For the Love of Soil: Strategies to Regenerate Our Food Production Systems

Product Information

What they found was all these methanotrophic organisms were gobbling away. They were like, “This is awesome.” That oil spill obviously had massive consequences at that time and impacts on everything but those organisms are going to come in. It’s food and carbon. Methane is a carbon source. It’s food for life so they’re not going to let it go to waste. Soil: Soil and water and cabin are intimately related. And as we start to break down those links, there are consequences above ground. We have all seen dust blowing in the wind as working (tilling) the soil disrupts the soil infrastructure. Do the people tilling realize that the most valuable substance in their soil is what is darkening the sky? It is humus, the final breakdown of organic matter, with a structure even finer than clay. Humus is an amphitheater, if you will, in which soil microorganisms thrive.

As Andy Rooney would have said, "Did you ever wonder why...' Well, I have wondered why calcium is not even registered in the top three minerals for assessing soil health. "Everybody knows" it is only important to add NP&K! Well, according to Masters, we've been hoodwinked. Calcium is essential.That leads me to one final question about the paraquat in your system. Do you think you’ve detoxed it completely? Is it out of your body? Without dumbing down the soil science (and it’s full of references for people who want more..) Nicole explains in clearly understandable ways how soil works and what we can do to stop harmful practices and grow better. I am so glad that you said that just because it has that label doesn’t mean that it’s been produced on a small scale. Like in whole foods. I sometimes see these berries. I’m a big berry girl. I love berries. It says organic, so I think, “That’s great,” but I know their motto crops of berries. It’s done on this huge scale. Tell me, how does that damage the soil? What’s wrong with that if it’s organic? When you mentioned greenhouse gas emissions, I couldn’t help but start thinking about climate change and people thinking they need to eat less meat or go vegan to heal the planet. What do you think of all that, Nicole? Another problem with this book is it is highly anecdotal, which is fine; in and of themselves, anecdotes aren't bad. To her credit it is very well researched and footnoted with tons of scientific peer reviewed papers that support some of her science. But the anecdotes seem to be mostly with all her customers that she consulted for that she writes about. Virtually none of them have comparative data demonstrating what exactly she did, and how well it worked. Maybe this is because her clients did not want her revealing that info. And that is fine, but she should at least indicate as much. It left me somewhat unimpressed.

What that did is it then introduced the paraquat, which is a residual herbicide into my spinal fluid. It sat there for fifteen years. I was told that I had fused vertebras C1 and C2. I went and saw every single bodyworker you can imagine. I’ve got a depth of experience in like Bowen, craniosacral, ortho-bionomy, and acupuncture. You name it. I’ve been to see them. When I was 30 years old, so fifteen years later, I met a chemical detox specialist. He used radionics and ran through a series of questions about, is this environmental? Is this a virus? Until finally, he came down to, “It’s paraquat because I had no idea.”The first chapter had me hooked. Nicole shared her own story about Paraquot poisoning in her teens and how it affected her health and her journey into ultimately becoming an Agro-ecologist, educator and systems thinker. She not only tells her story but weaves it beautifully into the topic of this book. She speaks of chemicals, genetics, epigenetics and more telling the story of human reliance and exposure to these things. She encourages each and every one of us to listen to our bodies, nature and our intuition to build a rich and insightful life. In so doing she builds the reason for having written the book and her love of nature and soil.

No, if you look and think a lot of the big agri companies are also your big pharmaceutical companies. Bayer, for instance. They are peddling the same stuff. I spent recovering by applying the foundations teachings and my life has dramatically turned around. I have never experienced such vitality and happiness in my entire life. I am so grateful for WAPF. I have become so passionate about physical and mental health as well as farmer rights. I’m so eager to become involved in sharing knowledge about these things.” That’s Eden from Leesburg, Virginia. Unintentionally, it is appealing to an urban audience to understand these are the chemicals that are being used in agriculture, this is what is in your food chain, and here’s what people are doing on the ground. To get inspired and go, “There’s a massive revolution happening now.” It’s incredibly exciting to travel the world and see the uptake of regenerative agriculture. Together with her team of soil coaches, they work alongside producers in the U.S., Canada and across Australasia. Supporting producers who work with millions of acres to take their operations to the next level in nutrient density, profitability and environmental outcomes.

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, USA As a lay person and amateur gardener, I thought this was a fantastic introduction to regenerative agriculture. The author shares a wealth of wisdom related to weed growth, plant stress, pest activity, water management and soil health. Her work with the pioneering families and agribusinesses (often ranchers) that are adapting these ideas to their own farms and climates (often in the face of overwhelming odds) is eye opening. She tells her personal story of how an herbicide jeopardized her health, though she did not know it at first. She goes over why monocrops are a problem (even organic monocrops), the correlation between chemical companies and pharmaceutical companies, and how personal testing meters are being developed to help us better assess the quality of our food and the health of the soil. In the end, she offers ideas to diversify and regenerate both the land, and our guts, for improved health. Healthy soil. It’s not just what we need for potted plants. It’s what we all need to survive. Nicole Masters, agro-ecologist and author of “For the Love of Soil,” explains on today’s podcast just why our health and the health of the soil are so inextricably intertwined.