Mutualism

I met a lot of great Knoxvillians at the Seed Swap last Sunday at the Birdhouse. (Thanks to Shelagh for planning it!) There were many knowledgeable and earnest folks looking to bring agriculture into their urban lives. I count myself among them.

Primary to that integration is an understanding of some of the myriad systems that perpetuate life in our region: the carbon cycle, the water cycle, how to punctuate an email to a stranger, the cycle of decomposition, etc.

Above is an illustration detailing a method of mushroom growth (inoculation?) using a straw bale as the growing medium. My understanding is that as the mushrooms grow, they create a fertile environment in which the tomato plants thrive. The tomato plans, in turn, benefit the mushrooms. Will have to do more research on the how and why of this, but the mental image was very pleasing to me.

In my brief googling of this topic, I found these folks and their lovely step-by-step straw bale gardening. They use the strawbales as structural support to build a raised bed. Awesome! The picture at left shows the garden in full stride. Behold the awesome power of rot and entropy.