The 5 Soil Serial Killers - Part 1

Our precious soils are the foundations for our food, our feed and our entire planet ecosystems. Human health, vitality and even our way of life is entirely dependent upon robust soil systems. 

Soils are crucial to our supply of clean water and the largest store of terrestrial carbon on our planet. They even have individual microbial communities that vary from site to site just as each individual has their own different internal microbial communities in their guts. 

In fact careful study of the 2 areas of our soil and our internal microbial environment, would suggest that the health of one is  entirely dependent upon the health of the other. 

However, our soils have been infiltrated and are under attack. Soil serial killers are on the loose and comitting crimes against humanity.

THE SOIL SERIAL KILLERS

Just as individual humans have different microbial communities in their guts, the microbial communities living in soils vary from site to site as well. Recent research compared the decomposition rates of wood stakes over eight sites to gain an understanding of soil microbes in forests. The activity of soil microbes can also tell a story of the value of carbon storage in soil.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-carbon-forest-soils.html#jCp

Just as individual humans have different microbial communities in their guts, the microbial communities living in soils vary from site to site as well. Recent research compared the decomposition rates of wood stakes over eight sites to gain an understanding of soil microbes in forests. The activity of soil microbes can also tell a story of the value of carbon storage in soil.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-carbon-forest-soils.html#jCp

Just as individual humans have different microbial communities in their guts, the microbial communities living in soils vary from site to site as well. Recent research compared the decomposition rates of wood stakes over eight sites to gain an understanding of soil microbes in forests. The activity of soil microbes can also tell a story of the value of carbon storage in soil.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-carbon-forest-soils.html#jCp

Just as individual humans have different microbial communities in their guts, the microbial communities living in soils vary from site to site as well. Recent research compared the decomposition rates of wood stakes over eight sites to gain an understanding of soil microbes in forests. The activity of soil microbes can also tell a story of the value of carbon storage in soil.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-carbon-forest-soils.html#jCp

Today we have 5 major soil serial killers reeking havoc on all that soil sustains us. The precious resource beneath our feet is being depleted, disassembled and destroyed at an alarming rate. We already have war in Africa a a result of the absence of the food soil supplies.

SOIL CHEMISTRY

Soils work EXTREMELY hard at one thing among many - they make elements in the soil plant ready.  It's almost magical how elements are changed into nutrients.  

This is soil's secret power. They can do this because they are marvellously part chemistry, biology, electricity and magnetic. 

Measuring these 4 properties, plus another, is the key to producing real food - nutrient-dense high energy food. 

Plants ultimately make these nutrients HUMAN-READY.

But if you've ever heard the phrase "you won't know what you've got 'til its gone" it's absolutely true about where our soils are headed today and fast.

Here is the first indicator that our soil is headed to hell in a handbasket.

RAMPANT DEPLETION OF MINERALS, TRACE  MINERALS & THEIR TRACE ELEMENTS

The produce of commercial farming today is like the emperors new clothes - it ain't all it's made out to be.

And here's why: minerals, trace minerals & their trace elements are the bare necessities of life. They're needed in 2 specific ways:

• strong structures
• efficient functions

 They are used by living cells - regardless of their age or condition.In fact minerals, trace minerals and their trace elements are the chemistry of life.

As you now know, these vital components begin as elements in our soil. And also you know that soil makes these elements plant-ready. And plants then make them human-ready. 

So it's a chain, a sequence. And the more robust the links in any chain - the stronger and more resilient the whole chain is.

Sometimes people try to circumvent or reinvent this process. Most mineral supplemnents for example are still elements. They aren't even plant-ready let alone human-ready. 

The vast majority of calcium tablets fall into this category. They belong on soil - not in the human body.

REPLENISHMENT PRACTICE

Each time we plant our vegetables, fruit, grains and grasses - they take elements from the soil. Growing food is an extractive process.

Problem is, that the rate of soil replenishment commercially doesn't get even close to what's being extracted and absorbed by plants, fruits, grains and grasses. Less is going in to replace whats going out. 

The pot empties, the quality drops or the pot itself breaks.

So today, we've got a supply of fruit, vegetables, grasses and grains that look marvellous - lovely shape, all the same size, shiny and packed beautifully. However they're severely lacking in the very reason they're grown in the first place - nutriment. And as you now know these nutrients are specifically the minerals, trace minerals and their trace elements.

Replacing in soil what's been taken out is an additional cost. However the cost in the long run of not replenishing them is far greater still. And the pace of this depletion is out of control.

THE NATURAL DEPLETION

The slow natural depletion of elements from soil began 5,000 years ago. We could easily keep up with this with simple replenishment. However it's since 1940 this has gathered serious pace. It has inceased incredibly. Get this: we've lost more since the 1940's - than in the whole last 5,000 years combined. That's just unsustainable. In any other industry it would be a crime!

Today the power for soils to produce more comes from chemical fertilizer - chemical energy. This is almost exclusively NPK fertilizers are just pure energy.

At no point is a farmer rewarded for producing nutrient dense, high energy fruit and vegetables. It's now about quantity per acre - not quality.

Yet if you've ever tasted full powered, full flavoured, nutrient dense vegetables - even a single one on a plate of 'regular' food, you'll know how it brings the rest of the food to life.

THE EARTH SUMMIT

Commercial farming is the major extractive industry on the planet - not mining. And here are the results - some startling figures released more than 25 years ago.

In 1992, the official report of the Rio Earth Summit concluded “there is deep concern over continuing major declines in the mineral values in farm and range soils throughout the world”.

This statement was based on data showing that over the last 100 years, average mineral levels in agricultural soils had fallen worldwide: 

• 72 per cent in Europe
• 76 per cent in Asia
• 85 per cent in North America.

This statement was based on data showing that over the last 100 years, average mineral levels in agricultural soils had fallen worldwide. 

Most of the food we eat is now staggeringly nutrient deficient.

THE COMPOSITION OF FOODS

In 1927, Dr RA McCance started a study of the nutrient content of common foods at King’s College, University of London. Together with his colleague, Dr EM Widdowson, he published the results in 1940. The publication was called The Composition Of Foods.

The analyses have been repeated at regular intervals since. This has provided us a unique picture of the way the composition of our food has changed. 

The table below summarises the reductions in the average mineral content of 27 vegetables and 17 fruits, between 1940 and 1991.

Reduction in average mineral content of fruit and vegetables between 1940 and 1991

Mineral                                            Vegetables                                     Fruit
Sodium                                            -49%                                               -29%
Potassium                                      -16%                                               -19%
Magnesium                                    -24%                                                -16%
Calcium                                           -46%                                               -16%
Iron                                                   -27%                                               -24%
Copper                                            -76%                                               -20%
Zinc                                                  -59%                                               -27%

*The latest edition of McCance and Widdowson’s work was published in 2002, but no updated comparison of the figures has yet been published. However, it is likely that mineral values have continued to fall. 

THE MANGANESE SWITCH

Let's take a single element, manganese and see how its depletion effects the food chain. Manganese is known as the elements of life. Its needed in soil at 100ppm. (Calcium is needed in the thousands of parts per million.) Plants take it up from the soil in one specific form after a certain type of microbial bacteria has made it plant ready. 

However, its in the leaf where its a real superstar. The leaves of the plant take in light from the sun, like tiny solar panels. The plant then converts it into sugars or from solar energy into chemical energy in the plant. 

This process is called photosynthesis and it releases oxygen - the air we breathe - into the atmosphere. The role of manganese here cannot be underestimated. Its a magical role really. And here it is:

Manganese in one form picks up the energy. Then itswitches into a completely different versions of itself - a different manganese then transfers that energy over. Next, it switches back again, picks up more energy - then switches back and transfers the energy once again. It would be like you or I becoming someone else entirely for a moment, then just switching back over.
You probably wish you could do that sometimes.

There's nothing as incredible as this ability manganese has to become something else for a moment.

Without manganese in the soil there'd be no sugar in the plant and no oxygen for us to breathe.

In the human body manganese is also a real energy hotwire - energy transfer(surprise, surprise), bone strength, building skin collagen...and lots more. So without it we'd have energy problems, tiredness and lethargy, bone and joint problems, aches & pains, sagging skin. Here is a list of comprehensive list of magnanese deficiency symptoms and human manganese transport mechanisms.

Remember, there are more than 70 minerals, trace minerals and trace elements - each with their own deficieny disease and diseases.

CONCLUSION

And if you're wondering how you can help this process - just work some fallen leaves into your garden soil. When all the leaves are brown manganese is in the form your soil thrives on. Then little or no energy is required to get it back into the foodchain. 

We've now got to get minerals, trace minerals and their trace elemnts back into our soil - and fast. We've got to grow strong vibrant and healthy plants. Then we'll have the abundance of nutrients - in the form that we need to thrive. 

Otherwise this serial soil killer will get off the hook for crimes against our planet.

Keep reading the next in the series of Soil Serial Killers.

ALL THE LEAVES ARE BROWN

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Each and every leaf is a tiny self-contained solar panel. Gently awakened by the sunshine every morning each leaf begibns to sparkle with warmth and life. And so the process of converting this energy of the sun(heat) into chemical energy(sugars) begins.

6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2

Crucial to his process is the mineral Iron. Just like any Iron exposed to the sun - it warms up nicely. A leaf with abundant iron also warms up nicely to assist the absorption of heat energy.

Intircate in the process of photosynthesis and located in leaf is the trace mineral manganese. Here, quite remarkably manganese switches over and back between 2 different versions of itself. In doing so, it captures then shares energy by accepting and donating electrons in the conversion of sunlight to sugar. (See this interview with Don Huber, Professor Emeritus, Purdue University.)

Silica then works extremely hard maintaining firmness and uprightness in the leaf to maximise leaf surface area facing the sun, without sagging or drooping.

LEAF BREATHERS

As well as being a tiny energy factory, leaves are nutrient breathers from the air. Pulling in the lighter elements they penetrate the leaf stomata and the cuticle on the upper part of the leaf. In fact, folilar feeding of plants through the leaf uses of this facility efficiently, delivering quailty nutrients straight into growing systems.

This ingenious absorption from the air is a secondary source of nutrient for leaves, trees, grains, fruit, vegetables, herbs and grasses. And some species plants rely nearly exclusively on this method where harsh and dry environments make soil nutrients unavailable.

DECOMPOSED LEAVES

Discarded by trees, at the end of summer, leaves are abubdant in exactly the minerals, trace minerals & their trace elements that fuelled photosynthesis in the first place. Better still, they're in the form that soil loves, having offered them up to the plants in the first place.

They need a certain type of encouragement to relase their nutrient lode into soil. And they'll happily offer up their all to your soil over the winter months, fuelling next year's produce.

Combined with twigs and branches, ashes and charcoal, leaves replenish soils' energy, without destroying the delicate microbial system beneath - something that commercial fertilizer can't do

Storing and stockpiling the fuel in this way is essential. For the busy growing season ahead the energy associated with the minerals, trace minerals & their trace elements combines to provide even more energy to the growing system.

This powerful and naturally rich form of fertilizer increases the likelihood of rich, nutrient dense, tasty, healthy produce, the envy of all who sample its deliciousness.

LEAF FERTILIZER

From the decaying leaves at the end of the season, those same leaves return nutrients to the forest floor and right back into the earth.

Since time began, Mother Earth has been using these raw materials as fuel and as energy for growth. Strong grains, grasses, trees, herbs, fruit and vegetables thrive on these natural materials returning to the earth.

The difference is that they're already plant-ready and practically ready to jump into plants' root systems again. Massive energy is not needed to convert them into another chemical form for absorption and they're ready, willing and able to give their all for the cause.

Commercial fertilizer also provides this energy in abundance, but at the cost of the microbial community, soils' most precious resource. This microbial network beneath the surface converts elements in the soil into plant-ready minerals, trace minerals and their trace elements - And plants then make them human-ready. The disassembly of this connection provides soil of less and less quality and food of poorer and poorer nutrient standard.

NATURAL RAW MATERIALS

Leaves as we now know are plentiful in trace minerals such as silica, iron, manganese and lots of carbons. With the dry matter, proteins, amino acids, lignins and fibre, a tremendous amount of energy is supplied for soil building activity. 


Ashes are a very concentrated source of heavy earth minerals, as the lighter minerals having been burned away. Charcoal the lighter mineral holds the heavier minerals tightly, especially calcium, so it doesn't drop out of the root zone. Charcoal also hold nitrogen and carbon and is home to a robust microbial world.  

Twigs and branches give precious energy to soil to build and renew in dormant winter months, ready for a full-powered growing season.  

Large chunks of wood are a tremendous resevoir of precious water that all parts of soils' activity needs. These raw materials are nurturing the soil as a compost heap would - but right where we need it and with more strength.

THE LEAF METHOD

Adding leaves to your garden soil is easy. Just follow these steps:

Spread the leaves generously over your soil - they will shrink a lot so don't skimp.

Spray a microbial stimulant onto the leaves like surgar or molasses dissolved in water.

Consider also a humate-based biostiumulant or fish-based product.

Leave for a few days then work about 5 - 7 inches of leaves into the soil with a hoe or shovel

Let the soil rest for the winter months.

This simple process of working leaves into the soil together with twigs, branches ashes and charcoal builds your entire soil ecosystem beneath the surface which lives and breathes. This material in the raw was the foundation for enormous Jurassic Forests.

THE MODERN METHODS

The Indian proverb summarized it well: "We don't own the earth, we simply inherit it from our children." Yet in our parks and along our streets leaves are gathered for removal and disposal. Tons and tons are sent to landfill every year, removing a precious resource form our soil - plant - foodchain. Without good soil we loose the foundation for nutrient dense food and the real heart of human health. The power to create strong soils that global warming effects of commercial fertilizer production is at our fingertips.

 "A nation who destroys its soil, destroys its people."(Rooselvelt)

Scientific research shows the sheer volume of carbon capture by soils While commercial fertilizer production is one of the most rampant destroyers of the ozone layer this simple addition of leaves to the garden soil can do your part to save the planet.

The balance can be struck with proper soil testing to determine the needs of the particular soil. In fact recently a B6 Vitamer has been discovered acting as a signaller to the plant when sufficient amonia has been absorbed, redcuing the need for nitrogen absorption.

ANCIENT SOILS
In the Jurassic World there was no commercial fertilizer and no folilar sprays. There were no herbicides or pesticides. Nutritionists believe jurassic soils contained up to 30 times the minerals, trace minerals & trace elements of todays' soils.

Trees grew literally the width of a house....and reached for the sky. They poured out phenomenal amounts of oxygen into the atmosphere. They were the lungs of a thriving planet.

An entire world grew stronger by the hour feeding off these forest greens - leaves, plnts, ferns, moss. The creaking of growing jurassic forests made decible level noise.The relentless renewal took place on the forest floor and built soils with immense nutrient density.

 Its no wonder vegetarian dinosaurs or herbivores could maintain their incredible strength and power on these immense greens on offer.

THE LEAF GARDEN 

And here is that garden area  a few months after the leaf appliction. As you can see, the extra serving of manganese, carbons, silica - in the exact for the soil uses, paid off very well indeed!