Why would someone choose to shop, eat, and exist locally? Go to any big box store and they have everything you need, conveniently displayed across the vast shelves, except one crucial underlooked element. Connection. Those products are from all over the world, consolidated by corporate giants intent on keeping people dependant on their products. As we enter the new year I am reflecting on connection, abundance, and generosity when I was reminded a natural phenomenon.
Given an abundance of diverse plant roots in multi-species crops (like interplanted vegetables or diverse pasture) soil microbiology begins to change. With the increased diversity of roots comes a diversity of soil microbes, each responsible for maintaining their ecological niche. Given enough different root types and associated soil microbes a miracle known as quorum sensing occurs.
Once a soil hits quorum microbes can collaborate and begin performing services that couldn’t happen before. The benefits to plants include improved resilience, nutrient density, and productivity. The soil becomes a connected, coordinated, super-organism. You can see it happen when you pull a plant up with the roots. Are they spindly or are large masses of soil hanging on? Those clumps indicate microbial connection holding the mineral components of soil together and creating pathways of exchange.
I have described myself as a “shoot from the hip” farmer. I am not a perfectionist or especially detail oriented. Instead I function from more broad solutions rather than pinpoint ones in my field growing practices. This is why I chose to heavily utilize cover crops and compost to replenish soil rather than specific amendments.
Soil science and biology has achieved monumental discoveries in our understanding of soil as more than physical and chemical components. Biology is the driving force of soil health. I simply follow the rule to have as many different kinds of roots growing together as possible, while producing marketable crops. The more roots in the ground, the more microbes, the closer we are to having soil work for our crops through quorum.
Interplanting has played a huge role in my farming. Instead of filling a bed with kale, waiting for it to mature, then harvesting I will interplant the crop with onions. As the kale grows our crew bunches green onions, then fresh onions. This doesn’t impact our kale production and instead makes the bed profitable once the kale is established. The different roots growing in the ground help foster soil biology, making the crop more pest and disease resistant. The farm has steadily moved toward interplanting nearly every crop and constantly looking for new productive combinations. (I think of intercropping as planting two distinct families in proximity like allium and brassica in the kale example).
If microbes are a driving force of ecosystem services in soil, what about our own bodies? About 43% of the cells in our body are human, the rest are bacteria. These bacteria are powerful enough to drive us to crave foods like sugars and carbs. We are literally propelled by a diverse mixture of bacteria, just like soil. Changing the ways we behave, like the food we eat, can propagate the growth of helpful bacteria.
How we spend our attention propels industry and change. Imagine if we focused on principles of local generosity and engagement? What if we moved energy away from corporate influence and channeled our attention locally? If enough people adopted a regionalistic approach we would be amazed how that collaboration could improve our lives.
2024 is a year of generosity. Of giving back to the land and our community that has helped us arrive at our current station. We have seen how giving to soil affects our crops, and now it is time to see where our community could go with deeper collaboration. I look forward to a prosperous growing season in which we can play our roles in this ecosystem, knowing that something much greater than all of us is building around the corner.