Live Earth Farm Nwsltr 2008

Greetings from Farmer Tom
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When schoolchildren visit the farm I like to ask what they think is the most important thing we grow. It's a good way to learn what fruit and veggies they like to eat as well as teach them to distinguish locally grown from imported crops such as the popular bananas, mangoes and pineapples. But my reason for asking the question is not just to focus on what we grow, but also to explore the elements that allow us to grow. I then hint that the most important thing we grow is neither plant nor animal but something we stand on. At first, all I get are puzzled looks, but as they gaze down around their feet, I know the answer is close at hand. Is it "DIRT" Farmer Tom? "That's right, it is dirt – the soil beneath our feet; that which we depend on to grow strong and healthy crops. And for me, as a farmer, it is like ‘money in the piggy bank.’” Call me a "Dirt" Farmer and I won't be offended, I joke with them.

The adults in the group laugh, but then the kids don't want to hear about dirt – they came to eat strawberries, pet goats, and chase chickens! So I shift gears. If dirt is going to have any meaning to these kids it has to taste good, so we venture out into the strawberry field where they are ready to "pounce and munch". But before I let them loose, I try one more time to get my message across. I grab a handful of soil and sift it through my fingers, feeling and smelling it. I explain that a strawberry is only "yummy" and sweet because it lives in such rich "yucky" soil. Then they are off; the strawberries are sweet and juicy, staining everything from their lips down, and I don't hear any complaints if a little dirt is sticking to the fruit and ending up in their mouths. Harvesting and tasting is as close to a field-to-mouth experience children can get, and probably a better understanding of the importance of soil than any explanation Farmer Tom can give.

Most people grow up unaware of the soil-food connection. Growing up in urban environments surrounded by asphalt, concrete and manicured lawns, dirt is just perceived as a filthy substance that soils us. What people don’t realize is that, just as we need air to breath and water to drink, we need soil to feed ourselves. The increase in the Earth's human population has only been possible due to an increase in agricultural productivity – however such productivity has taken its toll on the world's soils. On average, it takes nature 500 years to build an inch of topsoil, however under modern farming practices it’s estimated that topsoil is being depleted 16-300 times faster than it can be replaced.

Good soil is the central building block in a healthy and sustainable food system. Here on the farm, crop rotation, cover cropping, and composting are the keys to maintaining a healthy soil. We also add amendments such as rock dust and gypsum, and the combination of all these things works to increase the organic matter content of the soil, as well as build it up over the long term. As farmers we need to be ever more vigilant so as not to deplete our soils because of increased pressure to grow more food. [And the pressure is indeed great; our waiting list is now nearly two-thirds the size of our membership, and growing by the day! – Debbie] Over the past 6-7 years we have been buying compost, but with the continued increase in fuel prices we are looking into making our own again. Annually we apply about 300 tons of compost to our fields, and I would like to double that amount.

Soil is at the center of any farming operation's long-term sustainability and, ultimately, fundamental to the health of our crops and our own well-being. The vegetables in your shares are a direct connection to the farm’s soil, so next time you are visiting grab a handful of this precious material and let it sift through your fingers, smell it, and imagine tasting it in the crops that are grown from it.

- Tom

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