Bill Mollison, a legend and founder of the Permaculture Movement, one of an amazing group which includes people like P.A. Yeomans and Geoff Wallace of the Keyline movement, Alex Podlinsky in Biodynamics and many others here in Australia. All these people have imparted valuable, important knowledge upon us all that often overlaps, such is their common interest in natural ecosystems.
I am fortunate and honoured to have met the last three but Bill never came my way. We are all lucky to have been born in this knowledge expanding era where science has been able to show and prove so much, increasing our knowledge of how nature works, proving the worth of organic practices on our planet so that we can move forward in harmony.
Recently at the National Biological Farming Conference another man, Gabe Brown from the north of the United States, talked to us on his version of Permaculture on his very large farms in Michigan just below the Canadian border. His climate is very different to ours in FNQ having only three months of frost free weather per year, if I remember right, but we all have our seasonal problems... our own being heat and torrential rains.
This diversity in natural land management methods is a real bonus and all of them have their place in the scheme of things. Our seaweed product, we believe, actually bridges all methods and can improve them all, including what is in these times called “Conventional”.
Seagreen Seaweed has the ability to improve all methods of gardening and farming because it is so complicated in its structure due to growing in the pristine waters of the North Atlantic coast of Norway. These freezing waters around the Arctic circle are teeming with life and nutrients, and produce a particular seaweed, Ascophyllum nodosum, that is rich in trace elements, alginates and natural growth hormones..
We firmly believe the most important thing seaweed does is to impart health upon everything it touches... including you. Studies show that food has deteriorated in nutrient density by as much as 60% in the past 30 years. Seagreen seaweed replaces lost trace elements so that the entire system – soil, micro-organisms, worms, plants, beneficial insects, animals and you – everything in that cycle benefits and is healthier.
Seagreen Seaweed comes in two forms…Seagreen Soluble which just melts in water for spraying or watering in…or Seagreen Meal which is simply dried crushed seaweed it can be added to soil or compost, or fed to livestock and wormfarms.
Seagreen Seaweed is pure, nothing added or taken away. Seagreen Soluble does not contain added stabilizers unlike liquid seaweed products. Seagreen Soluble Seaweed Granules is light and easy to transport, a little goes a long way in your garden and it is very reasonable in price.
Seaweed builds the soils biomass and water holding capacity... more and healthier wormlife is its greatest indicator. Compost is greatly enhanced by either watering in Seagreen Soluble or mixing in Seagreen Meal. Soak the meal in a little water until soft before adding to wormfarms, the worm juice will be greatly enhanced. Seaweed meal added to chook food, not only helps bird health but also improves the manures trace element content for the garden, which ultimately provides more nutrient dense fruit and vegies for your health!
Remember more is not always better - like all things, even Oxygen, over-dosing can cause problems. When you experiment take it in small steps as very strong seaweed solutions may actually pause the growth of some plants. (This fact is actually used by nurseries to their advantage on seedlings right before going out to retail stores.) Generally use at around one level teaspoon of Seagreen Soluble per ten litres of water (looks like tea) or one kilo per hectare in 1000 litres water. Best time to spray is early morning or late afternoon. Seaweed contains natural growth stimulants that can only be absorbed by leaf pores not the root.
(Note - this blog was written when our product was called Seagreen, before we changed our brand name to Seaperia)
Blog post by Grahame