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One of the most effective things that can be done in a garden or farm is to use a living mulch. The idea is to seed "nurse" plants, such as crimson clover or vetch, in advance of a main crop such as tomatoes or melons. The seeds of the nurse crop are inoculated with mycorrhizal spores, which are brought out of dormancy by sensing the sprouting roots nearby. (I recommend using our micronized BEIM product, which clings to slightly dampened seeds very well.) As the mycorrhizal fungi attach to the nurse plant roots and multiply, they send out millions of...

There are more than 150 named types of mycorrhizal fungi (so far). Our inoculant products contain the spores of nine endo-types and seven ecto-types that have shown wide adaptability and match up to most plants. A couple types are especially well-suited for grape vines, as grapes are highly dependent on mycorrhizal fungi. Wine grape vineyards routinely apply spores to new plantings, as a vine with the right type of mycorrhizae on its roots can uptake ten times or more nutrients and often comes into production a year sooner. A young vine without mycorrhizae grows very slowly if it even survives....

I recently ran across an article I saved a few years ago entitled, "Fungi slay insects and feed host plants" that you might also find interesting. It describes experiments by researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, who were studying the feeding habits of springtails (tiny soil bugs) which normally eat fungi. The researchers were wondering if the insects were having a negative effect on the environment by eating certain species of fungi and indirectly starving plants (such as pines) that depend on mycorrhizal fungi to help them get their nutrients. They fed various types of fungi to...

First, my best wishes for a Happy 2009 to all of you. I know it's hard to see any positive economic signs at the moment, but we humans are supposedly resilient and adaptable organisms. This too will pass. Helpful definitions: Recession = your neighbor is out of work; Depression = you are out of work; Panic = your wife is out of work. Farmers in particular know a lot about surviving lean years. And if the new administration encourages more sound agricultural practices and soil conservation, our descendants may actually inherit some productive crop lands for growing their food. I'm...

OK, I'll admit it - I'm very nervous about the state of the economy. I've lived through many recessions, downturns, and bear markets... but this seems different, more serious. This feels like something that could have a dramatic impact on some of the fundamental ways we live and work and travel and eat during the upcoming years. Home foreclosures are predicted to increase through most of '09, as many more ARM's with 2-5 year teaser rates reset in coming months, plus some leading economists expect unemployment to reach 9% a year from now, even if the Detroit automakers manage to...