Reading about soil today has enlightened me…no, transported me…into another world, seriously!
The world beneath my feet.
I have always had a fascination with Fairies and the world of Nature, but was never fully cognisant of the facts about our soil…that deep, dark, rich matter that gives forth all we eat.
Facts like, a gram of soil contains about 100 million bacteria.
A square metre of fertile farmland can be inhabited by something like around 55 million worms and about 50,000 small insects and mites.
Monoculture diminishes all this, of course.
A monocultured ecosystem is very weak and may not be up to withstanding disturbance…hence the severe erosion and dust storms seen throughout places like the mid west of America.
A complex ecosystem, such as can be found here at Bealtaine Cottage, is better able to adapt to disturbance.
Permaculture has a healing effect in a very short time, allowing the soil to build up a strong ecosystem relatively fast…a few years in the case of this monocultured 3 acres!
Homo sapiens, means, Wise Man.
A Wise Man would not be sieving life out of our Eco-system, or interfering with our food chain and supply by patenting seeds.
A Wise man in Government would not allow that to happen.
