Would you like to grow your own fertilizer right in your garden or farm fields? Join Helen Atthowe on an outdoor tour at her veganic farm in Montana, where she will show you how she’s growing “living mulch” as a source of fertilizer. Living mulches are nutrient-rich plants (such as clover, alfalfa, and grasses) that Helen grows, then she mows them down, and adds the living mulch residues around her fruit trees and vegetable crops, so the living mulch can decompose and fertilize her edible crops. Learn how living mulches are making Helen’s farm more self-sufficient and biodiverse!
Growing your own fertilizer with living mulch
Length: 34 min.
See talk description
See speaker bio
Helen Atthowe
Helen Atthowe is the author of “The Ecological Farm: A Minimalist No-Till, No-Spray, Selective-Weeding, Grow-Your-Own-Fertilizer System for Organic Agriculture”. She has a master’s degree in horticulture from Rutgers University, and has worked for 35 years to develop ecological farming management strategies. She currently farms and does research on her new 5 acre farm in Western Montana. Previously, Helen and her late husband owned a 211 acre organic farm in Eastern Oregon experimenting with grow-your-own fertilizer and no-till orchard and vegetable production methods. Before this, Helen operated with her late husband their certified organic orchard in California where they pioneered no-till methods for raising apples, peaches, and other tree fruits without the use of any type of pesticides. Earlier, Helen also owned and operated a 30 acre certified organic vegetable and fruit farm in Montana.
Discover Helen Atthowe’s website veganicpermaculture.com and her book The Ecological Farm!
