I am no expert. I have never been a farmer. I don’t even garden much. So why would I know anything about the Earth/Plant life cycle? It has to do with worms. I actually worked as a salesman for a worm co-op at one point. I would arrange lectures about worms, the potential of worm castings (manure from worms) and the market demand for organic fertilizers. During my events, I would often have guest biologists from local universities come and give a sort of ‘Soils 101’ for guests. So here it is, for what it’s worth, the best a lay-person such as myself can recall.
Soil is not Dirt.
Dirt is dead. It is crushed minerals broken down through the forces of nature. Soil is alive! It is a rich panoply of micro-organism and vegetable matter in various stages of decay. Good farmland is made up mostly of soil. As vegetable matter decays it is broken down by animals, insects, nematodes and micro-organisms. The by-product of this process are the deposits of nutrients that plant roots need. Thus the cycle of life. Plants grow, they are eaten or broken down by nature, which results in decay which feeds smaller living organisms, which produce the nutrients needed by plants to grow.
The Sun and Water
The sun is the primary energy source which drives this process. Water is the conveyance of this cycle. You can think of the sun like sipping through a straw. When the sun hits the plants, it “sips” the water which causes it to come up through the roots and stem. The genetics of the plant, combined with sunlight and water cause leaf and fruit and oils and seeds and everything else the plant produces. The plant puts off oxygen and more and then animals and insects can feed.
Worms
Worms are the multiplier of this effect. Worms do ingest particles of soil, but they aren’t really “eating” the soil. The process that takes place in a worm is that it feeds on the fungi and microbes attached to that particle of soil and they incubate life for the micro-organisms that benefit from this process. What comes out of a worm is that same particle of soil now coated a rich biology of life-giving nutrients for plant roots. They turn the soil, aerate the soil and cause the soil to retain water closer to the surface where plant roots can reach it
Pesticides, Chemical Fertilizers and Growth Agents
In our industrialized age, we have invented an abundance of chemistry to “help” with plant production. We can grow crops faster, larger, deeper in color and more resistant to weeds, disease and pests. Unfortunately, many of the chemicals we use today actually kill the soil, kill the worms, and turn our soil into Dirt. Each year, more of the chemicals are now needed to continue plant production. The larger, more colorful vegetables and fruits are now only hollow shells with greatly reduced nutrient content compared to the produce of generations past. We need to eat much more of the fruits and vegetables to get even a portion of the nutrients that used to be available in the slower, uglier produce grown naturally. The farmland is burning out (partly because there are no longer any worms in it), and farmers are now dependent on chemical fertilizers – much like an addict becomes dependent on what makes him sick – lest the farmers go bankrupt for having no crops.
Hemp
Hemp is not the cure-all for this vicious cycle we have got ourselves into, but it can help. Hemp outpaces weeds, is naturally pest resistant and grows at amazing rates without chemical enhancement. Best of all, it produces one of the most human-friendly crops on Earth. Hemp seeds, oils and leaves are amazingly great for human consumption and entire civilizations have had hemp as a staple since mankind has walked the Earth. Additionally, hemp crops provide a restorative component to damaged soils. It can be used as an alternative crop in rotation for wheat and for cotton to “rest” the soil. Hemp is even being grown around Chernobyl to help restore irradiated soil.
There is much to do in getting the word out about all the great benefits of hemp. For now we are trying to combat the propaganda and monetize the movement by giving it a pay plan. If you are interested in learning more about that, join me at http://www.ProfitFromHemp.com
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