Just... Here. @saphira455 - Tumblr Blog

sparrowlucero

adding to the pile of little colorful dragons i've been drawing lately

(also available on my kofi as adoptables!)

northerlygale-deactivated202307

throwitonthepile

sporifluorous

Dave Brandt was so much more than a meme. He partnered with universities to experiment with and expand soil conservation and cover crop techniques, worked to educate other farmers through worldwide conventions and direct mentorship, founded the Soil Health Academy, and was called the "Obi-Wan Kenobi of soil health" by the chief of the USDA's conservation department.

There is no healthy planet without healthy ag practices, and this guy was a legend.

asteroidtroglodyte

The A-horizon on his farm was 4 feet deep

You do not understand

Most modern Ag operations don’t even have a proper A-Horizon. They’re too busy turning the earth every time they replant. The A-horizon is the Black Gold that makes Soil Soil. It’s a structurally complex soil horizon that must be built in place by the interactions of Plants and Fungi and Insects. It is The Thing that soaks up rain and holds onto it for plants. The A-Horizon is The Thing that builds up when you let a field sit fallow. The act of tilling creates fecundity by breaking up the A-horizon. On a really good Organic no-till farm you might find an A-horizon between 3-6 inches.

His A-horizon was 4 feet deep. 50 inches.

I-

I have no context. His farm was covered in a living skin thick enough for a child to stand in.

Gives me hope for what we could accomplish if we got our collective heads on straight, you know? Like. This was one guy. A brilliant man, who knew what he was up to, but. The thing about brilliant ideas is they can be shared.

50 inches. The mind reels.

improvrich

This is so much more impressive than I can understand and comprehend and I would love to know more about A horizon

asteroidtroglodyte

Do you love the color of the Soil?

Humus, or Humic Compounds, are a cryptic and poorly understood set of organic substances. As the final metabolic result of once-living things being digested first by macroscopic organisms, and then by microorganisms, they resist most forms of analysis, and have cryptic structures. A few that we have managed to isolate and study are the Humic & Fulvic Acids.

Humus has a number of remarkable tendencies. It is capable of retaining water far better than any raw mineral clay; it also retains electrically charged clay granules, which themselves retain mineral ions, all of which is essential to make a soil a high-quality resource for Plants to grow in.

A composter is a box that contains an environment that is conducive to the production of Humus, but the best way to produce it is in-place, by laying layers of organic material down over an unbroken earth and growing things out of that. The interaction of the plants rooting, the fungus weaving itself through everything, the bacteria and archaea metabolizing as they do, and inorganic weathering forces all combine to gradually build up the microscopic equivalent of a complex megastructure capable of retaining far more water, and containing far more nutrients, than any inorganic substrate.

This stuff is black gold. This is the stuff that determines whether or not a plot of land is going to be “productive.” The knowledge of how to make it, how to care for it, is an essential piece of wisdom that our civilization needs to remember.

Fortunately, folks seem to have the right response:

Farmers are more important to the continuity of civilization than administrators, no matter what the elitists say. This knowledge is important.

Exactly

elderberryhedgehog

This work is so important and underappreciated AND if you're interested in the lives of the women as wives and secretaries who did research and publication "with" their husbands in history, you should know that this kind of work in sustainable agriculture right now also has a LOT of invisible women doing critical scientific work in soil development, seed saving and starting, etc, often without formal training or recognition.

punishedsaints

qqchurch

alas...

(1) (2) (3)

birdsareblooming

avtavr

Andy Goldsworthy, Sycamore leaves / edging the roots / of a sycamore tree. / Hampshire. / 1 November 2013. — Elm leaves / held with water / to fractured bough / of fallen elm. / Dumfriesshire, Scotland. / 29 October 2010. Photos by Andy Goldsworthy.

my-dailydreams

fiddleabout

#mom threw them in the oven with the cookies to roast

thedman0310

Do they know?

sunshinetheinspiration

Context:

analog-autistic

roleplaying moodboard

exmoth

THOG MOBILE

imnotokaythanks

maxxie-or-smth

you've met me at a very "yeah i'm trying to work on that" time in my life

thedreammweaver

We need an alternative to doesthedogdie cause they’ve started fucking paywalling warnings that include timestamps for triggering moments.

thedreammweaver

Like what the fuck

autisticharrywells

I just checked and

Need to read about trigger warnings? Please click the whimsical dog icon for more information!

I recommend Unconsenting Media. Not as comprehensive as DoesTheDogDie, but if sexual assault is a trigger for you, it’s a good resource

bowowark

“character who gained weight to show how they are healthy now” trope my beloved

demonadelem

pixiecaps

something really satisfying about annoying your friends

thememedaddy

kaleido-scope-lady

darkest dungeon rlly nailed its visual representation of stress because yes whenever im having a bad mental health moment it does feel exactly like I've got one of these fuckers over my head sticking its little points into my brain