Fritz Springmeier Cites Poor Conditions
February 14, 2011
Editor's Note: In a letter to Henry Makow dated Feb. 2, Fritz writes that he still does not know why he was re-arrested on January 12. He is told only that he is "under investigation." He still hopes and believes his release date will remain March 26. "I was not doing anything illegal, nor was i doing anything wrong, so all I can do is speculate about what pretext was used to arrest me."Fritz is "trying to make the best of the situation. it's difficult ...when you're locked up 20 hours a day,not to mention poor living conditions and marginally nutritional food. It is what it is. Prison is prison. I've done it before and I'm able to do it again. At the moment I know basically nothing about what is happening in my situation. My current address is:
Fritz Springmeier Reg No. 65941-065
Federal detention center
P.O. 6000
Sheridan, OR 97378
Here is an article written by Fritz, and passed along to me by his wife, Patty on Jan 28.
Spoiled Soil
Why have degenerative diseases that were rare centuries ago, now skyrocketing in numbers?
In 1975, after two years at West Point, I turned my life in a different direction, joining the old order Amish; one of the reasons was to see if I could learn what had gone wrong with modern America. If one could turn the clock back and examine where things used to be, then perhaps clues would surface where America had deviated towards the wrong direction.
And, indeed, I did discover places where America had taken a wrong turn; one being, for instance, early in the 20th century to follow the world media's propaganda that commercial chemical fertilizers were superior to the manures (organic excreta) that farmers had successfully used for millennia.
The Amish and some Mennonites, already aware of the world's propaganda didn't buy the lie. The Amish farmers lovingly care for their soil, knowing how soil is important to life. They were not alone in resisting the chemical corporation propaganda. The British soil researcher, Sir Albert Howard, during WWI, began publicly warning about chemical fertilizers; and much later, authored books warning about the health dangers of commercial synthetic fertilizers.
An American soil expert, Dr. William Albrecht, of the University of Missouri, who applied his extensive background and research into soil to warn the public about commercial chemical fertilizers, in turn, followed Howard. He warned that they contributed to degenerative disease.
Other informed people stepped up to warn about chemical fertilizers. Jack Doyle wrote "Altered Harvest", and Rachel Carson wrote "Silent Spring". Then, the woman who uncovered how American industry, beginning in WWII, began re-labeling all kinds of toxic waste and selling it as fertilizer, wrote "Toxic Harvest". Her book is an important read--albeit, very upsetting to know that for 70 years and still ongoing, known toxic waste is being mislabeled and foisted on unsuspecting farmers as fertilizer. Greed and lack of concern for others has dominated policy. What would one expect from the same people who brought us WWI, it's chemical warfare and such time bombs as DDT, when better alternatives existed?
So, we were warned, and unfortunately, although not everyone bought the media hype about chemical fertilizer, most did. Fortunately, during my time as an Amish man, I got to see some good examples.
What one wants to achieve, is to take compost and manure and artfully enhance soil organisms (microbes, bacteria, fungi and earthworms) to metabolize the organic material to build up the humus value. Certain combinations and certain additives can help. One intelligent Amish farmer that I worked for made an enduring impression on me when he explained that the best art of doing this has been lost.
In the early 70's, a group of 30 Amish families moved by train from Adams Co. Indiana to Seymour, MO, where farmland sold, from between, $5 to $25, an acre. It was considered more or less worthless by local farmers. The Amish planted plants with deep, strong roots to break up the hard rocky ground. Then, layered it with saw dust soaked with chicken manure. What had been wasteland was converted to fine farmland. They did it by increasing the humus--and not with commercial fertilizer. Each Amish farm was equipped with a long chicken house to insure a constant supply of high quality manure for their land.
I have seen that chemical fertilizers don't restore the soil. They'll stimulate plant growth, but not the humus content of the soil. The plant's physical appearance is improved, but its nutritional value isn't. Poor soil leads to crops of poor nutritional value. Soil is important to life.
But the systemic breakdowns causing poor nutrition are the result of over-dependence on the world's mass media for the truth. The public's trust is so strong that most people continue to poison themselves and their land, year after year. When will we think for ourselves, and quit eating the lies??
Kate said (February 15, 2011):
Dear Henry, are you familiar with Masanobu Fukuokas book The One Straw Revolution? It's a wonderful book detailing his method of farming which he named "natural agriculture". A woman called Emilia Hazelip modified his methods somewhat to produce her system which she referred to as "synergistic agriculture".
While Fukuokas methods were developed for his climate in Japan and for grain production, Emilia developed her synergistic agriculture for western climates and for market gardening. Her raised bed method increases soil fertility by allowing the natural life processes of the plants, bacteria and earth worms to occur without interference.
You can see Emilia at work in a 1 acre synergistic garden in this video
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7A1B122A33F8059E
The One Straw Revolution is still in print and is also viewable at Scribd
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45036025/One-Straw
Please pass these resources on to your readers if you feel that they would be helpful.