If your a small farmer - your soil is your biggest asset. From your soil comes all your food for animals, all your grains and food for others. If you don't take care of your soil - it won't produce for you.

You can add chemicals to grow things and for many, it is a quick fix but kills the natural organisms that make soil healthy.

Watch the movie DIRT about how soil cleans water, feeds plants for growing and converting nutrients.

To improve your soil can take years. We've been working on improving our soil for 3 years and are just getting results as the microbes return to a normal state.

The other aspect of soil is depth. Most plants need a minimum of 2' for good root health. After years of plowing fields, a "plow pan" of hardened soil forms to keep moisture from penetrating deeply, in which case, the field drys out faster than it would normally do. There are several cures to this - plant types with deep root systems to break through the hard pan or do it mechanically with a broad fork. Examples of this is alfalfa, clovers and vetch.

There was once a time when birds flocked behind tractors working fields (See A Farm for the Future on youtube). That is no longer the case since the farmer turns up nothing for them. No worms, no bugs no life exists in commercial mono-cultured farm soils. The color is not rich black but dry dust with decaying plant material. With years of work and knowledge, we can return soil to the health.

We have used several products and are encouraged by the texture and preformance after the soil has been improved. Rock dust, fish emmulsion and boron mixed with good animal & chicken manure seem to make plants thrive and are more resistant to pests. Note the animals get kelp and calcium added to their diet for rich milk, soft shiny hair/feathers and good immunities to disease. They get Diatomaceous Earth on a regular basis to reduce pest infestation and lime & ashes in their bedding to nuetralize urine (it also keeps barn odors down). This all makes for some of the best soil additives to to super-feed our plants. I also add mushroom spores to their bedding which break down the bedding faster, add texture to the soil, aid in reducing pests and parasites and is known to nuetralize heavy metals in soils.

Click here for some data on U.S. soils which also has a page to identify mineral deficencies in crops.