To all who ever threw a dirt clod, made a mud pie or walked on the bare earth …
When you look at the ground, do you see lifeless dirt or soil that’s essential to life and health? To quote Paul Harvey, “Despite all our accomplishments, we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”
When I first heard this quote, I was at the beginning of my deeper homesteading journey and I almost discredited it in my mind. “There are many things we ‘owe our existence to,’” I thought, but the quote hung around. It made me think about the importance I placed on soil at the time … which was nil. I honestly thought that the ‘dirt’ was there to hold the roots in place so the plant doesn’t get blown away, act as a sponge to hold in water and to be walked on.
Those thoughts are also true, but soil does so much more! Soil is an ecosystem teeming with life. Aside from minerals and organic matter, it’s filled with a rich microbiome that includes as many as 10,000 species such as bacteria, fungi, archaea, protozoa and mycelium in one cubic foot.
Ever since the ‘Germ Theory’ was introduced in the 19th century and antibiotics in the 20th century, there seems to have been a growing disdain amongst the general populace toward unseen creepy-crawlies. This has led to more and more ‘sterilized’ environments in our society. Now, there are certain places where we definitely want to keep sterilized (e.g., an operating room, a bathroom, a kitchen), but have we taken it too far?
Researchers tested this idea by transforming the outdoor environments of 10 daycares, exposing 75 children to soil, peat and forest floor materials. After increased exposure to biodiversity, results showed that these environments “... support the biodiversity hypothesis and the concept that low biodiversity in the modern living environment may lead to an uneducated immune system and consequently increase the prevalence of immune-mediated diseases …,” to quote Science Advances, Volume 6, Issue 42.
I don’t believe it’s just the immune system that suffers this loss of connection. Have you ever heard of “Nature’s Prozac”? Mycobacterium vaccae got its nickname because studies suggest that it may have similar effects on the human brain to what some modern antidepressants have. While many factors contribute to rising depression and anxiety, with around just 1% of Americans directly participating in growing food, and only 10-15% of people engaging with soil daily, could this be one part of the explanation for some of the uptick in depression and anxiety rates?
The more I learn, the more I think, “Maybe Paul Harvey was right—and in a much bigger way than I originally gave his quote credit for.” It seems that soil gives much more than nutrition to plants and animals by proxy. It’s a fundamental necessity for everything that lives on land. Perhaps it’s time we understood the life beneath our feet. We protect what we understand. How will you protect and incorporate more soil into your daily life?
Getting down and dirty,
Liz Threlkeld