The Critical Condition of Dirt
Worldwide , Scientific America estimates that we need to eat from four to eight servings of fruits and vegetables to gain the same amount of nutritional benefits we received in 1980 , all from soil depletion . Mother Nature takes about eight years to make topsoil if there are trees around . My husband and I had to restore the 30 feet around the cottage we built in the woods after the foundation was dug out . I would go out on the road in July when the graters went by and pick up giant clumps of native grasses with the roots intact and set them on our ground . Also , we lived in the forest , and leaves make up a huge part of soil restoration . Still , it took about five years of composting everything we could find to restore our topsoil . I felt a great sense of accomplishment the first year wildflowers bloomed around the house .
Leave the Leaves !
As a culture , we started the atrocious habit of raking our lawns and covering them with pesticides somewhere back in the formation of suburbia , which was a pet peeve of our mom when she became dependent on someone else to do her yard work . “ They raked all the leaves out of my flower beds again and bagged them up by the road . Honey , can you come over and put them back for me ?” And one of us would .
I recently found a woolly worm in my house . I found out woolly worms are future moths and need leaves too . Their blood turns to antifreeze in the winter , so warming them up inside is fatal . I don ’ t know if I got the little guy out to the leaves quickly enough . I hope so .
If you are wondering where all the fireflies have gone — gone with the leaves . Decomposing leaves play a huge part in the life cycle of bugs , birds , butterflies , frogs , bees , turtles , and salamanders . We could improve their life cycles exponentially if we just quit raking leaves .
WANT BIGGER PLANTS ?
I don ’ t have many trees in my yard . This past fall , every time I drove into the suburbs to see the grandkids , I loaded up the trunk with bags of leaves sitting out on a curb for special pickup . I ’ m special , so I picked up . I dumped them in my yard before the rain so they would get matted down .
Compost
Composting is another way to save our dirt . In January 2022 , California passed SB 1383 , requiring every jurisdiction to provide organic waste collection services to all residents and businesses . On my Halloween trip to see my daughter , I saw their composting trash cans ; however , I hold onto my compost . I have a low spot in my yard by my shed . I ’ ve raised the soil level by eight inches in two years with compost and leaves . In the summer , the pile becomes a wild garden sprouting whatever I dumped in it during the winter months .
Dolores Montgomery Halbin , RN , BSN , and Ordained Nurse Minister , resides in SW Missouri . After her husband passed in 2015 , she retired from nursing . She worked with the 2014-2018 Missouri campaigns for legalized medical marijuana . She continues as a cannabis reform activist volunteering with Canna Convict Project and working toward Federal decriminalization through educational speaking and freelance journalism . Dolores Halbin , doloreshalbin @ gmail . com .
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