Feeding the Soil on the Organic Farm
by Grace Gershuny

This book on the basic biology and expanding lore of composting explains the requirements of the National Organic Program (NOP) and offers a host of practical suggestions from professional composters for small-scale as well as larger-scale composting operations.

The book lists materials used and their sources, plus recipes for soil mixes. It defines the elements of compost quality and stability, tells where, when and how to use compost, and explains its disease-suppressing properties. It tells how to adjust C:N ratios, moisture and nutrient content and what materials to avoid. Current findings about compost tea and effective microorganisms (EM) are there, as well as descriptions of worm-powered composting and the biodynamic method.

Grace Gershuny is the author with Joe Smillie of The Soul of Soil (Chelsea Green) and is herself the author of Start with the Soil (Rodale Press). She developed NOFA's first organic certification program in 1977. Grace teaches about gardening and agriculture issues at the Institute for Social Ecology and at Sterling College. She is now consulting for the organic industry and working on a book about the real meaning of organic. She still grows most of her own veggies at her homestead in Barnet, VT.