Ecology Action: Self Teaching Course

Introduction to the Self-Teaching Course

The roots of biologically-intensive food raising date back 5,000 years in Africa, 4,000 years in Asia, 1,000 years in Latin America and at least 300 years in Europe. As mentioned above, the techniques involved have the potential to grow farmable soil up to 60 times faster than occurs in nature while producing higher yields, conserving resources and using only open-pollinated seeds, which can be locally grown, thus reducing farm dependence on commercial seed producers.

Ecology Action's goal is to enable as many people as possible, in all the food-growing climates and soils around the world, to begin growing food and soil with a scientifically tested, biologically-intensive, organic food raising approach: the GROW BIOINTENSIVE® method.

Since more and more people around the world have some sort of access to the internet, and given today's food and resource challenges, and a world economy of increasing expenses where food and resources are concerned -- we've been wanting to add a self-teaching section on our website. We wanted it to include a simple, easy-to-use description of how to perform the fundamentals of GROW BIOINTENSIVE Sustainable Mini-Farming as a free, downloadable PDF that we could translate into as many languages and dialects as possible: a "How-To" publication that could help make low-cost, effective, locally available living process food-raising achievable.

Lucky for all of us, Margo Royer-Miller, a former Ecology Action Apprentice and Field Coordinator, was eager to write this manual. Over a period of two years she wrote and refined this publication, using her special teaching and writing gifts. Margo's goals included trying to make sure she gave more than just technical information. She wanted attentive readers to be able to glean a deeper understanding of the goals and foundations behind the techniques and principles, so that each person can make choices in the garden that will positively affect the system and uphold the integrity of the method. Since all of us learn and understand differently, Margo explains the concepts of the GROW BIOINTENSIVE basics using concrete and abstract examples that will enable a wide range of people to use and absorb the information.

The result is a free, downloadable a handbook for you to treasure, evolve for your mini-ecosystem and enjoy!!

Biointensive Self-Teaching Handbook

Click here to download the free PDF version of the Biointensive Self-Teaching Handbook by Margo Royer-Miller:

A Farmer’s Mini-Handbook:
GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming (~12MB PDF)*

Farmers's Handbook in Russian (~4MB)

Farmers's Handbook in Spanish (~3MB)

Or click a link below to view the different units online.


Introduction to the Handbook	Unit 1: Deep Soil Preparation	Unit 2: Composting

Unit 3: Intensive Planting	Unit 4: Companion Planting	Unit 5: Carbon Farming

Unit 6: Calorie Farming	Unit 7: Open-Pollinated Seeds	Unit 8: Whole System Method

*© 2010 Ecology Action. All Rights Reserved. The Farmer's Mini-Handbook... is provided free of charge to individuals by Ecology Action in order to help increase the number of people who know how to grow their own food using the efficient and earth-friendly GROW BIOINTENSIVE® method of farming. You have permission to print and distribute exact copies of the The Farmer's Mini-Handbook... in its entirety only if you do so without charge to the recipients and you preserve the integrity of the work. Permission to use excerpts from the handbook, or use of any of the component portions of the material, such as text or images, for other purposes or in other works must be obtained in writing, in advance of use or publication, from Ecology Action. No permission is granted for any other use, in any other medium, or of any other rights. Without limitation, permission to translate must be obtained from Ecology Action. Thank you!

GROW BIOINTENSIVE: A Beginner's Guide

Currently playing online:
Session 1: Introduction
Session 2: Growing Seedlings
Session 3, Part 1: Garden Bed Preparation
Session 3, Part 2: Garden Bed Preparation
Session 4: Transplanting
Session 5, Parts A and B: Composting
Session 6, Part A: Harvesting
Session 6, Part B: Harvesting
Session 7: Seeds
Session 8, Part A: Choosing Your Crops
Session 8, Part B: Choosing Your Crops
NEW! Session 9: Maintaining Your Garden

A brand-new self-teaching series!

Episode 1: Introduction

New episodes will be uploaded each week for you to watch at:
www. johnjeavons.info

Currently playing online: Session 1: Introduction
Session 2: Growing Seedlings
Session 3, Part 1: Garden Bed Preparation
Session 3, Part 1: Garden Bed Preparation
Session 4: Transplanting
Session 5, Parts A and B: Composting
Session 6, Part A: Harvesting
Session 6, Part B: Harvesting
Session 7: Seeds
Session 8, Part A: Choosing Your Crops
Session 8, Part B: Choosing Your Crops
NEW: Session 9: Maintaining Your Garden

Thanks to John Jeavons and Cynthia Raiser Jeavons for making this wonderful series available online! The full-length series is also available on DVD and as a gift pack with How to Grow More Vegetables from www.johnjeavons.info

Teach Yourself the Basics