Eggshell

We currently have a problem of how to get slaked lime in an enough amount for almost about 15,000 projected members of the Pasundan Farmers Association (SPP) in Ciamis district. Why only now? Because so far, as we were ignorant of organic farming, we have never used limestone to fill our tilled land to stabilize the pH of the soil. As a result our land is very acidic, made worse by the introduction of chemical fertilizers.

Java's land is generally known to have up to 5 to 4 pH scale. It is no good for plants to grow. People have mostly replaced limestone and compost with different chemical agricultural inputs.

It seems it is nowhere to find limestone. We have checked out several existing limestone minings like in Tasikmalaya district, W. Java, but to no avail. They have closed down in the last years. Unfortunate. May be for they lost under the hegemony of chemical inputs.

The limestones are there, however, and we have yet to find grinding machines considering that we need a quite large quantity and how to carry them to our land. Recycled machines would be best these days. Each hectare of tilled land would need about 400 kilos of ground limestone.

Limestone would definitely be more difficult to find in big towns or cities like Jakarta. Formerly people used burned limestone for construction that you may find it easy at neighboring building materials stores. But now they use more of cements and ignore limestone.

Our friends in Jakarta use eggshell to replace limestone. In fact, eggshell contains 97 percent of calcium carbonate that compost making needs. Where does he find quite amount of eggshell? Yes, they have if you ask ambulant vendors of fried rice in Jakarta. Ask them whenever they almost go home mostly after midnight.

Yet you have to grind them in advance. Stone mortar is good. Why not.

In addition, the eggshell still has protein like covering in the inside part. Supposedly it will enrich you compost. The explanation of Dr. Ken W. Koelkebeck of the Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois on eggshell is indeed very helpful to make us understand what is in eggshell.

You may also use eggshell to create mosaic. See what soopahgrover has made. Very cute.