A farmer’s
love for the earth and its seasons permeates his whole outlook. We
may love the heavy farm equipment and
modern tractors that make the work go faster – we need to stop and
think (and learn) if we are doing what is best for the healthy
regeneration of the planet. Examining some of the slower farming
methods of the past can give us insights into how to best move
forward into our collective future. The time to revert to some of
these methods, for the sake of our health, and the health of the
soils and the natural environment, is upon us.
Wangari
Maathai,
Nobel Laureate and soil activist, explains: “We take the soil for
granted because it’s there; it’s everywhere, except when all of
it is taken by the wind or by the running water. And then you are
left with bare rock, and you realize you can’t do much with bare
rock.”
In the
pre-industrial age farming was a much different profession, in fact,
most families who had some land would grow the majority of their own
food – working together to plant, weed, tend, grow, harvest,
prepare, and store food they had grown themselves from season to
season. Animal-powered plows and hand sowing was common.
Seed saving
was common as well because it also made the most sense: save the best
seeds from your most prolific and hearty growers from year to year
and you have healthier, more disease resistant, larger, tastier,
crops every planting season. These became what we now call heirloom
varieties – varieties that were selectively bred for favorable
characteristics over time by the farmers who knew and observed their
yields. If they picked the early or late germinators, they could
even change the timing of their cops to avoid other seasonal issues,
like frost, heavy rain, or recurring pests.
Unfortunately, we
now also have GMO seeds, and seeds that are genetically designed to
produce sterile fruits – making it harder and harder for farmers to
eke out a living or scrape together the funds needed to buy seeds
year after year. These seeds also do away with hand selection of
robust plants, leaving little for the observant farmer to do but tend
their growth and then do it all again the next year with virtually
identical seeds – with no attempts to change in yields or
productivity.
Community
seed libraries are sprouting (pun intended) up around the nation, and
growing our own food, saving the seeds, and swapping our seeds and
surpluses with our friends, family and neighbors has become a
revolutionary act.
Additionally, low tech solutions to farming
are, while slower, much healthier for the soil and all the
microorganisms that live therein. In a handful of soil there are
hundreds of millions of organisms including bacteria, fungi,
nematodes, insects, and others. Most of them work together
symbiotically, essentially acting like the stomachs of the roots and
creating a perfect environment for the transfer and uptake of
nutrients from the surrounding soil – to the plants that grow in
it. All of these microorganisms work together, to allow for not only
the transfer of nutrients and the best conduction of water across
membranes as well.
In a
commercially or mechanically farmed and tilled property – the soil
unfortunately becomes compacted over time. The act of tilling and the
pressure of the wheels, and the exposing lower parts of the soil or
breaking through tough compacted layers may provide a temporary
solution of opening up the ground in order to plant a seed.
Unfortunately, these practices do nothing to create a rich healthy
soil in the long-term - leading to unresolved and unhealed scarring
year after year. This leads to cumulative unfavorable conditions like
nutrient or water runoff issues, soil erosion, blow off, and more.
The easiest, healthiest soil is made from the breakdown of
bio matter over time becoming a mixture of composted plant matter,
bacteria, and fungi. This rich topsoil can include leaves, branches,
twigs, grass, dead animals, manure, and other natural breakdowns over
time that refuel the soil and create soft, sponge-like topsoil. If
you’ve ever been in a protected old-growth forest, you’ll know
what I’m talking about – the ground feels springy beneath your
feet when you walk and the moisture held in those layers is apparent
– especially in early mornings when the fog covers the forest
floor.
It’s
time to have heart-to-heart conversations with our soils, as Paul
Gautschi does in his conversations with God in the Documentary Back
to Eden, and
ask the earth what it needs to heal and regenerate – before we lose
our ability to grow healthy foods entirely. As Miguel Altieri,
professor of Agroecology at the University of California explains in
the documentary, Dirt!
The Movie,
“If we don’t take care of the soil, which is just the first five
centimeters of life that is on the earth, our future is totally
condemned.”
(NOTE:)
This article was written by Christine Rudolph [christinerudolph91@gmail.com] and sent to us for reposting here on our blog. Thanks Christine!
