Veganic Agriculture Network

Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center

Stéphane — 2010-03-09T21:20:11Z

Tree of Life is a retreat center in Patagonia, Arizona, founded by Gabriel Cousens. They offer programs in healing, disease reversal, conscious gardening, and spiritual growth. Tree of Life has two acres of gardens that take their inspiration from veganic agriculture and Japanese Nature Farming.

The produce from the gardens is used in Tree of Life's rawfood vegan cafe, which prepares meals for the center's guests, employees, and workshop participants. In the summer the garden provides up to 75% of the cafe's produce, and in the winter they supply the cafe with greens and sprouts.

Tree of Life's gardening practices are largely influenced by Japanese Nature Farming. Like veganic agriculture, they do not apply animal products to the soil. Though contrary to most veganic farms, they also do not practice crop rotation. They leave the plants in one place, with the idea that the soil will become specific to that type of plant. Their relationship with the plants is spiritual in nature, and they express their gratitude to the plants when harvesting.

To maintain fertility on the land, they use cover cropping, sheet composting, straw mulch, Effective Microorganisms (EM), bokashi, and fermented plant extracts. Sudangrass and cowpeas are used as cover crops in the summer, and in the winter they use a soil builder mix from Peaceful Valley. For composting, they previously composted in piles, and have recently switched to sheet mulching directly on the fields. They place layers of kitchen scraps and straw on the beds, and these decompose in place within a month. They find that this is simpler than maintaining the compost piles.

Tree of Life's other fertility techniques—Effective Microorganisms (EM), bokashi, and plant extracts—involve making fermented substances. Tree of Life teaches these processes in their Concious Gardening courses. In their gardens they use EM5, and they find it aids with insect and disease resistance. Bokashi is an alternative to composting, where scraps are fermented in anaerobic conditions (much like natural pickling) and added to the soil. Due to the acidic nature of bokashi it can only be applied in small quantities. Tree of Life also makes plant extracts, by fermenting weeds with Effective Microorganisms (EM) to extract the nutrients from the plants. Extracts of garlic and mustard can be used as insect repellents, and clover extract is high in nitrogen. They make extracts based on the plants they have available, and also to address certain needs in the garden.

Tree of Life practices plant-based farming because they are a vegan community, and veganic gardening is consistent with their ethical views toward animals and the environment. Tree of Life has encountered some challenges when gardening due to the imbalanced ecosystem in their region. The mesquite trees in the surrounding area were previously cleared by miners, leaving an arid grassland. Grasshoppers thrive in this region that is now largely devoid of native bird species. Tree of Life's philosophy is that they would happily concede a portion of the harvest to insects, though the grasshoppers were eating the majority of the crop. Tree of Life made the decision to bring Guinea fowl onto the land to lessen the impact of the grasshoppers. While they are aware that their gardens would not qualify for veganic certification with the use of Guinea fowl, they strive to maintain a plant-based system in the other aspects of their agricultural practices.

The climate in Patagonia adds challenges when practicing agriculture. Located in the desert, they receive about 20 inches of rainfall per year, though this is mostly during the monsoon season in July and August. The gardens are irrigated from a well on the Tree of Life property, though the water has high salinity so they counteract this by adding gypsum. The temperatures in the desert change considerably from daytime to nighttime, with temperature swings of up to 60F in the same 24 hour period. They focus on growing cold-tolerant plants, and plants that can handle swings in temperature. The plants receive large amounts of sunlight, and in the summer the gardeners set up shade houses to provide 50% shade to the plants when growing delicate crops like greens.

Tree of Life has a solar dome greenhouse in which they grow tropical fruits like papayas and lemons, and also herbs, basil and ginger for the cafe. Two larger greenhouses are used primarily for tomatoes and cucumbers, two staples at the Tree of Life cafe. In their sprout house they grow a steady supply of sprouts year round.

Tree of Life offers week long courses in Conscious Gardening, where participants learn the basics of plant-based growing, and do hands-on activities like making batches of Effective Microorganisms (EM) and bokashi. They also have a SEVA program for people who are committed to doing voluntary service in the gardens for three months. Tree of Life has full-time employees who manage the gardens and coordinate the Seva volunteers.

View online : Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center

Sunizona Family Farms

Stéphane — 2010-02-16T20:55:05Z


Veganically Grown: Veganic tomatoes at Sunizona Farm

Sunizona Family Farms specializes in greenhouse tomatoes, herbs, and salad greens, and they have recently started growing field crops. In 2008 they began to transition their farm to veganic agriculture, and now the main greenhouse and fields are completely veganic. Sunizona has a special emphasis on local inputs, and they heat their greenhouse and make their own potting soil using local waste pecan shells.

Sunizona Family Farms is located in Willcox, Arizona, a little more than an hour east of Tucson.
A collective family effort, Byron and Janice and their four adult children manage all aspects of farming and marketing. Sunizona also provides employment for 8 other families in the region.

At Sunizona they grew hydroponically for years with chemical fertilizers, though always without pesticides. They wanted to switch to organic agriculture, but hydroponic organic growing generally involves fish fertilizers, and they were determined to grow without animal products. Over the course of 2008 and 2009 they converted their 1 ½ acre greenhouse from hydroponic to veganic raised beds. This greenhouse, which mainly grows tomatoes, along with zucchini and green beans, became Certified Organic in 2009. Their other greenhouse, which grows herbs and baby greens, is still hydroponic, though they hope to convert it to veganic practices in the future.

2009 was Sunizona's first season growing crops in the fields, growing 6 acres of veganic squash and melons. They are planning to expand this to 30 acres in future years, diversifying their crops and developing a rotation with over-wintering green manures. Despite having extremely dry desert temperatures—6% humidity, and months at a time without rainfall—the farm has access to an aquifer that is fed by nearby mountains, and they can use this to irrigate the fields.

“Veganic” is labeled clearly on the packaging at Sunizona Farm, which generates conversations and questions from their customers. The family transitioned to veganic agriculture for several reasons: the ethical treatment of animals, avoiding contaminants from animal-based fertilizers, and providing proper nutrition for the plants.

Byron is concerned that the widespread use of antibiotics in animal agriculture can lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with potential effects to human health and soil health. Byron read a study that showed that antibiotics in manure can be uptaken by the plants, and another study which showed that antibiotics can enter the water system through rainwater runoff from farms. They also want to avoid problems of e. coli and salmonella from fecal contamination. While many greenhouses rely on fish emulsion, at Sunizona they are concerned about the high levels of heavy metals in fish populations.

They also find that plant-based fertilizers provide a better balance of nutrients. As nutrient requirements are fairly uniform across the whole kingdom of plants, by feeding plants with plants they receive the nutrients they need in about the right proportions. With manure, after passing plant material through the body of a cow, there is an imbalance of low calcium and excess phosphorus and potassium. Byron finds that it is much simpler to deal with plant nutrition by using plant-based inputs.

Sunizona Farm strives to find fertility sources in their local area. They purchase locally-grown alfalfa and keep all of their dry tomato waste, and they run these materials through their pelletizer. These pellets are the primary source of fertility in the greenhouse, and make it easy to apply a consistent amount to each bed.

Their desire to produce food locally goes further, as the Sunizona greenhouse is heated using biomass from local, reclaimed pecan shells. The shells are pelletized and burned in a bio-mass boiler system, and excess pellets are sold by the farm. The ash from the boiler is added back into their potting soil. Sunizona makes their own potting soil mix from local waste pecan shells, ash from the boiler, leaves and stems from their tomato plants, and waste cardboard from the warehouse.

Over 90% of their produce is sold within Arizona. They supply all of the Whole Foods stores in the state, and also supply a smaller health food chain in northern Arizona. Much of their produce is purchased by high-end restaurants and resorts. In previous years they sold their produce directly to a broker, but now Sunizona coordinates all of their distribution by contracting a delivery company. This allows them to supply their customers with much fresher produce, and cater to the needs of smaller businesses.

To learn more about Sunizona Family Farms, please visit their website: www.sunizonafamilyfarms.com

View online : Sunizona Family Farms