Dirt

I can always conjure up the smell of dirt.  I remember when I first learned that some people have never felt or smelled dirt and how difficult I found that to imagine!  Some of my earliest memories with dirt were when I was making mud pies on summer days on our farm as a child.  I made all kinds of magnificent designs and patterns on the tops of the pies, some with flowers or clover on top.

I even have fond memories of riding on the back of a rather old fashioned wheat drill to plant the wheat on our farm.  The wheat drill had a platform on the back for someone to check on the flow of the seeds through the machine and make sure it was not clogging.  I would put a bandana around my face so that I would not always breathe in the dirt as the dust would be kicked up along the field.  When we were finished for the day, the rest of my skin was 10 shades darker from dirt.  I always felt a sense of satisfaction and a bit of adventure on these days.

When I visited the farmland in Europe in the region of my ancestors, I brought back a little bag of dirt as a keepsake.  Some 30 years later I still have this with me.  We are fifth generation farmers and this little bag of dirt is somehow a symbolic link through time with all of these farmers who came before us.

When we bought our current farm, one of the first things we did was have a soil analysis done with GPS soil sampling and land mapping.  We received a very high tech book with the  various locations on our farm and the different types of soil nutrients present or absent in each location.  The quality of the dirt is one of the key variables and the literal foundation for farming.

We are also composting to enrich the terrible clay soil surrounding our home.  Both of these ways, the high tech and low tech methods, are wonderful ways we are connecting with our dirt and helping to enrich and sustain it.

Take a minute to consider what your most recent connections with dirt are and what you consider your earliest memories with dirt.  All of your food is connected in some way to dirt, whether you see it still on the produce at the farmer's market or you purchase a washed version in your grocery store.  All of the grains you consume are deeply connected to this soil.  Let's keep investing in our soil - dig in!