Spend enough time typing about farming on a modern computer or phone and sooner or later you’ll find that the word “soil” sometimes gets automatically “corrected” to the word “soul.” The small amount of annoyance is quickly overcome by the happy realization that there’s some real irony here.
My personal beliefs lead me to maintain a strict distinction between the Creator and the creation — only the former is to be worshiped. Yet the latter was made good — originally, at least — and despite its present brokenness as a result of human actions, the earth remains something that is incredibly important and that needs to be nurtured and protected.
In other words, I don’t believe that the soil is actually part of my soul. I prefer to reserve the word “righteous” for spiritual matters. But just as the soul is vital to our entire beings and needs to be cared for and fed — we don’t live by bread alone — so the soil must be actively safeguarded and cultivated. It is a common resource that deserves our utmost concern — even if it doesn’t rise to the level of eternal importance.
How exactly to fulfill this mission, though, becomes a difficult question. If I were operating a large-scale vegetable or row-crop operation I’m fairly certain I know what I would do: I would hire a consultant, do sap testing every other week and follow the consultant’s recommendations for biological amendments, fertigation and foliar application.
On a 10-acre homestead with a quarter acre of vegetables and a couple hundred fruit, nut and berry trees/shrubs, though, my approach can’t be as scientific (as much as the engineer in me would like it to be). I firmly believe in the importance of soil balancing, but I’m also placing a lot of hope in eventually being able to nurture enough biology to overcome minor chemical imbalances. I’m blessed with sandy loam and a soil test that didn’t indicate any excesses — both great starting points. I am applying purchased liquid macro- and micronutrients in the first few years — along with biological amendments, plenty of molasses to feed the biology, neem oil for insect control and some paramagnetic rock dust — in order to get things going.
Long term, however, my goal is to create enough biology and home-grown amendments to eliminate purchased products. I have faith that the life in my soil will be able to maintain healthy plants and healthy people.
Soil health has perhaps been the key theme of this magazine over the years. We continue that tradition in this issue. Dennis Perz explains how soil health practices revitalized his Texas pecan orchard. Judith Fitzpatrick describes farming methods that are more and less friendly to the microbiology in the soil that make nutrients available to plants. Edwin Blosser discusses humus protein and how it benefits crops. Aaron Weaver examines soil conditioning practices to improve vegetable production. And Harriet Mella dives into the little-understood topic of redox in our soils.
I’m confident that this issue will provide plenty of solid information to nourish your soil/soul. And that’s the view from the country.
