Soil Food Web

What can we learn from observing healthy soil?

Balanced soil is composed of immeasurable amounts of microbial life. Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, arthropods, and algae are a few groups you will find in the garden. All have different roles to play; the reason they are important to us, is because they make nutrients available to the root systems of all plants, and in our case the plants we wish to eat as food or see for their visual beauty.

If we were to take a journey and become a microscopic living organism in the garden, we would see an incredible amount of energy being exchanged at a rate that would make New York City look like a sleepy little country town. The microbes in our soil are constantly being born, seeking and eating food (most often in the form of other microbes), eliminating waste, and eventually dying and being eaten by another microorganisms. This is the cycle or web of the soil. All participants doing their work and constantly consuming or being consumed by one another. Their whole existence is what gives the food on our plate life; life that nourishes, fuels and heals.

In our human communities in the twenty first century, we hear many opinions on what is the proper way to eat, the most morally correct means to fuel one's body and mind? Is it a vegetarian diet? Maybe all raw foods. How about the Paleo way eating?
For our family, a balanced diet of dairy, meat, and vegetables and the occasional piece of fruit has proved the most nutritious and impacting on how we feel and live throughout our day.

What does the soil have to say about the way we eat, our moral questions and placement on the food chain?

The patterns of microorganisms speak loudly to the fact that all participants are well aware of their role in the community, and are happy to do their work; simply by the fact that their death and sacrifice make nutrients available to the plants we eat, says quiet clearly that we are all participants in a food web. That no human is outside of the food web they create, and that just by being alive we have made mutual agreements with mammals, fish, birds, and plant life- to give them life, to feed them and care for them, to show them love in all ways and eventually to take their life in exchange for the nutrients they have made available for us.

We have recognized the value of animal products in our diet. We see no moral difference between eating greens from our garden and a cow raised on beautiful pasture grass. We are stronger, more alert, and far more grateful for their life as our awareness, of the soil food web, and ultimately the food web of all living organisms, grows.

adam

New Moon Planting

The new moon just passed us on July 8th (although for us in Hawaii it was late night on July 7th). With each new and/or full moon, this little family chooses to plant things in the ground. The new moon gives us the opportunity to begin again. Planting seeds or transferring small starts during these grounded times of possibility sends a message to the Earth that we are giving back to her. An offering of love, kindness, commitment and discipline. Asking also to please provide nourishment for us as well as for our community. In return for this food, we commit to caring for her as best we can.

This new moon specifically brings reminders to listen to ourselves, honor our feelings, and give attention to what needs tending. I was recently reminded that feelings cannot be right or wrong. Feelings simply reveal the truth about yourself and your life. Listening to our emotions, our thoughts, and our reactions are actually tools given to us so that we can move past and let go of old things that do not serve us. This same listening can also be related to the plants that we just transferred. As subtle as it may seem, they are speaking to us very loudly, asking that we help give them what they need to survive. 

Whether it is to hear our emotions or one of the infinite aspects of nature, listening asks us to find subtlety and quiet, and this takes discipline. So each day we wake, say good morning to the nursery and tend to our garden with love and hard work. A lot of hard work.

Happy New Beginnings!
Jane

"... because the value of doing something does not lie in the ease or difficulty, the probability or improbability of its achievement; it lies in the vision, the plan, the determination and the perseverance, the effort and the struggle which go into the project. Life is enriched by aspiration and effort, rather than by acquisition and accumulation."
                                                                                       -Helen and Scott Nearing
                                                                                        (homesteading pioneers of the 20th Century)

 A garden is both literal and metaphoric. In it, we see that the details of our dreams and life goals are but little seeds, awaiting a sprinkle of action while tucked in the soil of belief. Some of our seeds may not germinate, and were never meant to. Other seeds may germinate only to show us that we may want something different than originally planned. And more often than not, as we spend time in the garden of life, we plant seeds that sprout, and with each new day we grow to love that plant more and more, as it speaks to us without words and teaches us about the subtleties of our world.

 The garden is a place where magic and reality are fused to create visual beauty and bodily nourishment. By applying sunlight and water, we can encourage the growth of almost anything we wish to bring to life. With care and attention to detail we become, not manipulators of nature, but partners with the natural world. 

Welcome to Roots+Wings. 

adam

Our First Day

To be honest, every day can be a "first day". But some days feel different than others. There is more forward movement. Bigger steps are being taken in the direction of your dreams. The stars simply feel aligned for... me.

Today is one of those first days.

Welcome to the Roots + Wings Family Farm blog. May our words inspire, educate or at least, entertain.

With Love,

Jane