Soil uppens, instead of deepens. You have to build up your soil, not plow it down.
-Andy Lee
I was first introduced to this quote in the book You Can Farm by Joel Salatin. What he means is that by trying to dig your soil deeper, you're working against nature and that you need to improve it in such a way that allows life to do the work for you. Enter: earthworms.
I blame this guy that I found the other day:
While reading about worms the last few days, I learned some things. Worms have no formal heart, but five aortic arches that do the same job. They also don't drown in water, but use it as a migration tool. When they dry out, they suffocate because they use their skin to breathe, and moisture is important for that process. Australians boast the world's largest worms, with the longest recorded at twenty two feet (though they're usually only a whopping five feet long...)! No fair, I want worms like that!
Anyways. My soil is uppening, and I love it! I've actually never had this happen in such an observable way, so this is new to me. :)
Yay for learning! Yay for soil! Yay for worms!
Hope y'all have an awesome Wednesday, thanks for reading.
Uppen Atom!
The more uppening, the better!
We started uppening our garden soil on 2004 when we got our first chickens. I fenced them into half of the garden and gave them loads of chopped leaves to scratch in. They turned 8" of leaves into a couple inches of rich soil in a few months.
A few years of that treatment gave us a big, healthy garden, not to mention the eggs.
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That's our plan as well! We've got two chicken runs that are deep vedded with leaves, grass, and chickens, as well as another compost pile that we empty the small chickens' coop bedding into. Since they're packed so tightly in their chicken house at night, they make a high concentration of poo, so I add it to a separate pile.
Can't wait to put it in our beds!
oh man...congratulations bro!!!!!!!!!!!! LIFE!!!!!!!!!! the uppening!!!! i feel you!!!! dude...it's ON now!!!!!!!! the food forest ...rises!!!!!!! re steemed!!!!!!!! :)
Bro, I'm so giddy right now. I just stopped by a tree cutting crew and talked them into coming and dumping some chips! The foreman said he'd bring one truck by. Of he can give me a full truck of chips, I'll have a pile bigger than our mini van!!!! Aaaahhhhh!!!!!
bro...film it!!!!!!!! dtube or steepshot!!! that's just sooo golden!!!!!! you're inspiring the crap outta me over here bro!!!!! seriously!!! feelin' it!!!! lol..now that's a pile of chips!!!! over the mini van!!! i can smell it and see it now! once they know they can dump at your place...you'll have a perpetual pile to disperse ;)
That would be so awesome! They didn't show up yesterday, so I'm gonna call more and get on more lists. I really need some wood chips in my life.
oh yah...call a few...and before long...you'll have way more than enough. once they hone in on a local dump spot....that saves them fuel, time and potential dumping fees...you'll have a mound bigger then your house lol. :)
Lol I wonder what I'd do with all that...
Heck, I'm thinking about starting a small side gig in the spring making garden beds for folks. A giant pile of wood chips would be great for that... After I finish all my projects lol
Wow! I didn't know about uppening. It's a good thing I have developed the discipline of loving even the insects. I kept thinking worms dig up the soil, they feed through it and their poop adds as fertilizers so I automatically throw those worms into my plant pots and into my compost pit. I didn't know they were very helpful in making my soil healthy. Nice!
Oh yeah, worms are great. They till and aerate the soil, so you don't have to! Saves a lot of work in the garden, and like you said, while they're eating, they're feeding everything too. All the little microorganisms in your soil are working together to make it awesome!
I literally just went out to look for worms scattered everywhere and placed them into my plants. LOL!
The soil in the Big Garden is 4 - 6" higher than the surrounding soil. It's taken me since 1993 to make that much soil, just using hay mulch. Deep, very dark soil with hundreds of worms. It's a protected wildlife area, my husband is not allowed to steal my worms for fishing... :))
That's absolutely awesome! No fishing allowed lol 😂 I'm not a fisherman,.so our worms are safe. Now, if the chickens get ahold of them, I'm not sure there's much I can do...
I'm considering importing a bunch of worms. Making a colony or ten in some of our buckets then releasing them into the beds along with their glorious castings...
That type of worms are perfect for catfish fishing.
I bet! It's a fat one! He's lucky I'm not much of a fisherman. I took him to our biggest garden bed where he can eat all the trees and organic matter he wants.
so, in order to plant something, earthworm is an indicate it's a fertile soil?
Oh yes!
Will keep that in mind! and uh, you can use the earthworm for fishing, I reckon!
You sure can! Lots of folks use a worm colony to feed their aquaponics systems where they grow fish to eat.
hmmm that's interesting. I am very new to all of this but it's where I am heading, so reading and learning about it, much needed.
Worms are an integral part of soil health. They eat all kinds of organic matter in the soil, so the more leaves, sticks, acorns, grass clippings, etc. that you have around, the happier your worms will be. Fungi like the same stuff, and fungi are awesome for soil as well.
Noted.
Wow, that worm is massive!
Can I have one... hahaha...
Check this out! A link to a Google images search for gippsland worms. That's the type in Australia that get giant!
https://www.google.com/search?q=gippsland+worm&safe=off&client=ms-android-verizon&prmd=insv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjy7MjYjLHeAhVERKwKHZH8BRkQ_AUIEygB&biw=360&bih=512
My goodness, that size can feed a cow!
Worms are so important to a soils ecosystem. I like how you make them the center of your post. There castings or droppings are called black gold where I'm from, And for good reason
I've heard it called that too. So exciting to see it actually being made in our soil here.
ha! uppening, never heard that term before but it makes sense, pretty soon you'll be a soil expert!
I'd love to be an expert, man! There's so much to know about soil, and it translates to a lot of other knowledge.
yes sir I agree. Well at the rate you're learning, next year at this time you will be an expert!
That would be great!
Soil has become a real passion of mine since starting this project. I soak up all the information on it I can get!
haha well sir it's perfect for what you're interested in I was just thinking of what most people would say if they asked you what you were interested in and you said dirt!