Tag Archive for: soil

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Dirt to Soil: One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture | Gabe Brown

 

Soil health pioneer Gabe Brown did not set out to write a book on no-till, regenerative agriculture but that was the end product of his research into a new method of farming that would bring back life to his farm, rather than taking away from it.

As a series of weather-related crop disasters put the Brown family farm on the brink of financial ruin, Brown took the bold decision to cut costs by omitting the use of most pesticides, insecticides and synthetic fertilisers. This was the catalyst that led to Brown experimenting with regenerative agriculture, a method of farming that undid the damage of conventional agricultural practices. He switched to no-till planting, started planting diverse cover crops mixes and changed his grazing practices. In doing so, Brown transformed a degraded farm ecosystem into one full of life starting with the soil and working his way up, one plant and one animal at a time.

Using these principles, Brown’s Ranch has grown several inches of new topsoil in only twenty years! The 5,000-acre ranch profitably produces a wide variety of cash crops and cover crops as well as grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured laying hens and pastured pork, all marketed directly to consumers.

The future is regenerative, no-till, organic farming and Dirt to Soil is the perennial bestseller to start you on that journey, for the betterment of the food we consume and the state of our shared planet.

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Soil, Soul, Society: A New Trinity for Our Time | Satish Kumar

 

Internationally-respected peace and environment activist Satish Kumar has been gently setting the agenda for change for over 50 years.

The age of sustainability is grounded on the knowledge that we ourselves are very much part of nature; that what we do to nature we in fact do to ourselves; and that the earth has a soul, which we share. Drawing on the example of Rabindranath Tagore, Kumar advocates living with awareness that our personal choices have political and poetic resonance. In this book, he inspires readers with the knowledge we are all leaders and can create change in our structures and mindsets for lasting peace and a sustainable culture and society. Celebrating an emerging global consciousness that reveres nature, the book explores how, as a global society, we need to embrace diversity and be aware of our role as pilgrims on this earth. Joyful and heart-centered, Satish Kumar reminds us that to bring about change in the world, we must embody the change we wish to see.

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Earth Matters: How soil underlies civilization | Richard Bardgett

 

Richard Bardgett is a Professor of Ecology and has published widely on plant and soil interactions, nutrient cycling and soil ecology. In Earth Matters he describes the importance of soil, the many ways in which we depend on it, and how humans have worked with the soil throughout history.

It is easy to overlook the important role soil has for human life, yet entire societies have risen, and collapsed, through the management or mismanagement of soil; the Great Dusk Bowl in the United States testimony to the devastating consequences of mismanagement.

Bardgett analyses the role soil plays in our own lives, despite increasing urbanisation, and in the biogeochemical cycles that allow the planet to function effectively, Bardgett considers how superior soil management could combat global issues such as climate change, food shortages, and the extinction of species. Looking to the future, he argues it is vital for the future of humanity for governments worldwide to halt soil degradation, and to put in place policies for the future sustainable management of soils.

Garden Physic | Sylvia Legris

Garden Physic is a radical poetic movement through plant life. With her singular line, Sylvia Legris journeys readers through an investigation of how we articulate our ecological surrounds in language through botanical histories.

With a structure that emulates the style of classic manuscripts, Legris’s book deploys humour, deep intellect, and a fanatical obsession with the potential of language, punching through the cliches of contemporary nature writing. A brief snapshot:

‘how to write about flowers without the nauseating sentimental phraseology?
No quaint, no dainty, no winsome. This smells good, that smells bad, my hands
rank with manure. This at least is pure.’

The whole book is a glorious meditation on the garden and the power of plants: how they can heal us, emotionally and physically, and how we communicate with them.