Kiss the Ground, presents “The Soil Story,” a plot of land in LA city proper turned into a community permaculture learning site.
Seven teams organize into projects on October 4th, and in just a few hours a new irrigation ditch cuts across the property. Simultaneously the ground is cleared and fence holes dug, compost piles move into bags, a cob oven workshop captivates those willing to learn, and signs artfully painted for the art community next door. We are surprised when we arrived to already see all these groups of people working SO FAST! Not one body standing around, everyone on a mission like ants in an ant hill, to restore the soil for life to thrive. Meanwhile, Bob Marley blasts in the background.
In an interview with the farm’s director, Lauren Tucker, she said,
“This isn’t about the organization, this isn’t about me, It’s about all of the hundreds of volunteers who have come out to help.”
The Soil Story exists to lower the levels of carbon released into the atmosphere by returning micro-organisms in to our soil. Why is this important? Keep reading!
PERMACULTURE LEARNING
Two-thirds of our humus layer has disappeared. Through conventional agriculture, the carbon which bound this humus is now in our atmosphere as CO2 (476 gigatonnes of CO2).
Rebuilding humus means more water is absorbed into the soil and less escapes as runoff. Soil humus holds its weight in water. To create humus, start composting and inoculating your plants and lawns with Mycorrhizal Fungi (the principle humus maker). In a nutshell, humus makes the ground like a sponge rather then concrete. When water is held in the ground by the soil, everything benefits.
Humus holds minerals and serves as a carbon filter in the soil. The loss of humus has caused soil minerals to leach and unfiltered contaminants to increase. For 10 decades, extractive agriculture has used more chemicals every year. These chemicals are poisoning us. Loss of humus is directly linked to an 80% decline of nutrients in our food.
Thanks to Jacob Avanzato for the video!
Check out his website @ jacobavanzato.com
~ some photos are stills from video by Megan Stone
Download the PDF – Los Angeles Permaculture Resource List PDF
