Bacteria
Fishy Business
Fish have long delivered fertility to the soil, via both natural and human-driven processes. Soil food webbers use fish byproducts to increase fungi in compost piles (those of us without wildlife pressure) and – more often – to increase fungal biomass in compost teas. But these days, sourcing commercial fish products raises some serious ethical […]
Lovely Legumes
Many legumes (plants in the pea and bean family) possess a cool skill. In an energy-intensive process that involves partnering with soil biology at almost every stage, they take nitrogen from the air and convert it into plant-available form. While other types of plants rely on soil biology to convert sources of nitrogen below ground […]
How’s Your Soil Structure?
It’s always seemed to me like we have a water storage problem, rather than a drought problem, here on the island. Ask any permaculturalist or regenerative farmer the best way to store water and they will tell you, hands down, that it’s in the soil. Storing water this way requires good soil structure, and for […]
The Dance of Succession
There’s a dance going on, above and below ground. It’s an intelligent dance – in ways we are just beginning to understand – and it’s synergistic, responsive and adaptive. Plants and microorganisms engaged together, living and dying, as nature moves forward in succession from rock to old growth forest over vast amounts of time. So […]
Of Nematodes and Nightshades
Ever gone to the trouble of making compost and applying it, only to be disappointed with the results? Or worse still, ever purchased compost only to discover that it wasn’t worth the money?
Connecting Dots and Biomes
Rianna and I crossed paths at a friend’s farm. I was happily hauling buckets of manure, and she was curious. “What are you doing with that?” she asked.