Soil organisms help ranchers

Intense, low duration grazing builds soil vitality, and increases soil organic matter.

Formulaically, the process described by Manske is very simple; what happens as a result is not.

A rancher chooses three pastures on which to graze the cattle. Starting in the first pasture, the cattle graze for 15 days, and then move on to the next pasture. This is repeated and the cattle find themselves in the third pasture.

Once the cattle leave the first pasture, the soil organisms go to work, converting the organic nitrogen into mineral nitrogen and feeding the plants, building their crude protein.

“Just by changing the management from focusing on dry matter poundage to managing those soil organisms, you can increase the productivity of your land,” Manske said. (Source)

Well observed.

Rhizosperic soil can get awfully puny under long duration grazing. Topsoil pales and topsoil depth is lost, but not to sediment discharge or wind erosion. The in-situ transformation of topsoil to not-topsoil results in the discharge of soil carbon to the atmosphere. The good news is that, unlike wind erosion, water erosion, sheet erosion, or gully erosion erosion, this yet-to-be-named variant of topsoil erosion is reversible.

Washington State Biochar Research

Washington State University researchers will produce biochar (a residue potentially used as a soil amendment) from low temperature pyrolysis of biomass materials. The biochar will be tested for its potential to store carbon, evaluated for any growth effects on plants in the greenhouse, and assessed for economic impacts. Research on biochar has shown promise in long-lasting carbon storage and improved crop production. This research will be the first rigorous study of biochar use in agricultural soils in this state. (Source)

Stop Polluting My Biosolids

We would be well served if we stopped manufacturing unnecessary body soaps and scents. They end up in sludge, er biosolids and, as is necessary, on the land, where they can have unintended consequences. Let's just stop manufacturing the offending molecules.

Home Buyers Will Pay for Soil, Won't Pay For Dirt

In 2003, the Snohomish County Public Works Department published a remarkable manual with a simple title: Building Soil (pdf). Promoting sediment-free stormwater, it encouraged builders to embrace the wisdom of retaining native soil and vegetation, and to question the value of turning soil into dirt for no good reason. From a building perspective, soil is a valuable construction material manufactured from a low cost/ low value soil resource feedstock. The thinking goes like this: Manipulating soil tidies up a site and adds value. Stormwater regulations interfere with the ability to add value, thus the disconnect.

Enter the Washington Organic Recycling Council which has a new site, www. buildingsoil.org, with a new and refreshingly non-regulatory spin for convincing builders to buy into the principles in the Building Soil manual. The pitch goes like this: Avoiding disturbance around the building footprint, in a sense, doing nothing, confers a marketable value on that soil resource.

New home buyers say they are happy to pay more for a healthy, easy to care for landscape – and that starts with the soil.

A timely message in a buyers' market.

Video: The Soil Underground

E:
You girls are so slimy
You ain't even dirt
leaf litter and trash
mixed with animal turf-t

They sing you songs
take you into their room-s
but when you done
you won't be nothing but humus

O:
Hey E, you just jealous
and you vusted you mouth
you ain't even a rest stop
on the mineral road south

E:
I'm tired of being thought of
as a bleached out buffer
just cause I'm white
don't mean I don't suffer

Now I don't get no sleep
living under you boys
and I don't get more stout
every time the rain pours

My dad was a loess
met my mom in compaction
I was doing just fine
until elluvial action

B:
E! you best watch your mouth
and you best keep your distance
or you'll be cryoturbated
out of existence

Babies don't waste your time
on that bleached out horizon
right here is the brother
you best lay your eyes on