OBSESSIVES

the ecosystems we know. But even more so, as Josh and Rebecca Tickell, environmental filmmakers (films include Kiss the Ground), explain that “soil is the basis for all life above ground.”

But, why? Jones elaborates, “This intricate web of interconnected devouring critters is actually what’s feeding the root systems of the plants that are then in turn feeding us,” and, of course, all other aboveground creatures. This relationship of life above and below is not loose, like what you do for your child and how much they appreciate you in return. Put simply by Jones, “the more diversity and flourishing life you have under the soil, the more you’re going to have above.”

Recognizing this, these soil obsessives go to work.

Soil organic matter

They haven’t fallen for what Michael Leicht, owner of Ventura Brush Goats, describes as “the misinformed belief that the best thing we can do for land is to leave it alone,” when human changes have already disrupted the natural order of a place. In fact, armed with their herd of goats, their chickens’ excrement, their kitchen scraps, and their neighbors’ yard clippings, they are, as some might accuse, soil organic matter fanatics, compost addicts, and humus enthusiasts. Which is to say, in pursuit of this flourishing soil life, they are devout servants of what is called the soil’s organic matter. Composed of the aforementioned beasts, their poop, slaughtered foes, and your last year’s tomato-plant remains, soil organic matter is dark, rich in smell, and deeply essential to the soil. Essential, in spite of the fact that it makes up only a fraction of most soils; in Ojai, “in most places it hovers between 0.5%-3%, and the pre-colonial topsoil in our region would have been over 10%,” according to the Tickells.

Many of these soil obsessives are particularly obsessed with maintaining or increasing that fraction, largely through compost. They can tell you exactly how their compost is formulated. In fact, for Robert “BD” Dautch, owner of Earthtrine Farm, making compost is what lit the flame of his soil love half a century ago: “I started making these beautiful compost piles. It really fascinated me. I got seaweed from the ocean, weeds from other vacant lots, manure from the stables, and scraps from the chicken coop.” Leicht, on the other hand, prefers feeding the soil with specialized compost machines of the hooved and cuddly sort.

But organic matter does more than foster life in the soil. “Dense soil organic matter results in better water infiltration, better nutrient uptake into plants and trees, better profit for farmers, and higher nutrient density in food,” say the Tickells. Soil organic matter, in other words, is a central piece of the larger project of soil health.

The soil serving

A healthy soil, as you might imagine and appreciate as you snack or sip while reading this, is essential for growing food. As Dautch definitively puts it, “the health of the soil is the health of the plants will be the health of the consumer.”

But you may be less aware of soil’s other contributions to our lives. In the wet months, Leicht explains, “the health of the soil can determine the health of our watersheds. … It can be the defining factor in whether or not we have erosion, flooding, or damaging floods.” In the dry months, he says, soil health is important for wildfire resiliency, as healthier soils foster plants that tend to lower probability of ignition, rate of spread, and height of flame. And, in the many months of our lives ahead, “soil is possibly one of the most important opportunities for sequestering atmospheric carbon,” says Leicht.

A healthy soil feeds us better, keeps our houses flood-free and not aflame, and may help save us from humanity’s great climate folly. To be sure, as Leicht notes, this is not an exhaustive account… you can be sure soil is saving your ass in many other ways, too.

Serving the soil

The soil obsessives have all found their way to some version of this truth, have all come to appreciate the gifts the soil so unassumingly hands us from its place below us. They have come to diligently pay due worship to this entity of creation and protection. They study its patterns, for “in every situation, every climate, every landscape, every region, the Earth chooses to cover herself in a di erent manner that’s appropriate for the place,” says Jones, describing how he patterns his own planting after this. They labor to quench its thirst, advocating as Leicht does to “keep as much water as close to where it’s falling from the sky as possible.” They spread the “Good News” of the soil, be it by film and outreach as the Tickells do, or by food scrap, as Guzman does, allowing people to see it “transformed from recognizable scraps to nutrient-rich soil.” These obsessives might, as Dautch does in the night, “go out into the garden just to look at the plants in the moonlight or chant to them” — the plants that feed and are fed by the soil. Both the Tickells and Leicht independently noted that we humans know more about the stars than we do about the inner workings of the soil. Why we have overlooked this great womb which birthed — and continues to birth by the day, by the hour, by the second — our world is a mystery. Perhaps it frightens us to think that our mother of terrestrial creation is an uncountable collection of crumbled rocks, decaying flesh, and mostly invisible beasts and quasi-beasts. Perhaps its majesty has been too quiet for us to take notice. Perhaps a thing that feeds us in exchange for scraps from our cutting boards, digestive tracts, and livestock seems too bizarre to dig into. In fact, it is just bizarre enough to dig into. So, try it… right now, outside of wherever you are. Reach, a finger at a time, into this terrestrial womb, consider anew this bit of earth, all tender and beaming with the warmth of Ojai’s summer sun.

Top and below right: Connor Jones, young and old.

Left: Camila Guzman and David White make compost.

Mama Tree

A t Mama Tree, we love our trees and we like to think they love us back.

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With SR-33 through Los Padres National Forest likely closed through at least summer due to extensive winter storm damage, hikers and mountain bikers will have to find their fun on Ojai’s front country trails. But make no mistake, great choices for summer hikes exist just a few minutes from Ojai. Here’s a rundown of a few of my top picks, including directions on getting there and what to expect on your hike.