From:    liz butek asked about what to use to enrich
the soil without artificial fertilizer.

My reply:
Besides compost, you can use scrap sea vegetables (also called seaweeds).
Seaweed makes a great fertilizer because it adds minerals back to our
depleted soils.  A man with whom my husband harvested sea vegeables in Maine
about a dozen years ago still sells some seaweed scraps for the garden.  I
don't recall the cost, by it was very reasonable, as I recall. He also sells
hand harvested American sea vegetables for human consumption, which are very
delicious and far more economical and ecological than imported Japanese sea
vegetables.  He harvests and dries the sea vegetables without fancy
technology---using a handcrafted wooden boat, oiled with olive oil (not
toxic paints or varnishes), drying racks in pesticide free field, a fire,
and time.

You can contact Larch Hanson, A Circle of Friends, PO Box 57 Steuben, ME
04680.  As far as I know he does not have a computer or e-mail...

Another fertilizer option which can yield phenomenal results is ground up
rock dust.   I've read accounts and watched a film on this many, many, years
ago.  I saw an update on this in the Spring 2001 issue of the PPNF's
newsletter, * Health and Healing Wisdom*.  See page 23.

Rock dust controls many plant-borne diseases, restores the health of plants,
makes them grow into healthier more nutritious plants, etc.  "If you are
interested in using rock dust and its many applications... I would highly
suggest that you subscribe to REMINERALIZE THE EARTH, a newsletter,
available at see their web page at
http://www.Remineralize-the-earth.org/

The author of this PPNF article mentions that "I learned that ocean sand is
very effective against bugs so I started using a little ocean sand around
the base of the plants about two feet away so not to burn them from the salt
in the sand.  I would make a barrier around the area I wanted to keep the
crawling bugs out..."

For sources of rock dust and other gardening information, see Andy's web
site, which is full of natural pest control tips and more... at
http://www.invisiblegardener.com/

Happy growing and eating,

Rachel