Episode Six - Healthy Soils & Healthy People
Discuss
The Plowman’s Folly, a 1943 book by Ohioan Edward Faulkner, is often regarded as re-introducing no-till practices to modern farmers. Why did Faulkner think plowing was “folly”? What historical experience would have led him to that conclusion?
Dave Brandt’s farm has been using no-till techniques since 1971. At what point was he willing to call what he does “regenerative agriculture.” How do regenerative practices differ from “conservation agriculture”?
Rattan Lal describes soil as having “divine powers.” What does he mean by that? How would you describe the process he is referring to?
What are the technical challenges to “carbon farming”--treating carbon sequestration as a “commodity,” like corn or soybeans? What are the political obstacles? What are the advantages to having a “market” in carbon credits? Can you see any disadvantages?
Consider the names of the mushrooms being sold at Guided By Mushrooms’ booth: “Phoenix Blue Oysters, Black Pearl... Lion’s Mane.” Have you ever seen these mushrooms? How are they different from the mushrooms found in conventional grocery stores? Do you think the names (or the ways they are grown) makes a difference to how they get treated? to how they taste?
Mushrooms can be grown as food. What other uses for mushrooms were mentioned in the episode? What other functions do Mycorrhizal fungi perform in the landscape? How might you incorporate mushroom growing in your landscape?
Listen
Listen to this NPR segment on Dr. Rattan Lal from The Ohio State University. A Prophet of Soil Gets His Moment of Fame.
Watch
Living Soil: A Documentary, produced by the Soil Health Institute, can be downloaded for free. The website has lesson plans for high school and college students.
Carbon Farming: Harnessing the Power of Soil
From the Ground Up-Regenerative Agriculture
In Kiss the Ground, it is stated that we have about sixty years left until our topsoil is gone. This movie offers hope and explores how the soil crisis can be averted.
SARE the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education website has a great list of resources.
Read
This is the website of Guided by Mushrooms, featured in this episode.
David Brandt is the founder and owner of Walnut Creek Seeds whose mission is to promote soil health and improved land management practices through the use of cover crops.
This is an easy explanation of the benefits of cover-cropping, with examples of several and best uses for each.
The Land Institute is working to create what they call Natural Systems Agriculture; disrupting the ten thousand year old industrial system of annual crop monocultures and creating deep-rooted perennial crops polycultures that feed the soil, hold water, and mimic natural systems.
Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures (2021) will open your eyes and change your perspective on the world of fungi.
Burn: Igniting a New Carbon Drawdown Economy to End the Climate Crisis (2019) by Albert Bates and Kathleen Draper makes a compelling argument for using biochar to capture carbon; “using fire to cool the earth”
Timothy Egan’s The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (2006) covers osne of the worst environmental disasters in the history of this country with an excellent explanation of the “perfect storm” of factors that caused this epic loss of topoil, destroying the land, and the lives, of so many.
John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, (1939) won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer prize for its tale of the Joad family, poor tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home by the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, heading to California to seek a new life.
Do
Kiss the Ground Soil Advocate Training. Want to help? Learn more by sign up for this advocate training.
Try growing your own mushrooms, or, make a bowl from mycelium.
Here is a lesson plan for high school students from the Soil Health Institute where you can learn more about the importance of soil.
Eat
Daikon
Edible Landscaping: Fall Garden Cover Crops gives great detail on four types of fall cover crops, including oilseed radish. Various foraging or tillage radish varieties, most in the daikon family, are edible. Here is a recipe for spicy Japanese daikon pickles (tsukemono)
Buckwheat Pancakes
Have you ever had buckwheat pancakes? Buckwheat is another very popular cover crop. Grind your own buckwheat flour from the seeds from your buckwheat cover crop, and make these pancakes below, adapted from https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/buttermilk-buckwheat-pancakes/
Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg
2 cups buttermilk
Preheat skillet, preferably well-seasoned cast iron. Add a small amount of vegetable oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan and put on medium heat. Mix dry ingredients, then add in wet ingredients, starting with butter, then egg, then buttermilk. Do not over mix. Pour by ⅓ cup onto the hot griddle, cooking 2-3 minutes on each side or until done. Serve with maple syrup and butter.