Soil - get interested
We love water! We bathe in it, drink it, splash it on our car, wash our clothes in it. We love water so much and it is so fundamental to our survival that we create big dams, install tanks to hold it so we don’t run out of the stuff. We even make holes in our back yard so we can swim in it every day. Water is the stuff of life - cleansing, pure - holy even! We understand its value and try to practice a mindful approach to water use, especially when drought hits us.
But there is another natural substance that is equally fundamental to our survival, that is equally living, with which we often engage without thinking or paying attention, and which, not only feeds us but when we do engage with it mindfully, it changes our physiology to enhance our wellness – the soil of the Earth. The soil is a part of our own life story, of our wellness, of our communities, of life and death.
No, soil is not sexy, it is not romantic and sparkling, it is generally out of sight and out of mind, and tossed off as ‘dirt’ – tracked onto the carpet by the dog. But please read on, soil is genuinely interesting. It is fundamental to all life – your life.
Australia’s indigenous people, the gardener and farmer are among those who understand and revere soil and know why we should pay it more attention. But how can we be mindful about something that’s never on our mind – or even in our hands, that is under our feet?
Beneath the surface
The first step towards an appreciation of soil is to look beneath the surface. Soil is formed over centuries from the weathering effects of wind and rain; from the violent upheaval of earthquakes and volcanoes and the slow build-up of sediment. It is that thin layer on the earth’s surface that has held all life (and death) that ever existed on earth.
At its most basic, soil is a combination of sand, silt, clay and hummus (organic matter), air, water and micro-organisms (ie bacteria and fungi) and macro-organisms (ie worms). But much more interesting is that soil is a complex substance that enables life to emerge from the earth and return to the earth through the soil food web – which is itself a complex system of life forms, hosted and supported by soil, which runs the show beneath our favourite plants.
Plant food
It’s important to remember that plants enable us – and all other oxygen breathing life forms – to survive here on this beautiful blue planet. Soil provides plants their anchor; it is their food and water source; their community centre; hospital cover and relief aid. (Have you heard of trees sharing energy resources through vast fungal networks in the soil? - Read - The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben).
Our health - good or bad - is tied to the food that we eat. Healthy soil supports healthy crops. Fruits and vegetables – and animals, fed from a healthy soil - contain higher amounts of vitamins and minerals and fewer contaminants. And it gets more complex; more is being understood about the link between mental and physical health and our gut bacteria. What we eat matters to our mental well being as well as physical.
History and management
Our fate, history tells us, is linked with the health of the soil. Soil degradation has seen the fall of great civilisations from the earliest agrarian society Mesopotamia, to the Greek and Roman empires – societies that did not give back to the soil or let it rest. Unfortunately, today our industrial agriculture does just this; it strips the soil of life and diversity, exhausting the soil and relying on synthetic fertilisers and pesticides to maintain food production. (For more read - Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David R. Montgomery).
Practices such a crop rotation, permaculture, biodynamic and organic farming understand the importance of reciprocity and our engagement in supporting a healthy living soil.
Carbon
Carbon is essential for plant growth. Soil also has a huge capacity to capture and store carbon. Plants harvest carbon from the atmosphere – none do it better than trees which store it in their trunks down to their roots! When plants break down, the soil holds the carbon beneath the surface, this is the most stable carbon store on earth. Growing a mix of perennials (longer lasting plants), no dig gardens and using mulch are some of the ways you can help keep carbon in the ground.
Back to water
Healthy soil helps build resilience in this time of climate change. Soil acts like a sponge that soaks up water, holding the moisture and making it available to plants between rainfall and reducing the need for irrigation.
While healthy soils in relationship with plants filter water and store carbon, soil degradation reverses these positive effects. Instead of holding water, derelict soils devoid of organic matter cannot hold water and the run-off carries contaminates (fertiliser, pesticides etc) into waterways. This also contributes to erosion and the loss of our topsoils (the living, nutrient, carbon-rich top layer which has been formed over centuries) as they are washed away.
What can WE do?
Simple steps to care for soils in our daily lives:
Support the soil system by putting good things back into it to feed it
Get pet worms to eat your green waste – worm wee is a bonus for plants and the soil!
Pop green food waste in a compost bin – find a local community garden or contact your council if you don’t have space for your own.
Add compost and use mulch
Support growers that support the soil (permaculture, biodynamic and organic)
Grow your own food – Create a closed loop cycle from table to compost heap and back again.
Grow a diverse range of plants! Research shows variety is better for soil health.
This is just a skim across the vast story of soil – a dalliance! Let us leave you with the simple knowledge that healthy soil builds a healthy environment that keeps us well and brings us joy! We are a integral part of this system. Do we need any further reason to care for it?