041 – Soil Health: The First Amendment

041 – Soil Health: The First Amendment

with host Linda Borghi and guest Evan Folds, the Soil Doctor

Farm-A-Yard Podcast logo: orange sun with sunbeams rising over a mound of black dirt with 2 sprouts and a microphone in green coming up out of the soil.
Farm-A-Yard Podcast — It’s a movement… have ya heard?

Welcome to Week 2 of our Grow It Don’t Mow It – 30 Days to Starting a Successful Yard Farm!  This week is all about Soil Health.

You’ll find a new post every day in April on our Patreon feed with different information on how to plan and start your food garden this year.  If you’re joining us after April 2018, please make sure to check out our Patreon feed for all our delightful garden-starting content.

We owe our existence to the the top few inches of topsoil.  Pretty important, hey?. Why do you need a Soil Doctor? What is good soil? What are microbes all about?  What about bagged soil? (which should more accurately be called “dirt”… why?) Why soil testing? We first need to learn how to grow healthy soil, before we can grow healthy plants and ultimately healthy people!  

You won’t want to miss this episode, it is critical to your success in growing healthy soil and nutrient dense food!  

This podcast is made possible by funding by our Patreon supporters.  

Please support our podcast at https://www.patreon.com/FarmAYard

Links:

Music credit: “Insomnia” by John Sheehan.  Used with permission.

 

What is Biodynamic Gardening? Part 1

Biodynamics is “beyond organic” because of its complete, whole system approach. It offers a simple way to heal and nourish your growing environment.  It connects you to the cycles of the moon, seasons and natural rhythms of nature’s ways.  It is a sustainable way to grow nutrient dense foods because it puts more back into the soil more than it takes out.

Some of the practices are very different from conventional way, but when you begin to practice and apply the principles, the results are undeniable and they are already proven to produce high quality, nutritious food by working with nature, not against it.

The use of preparations, based on plants and minerals, brings vitality to soils and can take your growing experience to another level.

The preparations and the Stella Natura planting calendar really help to organize and simplify your gardening experience.

A major perk to growing biodynamically is that the costs of implimenting these practices are minimal. Biodynamic methods build soil value exponentially with less and less effort over time.

One thing that makes biodynamic gardening different is the preparations. There are nine of them that act as remedies to vitalize any soil.

The first step in having a yard farm is to set your intention.  Why do you want to be a yard farmer? Write it down.

Next it’s important to observe your plot area and assess if it is suitable for growing what you would like to grow, or learn what already grows well in your area in order to minimize your labor and make your project more likely to be successful.

Get a soil test.  We LOVE soil and helping people heal their soil so that they can grow and enjoy nutrient dense food!  The soil is indispensible to sustaining life on earth. We will talk more about soil in the next blog.

Stay tune for more first steps for growing biodynamically!

Be sure to download our podcasts https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-farm-a-yard-podcast/id1276181255?mt=2

Return to read more blogs to learn how to implement biodynamic methods in your yard.