There is a lot talked about and written about the secrets to good soil. Are there really secrets ? Soil isn't trying to hide anything from us. Its all there, all the time just doing what it does. It doesn't really care what you know or don't know. What is important is that you want to use it so you can grow good, strong ,healthy plants in it without trying to harm it and kill it. Intentions are important because consequences, good or bad are a given. It is important that I am aware that I am borrowing a place in time upon which to make a momentary impression. I should do everything I can to keep this "borrowed" space as balanced and healthy as possible for future use. I am able to come, go, leave if I wish, soil and it's living, breathing community do not have this option. What I do to this place will affect what comes after me. I am only one, the community of soil contains countless living, breathing, functioning organisms. Soil is the "skin" of the earth and a sensitive, delicate one at that. It is a living mantle that inspires and exhales just as y
At the market when we are selling our vegetables we often get told that the customer is impressed with how long it keeps once they have it at home and how intensely good the vegetables taste. How do we do it ? Is there a secret ? I have said this before and will say it again. Food crops are the high maintenance plants of the plant kingdom. Seeds have been bred and hybridized to the point of being unrecognizable from their original source. Once seeded and planted these crops are over indulged with fertilizers, sprayed with herbicides and fungicides so that the plants really don't have to do anything on their own to survive. Here at the farm the vegetables and fruits have to cope in an environment that forces them to adapt and play a role in their own survival. They compete with weeds, insects, weather and neglect on our part. Its impossible, no matter how hard we try to get to everything all the time, on time. The beauty and perhaps the secret is that the plants grow in spite of it and are hardier and more robust because of it.
The next step is that when we are able to save seeds from these plants we are actually creating future plants that develop chemical signals to better cope in the natural environment. They will store this information in the seeds we collect. Soil and seed will collaborate and create the proper environment for growth.
I like to use the analogy of a walk in the forest. I haven't met anyone taking a walk through a natural forest who wants to start cleaning it up and organizing it into straight, organized rows and such. Most of us come away in awe and admiration for these beautiful spaces. Forests don't need us to keep them healthy and vibrant. These environments are living examples of how nature looks after itself. Everything in nature has a role and a purpose. The trees, plants, animals, insects, the water, the rocks, the fungi, everything helps to ensure that the cycle of life continues. We need to take a little more of this example back into our own man made environments. Create an environment in our yards and gardens that allows nature to do more of the work for us. The soil will re balance itself if you let it. Plants will grow and be healthier and more robust.
You don't need to be a scientist to understand soils and agriculture. You need to get back to basics and common sense. You need to just look and observe our natural environments and keep being reminded that we should and could adopt a much more "HANDS OFF" approach to our yards and gardens.
Soils take a long, long time to create. It only takes moments to destroy and kill. A teaspoon of natural, healthy soil is teeming with more life and incredible interactions than you can even begin to imagine ! It is a most magnificent example of co-operation and adaptability. It is able to morph and create within itself limitless possibilities. Soil is endlessly fascinating and magic and that is how I want to see it being looked at.
In many ways our ancient ancestors were at an advantage. Everything not understood was "magic" and therefore honoured and celebrated. They didn't understand the why and how of things but they instinctively understood that they were at the mercy of it and depended on it to feed, clothe, house and protect them. They knew to stay away and keep away from the parts of nature that were simply "greater" than anything they could be.
I know that I cannot make the world what is was forever ago or even yesterday but I can keep exposing myself to nature and let her remind me to be conscious of my footprint and how I move through this world on a daily basis. I make sure I don't close my eyes to the horrid examples of what is being done to the planet. The pain I feel seers through me and I cry and rage and that is a good thing because it keeps me raw and passionate and fighting for kinder, gentler ways to live on the land and share the planet. There is also the incredible beauty of all life and nature that overflows my senses with awe and love.
I have seen firsthand how working the land and physically immersing yourself with the soil and plants influences the mind and spirit. Not only for myself but the hundreds of people who have come and worked on the farm over the past 15 + years. It manifests itself into a more compassionate, thoughtful, mindful human being. I say this with the utmost confidence. The experience becomes a part of you and the 5 volumes of testimonials written by our farm stays are proof of it.
Soil is epic ! Lets take care of it !
