You may have received an email regarding the E9 product that I have created and used on my farms over the last 25 years. I thought it is about time that I did more than just talk about it and look after the people who have heard about it and become fans.
A big part of the reason I am doing this is to hopefully get more people to try it and buy it and join with the growing number of Australians who realize that the chemical way of farming and gardening is killing the bacteria in the soil. And everyone who is buying fertilisers, pesticides and weedicides to grow their gardens are killing the planet.
First Stage of Making the E9 Soil Activator
You need fresh cow manure.
The cattle we have on Kumbartcho Farm are from South Africa and are called Nguni. (en goo nee)
The Nguni is known for its good temperament. Nguni cattle are heat and light tolerant and can handle extreme heat and cold alike. They are adaptable and hardy and possess excellent resistance to internal and external parasites with natural immunity to tick borne diseases.
The livestock run with zero external inputs grazed on natural pastures. That means no vet bills, no outside feed, no feed lots for finishing, no corn fed beef. Have a good look at them, fat as pigs.
Why is Cow Manure Important to E9?
Cows take about 48 hours to completely digest their food and pass the waste out to the ground. With the waste goes multiple different bacterias and ensymes. These bacteria and ensymes play an important part in the cattle’s well being, and also in the well being of humans. It may take a while but the use of the cow pats for making E9 will eventually deliver some of the microbes, bacteria and ensymes to the food you eat.
Plus when it is the middle of winter in Kilkivan and the frost is an inch thick down on the creek flats, your feet are freezing, you can kick off the socks and boots and stand in a few fresh cow pats. You are in heaven. Or you are closer to heaven than you have ever been.
Stage 2 of making E9
In the video above, Shane goes throught the process of making the E9 Australian Soil Activator. This video was made around 2017. The current E9 is still produced the same way.
Finished Product Stage 3
After 6 months of being in the pit, the E9 soil Activator is ready to be exhumed. It is teaming with bacteria and worms. The product itself is spongy and a little bit like plasticene in texture.
Why Did I Choose to Purchase Kumbartcho Farm?
I have been asked the above question a number of times. I decided I should write down the criteria used for that decision, because E9 Soil Activator was a big influence in what I was looking for.
I knew that I could produce a plentiful supply within 6 months, but more to the point, I knew it would benefit the farm and help bring the soil back to life.
The following bullet points are from a list I drew up when I went searching for a farm for my retirement. That was the plan, but I couldn’t help getting more involved with the place and developing it to be uses as a place that I could have people visit and see the changes being made to the landscape. I didn’t have all the tools, but since 2014 I have learned a lot, especially from Stuart Andrews and father Peter Andrews. And fortunately I am in a position to try all of the ideas out on Kumbartcho Project Farm.
Dukes Plain From Up High on the Hill
Below is a view over Dukes Plain, the property we lived and worked at for thirty years before I realized I was doing it all wrong. It was in the late 90s that I changed everything I was doing on Dukes Plains. The neighbours thought I was mad when I stated growing trees all over the farm.
After coming to my senses and working out how to run Dukes Plain without any inputs that it really started to take off. When the time came to leave I knew what I wanted in a farm that could be used for testing, showcasing and inviting people to visit and see how it worked. Hence the list below.
My Rough List of requirements for the Kumbartcho Farm Purchase in 2014
- January 2014.
Why Kumbartcho? There was a list!
- water
- proximity to airport
- mobile phone service
- good infrastructure
- no great mess to clean up
- freehold
- land bank
- not a huge work commitment
- climate
- landscape…hills, forests, creeks, rolling hills (not steep!)
- not high rainfall, rampant growth
- no major deficiency in soil
- Farm was flogged bare with 70 horses & 100 cattle!
- #1 action was to apply biodynamic soil activator (E 9) to the farm & do this 3 times over 3 months.
- 2 to give the pastures 60 days rest after decent rains.
- 3 start planting trees.
- 4 install a good reticulated water system for livestock & gardens.
- 5 subdivide paddocks to increase paddock numbers for a cell grazing system that allowed adequate rest & more effective use of pastures
- 6 begin Natural Sequence Farming actions to manage water on farm.
- (a)First rehab project was applying E9 to whole farm on an ongoing basis.
(b)To install a number of “leaky weirs” on a gully on the farm to begin to restore the hydrology.
(c) design & install a reticulated water system.
(d) planting trees to west & south of house to give protection from wind, sun, & road.
5. Long term plan.
- effective livestock management
- multi animal species
- re-forest the whole farm
- totally cover the farm with NSF contours, chain of ponds, etc to get effective management of water, fertility, & vegetation on the farm.
- have a number of farm based profitable enterprises, which support a community of operators/entrepreneurs.
- have the farm move into Community Land Trust structure which ensures it remains as farm land into the future.
- grow food on the farm for the farmers & local community.
- have abundant wild life on farm.
- have healthy soil, water, air.
- have complex plant communities on farm that support syntropy in the landscape.
- the Kumbartcho Project Farm model to be replicable & be replicated.
Enough for this episode, shall return later.
Yes it’s raining!
I proved that if you plant trees it attracts rain!
Planting trees this morning & it p….xxd down rain!!
The following is an exerpt from an ABC Interview regarding Dukes Plain
Biodynamic farming in action, mixing ‘witchcraft and science’
Friday 5 April 2019
abc.net.au/news/biodynamic-farming-at-dukes-plain-mixing-witchcraft-with-science/10963712
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Biodynamic farming is often considered as extreme method of farming but that has not deterred some central Queensland graziers from embracing it as a viable practice for their properties.
Anna and Henry Hinds, who have taken the reins at the beef cattle property, are embracing biodynamics with open arms.
What is biodynamic farming?
- Concept was founded by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s
- Intended to counter the emergence of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides
- Views soil health, vegetation and livestock management holistically and focuses on enhancing soil fertility
Formerly run by Shane and Shan Joyce with a focus on organics, cell grazing, and biodynamic farming, the Dukes Plain at Theodore in central Queensland has always been progressive.
Mr Hinds joked the farming model was a mixture of “witchcraft and science”, with an emphasis on holistic practices, moon cycles, and trusting the environment.
In April 2018 the Hind family along with the Joyce family hosted a horn burial field day, where interested farmers from all over the region flocked to hear about the methods the families were employing.
There, they buried cattle horns filled with manure and have dug them up again one year later.
The manure from inside the horn is emptied into a bathtub and covered with a board, ready to used over the next year as one ingredient for a soil activator — essentially a highly nutrient-rich, self-made fertiliser.
New age vs conventional
Mr Hinds said, despite the obvious differences of biodynamic grazing to conventional grazing, he saw many similarities as well.
“The main benefit is in the health of the cattle and also just the health of the cattle,” he said.
“The biodynamics wouldn’t serve you all that well if you weren’t managing your country well.
“We certainly think we get a lot of benefit from running our country in cells.
“I think the biodynamics is a bit like the icing on top of the cake.”
He said while it was difficult to pinpoint direct benefits of biodynamics alone on a widespread scale, the state of the home’s vegetable garden was a testament in itself.
“The house garden is a good place to start when using biodynamics because it’s easy to broadcast in a small area,” he said.
“Every month we broadcast the biodynamic soil activator out when the moon is in opposition to Saturn, which is basically every month.
“When we do that we can see the benefits fairly quickly.”
The future
Mr Joyce, who is now the deputy chairman of Biodynamic Agriculture Australia, said while he strongly believed the science and theory behind spreading the preparations according to time of day and moon cycles, he said on the ground the reality was that it was often not practical.
“When I came into biodynamics, there were a lot of rituals and timings according to the cycle of the planets and times of day,” Mr Joyce said.
“I looked into all of these things and they’re all quite valid, but when you start to try to apply them to a broadacre environment they become almost an impediment.
“I went down the path of throwing out the rules, and came to the conclusion that the best time to put out the preparations is between January 1 and December 31.”
In other words, all year round.
With plenty more to learn, Mr Hinds said he and Ms Hinds’ focus was on finding what was economically and environmentally viable for their own operation.
“For the moment we just like to keep learning more and implementing more as we go,” he said.
Mr Joyce said the biggest drawcard for producers who may consider themselves more conventional than progressive was the lack of cost.
“The thing with all the preparations in terms of input costs and cost of production is we have the capacity to make all the preparations on our farms,” he said.
“It only costs us our time.”
Dukes Plain became well known in the world of biodynamics after Mr Joyce began employing the methodologies in 2001, after first reading about them in the early 1970s.
The block was leased by Mr Joyce’s grandfather in 1914 and was passed through his family until he sold to a gas consortium in 2013.
Dukes Plain was then leased by Mr and Ms Joyce in partnership with Mr and Ms Hinds for five years until 2018, and when the lease expired the Hinds family took on the lease alone.
Now you have a little bit of the history of how E9 Australian Activator came into existence. And we will be giving you more information to understand how you can easily incorporate E9 into your farm or backyard and remove the herbicides, pesticides and artificial fertilizer inputs.
The End: only of this chapter
Check out E9 Soil Activator Here.
PS. I was going to add some information on the Farm Consulting I do from time to time, but this is getting a bit long and the eyes need matches to hold them open. I will make another post to talk about the consultancy and visiting your farm and you visiting Kumbartcho Project Farm.
That’s it. Bye for now and best regards… Shane
