I started learning about organic growing in the 1960's when my children were born and I thought that "conventional" gardening was causing major environmental problems that would affect the health of those children. All of my posts are the result of first hand experience, studying organic growing, and personal experience. If I write about it
I have done it.
I started learning about gardening in the 1950's when neighbors took me under their wings and taught me about growing plants. I had an uncle, a real farmer, who also taught me about large scale farming (as done in the 1950's) a farmer that used horses for farm work, did not have electricity until the mid 1950's. I can remember when he got his first John Deere.
Unfortunately today I can no longer actively garden due to COPD, Emphysema, Asthma, Allergies, chronic bronchitis, which put severe limitations on what I can do so the garden is now reverting to nature.
I have studied Howard, Balfour, Sykes, Wickenden, the Nearings, Hunter, Commoner, Carson, and many others. I have made compost in garbage cans and in piles that were 6 feet wide, 6 feet tall , and 45 feet long as well as the more conventional 4 x 4 x 4 bins. I completed all the requirements for Master Gardener in 2001 and for Advanced Master Gardener in 2003. I correspond with organic growers all over the world as well as in the
USA.
All of this information has been posted here over the years, since sometime in the 1990's. Contrary to what some here think I am still learning although the basics remain the basics.

Very nice to hear about your background, kimmsr. Thanks for always sharing what you have learned.
And thanks to mrclint for asking.

But it's too sad that you can't garden anymore -- not even one of those raised garden boxes that self waters if you fill the bottom reservoir? Just to have something growing? They do make an organic version. If you ask for it for Christmas I bet Santa would deliver.

As to why there are never any photos of some of our gardens: tech-challenged.

Thanks kimmsr, understanding your back story helps a lot. Sorry to hear about your condition and the condition of your garden. I have no experience with either situation so I cannot speak to them directly.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times

kimmsr, I appreciate all the trouble you take to answer questions on the various forums. I know it takes quite a bit of time to formulate your articulate responses. It would take me a lot of patience to act as you do and keep answering the same questions over the years. You have a lot of patience and perseverance. Thanks for your substantial contributions. You are definitely one of the reasons I participate on the forums.
Renais

When daughter was just toddling she was "helping" me plant some stuff and I dug up an earthworm which she picked up. I noticed that earthworm was not as healthy looking as I remembered from my youth and determined to find out why and that is when I really started looking into organic growing. That was also about the time I was reading Silent Spring and becoming more interested in the environment.
Today, being outside and exposed to pollens, molds, mildews, and any number of other scents most people find pleasant can trigger an Asthma attack. The smell of freshly cut grass will do that as will many perfumes and colognes. Even light exertion will cause me such a shortage of breath that I need to sit and rest for quite some time.
The Emphysema is the result of a genetic deficiency, Dad di not give me the gene that tells my liver to make the Alpha1 Antitrypsin enzyme that protects healthy cells in the liver and lungs from attack by the white cells that fight infections.

Kimm, sorry to hear about the severity of your condition. However, thanks for mentioning it because I had never heard of this type of thing being heritable, and the possibility of a genetic cause is interesting to me because I have had inexplicable problems with respiratory myself.

I am going to get tested for it asap.

I absolutely despise all perfumes, colognes, and especially the laundry sheets people add to their dryer and then blast the stench all over the neighborhood. I wish there was more info out there letting people know that for some of us, it prevents breathing.

For anyone having unexplained problems with lungs/cough/brochitis, etc -- just as as experiment, try drinking a tsp. of apple cider vinegar in a 1/4 glass of water to see if it helps. This remedy has totally changed life for 5 people in my family this year, as it turns out that the "chronic bronchitis" was actually coming from the stomach, and the vinegar fixed it (for some, after 40 years of daily coughing and all the medical tests in the world)

Mr. Brown, if you have trouble getting the test both the
University of South Carolina and the University of Florida do that test, for free.

Here is a link that might be useful: Testing for Alpha1 deficiency

Kimmsr,

I've been reading a lot of old threads and I think it's the 1st time you write about yourself. I do appreciate it, it sort of gives you a more human appearance with some sort of thickness.

I've always appreciated that you're a die hard organic grower, because I'm also a fundamentalist when it comes to not using synthetic chemicals, whether in gardens or in homes. You're right Elisa, what is with this need of putting all those synthetic smells everywhere ?

Kimmsr, I'm so sorry that you're prevented to do what you love to do nowadays, and I'm real grateful that you take the time to repeat again and again the same advices, although always worded differently.

Also, you were the one who introduced me to the importance of worms. With your last paragraph about the number of worms when digging, I realised last year I had just moved into a desert of a garden. Some bermuda on compacted clay and that was it. I did what you said. I added OM, a lot. Nothing went out, no grass clippings, no weeds, nothing. Manure went in (still is). And you know what ? Last year I had not one worm. I dug huge holes : only clay, no worm. And last week end, I dug a very little hole : I had to dig it by hand because of the numerous worms that I didn't want to hurt. And it was in the clay, not even under a compost pile !

So yes, your advices are pretty good, worth listened to, and worth repeating.

Worms and me thank you, Kimmsr ! Keep enlightening us !

Elisa, someone else was telling me about the vinegar thing for breathing problems as well. Idea in that case being that it kills fungal lung infection. However I have read that in the normal course of things a fungal respiratory infection is only possible if a person's immune system is severely compromised.

One of the things I appreciate about GardenWeb is that there are a fair number of experienced growers who take the time to help out with their experience. kimmsr is a prime example of one generation helping out future generations with wisdom that would be difficult to distill from something like a web search. I know that in another set of forums I frequent, he is periodically quoted as people try for strict organic cultivation methods. In my personal growing, I am not as strict as kimmsr, but I still glean lots of info from his posts. Thanks again, kimmsr!
Renais

Hey Kimmsr and Pn, sorry to hear about that for both of you. I also have dealt with respiratory issues. One thing I have discovered is the importance of a good healthy population of probiotics cultures in the gut much like a healthy soil full of beneficial microbes. I have also developed an herbal tea blend which has had very good results for myself and others even when they just take the pared down version. Basically it is 50% dried ginger root, 50% fenugreek seeds, and just a sprinkle of thyme. It will really warm you up too on a chilly day.

I appreciate those positive comments very much.

At this point my asthmatic condition (if it is that) is not much of a physical impact. I can run a couple of miles, do jumping-jacks, dig holes, etc. It's more of an annoyance, though significant at times. It bugs me most when trying to relax. There is evidence in my family that it has a genetic component, which is why Kimm's mention of that genetic condition is quite interesting.

Yes, I eat a lot of lacto-fermented vegetables, miso, etc. Also a lot of turmeric and ginger. It would be hard to improve much on my diet other than to 100% eliminate all types of sugar. With my diet and lifestyle I should live to be 100 but the asthma thing makes me think it will be much shorter than that.

Se la vie.

I hear ya pn. I would be hard pressed to eat any healthier too except becoming more of a locavore, which I seem to recall you do pretty well. I am taking significant steps in that direction starting with my own back yard. I have done quite a lot in the short time we have lived at this location.