. So, what tactics should be employed in order to enrich the soil of the College’s garden? One method frequently used is the Fourteen Day Method. On Day One, the farmer must collect an array of basic materials and mix, in a large container, “equal parts of leaves, grass, clippings and manure (sheep, goat and cattle are best), with a liberal sprinkling of natural rock powders” (Rodale). On the second and third days, the compost material should have begun to heat up and the farmer (or, in this case, student!) should insert a thermometer into the mixture in order to keep note of the rising temperature. On the fourth, seventh, and tenth days, the heap should be turned or mixed, and moistened and the temperature recorded. On the fourteenth day, the compost is ready to be applied! The process is fairly simple, yet the outcome is incredibly beneficial for plant harvests. This method, however, requires that the mulch be applied to the field before the first frost; and because central New York is blessed with early snowfalls, this technique cannot be implemented this season. Another suggestion is to purchase some already-made compost from the nearby Drover Hill Farm, less than twenty-five minutes away from Hamilton’s campus. Stephanie Lipsey, the innkeeper of the farm (and its accompanying bed and breakfast), informed me that the cow manure from her cattle ranch, “works marvels on any plant”.
She collects the manure and hay from the cattle barns and creates a dumpsite where she discards the compost for about a year before applying it on the fields. Stephanie kindly offered the College as much manure compost as desired and she can be contacted at: The Drover Hill Farm, 1014 Earlville Road, Earlville, NY 13332. Phone: 315.691.2327. Website: www.droverhillfarm.com. She advised that the fertilizer could be applied come springtime when seeds are being planted and then again during the hot summer months in order to hydrate the sprouted crops. The second suggestion is a much more feasible method not only because the mulch at the Farm has been made, but because this specific fertilizer should be applied in the spring, rather than before the first frost.
Manure fertilizer is most definitely the most desirable and “nutritious” of all types of fertilizers—its exceptional qualities have preceded the test of time. Manure is the way to go!
Bibliography
Follet, Roy H., Larry S. Murphy and Roy L. Donahue. Fertilizers and Soil Amendments. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1981.
Glanz, James. Saving our Soil. Boulder: Johnson Books, 1995.
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