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Again, looKing at nature it is easy to observe that nature protects soil health this way, leaving no bare ground nor planting monocrops.
Animals, the last tier in the soil loop, add to the mix with decay from dead bodies and wastes. Insect bodies, the most common type of garden corpse, fall into this category, as do droppings from birds. The deposits of dogs, cats and other less desirable garden visitors aside, animal manures, if aged and composted properly, make a vital contribution to the soil.
Studies of pre-20th century agriculture attest to this.
We, too, are animals. Although our personal waste is a debatable garden fertilizer, we are able to recycle vegetable and beneficial animal wastes into soil building composts and mulches. We are important, too, in our role of caring for the soil. The soil cycle’s high point, from the human perspective is in the eating of food grown in good dirt. When we eat this food, we partake of the life and care that has gone into the ground: we receive what has been offered and woe if that offering has been ill-use and toxic chemicals.
Humus and human share the same Latin root; we are of the earth. Ghandi once said, “to forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.”
The real gift of earth is waiting to be remembered by every human.
Donna LaPre welcomes questions and comments and may be reached at dopray@ earthlink.net or in care of the Rappahannock News at PO. Box 59, Washington, Va. 22747.
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