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SOIL FOOD WEB BIOLOGY

Hope Farm

Seasonal Sampling

Soil biology numbers change across seasonal cycles.  Understanding what mediates the flurries of activity of ...

Winter compost

Winter Composting Tips

At this latitude there probably aren’t too many people actively winter composting, unless you have ...

Let There Be Air

Compaction is a pretty big deal when you’re trying to grow plants.  How far can ...

How’s Your Soil Structure?

It’s always seemed to me like we have a water storage problem, rather than a ...

Hope Farms

What Is Regenerative Agriculture?

At it’s most basic, regenerative agriculture involves leaving the soil in better condition than it ...

Herbs, Weeds, and a Nice Surprise

The most challenging thing about helping people partner with microbes in their gardens is encouraging ...

Brassicas

The Thing About Brassicas

An old feeling hits at this time of year.  With the flurry of spring planting ...

Farming with Fungi

Water Woes

I’ve been thinking a lot about water these days, standing for what feels like hours ...

Spring Hill Compost Testing

Bring Back the (Right) Microbes!

Every region has unique microorganisms dwelling in the soil, adapted to the climate, flora, fauna ...

Spring Tips for Nurturing Soil Microbes

With the spring warmth comes that sense of shift in energy and vitality, like something ...

Forest

The Dance of Succession

There’s a dance going on, above and below ground.  It’s an intelligent dance – in ...

Fungi

Ancient Relationships

In our fragmented society, where concepts of competition and survival of the fittest pervade our ...

Raining Microbes

It’s Raining Bugs

Well, not quite bugs – microbes!  As someone who still squeals every time I see ...

Carrots from the garden

Fenna’s Carrots

It’s the last of the dog days of summer (in October!) and we are sitting ...

Soil Matters

If you’re anything like me, hearing doom and gloom numbers about the rapidly dwindling diversity ...

Compost with Confidence this Fall

Compost with Confidence this Fall

The other day I was asked “how can a compost pile fail?”. This is an ...

Root Feeding Nematode

Of Nematodes and Nightshades

Ever gone to the trouble of making compost and applying it, only to be disappointed ...

Rianna and her first thermophilic compost pile.

Connecting Dots and Biomes

Rianna and I crossed paths at a friend’s farm.  I was happily hauling buckets of ...