Lance lived about 20 mins drive from Alice Springs on a property that was on ancient, dry, thirsty and dry, red, dead dirt. He often was inspired to grow food because he wanted organic and fresh food which was not always available in the shops in town.
Food was trucked in over weeks and sometimes was frozen for preservation. Here is his story and worth the time to read.
"My wife and I were sitting in our mini-farm, and we were commenting on how happy the plants around us seemed to be. There was a very tangible sense of peace and joy emanating from the plants. I dug my hand into the bed beside me, and pulled out a fist full of rich, dark chocolate living soil.
I squeezed the soil, and it had a damp, crumbly feel and smelled the sweetest that it has ever been. Just on the outside of the mini-farm area, the dead dirt of the Alice Springs desert, was in stark contrast; a fiery red, hardened, and difficult to grow in desert terrain." Lance.
"The transformation has come about by applying Earthfood living microbes onto the soil and the plants. This done, we ensured the area around the plants is covered in mulch/sugarcane/vegetation debris. We did about 100mms high covering the crop area.
The biggest change was noticed after about 4 months. The mulch integrated into the soil and the microbes introduced by Earthfood did their work in removing chemicals from the soil, aerating it and creating a moisture-retaining environment.
The microbes also facilitated absorption by the plants of the essential minerals and nutrients essential for healthy plant growth. We also noted that we were using less water as time went by - in fact, we were using less water weekly as time went by!
We bought some seedlings from the local store with the big red hammer as they were on sale and looked stressed, sickly and needing TLC. And, we thought we would test all that was promised by Bronwyn and her Earthfood. Only a couple of weeks in the program, using the Earthfood enriched soil, and the plants became robust, sporting a rich colour, and producing edible crops.
Each day, our resident Derson (doggie person), Ollie, gets very animated when we say the word, "garden". He knows that we mean he gets to play in the veggie patch as we harvest, gather excess for the chooks and generally enjoy the fruits of our labour.
We would normally (in the past) has a survival rate of seedlings of 25% pots. The potting mix would not hold water and dry out fast within hours, and the cash-crop just never really did well except for the odd seedling bunch in a particular season and time. The dirt was so hard we couldn't really get into it and often scrapped the surface to make a shallow seedling hole.
But, after using Earthfood, we had a 95% success rate on the seedlings growing to full maturing. In fact, the outcome exceeded expectations so much that we had more food than we could possibly eat, so we gave much of it away to family and friends, church and community kitchens; and some we used to reseed the next crop of the same - if the season was right.
Despite the extremely cold nights and excessively hot days these plants thrived. This tells me that Mother Nature knows best and once we support her in her work there is no boundary of goodness that can come from her. We just need to step out of the way and enjoy her bounty. (Reminds me of Psalm 107).
Both my wife and I have long days within our chosen careers so that leaves little time for farming. We put all the leverage on Bronwyn' living microbes. We call them living because we know so many products that don't have the Earthfood IP will never have microbes live about 48 hours unless they are in soil molecules or leaf cells.
So, trucking in Earthfood, which is a three week travel time, and them surviving storage for the cycle of use, we knew we would have the results. This is not back of any other products like kelp teas, or mineral rocks, or other artificial inputs it is literally just microbes in their environment of 'juices' suspended in animation.
The back up inputs are included in other products because the microbes are dead. There is so much 'greenwashing' in the Industrial Ag narrative and now there are so many little garage businesses opening with a compost tea for sale with no certifications, no testing by third parties, and no understanding or checking for pathogens or future diseases.
We learnt a long time ago that the products we were buying from the big red hammer store are forced steroid inputs going through the drinking structure of the plants, creating a vicious cycle of insects, diseases and compacted soil. With the microbes they unlock all the nutrients in the soil, create trace minerals and selenium and fix in atmospheric nitrogen and carbon in the soil. And that is done without me and little effort. All I do is make sure the water is in and the microbes are sprayed on the leaves at night every 5 days for us.
Wouldn't be without it now after all our years of growing. We finally found the holy grail to farming.
We are so glad that we have been introduced to Earthfood. If it does so well in our harsh desert climate, it will do well anywhere. Couldn't recommend the product enough."
Lance (Alice Springs, NT, Australia)
AN UPDATE ON THIS ARTICLE: Since July 2024 Lance has a vision.