Growing Solutions for Healthy Soil
We know soil is alive. Why do we treat it like dirt? The first lesson in the first soils class I ever took covered what soil is made of. We learned soil contains minerals, air, water, organic matter, and “critters”. Yes. That’s right. Critters. All those little squirmy, wiggly things that live underground. Bacteria. Fungi. … Read more
Stop Turning Your Compost Composting offers a terrific way to culture native microbes that benefit your soil. However, there is more to a good compost than simply building a pile of manure and yard waste. Proper aeration is important to prevent overheating and to ensure that aerobic bacteria-bacteria that consume oxygen, dominate the mixture. While … Read more
Recently, I was invited into a discussion on the potential for “solar powered nitrogen factories”. The dialog dealt with using legumes and grasses as cover crops to increase soil fertility. This is of course, a great strategy which farmers are adopting at large scales. As the cover crops grow, they release sugars that feed soil … Read more
Few characters I dealt with in my years as as a researcher were as colorful as Chuck Redman. Â Chuck was a retired solar energy technician who had dedicated many lab hours during his career to exploring the movement of adsorbed water. Â After retirement, Chuck had become fascinated with the hypothesis that significant amounts of … Read more