The Benefits Of Biological Orcharding

1. The Benefits Of Biological Orcharding

It is often difficult and sometimes impossible to find natural, organically-grown produce in many locations. And what is available is usually higher priced than chemically-grown foods. Organic fruit growing, or biological orcharding as it is sometimes called, is the best way to obtain optimum quality fruits and nuts at an affordable price. By taking control of the production of our food we can be certain of obtaining high-quality, uncontaminated produce that will best satisfy man’s nutritional needs.

Besides the obvious benefits of having a supply of fresh produce uncontaminated by chemical fertilizers and pesticides, you have the added health benefits of good exercise out in the fresh air while establishing and maintaining an orchard. You have the economic benefits that result from having your own food-producing trees and you have the psychological benefits of feeling “rooted” to a piece of land—a sense of responsibility for your own space in the ecosystem.

Biological orcharding benefits the ecosystem by producing a protective blanket of green over an earth that is rapidly being deforested. Solomon, supposedly a wise man, employed 70,000 men to cut down the cedars of Lebanon, an act that geologists say destroyed the food production resources of that region forever. Similar destruction is now happening in the tropical forests of South America, even though science has proven the loss as irreplaceable.

A permanent grove of trees is not like a cultivated field crop, and the differences become more pronounced and profound with the passage of time. A grove of trees managed biologically will in a thousand years contain richer soil than it does today. A field cultivated conventionally in a thousand years will have no topsoil left at all and will have been maintained by tremendous outlays of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

On the other hand, the grove is essentially self-fertilizing. The leaves fall to build rich topsoil through the interplay of soil microorganisms and humus. The tree roots feed on the nutrients released in the topsoil and also dig deep into the earth for minerals and water. The minerals find their way, via the leaves, back to the topsoil! Woodland can raise the water level and it acts as a reservoir of moisture as rain soaks and holds in the deep, permeable soil beneath the trees. While the trees produce their food and nourish a whole chain of plants and animals under and around them, there is a net gain in fertility. In cultivated fields, there is almost always a net loss. In nearly every instance, trees can produce more food than grain.