2021 — The Year of Soil Health
This photo is a picture I took around 4 years ago when I visited Apricot Lane Farm, a small Biodynamic Farm in Moorpark.
“Everyone should have a CSA subscription like they have a Netflix account,” farmer Andrew said to me as we chatted about the challenges he is facing this winter season.
I personally don’t have a movie subscription, I have a CSA! It’s not just for our own health that I’m so passionate about supporting small farms — it’s for the health of the Earth.
Over the years, I’ve learned from the many farmers I support that large organic farming isn’t as organic as I once thought. Conventional farming methods have depleted our soil of the nutrients, minerals, and living organisms it needs to grow and sustain life. Our soil — like our earth — needs to be cared for and nurtured and it’s the smaller organic farms who are tending to the land using safe methods and saving our soil.
Although soil health has been a growing topic over the past several years, it’s taken some time for soil health enthusiasts to get their works of art out there. For something so important to our planet’s health, it doesn’t feel like we can spread the word fast enough! Though, just like it takes time to heal the soil in the ground by adding nutrients, it also takes time to create the ripple effect needed to have lasting change.
And we can do it!
The more people look at the soil beneath our feet and spread the word about soil health in a peaceful and loving, creative way, the quicker we will create awareness. The quicker we create awareness, the more we will see health spread through our Earth, and us.
Though my journey directly supporting small, organic farms started about ten years ago, I only began learning more deeply about soil in the last six or seven years, when I came to know a small biodynamic farmer in Topanga. I love finding the most incredible farmers and this farm was next, next level. He was a doctor who farmed some of the most beautiful vegetables I’ve ever seen. He had worked on his soil for 30 years! Through him, and by seeing and tasting his incredible vegetables, I learned about the importance of soil health. It felt like I was eating the most pristine vegetables from the beginning of time.
Around that time, some friends of mine who were also inspired by the Doctor teamed up to devise a plan to essentially save the world through soil health. My friend Darius, a documentary filmmaker, brought me along to attend one of their very first meetings as an organization, which was then called “Soilutions” but eventually renamed “Kiss the Ground.”
Through their exhaustive work and research over the last few years, they went on to produce a documentary film of the same name, Kiss the Ground. Darius took his time to deeply research the importance of soil health and was seriously driven and committed to getting the word out to the world. From what he shared with me, it seemed that our earth was in great danger and we all needed to get this information and implement change as soon as possible.
I couldn’t wait for the film to come out so that I could have something to reference when I spoke to people about soil health — and so that the world would start to wake up to the dangers we’re facing! Finally, towards the end of 2020 — at a time in which the entire world was focused on health and major issues of our planet — the film was released.
Kiss the Ground has shown a spotlight on our soil and has inspired more scientists, farmers, and other specialists to come forward, speak up, and explain the science behind and depth of importance of soil health.
If there’s anything that I’ve been grateful for about 2020, it’s that so many people have woken up to the urgency of our health and the health of our Earth. With so many doctors, scientists, farmers, and other active superheroes focused on soil health, the ripple effect will happen fast. For that, I am very grateful.
2021 is the year of soil health — we can sow seeds of change. We are creators, warriors, angels, we connect to the land, the seas, the sky above us. We see the potential of power in numbers guided by visions of a healthy Earth. And let me tell you, if all vegetables were as seasoned as the ones I ate from the Topanga Farm, the world would be a whole different place.
If you have not yet seen Kiss the Ground, you can stream it now on Netflix. And please share it with your friends!
Be Well!
Kali Star
Here are some more links I’ve found recently, from soil enthusiasts.
