Planting your Winter Garden in the Summer

Ever wondered when would be a great time to plant a garden you can harvest in the cold of winter? Now! Believe it or not, from now till mid-summer is the ideal time to plant seeds for your fall and winter garden.

If growing a winter garden has piqued your interest, then read up on how to best grow varieties you would like on your winter table. It will be wise to do some research and even check in with your local extension office, as not all varieties will want to be grown now and some will grow better in the fall and others in the spring.

As your spring garden begins to wane and more space becomes available in your garden beds, now would be a great time to begin selecting your favorite cool loving vegetables.   Think Brussels spouts, cabbage, kale, carrots, beets, Swiss Chard, broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower, celery, radishes and many more!

Keep in mind that protecting your plants from the heat, during the summer months and then protecting them from fall and winter frosts will be the key to a successful winter garden. Integrating cold-frames, row covers and clotches might be the perfect solution to extending the seasons and protecting your crops.

When deciding what to plant, think of the varieties that take the most time to mature and plant those now, while plan to seed those varieties that are fast to mature and plant those later in the season. Take into account the amount of time needed before transplanting and harvesting, this in addition to, noting plants sensitive to frost is something to consider. Lastly, taking into consideration fall factor is key to success! Fall factor represents the change in pace plants take as they move into the dark of the year.

When thinking of what you want to enjoy on those cold winter days, its important to work backwards when planning your garden. Take into account the following:

• The amount of days from planting to transplanting
• Incorporate the average number of days till maturity
• Tack on an extra couple of weeks to account for the fall factor

= The number of days to count backwards for prime winter garden production

It is important to take extra care of your seedlings as they emerge. Keeping them in areas that hover around 85 degrees or below is important to make sure they are not being scorched. Some of our mini-micro climates in our yard or patios can quickly reach high temperatures. An easy solution would also be to start your seedlings inside and transplant after they have reached about an inch or so in height.

Keep in mind that mulching your garden beds now, like any other time, is only going to benefit water retention, weed suppression, added organic matter and enhanced fertility.

Succession planting is another excellent planning method to help you arrive at a continuous harvest. Keep track of your planting days on your garden calendar or journal. Keeping good notes, year after year, will ensure that you are learning from your mistakes and making the most of each season!

Take the opportunity, our entire inventory is 35% off till July 7^th, 2015. Use the coupon code: “SUMMER”.

Save Water Plant a Garden!

California is in its 2^nd year of a historical drought. Although,our state has naturally moved through cycles of drought and abundant rain, over the past many decades, its still disconcerting that we have not had a storm for a couple of months.

Gardeners, farmers and concerned citizens a like are taking drastic measures for conserving water from tearing out lawns to integrating water saving technology and even abstaining from planting their spring gardens.   Unfortunately, the latter does little if anything, to actually conserve water. Those choosing to refrain from putting a garden in are generally still purchasing the same produce, they would be growing, from a supermarket.   Big ag accounts for 70% of the world’s water use and much of that is wasted in inefficient practices. Some of those practices include overhead watering, washing produce before and after shipping, transporting food across state and international borders and disposing of food aesthetically not marketable.

With new emergency water conservation regulations, set by the State, Californians are feeling the need to not plant a garden. Yet, a home gardener and even a small-scale farmer can grow food efficiently, while using a minimum amount of water. Integrating simple solutions can make the difference between enjoying fresh garden veggies out of the garden or compromising for store bought. Consider heavy mulching, planting more drought tolerant varieties, experimenting with dry-farming, use smart watering strategies, reuse shower and cooking water to irrigate, use intensive planting practices and plant varieties with similar water needs together.

Eliminating weeds, may seems like gardeners’ protocol, but many gardeners also make peace with their weeds and use a more zen approach to plants that are in the wrong place. But the reality is that some weeds, like lambs quarters and crab grass, are responsible for consuming 80 gallons of water to create 1 pound of plant tissue – that is a staggering number! Integrating weed control with heavy mulching can go a long way in water conservation tactics, conserving as much as 1 inch of water per week.

By integrating low-tech water saving technology in homes, such as low flow showerheads and aerators and expanding that to the garden with low-flow watering wands, rain barrels and drip irrigation, saving water while having a thriving garden couldn’t be easier.  Best of all California is offering a lot of financial incentives for water conservation.

With new rebate programs, homeowners can integrate solutions such as:

Laundry-to-landscape system components

• Rain barrel
• Pool covers
• Hot water recirculation systems

By growing your own food you can control the amount of water used and limit water waste.   By doing a little research and some minor adjustments, gardeners can still grow an abundant garden year round!  Best of all dry farming practices add more flavor while using drastically less water – what a concept Less water more flavor! All these simple practices can make a big difference in the bigger picture.  It’s now all of our responsibilities to conserve every drop!

Seed of the Week – Italian Parsley

Every week we are going to introduce a Seed of the Week, where we are going to select one seed to highlight.  We will share the historical attributes, the story that makes this variety an heirloom and why we love it so much!

A wonderful herb fresh or dried. Parsley is widely used in American, European and Middle Eastern cooking. Great ingredient in stocks, soups and sauces. A complement to salads, potatoes, fish, stews and many other dishes. Remember germination can be slow!

Cultivated as an herb, spice and vegetable.  Considered one of the healthiest foods, consider planting parsley this spring and begin sprinkling it in your morning omelet, your afternoon sandwich and even in your evening soup!  Organic parsley is on sale today for only $1 in our store – get it today!

Seed of the Month | Cosmic Purple Carrot

Every month we are going to introduce a Seed of the Month, where we are going to select one seed to highlight.  We will share the historical attributes, the story that makes this variety an heirloom and why we love it so much!

This stunningly beautiful vegetable is now sought after by chefs and home-cooks for its radiant colors, delicious taste and enhanced health benefits.  Purple Carrots have been grown in since 900 A.D. in Afghanistan, Turkey and Middle East, but this incredible carrot was only Introduced in 2005.  Dr. Philipp Simon and staff at the USDA  in Madison, Wisconsin, bred a whole new spectrum of  colored carrots, stay tuned for more of those varieties!

The Cosmic Purple Carrot adds a punch to any meal, whether enjoyed raw or cooked.  Grate it in a salad or on the side, add some lime juice and relish in the crunch while enhancing your meal with a sweet spice!

Please meet Cosmic Purple Carrot …

An amazing colored carrot, Cosmic Purple on the outside and brilliant orange and yellow on the inside.  A delicious sweet and spicy flavor that kids of all ages will love!  This one is a favorite!

Purple has always been a sign of royalty and now purple vegetables are a sign of health. Rich in phytonutrients, this vegetable will add more than just beauty to your meal, it will enhance your overall well-being!

Seed of the Month | Chioggia Beet

Every month we are going to introduce a Seed of the Month, where we are going to select one seed to highlight.  We will share the historical attributes, the story that makes this variety an heirloom and why we love it so much!

Best of all, this is a great variety to plant right now in many parts of the country.

We have enjoyed it cooked and raw in many of its beautiful forms.  We eat it grated raw in salads or as a side, pickled as a side dish as well as lightly cooked. Its sweetness and fun pattern make any meal so exciting!  We also toss the greens in a salad, as it adds additional taste and texture to the mix.

Please meet Chioggia Beet …

A delightful candy striped Italian heirloom, name for a fishing village near Venice.  An eye pleaser with scarlet skin and red and white ringed flesh.  The flesh is sweet, mild and tender.   Wow your dinner guests with this beautiful beet!  Wonderful for fresh eating, in salads, steamed, pickled and if roasted whole and sliced just before serving it retains it’s markings.

Bay Area Planting Guide

Q & A with Matthew: How to start your Spring Garden from Seed

Ask an Expert: Matthew Hoffman of The Living Seed Company

Dec 27 2:16 pm by Williams-Sonoma Editors 2 Comments

 

Winter is a great to time to start planning your indoor or outdoor edible garden for the year ahead. After you decide what to grow, the next step is to choose and then sow your seeds–tasks that can sometimes seem daunting to first-time or less-seasoned gardeners. We asked Matthew Hoffman, owner of Northern California’s  The Living Seed Company, for his troubleshooting tips and recommendations for planting an edible garden that flourishes, no matter what your space or experience level . Read on for his expert advice on choosing, sowing and transplanting seeds and seedlings.

 

 

 

What seeds do you recommend buying for an indoor edible garden?  

 

Grow what you love to eat!  And don’t be afraid to experiment.  Many herbs such as basil and cilantro will do great. Leafy greens such as, lettuce, spinach, kale, etc, are also very easy to grow and well suited for indoors.  A vining bean or pea is a great decoration as well as an edible.  Run the vines around a shelf or window.  Kids love picking the green beans and peas and popping them in their mouths.  Roots can do well indoors too.  Try shorter varieties of carrots, beets and radishes.  Tomatoes and peppers will work as well but need a larger pot, more space and more light.  Of course I would recommend The Living Seed Company’s Urban Collection.

 

 

When should one buy seeds? 

 

Starting in the early winter, the freshest seeds for that year become available.  Seed packets will state which year they are packed for, but most will live a few years beyond.  Over time, seeds will lose some of their viability. Seeds are alive–they should be kept in a cool, dark and dry place to extend their life.  You could keep them in the refrigerator in an airtight container.  If you do this, when you take them out make sure to leave the container out at room temperature until it warms up, before opening, to avoid condensation on the seeds.

 

 

What are the ideal conditions for growing seeds indoors?  

 

Plants, especially vegetables, need sunlight.  While leafy greens, carrots, peas and beets do not need a lot of direct light, they will grow faster the more they get.  Tomatoes and peppers really need 6-8 hours minimum to produce fruit.  A windowsill by the sink with sunlight can be a perfect place for some herbs or lettuce.  A bay window can become your own miniature indoor dream garden.  You can even hang pots to increase growing space.   South facing windows will receive the most light.  Be aware in the middle of summer that your plant friends will need more water if in full sun.  If its really hot and intense pull them (especially the greens) back from the window a bit until it cools down.  If lack of light is an issue,  indoor grow lights can be used.

 

If you are using saved seeds, or seeds given to you by a friend, how do you determine the ideal depth for planting them?  

 

Small seeds like carrots, lettuce, basil and kale should be planted just below the surface of the soil.  You can place the seeds on the surface of the soil and sprinkle a little more soil (1/8 to 1/4 inch) on top.  Larger seeds like beans, peas, squash and corn, can be planted about three times their width (a 1/2 inch bean about 1 1/2 inches deep).  Make sure to keep the soil moist but not waterlogged as young sprouts are very delicate.

 

Can you save seeds from your harvest for planting next year? If yes, how?

 

Yes!  Saving seeds is one of the most rewarding activities a gardener can do.  Not only do you benefit from having more seeds to plant, the seed will adapt to your particular climate and bioregion over time.  Just imaging your favorite varieties doing better and better over the generations.  Plus,  it is truly amazing to be part of the miracle of plants producing an abundance of seed and completing their life cycle!  Seed saving can be simple or complex depending on the type of seed you are saving.  Self pollinating perfect flowers like those on beans, peas, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers can be very easy to save, with out worrying too much about cross pollination.  For beans and peas just let some of the pods dry down completely on the vine.  You can then shell the seeds and plant again next year.

 

Be sure to save seeds from numerous plants to avoid inbreeding depression, which will weaken you plants vigor and resilience over the years, do to genetic bottlenecking.  Let lettuce flower (also known as bolting) and once the pretty little yellow flowers are dried out, looking somewhat like a miniature dandelion, shake the flower heads into a paper bag every few days until you have the amount of seed you desire.  Pepper seeds can be removed from the flesh and placed on plate or cookie sheet to dry in a warm (not over 95 degrees F), dry place out of direct sun.  When the seed snaps between your finger nails, it is dry enough to store.  Tomatoes benefit from a fermentation process that treats the seed for seed borne diseases.  Cut the tomatoes in half at the equator.  Squish the seeds and juice out into a jar.  Place jar in a warm area (on top of the refrigerator is great).  After two to four days a mold (that co-evolved with the original wild tomato) will appear.  The seeds are then ready to be cleaned.  Fill the jar with water and stir.  After a few moments the good seeds will sink to the bottom and the bad float to the top.  Carefully pour off the bad seeds, any skin or flesh and the mold.  Repeat until water is mostly clean then pour the seeds into a strainer.  Remove any remaining debris by hand.  Empty seeds onto a plate or baking sheet and place in a warm, dry place.  When seeds are dry, using the finger nail snap test, you can safely store the seeds.

 

Other seed saving can be a bit more complex.  Biennials such as carrots and beets take two years to produce their seed and may require removing the roots from the soil if being grown where the ground freezes.  Other vegetables like squash, cucumbers and the cole crop family (broccoli, cabbage, kale, etc.) can cross pollinate with members within their species quite easily and measures need to be taken to prevent this if more than one variety is being grown and pure seed is desired.  If you really get into seed saving, I recommend picking up a book on the subject as their are many wonderful techniques and tips for seed savers.

 

 

How do you really know when your seedlings are ready to transplant?

 

If starting from flats, transplant into a container when the first true leaves emerge when the seedling is still very young.  These seedlings may then be transplanted again outside or into a larger container when they develop more but before they become root bound.  When transplanting to the outside, you will need to toughen them up for the outdoors by hardening them off.  Stop feeding them and water them less. Start putting them outside in a protected area out of wind and direct sunlight or in a cold frame. Start for a hour, then two, then a few hours in the morning, gradually building up time outside over a week or two avoiding extreme weather.  Then they are ready to transplant.

 

 

Do you recommend fertilizing seeds or seedlings to help them along? Composting?

 

Seeds do not need fertilizer or even soil.  How cool is that?  Once the baby plant emerges it will require nutrition.  If using a soilless potting mixture, the seedlings will need regular fertilization after the first true leaves appear.  Fish emulsion, compost tea or manure tea will work great.  If using a soil-based potting mixture that has compost or other nutrients, fertilization may not be needed for several weeks.

 

Yes to composting!  You can make your own in a compost bin or worm farm.  It is so rewarding to take your vegetable kitchen scraps and leftovers and turn them into nutrient rich compost that you give back to your plants and garden!  Add compost to the  garden soil or containers before transplanting.

 

How do you estimate the last frost date? 

 

For likely the most accurate information I would go to the National Climatic Data Center .  They will provide frost probability levels at 10, 50 and 90%.  10 % probability will be the safest date.  Some places, like where I grew up in Northern Wisconsin, can have frost almost year round, yes even in July!  If you live in such a place, plant when frost is no longer a regular happening and pay attention to the weather.  If it’s going to frost in July, cover your tender plants like tomatoes and peppers.

 

What type of soil amendment do you recommend for replenishing raised beds or in-ground garden plots?

 

It can vary greatly depending on your soil.  If you really want to “dial in” your soil, get a soil test done to know what you are starting with and amend with what is recommended by a trusted testing company.  Remember organic is healthier for you and your soil.  Compost and worm castings are great.  Apply liberally when transplanting and during the growing season as a mulch or side dressing. Another great way to build soil, while conserving water and suppressing weeds, is to mulch with straw (not hay) around your plants and turn it in at the end of the season.

 

Where should I put my sprouting seeds?  

 

When sprouting seeds indoors keep them in a warm place in the house.  Near a hot water heater or on top of a refrigerator is ideal.  Make sure to check on them in 2 to 3 days.  Lettuce seeds need light to germinate.  Once the sprouts emerge from the soil the baby plants will need plenty of light.  Seedlings need more intense light than full grown plants, 12 to 16 hours a day is best. If the seedlings a growing long, pale and spindly they need more light.  Seedlings do not need as warm of temperatures as germinating seeds.  Seedlings also need regular moisture and a reasonably high humidity. Do not over water seedlings, evenly moist but not soggy.  A couple light mistings a day will help.

 

 

Is there any way to determine if seeds are viable before planting them?  

 

You could do a germination test but that would require you sacrifice some of your seed and take some extra work and time.  If you want to make sure they are viable before you go through work of planting them, this is what I recommend.  Different varieties have different average life spans under ideal storage. For instance, lettuce seeds are viable for about 6 years while onions are only viable for a year or two.  These are just general guidelines not exact measures. There are plenty of stories of very old seeds still being viable, so take good care of them.  The oldest verified seed to sprout was a Judean date palm that was 2,000 years old!

 

My seedlings died after transplanting. What could have gone wrong?

 

The seedlings might not be dead!  Keep watering them regularly until you are sure they are dead or they come back to life.  Sometimes plants drop off (look wilted or dead) after being transplanted and then come back in a few days. There are almost an infinite amount of variables when it comes to gardening.  One major problem with transplanting is not “hardening off” (acclimating for the outdoors) the plants properly.  Be sure to transplant on a cloudy or misty day or late in the afternoon to avoid being burnt by the sun.  Be very careful with the fragile root system as well.

 

 

Can you grow plants from seed all year long, or are there better months than others to start a garden?  

 

For most growing regions, it is best to start seeds in the late winter (to transplant) and spring if growing outdoors.  If you are growing indoors and have a window with sunlight or indoor grow lights you can grow year round.  If you are growing outside it really depends on your climate.  If growing over the winter, you will want to plant seeds in the late summer through mid autumn to give your seedlings enough light to grow and survive through the darker part of the year.  Here where I am in coastal northern California we are blessed with the ability to grow some varieties year round.  Even though it frosts here, the varieties we grow are “frost tolerant” vegetables like beets, carrots, peas, spinach, broccoli, cabbage and lettuce that like it cool.  Varieties like Red Russian Kale are even able to survive at 10 degrees below zero F!  Picture digging through the snow to come upon some sweet, tender, green and purple leaves in the middle of January!  I recommend gardening and growing as much as you can get away with!

 

by Williams-Sonoma Editors The first Williams-Sonoma store opened in 1956, selling a small array of cookware imported from France. Since then, the brand has expanded to hundreds of products from ar … Read more

Living Seed company takes root from heirloom seeds

412

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Matthew Hoffman and Astrid Lindo, owners of the Living Seed Co., grow several varieties of produce and plants in their garden in Nicasio.

Images

View All Images (6)

From their home in a quiet stretch of Marin County near San Geronimo, two entrepreneurs are hoping to take gardening back to a time when an abundance of plant diversity was the norm.

Matthew Hoffman and Astrid Lindo grow, source and sell seeds of rare and heirloom edibles. Their young business, the Living Seed Co., hung up its virtual shingle just last year.

“What’s amazing is 100 years ago, everybody saved their own seed and in just a short period of time, just a couple of generations, all that changed,” Lindo said.

The numbers behind this shift are remarkable, according to a study of crop diversity in the United States by the Rural Advancement Foundation International, a family farm policy and advocacy group. By 1983, the 408 varieties of peas cultivated on American farms some 80 years earlier had dwindled to 25. Sweet corn saw a drop from 307 to 12 varieties.

Lindo and Hoffman are new to farming but have embraced their venture with a quiet energy and intensity that one suspects drove their lives well before they founded the company.

Hoffman, 36, traveled the world for a decade as a puppeteer with Jane Goodall’s Giant Peace Dove Campaign. Lindo, 35, was born in Colombia but moved to Miami as a toddler. As an adult, she studied in Europe and New York before opening an interior design firm in Southern California. They met in 2009 and decided to make a life together.

A new career

Hoffman began thinking about a new career – one that would support the couple’s commitment to helping others live healthy lives and that would support a family, too.

Starting a seed company seemed a natural fit. Hoffman grew up in rural Wisconsin in a family of gardeners and as a young child lived 2 miles off the grid in a two-room cabin.

“Really it just kind of clicked,” he said. “To be able to grow your own seeds for your own garden … seems a really beautiful way to raise a family.”

Hoffman undertook intensive training in New Mexico at the first-ever seed school taught by Bill McDorman, one of the veterans of the contemporary North American seed-saving movement.

His enthusiasm was infectious; within a few months, Lindo decided to set aside her interior design business and immerse herself in the fledgling business. The couple talked with experienced seed growers and farmers, researched catalogs, and scanned gardening forums and blogs online. And then they dug in and began growing their own seed. At the outset, they largely bootstrapped the company. When they decided to expand, they secured loans from friends.

‘So beautiful’

“It was so beautiful,” Lindo said. “To look back, you know, and a year later we’d farmed a third of an acre of painted mountain corn and some squash and tomatoes and lettuce.”

McDorman, director of Native Seeds/Search, a Tucson organization focused on conserving the genetic diversity of crops grown in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, is effusive in his praise of the couple.

“These young kids are way smarter than we were,” he remarked, reflecting on his generation of seed savers in the 1970s. “Matthew and Astrid are indicative of what’s coming, a whole new wave.”

Seed trading among farmers a century ago has its modern counterpart in businesses like the Living Seed Co., he said.

“That’s where the real revolution is happening, in urban agriculture.”

For Lindo and Hoffman, revolution goes hand in hand with education.

“I think part of our responsibility is to re-inspire people to grow out some of these unique varieties and keep them going and keep them fresh,” Lindo said. “A lot of seed companies are taking them off the racks, and so they may just disappear.”

Adapting to location

“You can watch, over the season, which of your lettuce plants or tomato plants did really well, save the seeds from those, plant them again the next year,” Hoffman said. “That’s one of the beauties of seed saving … every time you save your own seeds, you’re adapting it to your location, so that plant’s going to do better each succession.”

Four of the company’s five seed collections include a seed-saving booklet that groups seeds by how easy or difficult they are to save.

You Are What You Eat!

Eating is one the many fundamental actions, for life, that everyone shares.   What people eat is what drastically differentiates us from other cultures and the very thing that brings us together with like-minded foodies.  We are living in a time where a lot of attention is being focused on food, whether it is the amount we are eating, the quality, how miles it has traveled and of course whether it has been genetically altered.  Whatever your interest in food may be, we are living in an exhilarating time in the history of food.

Despite that 1 in 3 Americans is obese and most food found in our supermarkets, if it is not organic, is genetically modified, there is a food revolution happening in the midst of all of this.

As we know, we began as hunters and gatherers.  Eating and cooking solely what we could hunt and harvest.  Through time, technology and the advancements of the industrial revolution things changed dramatically.  We began canning, preserving and freezing.

Today, most Americans take very little regard in what they eat, how it is processed, what is in it and most of all, how much of it they eat.  The irony is how much of our eating habits have changed drastically in a mere 100 years.  From our food supply, quantity and nutritional content, to the amount of imported goods we consume.  Perhaps a simple way of addressing this is we went from viewing food as a  sacred commodity to a simplified convenience.

While most of America has accepted that we moved from an agricultural society to industrialized agriculture and embracing that fact that most of our food travels 1500 miles – there is a huge subculture that has sprouted up globally.  This movement touts local, seasonal and organic – backyards are being converted into food forests and front lawns are being torn up to make way for urban gardens!

The movement has taken root in all of America’s largest cities, while infiltrating small towns and growing communities.  It is taking shape in the form of expanding farmers markets, community gardens, edible school yards and even homesteading.  There are several large installations of some of these applications found  in places like NY MOMA’s infamous indie art museum known as PS1.  Annually there is a competition of young architects at the opportunity to build an oasis during their summer installation.  Winners, several years ago, built an urban farm, producing food and raising chickens, right in the middle of Queens!

In the San Francisco Civic Center –  the entire front lawn has been replaced with a garden, in time for the Slow Food festival – and the harvest will coincide with festivities all through Labor Day in 2009.

In downtown Los Angeles, there is an annual Public Fruit Jam in Echo Park – where an art gallery was opened to the public to bring local fruit to make jars of fresh jam.  I attended a few years ago and I brought in green sour apples from my backyard, coupled with figs, lemons and mint to create this outrageous homemade jam!

So what are the advantages to eating local and seasonal?

With local food there are much lower energy costs and the nutritional value of your food is much higher, since the crop was not harvested early.  Most of all, you are supporting your local farmers, your community and a really incredible movement that is taking shape and coming soon to your community!

Swapping recipes, seeds and gardening tips are no longer a thing of the past, but rather a really hip and obvious thing to be doing, now!

Don’t have a yard?  Fret not … food in pots grows incredible varieties!  Don’t have time or the patience to grow your own?  There are Community Supported Agriculture known as CSA’s – where you can have a box of beautiful organic fruits and veggies grown in a local farm delivered to your door weekly!  Check out Local Harvest to see where your local CSA is.

There is that classic adage that you are what you eat.  The reality is that our habits around food have lost their value – and now more than ever, is a critical time to begin asking the right questions and being aware of what you are consuming and most of all, knowing where your food comes from.

We are finding ourselves relying on our community as well as our neighbors.  In essence we are adopting the ways of our ancestors. The need to continue to push the envelope all while looking back and taking in the strides taken by our predecessors!

The Universe under our feet – Soil

Did you know that soil was alive?   Many people do not realize this, something that on the surface may look look dead, but upon closer inspection is bustling with life!

Many people have misconceived notions about soil, it is usually associated with words such as something being dirty or soiled.  An inaccurate correlation to an element of our life that is so critical and and that is such a dependent element to our survival.  Healthy soil goes hand in hand with a healthy environment.

“The nation that destroys its soil – destroys itself” (Roosevelt 1937)

The first and most important step in improving soil health is to recognize that soil is a living organism and all parts of our ecosystem depend on it – it is vital to our survival, the growth of our food and maintenance of our ecology.

There are billions of microorganisms that make up a whole network below ground.  In one spoonful there are 600 million bacteria!    Imagine that – there is an entire network of life below the ground, right underneath our toes.  A network that works together with the trees, the plants, the fungus and so much more, all to be able to sustain life above ground for us – amazing!

Soil, for example, is the measure of the health of biological systems.  In other words, soil is the metaphor of our environment, if we have healthy soil we have a healthy environment. Annually, we are losing 1 percent of our topsoil per year, due to industrial  agriculture, the process of mono-cropping, heavy chemical use and erosion of our soils.  Just to put things into perspective –  it takes thousands of years to form one inch of topsoil.

Life in the soil provides the structure for more life, and the formation of more soil.  Soil is equated to food and food is equated to life.  The fertility and the quality of soil will determine the health and stability of all life that is relying on it  – just as the health of each human being will determine fertility and the quality of their life.

The reality is that a simple way to help maintain healthy soil and manage waste in your home is by simply composting.   In essence it is an excellent free resource of nutrients for our plants and the earth.  It doesn’t smell, but mainly, it reduces the amount of waste going to a landfill, all are creating the fertile ground for a microcosm universe to exist and for soil sustainability to flourish!  Don’t know where to start?  Check out our simple DIY Urban Vermiculture Composting post!

We are all organisms working within one larger organism – called Planet Earth.  Seeing on the micro and macro level, gives us a wider perspective into the many realms that are living in harmony here with us.