Greetings, I need some basic info (confirmed) to start rock dusting my 1/2 acre lot and then start teaching rockminerals along with an Intro to Mulching/Gardening Without Work class that I do each year....think it could be the next phase in growing local foods.

Is it true that I can get "river stone" ground dust from pretty much any quarry and us it? Are there 'gotchas' to look out for? I'm so new that I don't have any experience in this area, though quite a bit on organic growing. Is pretty much any (non limestone) gravel in Iowa (midwest USA) OK? Are there poisons possibly in any rock dust?

I've read well drillers are good source? or is Quarry best?

Any help will move this movement into our area!

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You should find good basic info here at the website to inform and inspire you to begin your own remineralization work and to share the concept and various action steps with others in and out of classroom environments.
Yes Nature usually remineralizes the temperate zones with mixed river and/or glacial gravels or equivalent (such as more finely-ground loess blown around your Midwest regions), so any gravel pit or quarry working mixed rock deposits could prove to be a 'backyard gold mine' for you and your hungry soil microorganisms. If a quarry is going deep into veins of uncommon heavy metal ores or exposed lead or uranium then they could be producing potentially toxic rock or dust. Best to ask them what they are working and if there is any chance of high lead, cadmium, copper, aluminum, uranium, etc. That kind of situation would be very rare and I've never heard of it happening with anyone since Julius Hensel started the 'modern-day' remineralization movement by writing BREAD FROM STONES in late 1800s. Alluvial or glacial moraine/gravel/sand/dust deposits are what Nature has been using to produce the world's most fertile soils for a long time, and such natural rock mixtures are not known to be healthful for soil organisms and thus critical to all soil-dependent organisms including us.

Well drillers dust might be good, but again, I'd suggest trying to learn what kinds of rocks are being penetrated to allay your concern they'd be anything but beneficial. Local geologists or the US Geological Survey might help, or library books or online info. Some limestone in the rock mix is fine, but you're right to understand that broad-spectrum soil remineralization tries for complete mineral fertilization rather than partial as "liming" the soil accomplishes. It is a time for completeness, wholeness, comprehensivity hence possible regeneration, survival, and 'thrival.' If we help Nature thrive, She will nourish us to thrive, but of course it will take more generosity than our species has shown over past millenia. How do you teach generosity in the classroom? There is a challenge for you. Perhaps you need to have first shown it to Nature then you will become a generosity "expert." Good luck and skill! Please let us know how it goes... ~Don

Hello and thanks to all of you enjoying all the grace and growth at RtE forum. Thank you RtE!

To add a slant on that perennial, "whole" topic, above, I'd like to share what I enjoyed about "The Circle of Growth . . . Exercise 5" I found online:

The step of "receiving all the grace of the universe" . . .
to be followed by . . .
the step of "working to contribute."




In this generosity-building exercise, the steps may be worked in any order. Improving on one seems to also build on all the others. First comes: 1. finding courage, 2. loving self, 3. communicating freely. Thanks for this forum!

Thanks to commentors about a community class on gardening-without-work. I found playing with "musical" garden beds a breeze this spring. Compost, farmers' "ag lime," (from Prairie Material Sales), and weeds were built into a long, tall mound, piled over unturned sod. Later tucked-in seeds, from scraps of various spent-melon, must have liked the mound and the music, as they soon fanned out in a green display, and were followed by their offerings: "smooth" golden taste sensations. Now the receipt of "All that grace" opens door to the Full greater good.


Thanks mounds,

» »
» You should find good basic info here at the website to inform and inspire
» you to begin your own remineralization work and to share the concept and
» various action steps with others in and out of classroom environments.
» Yes Nature usually remineralizes the temperate zones with mixed river
» and/or glacial gravels or equivalent (such as more finely-ground loess
» blown around your Midwest regions), so any gravel pit or quarry working
» mixed rock deposits could prove to be a 'backyard gold mine' for you and
» your hungry soil microorganisms. If a quarry is going deep into veins of
» uncommon heavy metal ores or exposed lead or uranium then they could be
» producing potentially toxic rock or dust. Best to ask them what they are
» working and if there is any chance of high lead, cadmium, copper,
» aluminum, uranium, etc. That kind of situation would be very rare and I've
» never heard of it happening with anyone since Julius Hensel started the
» 'modern-day' remineralization movement by writing BREAD FROM STONES in
» late 1800s. Alluvial or glacial moraine/gravel/sand/dust deposits are what
» Nature has been using to produce the world's most fertile soils for a long
» time, and such natural rock mixtures are not known to be healthful for
» soil organisms and thus critical to all soil-dependent organisms including
» us.
»
» Well drillers dust might be good, but again, I'd suggest trying to learn
» what kinds of rocks are being penetrated to allay your concern they'd be
» anything but beneficial. Local geologists or the US Geological Survey
» might help, or library books or online info. Some limestone in the rock
» mix is fine, but you're right to understand that broad-spectrum soil
» remineralization tries for complete mineral fertilization rather than
» partial as "liming" the soil accomplishes. It is a time for completeness,
» wholeness, comprehensivity hence possible regeneration, survival, and
» 'thrival.' If we help Nature thrive, She will nourish us to thrive, but of
» course it will take more generosity than our species has shown over past
» millenia. How do you teach generosity in the classroom? There is a
» challenge for you. Perhaps you need to have first shown it to Nature then
» you will become a generosity "expert." Good luck and skill! Please let us
» know how it goes... ~Don

P.S.— To correct a typo in the last sentence of my first paragraph, it should read "...natural rock mixtures are now known to be healthful for soil organisms..."