3 Simple Natural Ways to Build Healthy Soil (with video)
More and more people are waking up to the observable fact that living systems depend on other living systems. This awakening isn't just philosophical--it's absolutely critical to our survival. Take a moment to chew on this:
We human beings, with agency and intellect, depend more on living systems we think of as "unconscious"--water, soil, plants and microbes--than all of our thought derived systems--markets, governments, even (gasp!) social media--put together.
Without healthy soil and water cycles, no arable land.
No arable land, no food.
No food, no people.
So what can we do about it? Practically and pragmatically, how can we take the first steps to repair what we've broken with our dust-making chemicals and desert-making monocrops? Well, we can start by learning from those lowly unthinking critters beneath our feet--the creepy crawly world of roots and worms, webs of bacteria and miles of mycorrhiza. They sustain life, they endure. How do they do it?
More importantly, can we stop hindering them...and maybe even help.
So. Not to reduce a gorgeous complexity to a mechanistic method, but we have to start somewhere. First, understand every biosphere is unique and what works in one place is not appropriate (or the most effective) everywhere. But there are a few principles that we can apply in many scenarios: ADD ORGANIC MATTER (both leafy and woody) INCREASE SPACE IN SOIL (encourage aggregates) Here's some simple ways to help the healing along.
At Sueño de Vida we work in a meaningful way to heal land ravaged by deforestation. How meaningful? According to a recent UN Foresight Brief on climate change,
--It is of the utmost importance to stop deforestation and to increase reforestation efforts around the world. Agricultural practices should focus on soil building, year-round soil cover with plants and the use of agroforestry methods.
That is exactly what we do here at SdV. You can help by helping us do what we do every day: plant forests that nurture soil, people, and community.
Click HERE to donate directly to our reforestation fund OR make a monthly pledge on our Patreon.
Thank you.
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Kristen Krash is the director and co-founder of Sueño de Vida, a regenerative agroforestry farm, education center, nature reserve in Ecuador’s Chocó Andino Cloudforest. Prior to moving, Kristen was known for her guerrilla gardens — productive green spaces she created in any available space. Now an urban transplant in the South American rain forest, she has adapted her urban gardening and sustainability skills to large-scale reforestation of degraded land. She takes a practical and accessible approach to helping others achieve more balance and self-sufficiency in their lives.
Kristen’s articles and interviews have been featured on popular sustainability platforms like Abundant Edge and The Mud Home, and in the Rainforest Regeneration Curriculum at the Ecological Restoration Camps.