Hi! Allane and Graeme and the list. Several in Oz have picked up on my comment, in my answer to Allane, of the use of Rock Dust in building or resorting soils.
Most of our Oz soils are very old and depleted of at least some minerals. Exceptions are volcanic soils and a limited number of granititic soils. As important as the chemical mineral presence, is the need for the little understood Paramagnetic energy, that may be present in some igneous rocks. (And a few other situations such as some fired clays = why earthen ware pots are better than plastic!) The original work on Paramagnetic energy and the part it plays in producing healthy soil and healthy plants and also the animals or people who eat them, was done by Professor Phil Callahan in the US. Many of us around the world have studied Phil's work and tried applying it to our situation. Phil's work is mainly published ACRES USA, both in the newspaper and in a number of books printed by them. Acres Australia has reprinted several of Phil's articles. Both stock some of his later books. To contact ACRES USA, hit <acresusa.com> go to subscriptions and ask for a free copy and the book catalogue. For Acres Australia, look on you news agent shelf. Acres USA also has some key back articles for free down load. I do not remember if any of Phil's are there, but Hugh Lovel's early Field Broadcasters are there. (His current design is more refined, with several innovations.) I will not go into Paramagnetics here, but enough to say that it is an important part in that which is required to establish (or re-establish) a healthy soil. If you have Paramagnetic energy, a wide range of minerals, soil biota and soil biota food, in addition to the more obvious requirements for soil, you are away to a good start. While Phil has set the ball rolling and others in the US have been implementing his work, the most extensive work has been done in Oz. 300 odd commercial quarries have been checked to see if their rock is of interest. Frustratingly, only a few are of interest, as Rock Dust supplements with both a strong Paramagnetic reading and useful range of minerals. Only about six are worth carting any distance and one in particular stand outs. BUT it is not enough to just happily pile Rock Dust on your land. To make use of it, you require a diverse soil biota WITH plenty of Biota Food. Now if one has a fully firing BD System that is well established and self replicating, it may be OK to add one of the few really good rock dusts, but in Oz, few of us have really outstanding fully functioning BD Systems. Those of us in contact with Phil and with each other, have been doing a lot of experimenting and exchanging this information. Terry Farrell of Nutratherm Australia, in Melbourne (Ph 03 95790310 Fax 03 95790393), has been using our collective research to commercialise products and services to the turf industry, such as sporting fields, i.e. golf courses/ bowling greens or stadiums. This is the highest yield of all forms of agriculture, thus requiring the most highly productive soil. His system has also been used in glass house and open air production of vegetables. I know of two broad acre wheat crops using his products. They are also exported to Japan, N.Z. and Israel. Terry is using the best Rock Dust we have found to date and adding to it a broad range of biota and biota food. In his business, his staff actually supervise the application and maintenance, but there is a limit to just how many sites they can manage. They are now packaging products which are premixed and should be applied relatively quickly after production. The new product is being released in bags for potential users to set up there own trials, so that when the bulk product is available, they will have been able to make informed decisions. The current new product will hit the retail market in about a week under the name of "Supercharge". It is a balanced formula of the best rock dust, soil biota, biota food and a good whack of carbon. I replicated some of the earlier tests on some of the products that lead to the final product, along with some independent work of my own, trying to use local materials. I found the trials quite amazing and while I have not trialed the finished product, I suggest it is well worth buying a bag or several and setting up your own trial. I do not suggest this product is a replacement for BD, but that I believe that it a way of preparing a damaged soil for BD and saving several years in building the soil. One would still do all the normal BD things in addition. Terry can be contacted at the above phone and fax and if he asks how you know of the product when still pre-release, tell him I told you. He will fax some information and your nearest supplier. I have the draft copy of the information he will send out, but I think it should come out of his office. I would like to make a note on what I think may be the real difference between different rock dusts. The straight Paramagnetic value as read on a Callahan meter does not tell the full story, as two rock dusts with the same reading do not have the same affect. I think that the dust behaves like a resonator and has an effect on the incoming energy and converts it to particular narrow bands of specific frequencies, dependant on the qualities of the rock dust. We know for example that quartz resonates at a quite specific frequency, which is predictable and constant and is the basis of "Quartz Clocks". I find that some rocks will produce several or more frequencies in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum which is life supporting. (See Callahan's work for the frequencies). Of the quarry samples sent to me for testing only a few had more than several frequencies in the area of interest. Of these the few that really stood out in our trials all had a much higher number of frequencies than those which are quite ordinary in performance. The rock dust used in Supercharge is the best one we have identified to date. I am sorry if some feel I am selling you short by not identifying the source of the rock dust, but much damage has been done to the potential good that rock dusts can do, by the application without the other things that are needed to make them of use. Terry's commercial product will have all these included. Gil >
