Stone Age Farming, a review

Alanna Moore

Python Press, Australia copyright 2001 isbn: 0-646-41188-8

A Review

The opening words of Stone Age Farming echo a crucial message. You may have heard these words or something like them before: We humans are destroying the earth upon which we depend for our very lives. Industrial forestry and industrial farming have and continue to damage the soil upon which existence rests. What makes Moore's words stand out is that she is not preaching doom and gloom but simply setting the scene before presenting a way out, in fact several ways out.

That there are alternatives, readily available alternatives to our current industrial agricultural methods is the central message of Stone Age Farming. This book provides the farmer, the urban gardener and all of us with not just hope, but a hope that is based upon research and development. A hope which rises from tried and tested techniques which have improved the health and vitality of the soil and those living on and dependent upon that soil.

There is an old gardening saying that goes like this: feed the soil. This is precisely what Moore is talking about when she discusses the effects that adding rock dust to your land will have. " A healthy soils requires an extensive range of trace elements to feed micro-organisms and sustain the humus complex, and the finer the particles these are supplied in, the quicker the microbes can incorporate into it. Basalt rock dust is one of the best sources of minerals, having a wide range of trace elements." (p.9)

Stone Age Farming also provides insights into the role that paramagnetism, which is defined as a weak attraction to a magnet, plays in the development of healthy soil. "In soil it (paramagnetism) is a measure of the soil's ability to attract and hold energy."(p11)

Moore's exploration of the world of subtle energies may be difficult for some to accept but for those who are seeking ways to improve plant growth her well researched and documented work provides the reader with genuine opportunities that need serious consideration. If you are concerned about the world's food supply, the disappearance of topsoil, the shortage of water or simply want to raise good, healthy crops for your family then read Stone Age Farming. The time it will take you to finish the book will be time well invested in your and your family's future.

Go To Page: 1