Dung or digesters?

[Guest guest]

Dear Prabhus,

PAMHO, AGTSP! Just bringing up about cow patties and biogas digesters

again! ...thought I was a bit fanatical, and Hare Krsna prabhu,

please accept my humble obeisances and apologies- your contribution

to the cause of simple living is peerless! Please let me know if I

can somehow be of service.

About the patties, I mentioned to Pancaratna prabhu, but I thought

I'd put it on com too, that there's a book called "Bread from Stones"

by Hansel, published in 1890, that establishes that plants actually

don't need to take nitrogen from the soil. They get it from the

atmosphere. High nitrogen levels cause lush growth similar to adding

superphosphate, but this is at the expense of the uptake of TRACE

ELEMENTS by the plant. It is these trace elements that are important

to our health and that of our cows, therefore they must be present in

the plants we eat. They are NOT destroyed by burning and are present

in the ash.

If this is true, its a big plus for the vedic model of complete

independence of machine technology, and complete dependence on what

the cow and bull provide.Before y'all think I'm getting fanatical

again, the steel etc. used in a biogas thing mightn't be so bad,

since in vedic times there was mining of metals. The point is to keep

it as simple as possible or practical. Therefore our plows for our

bulls are steel, and there's no problem with that. And bio-gas

digesters may use it but are they practical is the point. If there's

a simpler way that doesn't cause problems with simple living e.g. by

decreasing soil fertility, then we opt for the simple way- to be free

from dependence on the machine civilization- which is descibed by

Srila Prabhupada (many times) as hellish, and directly opposed to the

proper cultivation of the human spirit- self-realization.

S.P.: Don't be allured by this machine civilization- this soul-

killing civilization- especially the European countries...you can

have a cottage anywhere and grow your own food. Am I right?

Dependence on machine has directly resulted in cow slaughter, as

excellently explained by Hare Krsna dasi in her articles. This cow

slaughter, Srila Prabhupada mentions, is the cause of all problems in

human society. In this regard I refer to Pancharatna's mention of a

shortage of dung in Bengal, which has led to decreased soil ferility,

which might indicate the necessity of bio-gas digesters. The root of

the problem though is that there is large-scale cow-slaughter in this

state (correct me if I'm wrong but it is one of the 2 states in India

where this is allowed). But even all over India, its a common thing

that wherever the old cows/bulls are unproductive, they are let loose

and generally taken by moslems for slaughter. This slaughter has led

to a shortage of dung, and a myriad of problems has resulted, which

are described in "Dung is a Gold Mine" and "Dung, Dung, Dung"

(printed in India)- these books are the perfect purports to the above

statement of Srila Prabhupada's ("cow slaughter is the cause of all

problems in human society") Reasons given are environmental damage

(deforestation or forced cutting of trees for cooking fuel caused by

dung shortage; dung shortage leading to soil fertility decrease;

many others); increase in unemployment and poverty levels and

increase in social problems. All this information is presented very

scientifically, with facts and figures, tables of statistics etc.

These are really excellent books for devotees, especially in India,

especially dealing with rural communities. If anyone is interested

and needs the ISBN's, I can get them from Lagudi prabhu. Fact is old

cows are valuable- in India they eat practically anything and turn it

into a very valuable product- dung, but the Indians have been

brainwashed into thinking they're a burden. Without this dung, though

the problems are massive. This and the book by Hansel, Lagudi has

details of (Ithink) Hope you find this non-fanatically OK- YS,

Niscala dd.

 

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[Guest guest]

Noelene Hawkins wrote:

 

> [Text 2276372 from COM]

>

> Dear Prabhus,

> PAMHO, AGTSP! Just bringing up about cow patties and biogas digesters

> again! ...thought I was a bit fanatical, and Hare Krsna prabhu,

> please accept my humble obeisances and apologies- your contribution

> to the cause of simple living is peerless! Please let me know if I

> can somehow be of service.

> About the patties, I mentioned to Pancaratna prabhu, but I thought

> I'd put it on com too, that there's a book called "Bread from Stones"

> by Hansel, published in 1890, that establishes that plants actually

> don't need to take nitrogen from the soil. They get it from the

> atmosphere. High nitrogen levels cause lush growth similar to adding

> superphosphate, but this is at the expense of the uptake of TRACE

> ELEMENTS by the plant. It is these trace elements that are important

> to our health and that of our cows, therefore they must be present in

> the plants we eat. They are NOT destroyed by burning and are present

> in the ash.

 

Another very important aspect of composted manure is that it conditions

the earth so that it will retain moisture better. When Krsna was on

earth, Vrndavana was very lush. I have not been to Vrndavana personally,

but I understand that much of it is now like a desert, very dry and

sandy.

 

To me, this indicates that over the centuries, animal and human manure

have not been returned to the soil. Please read *Topsoil and

Civilization* by Vernon Carter and Tom Dale and also Sir Albert Howard's

*Agricultural Testament* and other titles. Then you will see how

important manure is to condition the soil.

 

At Gita-nagari I remember that when we had a drought, all the potato

plants died, except for two that were growing over the composted cow

manure. Manure conditions the soil so that plants can survive and

flourish. I very much doubt that simple ash can accomplish the same

results.

 

Also, I just read in the *Small Farmers Journal* that fertilizer is

America's #1 export to India. If cow manure were being put back into the

earth at a sufficient rate, there would be no need to import fertilizer.

 

Dung or Digesters? This still does not mean that I am necessarily

endorsing biogas digesters. I think the decision has to be made on a

case-by-case basis by devotees who have carefully educated themselves on

all the factors involved. Cooking with cow manure patties sounds great

to me, as long as the majority of the manure is being returned to the

soil.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi