Essence of Life

Rock Dust Fertilizer

Contents

Human Health Begins in the Soil

In the Beginning ...

Benefits of Rock Dust

Guaranteed Mineral Analysis

Usage – Home and Garden

Agricultural Plan

Availability

Articles

Q&A

Newsletter Notes

Testimonials

Human Health Begins in the Soil

We all know that life starts from a tiny seed. Where does that life originate? It starts in the soil. Soil is teeming with life; healthy soil is rich and fertile. However, rather than working with that life we tend to work against it. We often take the life, the nutrients, from the soil and don’t return them. We are working against Nature rather than with her. We are the ones that suffer as a result.

With every crop we take the inherent life-giving nutrients from the soil. As an example, a corn crop removes 200 lbs of minerals (not including NPK) from your soil every year. These nutrients are essential in quality and quantity for crop development. Then to make up for the lost nutrients we pour on increasingly more fertilizers to make up for the loss. Often these fertilizers are hazardous to the life in the soil, not to mention our own health! While yields may increase we are doing little for the health of our soil or our bodies. With Rock Dust we can eliminate that life-depleting process and start a program that builds life and nutrients into our soil, our crops and our lives.

Rock Dust can be incorporated into a series of sensible steps that you can take to rebuild your soil and increase your crop yields. There is no set process for every situation so you will want to talk to others or experiment to see what works best for you.

There is a difference between soil and dirt. Soil is a living, breathing organism filled with microbial life, organisms and organic matter that all work in a complex web, producing life. Your seed uses all of these, but it is very common for products to damage the life in your soil. Rock Dust Fertilizer is not only safe for the life in your soil, but it feeds that life- promoting growth and self-sustainability.

The mineral is a highly-metamorphosed, fresh-water evaporate of the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian geologic transition period. It is approximately 30% water-soluble in the first hour, the balance becoming available during the normal crop season. Rock Dust is a natural time-released fertilizer.

Nature is complex . . . did you know there are over 100 pair-wise combinations of nutrient ratios? One nutrient cannot work without the other, and the ratios have to be kept in a certain range. While you may be tempted to look at a soil test and determine what mineral your soil needs, you must remember Nature’s balance and instead of trying to ‘prescription a crop into balance,’ eliminate that type of complicated procedure and use the simple approach of adding Nature’s Rock Dust which will provide the balance your soil needs. It doesn’t have to be difficult.

In the Beginning

While hiking in the Rockies back in 1947, a man found an interesting-looking rock and placed it in one of his tomato pots; two weeks later that tomato was twice the size of the others. The mineral basin from which that rock was found dates back to over 250 million years, and that 250+ million-year process cannot be duplicated by humans today.

Back then the environment in the Rockies was much different . . . the atmosphere, the sediments and the oceans were changing. In those primordial times vast amounts of sediments accumulated in evaporative basins, and great rain forests formed around their boundaries. Over a period of time the climate changed from tropical to arid and the rain forests died out, forming more sediment, and the oceans advanced, flooding the basins. This cycle repeated itself 14 times! Life was abundant on the Earth. The waters were rich in dissolved minerals, the soil rich in microorganisms, and the plants rich in nutrients. No man-made chemicals existed then . . . only the wealth of nature.

As the ancestral Rockies eroded away, their sediments buried the terrain, accumulating depths up to 30,000 ft. The pressure and temperature caused the rocks to become molten, pushing their way to the surface. The Rocky Mountains were born. Faults, shifts and erosion exposed the current Rockies.

The Rock Dust deposit was spared from melting or eroding away. Deep within the Earth's crust, magma covered the mineral basin, protecting it, as the mountains rose. The granite cover protected the basin from erosion and other environmental factors, but other forces were at work. As ground water percolated down to a great fault next to the mineral basin it turned to super-heated steam, cooking all around it. With the protective cover over the basin and the rising steam, the basin became a gigantic "crock pot," cooking the minerals for over 20,000 years and altering the deposit to something new and much different than the original . . . the Rock Dust mineral deposit was formed!

The Rock Dust mine contains about 1.8 million tons of ore and sits on top of one of the hottest geothermal zones in the state of Colorado and, in fact, the Rock Dust minerals are still cooking!

Benefits of Rock Dust

- Rock Dust, along with water and sunlight, provides a solid foundation of minerals to build upon. All plants need these minerals.

- Rock Dust can be applied any time of year with good results.

- The minerals are directly available to your plants.

What this means is that instead of waiting 2-200 years (about average time for most amendments on today's market), the minerals in Rock Dust have been proven to be taken up directly by the plant: usually showing results in 30-60 days. This encourages immediate results all while building a fertile foundation in your soil. One product feeding both your plants and your soil will give you visible results during the regular growing season in the form of increased plant vigor, a larger root system, increased drought resistance, increased chlorophyll, higher protein in grains and hay, larger grain heads, better flavor in fruit and vegetables, higher yields and better soil tilth.

- Rock Dust minerals do not leach from the soil.

- Rock Dust is size-compatible with current fertilizer spreaders (-8+12 mesh), weighing approximately 84lbs/cu ft in granular form.

- Rock Dust is granulated and easy to apply with a standard spreader or air seeder and can be applied while seeding.

- The average agricultural application rate is only is 250 lbs / acre.

- Rock Dust supplies pH-tolerable minerals. Rock Dust will work no matter your soil pH. If you have an 8.4 pH or if you have 6.2, the minerals are still available. They are always available for any condition.

- The binding agent in Rock Dust acts as an additional growth agent for microbial life.

- Reduce the need for chemical fertilizers. When a crop is provided a solid mineral foundation, it’s possible to reduce chemical fertilization by 1/3 to ½, depending on your needs. You may also reduce pesticides or herbicides once other sustainable practices are utilized in conjunction with a solid mineral foundation. Remember, weeds are barometers for your soil. If your soil is balanced you will have a noticeable reduction in unwanted influences.

- Reduces NPK Needs

Rock Dust ensures that your crops utilize NPK more effectively, making it is possible to reduce your NPK requirements by usually 1/3 to 1/2 within the first year!

- Contains no animal by-products, it is non-toxic (LD50>4gms/kg), non-corrosive, 100% safe and natural.

Guaranteed Mineral Analysis

Minimum Guaranteed Analysis of Plant Available Minerals

Usage - Home & Garden

One Cup of Rock Dust is equal to 13.7 oz. (0.85lbs)

Gardens: Apply one pound for every 100 square feet. Scratch or water in.

House Plants: Apply one teaspoon for every 2-inches of container diameter.

Trees: Apply at the rate of 6oz. per inch of tree diameter around the drip line of the tree, scratch or water in.

Turf and Lawn: Apply at 7-8 lbs per 1000 square feet. Scratch or water in.

Rate of application:

1 level handful per perennial plant

½ cup per 1 - 5 gallon-sized shrub or rose

6 heaping cups (5 lbs. per 100 sq. ft. of bed area)

Agricultural Plan

If you are interested in using Rock Dust Fertilizer for agricultural use, please contact our office. We will work with you on it.

Availability

Rock Dust is available in the US in 6 lb., 14.5 lb and 25 lb. quantities.

In Australia, it is available in quantities of 2, 4 and 6 lbs.

Articles

Things Grow Good with Rock Dust

Whether you are growing plants in pots, plants as part of your landscaping or growing food . . . Rock Dust mineral-rich fertilizer is an important component for healthy, nutrient-rich soil. David knows first-hand how well the Rock Dust enhances the soil for his gardens.

The Importance of Trace Minerals

Trace minerals increase the productivity and the quality of the soil and increase the health of plants. Food plants grown on re-mineralized soil are of the optimum value in human nutrition. Re-mineralized soil enhances the activity of micro-organisms and has an excellent structure, retains water, resists drought and extremes of temperature, helps to prevent erosion and neutralizes toxicity due to acid rain and pesticides.

Plants grown on re-mineralized soil are vigorous, healthy and resistant to disease and insect infestation. There is greater plant uniformity and larger root mass. Maximum growth is obtained, quality and flavor of food plants is enhanced and full nutrient value is realized.

Rock Dust comes from a unique, ancient mineral deposit and has been used and studied on all types of farms for many years. Where Rock Dust has been used, micro biotic life increases dramatically. There is also an increase in organic matter and an improvement in soil structure.

Rock Dust Applications

Dig Essence of Life Rock Dust into the soil at planting time and broadcast on top of the soil around established plants every year or two in the fall. Use it on all types of ornamental and edible plants. Xeric plants such as cacti, succulents, native shrubs, Penstemon and other wildflowers are particularly responsive when fertilized with Rock Dust.

One cup of Rock Dust is equal to 13.7 oz. (0.85 lbs.).

Gardens

Apply one pound for every 100 square feet. Scratch or water in.

House Plants

Apply one teaspoon for every 2 inches of container diameter.

Trees

Apply at the rate of 6 oz. per inch of tree diameter around the drip line of the tree. Scratch or water in.

Turf and Lawn

Apply at 7-8 lbs. per 1,000 square feet. Scratch or water in.

Work thoroughly into the soil at planting time along with other building ingredients (compost, etc.) Application is also recommended in spring and fall (rate may be doubled in fall.)

Rates are as follow.

1 level handful per perennial plant

½ cup per 1 - 5 gallon-sized shrub or rose

6 heaping cups (5 lbs. per 100 sq. ft. of bed area)

To be completely honest, David also uses the Prill Bead Garden Filter on his watering hoses.

Rock Dust and Your Food

In Denie Hiestand's book, Electrical Nutrition, is a quote by the US government in 1936 on the lack of minerals in our soils.

The alarming fact is that foods (fruits, vegetables and grains) now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain minerals are starving us -- no matter how much we eat. No man of today can eat enough fruits and vegetables to supply his system with the minerals he requires for perfect health because his stomach isn't big enough to hold them.

The truth is that our foods vary enormously in value, and some of them aren't worth eating as food. Our physical well-being is more directly dependent upon the minerals we take into our system than upon calories or vitamins or upon the precise proportions of starch, protein or carbohydrates we consume.

That was in 1936!

If you grow your own food, be sure you're using something such as Rock Dust to re-mineralize your soil. If you are eating food from some other source, be sure you use a good mineral supplement such as Humic Fulvic Minerals. (It goes without saying to always wash your fresh produce before eating, even if it's organic, doesn't it?)

Q&A

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Newsletter Notes

- I am starting to pick corn from the first planting and what a treat that is. The variety is called Silver Queen, and it is particularly suited for south Texas. I tried boiling one ear earlier this week, but it is just not as good as standing in the garden and eating it fresh off the stalk. The corn is almost eight feet high now, but the giant Russian sunflower plants are even taller and are just now starting to form flowers. I raised the sunflowers from seed and it is simply dazzling to me to see a plant grow to such a massive size in only a few weeks. The stalk is almost three inches in diameter and all of that from a garden bed that is only six inches deep. That is the magic of Square-Foot Gardening and Rock Dust . . . well, maybe the worm poo helped too (grins.)

- In the main garden eight of the thirteen raised beds have been planted. Two of the four beds along the fences have been planted but one of those is the asparagus bed that was in place from last year and will not have to be replanted for another fifteen or twenty years. I hope I last as long as that bed does (grins.) If you decide to start a home garden, don't forget about the Rock Dust we offer . . . a little bit goes a very long way and it makes plants grow so robustly, you will feel like you are cheating.

As I work with each bed, I scratch in a generous application of Rock Dust and worm poo (otherwise known as worm castings.) That process is labor intense but I believe it will be well worth the effort. It seems to me that everything I have planted so far is much more robust than last year. Surely, the Rock Dust and the worm poo are helping but I also think that the Square Foot Gardening soil mix from last year is starting to "mature." What that means to me is that the high organic composition of the mix is starting to breakdown into compost, thus delivering more of the important nutrients to the plants.

- So far, I am stunned with how well things are growing this year. I think the Square Foot Gardening soil is getting "seasoned" after a full year and lots of the organic matter is starting to compost. I am sure that adding Rock Dust and some worm castings to each bed is helping too. Speaking of Rock Dust, Tori included an excellent article about it for your consideration. A little bit of Rock Dust goes a very long way and, trust me; you are going to be thrilled with the way your plants respond. Small garden, big garden, flower beds, or flower pots -- try it, you will like it -- we guarantee that. We put a generous application of Rock Dust to most of our 200 trees last year and we can certainly see the results now.

Testimonials

- I love the way my fig and citrus trees have responded to Rock Dust. Blossoms for the first time ever and the foliage is such a healthy green. Unknown

Thanks for your feedback on the Rock Dust. I am also having a huge response with my fig trees. I have noticed a bit of a delayed reaction with larger trees -- like all of my oak trees. But now the response is huge . . . some of the oaks are growing so fast they have what almost looks like 'stretch marks' from growing so rapidly. I experienced that once before, about 20 years ago, when I was having a commercial lawn service feed my lawn every two months. At that property, I only had 20 oak trees, but feeding the grass also provided food to the trees and they quickly had 'stretch marks' and grew faster than any other oaks in the neighborhood. D.