A Time to Heal from the Soil

A Time to Heal from the Soil PDF Author: Hattie Foster Soil
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1469120054
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
I have been writing poems for the past seven years. After writing my first poem, I felt that I had created a masterpiece but realizing that I was enjoying the energy that flowed from me. I also felt that this is something I can actually do. After reading my first poem, I fell in love with the results and even got energetic about writing more. I can create beautiful words from a single thought and find that writing poetry came naturally for me so I decided to write about my family. I have done extensive researched and found great-great-great grandparents who were born as Africans and found themselves as properties in America in the late 1700s. They were kidnapped from their homes in Africa where life was easy and very promising, and captured by other Africans for money and sold to Americans slave traders. Before they were kidnapped, they had heard of people being sold into slavery to Americans and vowed to keep their guards up. One day, they were kidnapped and transported to America in the belly of a slave ship. They feared this unknown country, America, in which they will soon live. The conditions on the ship were horrendous, many victims of slavery committed suicide by jumping overboard as their mental state reflected their physical conditions. They had very little to eat and were kept chained because of the slave traders fear the slaves could cause injury to themselves or to others, thus hindering themselves to depreciate in value. Once arriving in America, they were immediately put on the slave blocks for all to view as these new slaves were auctioned to the highest bidder. They did not understand the new language and were unable to practice their own cultures and lifestyles. They were forced to live by the rules or the majority culture that benefited from free labor from the backs of my ancestors. They worked in fields, gathering cotton, beans, soybean and other miscellaneous items to get ready for selling or bartering at the nearby markets. Even among slaves, there was a certain social structure when it came to colors. There was a discriminated between lighter (mulattoes) and darker skinned Africans. The lighter skinned slaves worked inside the plantation (the big house) performing duties as cooks, caregivers, housekeepers and whatever the owners desired. Whereas, the darker skin slaves were forced to work in direct inclement weather, sometimes from zero to over 100 degrees. Most of the tasks they performed were field workers, animal trainers, carpenters, architects and land developers. Regardless of where they worked, the slaves were treated worse than the family pets. The owners of the slaves were often called master, boss, Mr. or Miss. This etiquette produced specific ways in which the plantation was operated. If things were not done properly, the owners would punish the slaves as if they were caged animals, this would be severe beatings or even kill them. While decades and centuries passed, it was known that the education system was not designed for Africans and the new dark Americans. Up until the 19th century, the slaves relied solely on self-education for their own intuitions and ideas. They had many remedies for medicine. Their menu consisted of eating parts of the swine that was considered spoils to the owners. In the 1800s, a small fraction of African Americans learned to read and write, it was considered a crime if they were taught these skills. Most slaves pretended to be dumb to protect themselves and their families. Now, I love reading those short stories and eloquent words about their lives and situations. I also enjoyed the writings of many African American authors of the 1930 and the 1940s, especially those who wrote about slavery, something I can relate to them, my ancestors. The broken English and dialog is especially dear to me because this language I have heard all of my life. Writers such as; W.E.B. Dubose, Arma Bontemps, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and La

Grounded

Grounded PDF Author: Erin Yu-Juin McMorrow
Publisher: Sounds True
ISBN: 1683646134
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Taking our food system back is an act of revolution. Restoring the feminine is an act of sacred responsibility. Returning to the cycles of nature is an act of love. Grounding into the soil is an act of hope. The soil, the fertile ground beneath us, holds the key to the future of our planet and our species—yet few people are aware of the critical role soil health plays in reversing climate change. With Grounded, Dr. Erin Yu-Juin McMorrow takes us on a journey to explore the sacred interconnectedness between our soil and ourselves, seamlessly weaving the science of our broken carbon cycle and the oppression of the divine feminine into a powerful tapestry of hope and resilience. McMorrow is the voice of a generation that carries the future of our planet on their shoulders. “There’s no other group of people to pass this on to,” she writes. “If we want to create a world that we can keep living in, it’s time, and it’s us.” In Grounded, McMorrow guides us through the inner and outer work needed to restore the divine feminine and save our planet. Highlights include: The “brass tacks” of climate change—how everything from biodiversity loss to ocean acidification has roots in the killing of the microscopic life in our soilThe fertile soil is feminine—and the destruction of our earth and the feminine go hand in handSex, birth, life, and death—how our natural cycles parallel the sacred cycles of natureHow to create truly regenerative systems that celebrate the natural world’s infinite diversity, resilience, and abundancePractices to help you start making a difference right now—from personal reflections and meditations to seed saving and compostingFinding hope in the sacred nature of this work—when we do our part, just as with all of nature, spirit fills in the restBecoming grounded—root within to remember that you are of the earth, awaken your divine power, and expand in the world Grounded is both a clarion call and a revolutionary guide for restoring the sacred cycles that sustain all life. “With every step we take toward a more regenerative and abundant future,” McMorrow writes, “we engage in the important work of saving our soil—and our souls.”

A Time to Heal from the Soil

A Time to Heal from the Soil PDF Author: Hattie Foster Soil
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1469120054
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
I have been writing poems for the past seven years. After writing my first poem, I felt that I had created a masterpiece but realizing that I was enjoying the energy that flowed from me. I also felt that this is something I can actually do. After reading my first poem, I fell in love with the results and even got energetic about writing more. I can create beautiful words from a single thought and find that writing poetry came naturally for me so I decided to write about my family. I have done extensive researched and found great-great-great grandparents who were born as Africans and found themselves as properties in America in the late 1700s. They were kidnapped from their homes in Africa where life was easy and very promising, and captured by other Africans for money and sold to Americans slave traders. Before they were kidnapped, they had heard of people being sold into slavery to Americans and vowed to keep their guards up. One day, they were kidnapped and transported to America in the belly of a slave ship. They feared this unknown country, America, in which they will soon live. The conditions on the ship were horrendous, many victims of slavery committed suicide by jumping overboard as their mental state reflected their physical conditions. They had very little to eat and were kept chained because of the slave traders fear the slaves could cause injury to themselves or to others, thus hindering themselves to depreciate in value. Once arriving in America, they were immediately put on the slave blocks for all to view as these new slaves were auctioned to the highest bidder. They did not understand the new language and were unable to practice their own cultures and lifestyles. They were forced to live by the rules or the majority culture that benefited from free labor from the backs of my ancestors. They worked in fields, gathering cotton, beans, soybean and other miscellaneous items to get ready for selling or bartering at the nearby markets. Even among slaves, there was a certain social structure when it came to colors. There was a discriminated between lighter (mulattoes) and darker skinned Africans. The lighter skinned slaves worked inside the plantation (the big house) performing duties as cooks, caregivers, housekeepers and whatever the owners desired. Whereas, the darker skin slaves were forced to work in direct inclement weather, sometimes from zero to over 100 degrees. Most of the tasks they performed were field workers, animal trainers, carpenters, architects and land developers. Regardless of where they worked, the slaves were treated worse than the family pets. The owners of the slaves were often called master, boss, Mr. or Miss. This etiquette produced specific ways in which the plantation was operated. If things were not done properly, the owners would punish the slaves as if they were caged animals, this would be severe beatings or even kill them. While decades and centuries passed, it was known that the education system was not designed for Africans and the new dark Americans. Up until the 19th century, the slaves relied solely on self-education for their own intuitions and ideas. They had many remedies for medicine. Their menu consisted of eating parts of the swine that was considered spoils to the owners. In the 1800s, a small fraction of African Americans learned to read and write, it was considered a crime if they were taught these skills. Most slaves pretended to be dumb to protect themselves and their families. Now, I love reading those short stories and eloquent words about their lives and situations. I also enjoyed the writings of many African American authors of the 1930 and the 1940s, especially those who wrote about slavery, something I can relate to them, my ancestors. The broken English and dialog is especially dear to me because this language I have heard all of my life. Writers such as; W.E.B. Dubose, Arma Bontemps, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and La

The Soil Will Save Us

The Soil Will Save Us PDF Author: Kristin Ohlson
Publisher: Rodale
ISBN: 1609615549
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Thousands of years of poor farming and ranching practices—and, especially, modern industrial agriculture—have led to the loss of up to 80 percent of carbon from the world’s soils. That carbon is now floating in the atmosphere, and even if we stopped using fossil fuels today, it would continue warming the planet. In The Soil Will Save Us, journalist and bestselling author Kristin Ohlson makes an elegantly argued, passionate case for "our great green hope"—a way in which we can not only heal the land but also turn atmospheric carbon into beneficial soil carbon—and potentially reverse global warming. As the granddaughter of farmers and the daughter of avid gardeners, Ohlson has long had an appreciation for the soil. A chance conversation with a local chef led her to the crossroads of science, farming, food, and environmentalism and the discovery of the only significant way to remove carbon dioxide from the air—an ecological approach that tends not only to plants and animals but also to the vast population of underground microorganisms that fix carbon in the soil. Ohlson introduces the visionaries—scientists, farmers, ranchers, and landscapers—who are figuring out in the lab and on the ground how to build healthy soil, which solves myriad problems: drought, erosion, air and water pollution, and food quality, as well as climate change. Her discoveries and vivid storytelling will revolutionize the way we think about our food, our landscapes, our plants, and our relationship to Earth.

The Soil and Health

The Soil and Health PDF Author: Albert Howard
Publisher: A Distant Mirror
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 463

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Book Description
This is a newly edited revision of Albert Howard's important text on organic farming and gardening, and the central role of humus in maintaining soil health and fertility. No single generation has the right to exhaust the soil from which humanity must draw its sustenance. Modern agricultural practices, with their emphasis on chemicals, poisons, and toxins, lead to the impoverishment and death of the soil. THE SOIL AND HEALTH is a detailed analysis of the vital role of humus and compost in soil health — and the importance of soil health to the health of crops and the humans who eat them. The author is keenly aware of the dead end which awaits humanity if we insist on growing our food using artificial fertilisers and poisons. Albert Howard (1873-1947) was one of the leaders of the British organics movement in the mid-twentieth century. He was the first westerner to document and publish research on traditional techniques of agriculture, including Indian and Chinese farming and management of the soil. "Agriculture is the fundamental industry of the world and must be allowed to occupy the primary position in the economies of all countries." — Albert Howard CONTENTS 1 - Soil Fertility and Agriculture 1.1 The operations of Nature - The life of the plant - The living soil - The significance of humus - The importance of minerals 1.2 Systems of agriculture - Primitive forms of agriculture - Shifting cultivation - The harnessing of the Nile - Staircase cultivation - The agriculture of China - The agriculture of Greece and Rome - Farming in the Middle Ages 1.3 Soil fertility in Great Britain - The Roman occupation - The Saxon conquest - The open-field system - The depreciation of soil fertility - The low yield of wheat - The Black Death- Enclosure - The Industrial Revolution and soil fertility - The Great Depression of 1879 - The Second World War 1.4 Industrialism and the profit motive - The exploitation of virgin soil - The profit motive - The consequence of soil exploitation - The easy transfer of fertility - The road farming has travelled 1.5 The intrusion of Science - The origin of artificial fertilisers - The advent of the laboratory hermit - The unsoundness of Rothamsted - Artificials during the two world wars - The shortcomings of current agricultural research 2 - Disease in Present-day Farming and Gardening 2.1 Diseases of the soil - Soil erosion - The formation of alkaline land 2.2 The diseases of crops - Sugar Cane - Coffee - Tea - Cacao - Cotton - Rice - Wheat - Vine - Fruit - Tobacco - Leguminous crops - Potato 2.3 Disease and health in livestock - Foot-and-mouth disease - Soil fertility and disease - Concentrates and contagious abortion - Selective feeding by instinct - Herbs and livestock - The maintenance of our breeds of poultry 2.4 Soil fertility and human health 2.5 The nature of disease 3 - The Problem of Manuring 3.1 The origins and scope of the problem - The phosphate problem and its solution - The reform of the manure heap - Sheet-composting and nitrogen fixation - The utilisation of town wastes 3.2 The Indore Process - Some practical points - The New Zealand compost box - Mechanisation - The spread of the Indore Process 3.3 The reception by scientists 4 - Conclusions and Suggestions

Healing Grounds

Healing Grounds PDF Author: Liz Carlisle
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1642832227
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
A powerful movement is happening in farming today—farmers are reconnecting with their roots to fight climate change. For one woman, that’s meant learning her tribe’s history to help bring back the buffalo. For another, it’s meant preserving forest purchased by her great-great-uncle, among the first wave of African Americans to buy land. Others are rejecting monoculture to grow corn, beans, and squash the way farmers in Mexico have done for centuries. Still others are rotating crops for the native cuisines of those who fled the “American wars” in Southeast Asia. In Healing Grounds, Liz Carlisle tells the stories of Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian American farmers who are reviving their ancestors’ methods of growing food—techniques long suppressed by the industrial food system. These farmers are restoring native prairies, nurturing beneficial fungi, and enriching soil health. While feeding their communities and revitalizing cultural ties to land, they are steadily stitching ecosystems back together and repairing the natural carbon cycle. This, Carlisle shows, is the true regenerative agriculture – not merely a set of technical tricks for storing CO2 in the ground, but a holistic approach that values diversity in both plants and people. Cultivating this kind of regenerative farming will require reckoning with our nation’s agricultural history—a history marked by discrimination and displacement. And it will ultimately require dismantling power structures that have blocked many farmers of color from owning land or building wealth. The task is great, but so is its promise. By coming together to restore these farmlands, we can not only heal our planet, we can heal our communities and ourselves.

For the Love of Soil

For the Love of Soil PDF Author: Nicole Masters
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578536729
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Learn a roadmap to healthy soil and revitalised food systems to powerfully address these times of challenge. This book equips producers with knowledge, skills and insights to regenerate ecosystem health and grow farm/ranch profits. Learn how to: - Triage soil health and act to fast-track soil and plant health-Build healthy resilient soil systems-Develop a deeper understanding of microbial and mineral synergies-Read what weeds and diseases are communicating about soil and plant health-Create healthy, productive and profitable landscapes.Globally recognised soil advocate and agroecologist Nicole Masters delivers the solution to rewind the clock on this increasingly critical soil crisis in her first book, For the Love of Soil. She argues we can no longer treat soil like dirt. Instead, we must take a soil-first approach to regenerate landscapes, restore natural cycles, and bring vitality back to ecosystems. This book translates the often complex and technical know-how of soil into more digestible terms through case studies from regenerative farmers, growers, and ranchers in Australasia and North America. Along with sharing key soil health principles and restoration tools, For the Love of Soil provides land managers with an action plan to kickstart their soil resource's well-being, no matter the scale."For years many of us involved in regenerative agriculture have been touting the soil health - plant health - animal health - human health connection but no one has tied them all together like Nicole does in "For the love of Soil"! " Gabe Brown, Browns Ranch, Nourished by Nature. "William Gibson once said that "the future is here - it is just not evenly distributed." "Nicole modestly claims that the information in the book is not new thinking, but her resynthesis of the lessons she has learned and refined in collaboration with regenerative land-managers is new, and it is powerful." Says Abe Collins, cofounder of LandStream and founder of Collins Grazing. "She lucidly shares lessons learned from the deep-topsoil futures she and her farming and ranching partners manage for and achieve."The case studies, science and examples presented a compelling testament to the global, rapidly growing soil health movement. "These food producers are taking actions to imitate natural systems more closely," says Masters. "... they are rewarded with more efficient nutrient, carbon, and water cycles; improved plant and animal health, nutrient density, reduced stress, and ultimately, profitability."In spite of the challenges food producers face, Masters' book shows even incredibly degraded landscapes can be regenerated through mimicking natural systems and focusing on the soil first. "Our global agricultural production systems are frequently at war with ecosystem health and Mother Nature," notes Terry McCosker of Resource Consulting Services in Australia. "In this book, Nicole is declaring peace with nature and provides us with the science and guidelines to join the regenerative agriculture movement while increasing profits."Buy this book today to take your farm or ranch to the next level!

Dirt

Dirt PDF Author: David R. Montgomery
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520933168
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

The Complete Guide to Restoring Your Soil

The Complete Guide to Restoring Your Soil PDF Author: Dale Strickler
Publisher: Storey Publishing
ISBN: 1635862248
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
"Dale Strickler is an expert on building healthy soil and restoring degraded soil, and in The Complete Guide to Restoring Your Soil, he presents the science of soil, along with proven methods of restoring depleted soil and agricultural practices from around the world that continue to build soil, rather than cause it to deteriorate"--

Dirt to Soil

Dirt to Soil PDF Author: Gabe Brown
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603587640
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
"A regenerative no-till pioneer."—NBC News "We need to reintegrate livestock and crops on our farms and ranches, and Gabe Brown shows us how to do it well."—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation See Gabe Brown—author and farmer—in the Netflix documentary Kiss the Ground Gabe Brown didn’t set out to change the world when he first started working alongside his father-in-law on the family farm in North Dakota. But as a series of weather-related crop disasters put Brown and his wife, Shelly, in desperate financial straits, they started making bold changes to their farm. Brown—in an effort to simply survive—began experimenting with new practices he’d learned about from reading and talking with innovative researchers and ranchers. As he and his family struggled to keep the farm viable, they found themselves on an amazing journey into a new type of farming: regenerative agriculture. Brown dropped the use of most of the herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers that are a standard part of conventional agriculture. He switched to no-till planting, started planting diverse cover crops mixes, and changed his grazing practices. In so doing Brown transformed a degraded farm ecosystem into one full of life—starting with the soil and working his way up, one plant and one animal at a time. In Dirt to Soil Gabe Brown tells the story of that amazing journey and offers a wealth of innovative solutions to restoring the soil by laying out and explaining his "five principles of soil health," which are: Limited Disturbance Armor Diversity Living Roots Integrated Animals The Brown’s Ranch model, developed over twenty years of experimentation and refinement, focuses on regenerating resources by continuously enhancing the living biology in the soil. Using regenerative agricultural principles, Brown’s Ranch has grown several inches of new topsoil in only twenty years! The 5,000-acre ranch profitably produces a wide variety of cash crops and cover crops as well as grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured laying hens, broilers, and pastured pork, all marketed directly to consumers. The key is how we think, Brown says. In the industrial agricultural model, all thoughts are focused on killing things. But that mindset was also killing diversity, soil, and profit, Brown realized. Now he channels his creative thinking toward how he can get more life on the land—more plants, animals, and beneficial insects. “The greatest roadblock to solving a problem,” Brown says, “is the human mind.”

Soil Science for Gardeners

Soil Science for Gardeners PDF Author: Robert Pavlis
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 155092723X
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Build healthy soil and grow better plants Robert Pavlis, a gardener for over four decades, debunks common soil myths, explores the rhizosphere, and provides a personalized soil fertility improvement program in this three-part popular science guidebook. Healthy soil means thriving plants. Yet untangling the soil food web and optimizing your soil health is beyond most gardeners, many of whom lack an in-depth knowledge of the soil ecosystem. Soil Science for Gardeners is an accessible, science-based guide to understanding soil fertility and, in particular, the rhizosphere – the thin layer of liquid and soil surrounding plant roots, so vital to plant health. Coverage includes: Soil biology and chemistry and how plants and soil interact Common soil health problems, including analyzing soil's fertility and plant nutrients The creation of a personalized plan for improving your soil fertility, including setting priorities and goals in a cost-effective, realistic time frame. Creating the optimal conditions for nature to do the heavy lifting of building soil fertility Written for the home gardener, market gardener, and micro-farmer, Soil Science for Gardeners is packed with information to help you grow thriving plants.