Soil is a great partner to work with. It can provide us with just about anything, food, fibre, plants for all purposes, feed for our livestock, aesthetic beauty, building materials, energy. You name it, soil probably provides it.
But how many times in a day does anyone think about soil?
I guess because it is always there, and we never really have to give anything back to it so to speak, we rarely think about it as an entity of its own. When growing crops or even veggies in the back yard, the line of conversation is generally about what the plant needs, not what the soil needs. It is similar in animal production too, that animals will be given suppliments rather than considering why an element is missing from their diet that is grown in the earth.
Soil is silent. It doesn’t have a voice at any decision making meetings, but if we changed our view to consider it as our partner in production, then I wonder what it would say.
It may say something like “Im sick of being treated like dirt”. (Ha thats a joke). Perhaps it would say ” there’s more to me than meets the eye.I’m a complete and delicate eco system working for you here, and you should get to know more about me so we can work better together”.
It is a whimsical question I know, but I take it as my mission to be the voice for soil and advocate for the care of this precious resource. So the notion of soil having a voice is a propmt to start thinking about the way we work with soil through a different lens, and make it not such a silent partner.
What would your soil say to you at your next meeting?
Thanks for sharing
The Green Cocky
My mission: to leave the earth where I have been a better place.