Soil Talk
Organism of the Year:
The mole Includes limited addition “Mama Cross Ginger Bread cookie� coupon! Pg. 19
Includes 6 poems from 7th grade students about soil!
Table Of Contents Page 3-4: Organism of the year article Pages 5-7: “One Wild and Precious Life” Poems Page 8: “Phat Beets Produce” article Page 9: Cleo’s Soil unit art Page 10: “Dig, dig, dig” song Page 11-12: Propaganda poster Pages 13-15: Barbaric Yawp Poems Page 16: Pictures Pages 17-19: Letter from the editors Page 20: Mama Cross’s Ginger Bread Cookie coupon
The Mole Moles are described as disgusting and ugly, freaks of nature that live underground. But when our Soil Talk crew looked a little deeper, we saw how important they really are. We realized that you should think twice before getting rid of them and that they play a beneficial role in the environment. When people think of moles, they often envision little creatures that chew on the roots of their lawn grass and leave little mounds of dirt on their property. First and foremost, it is a common misconception that moles chew on grass roots. They do not. In actuality, they eat worms and insects that can cause damage by eating lawn grass roots. Moles also help with aeration (circulating air through the soil), improving lawns drainage, minimizing soil compaction, and increasing the infiltration of nutrients to the roots of plants. While, to some, the mole hill may still be annoying, there is luckily a way to address and benefit from this “problem”. Property owners who see a mole hill should scoop up that soil because it is great loam. Mole hill soil is free of clumps, stones, and weed seeds and it can be used to produce plants. Moles have a big job that they need to fulfill, and without certain characteristics they cannot do their job. Moles have rounded or cylindrical bodies, noses that are pig-like snouts, and short, bare or sparsely haired tails. With outwardly turned palms and strong nails, moles are equipped for efficient digging to help loosen and aerate the soil. They also have small hips for turning around in tight places, and velvety fur that enables them to move through the soil easily without getting stuck. Moles also dispose excess soil by digging a short lateral tunnel to the surface and shoving the soil out on top of the ground. These little creatures provide us with perfect loam topsoil. Topsoil is the soil that we walk on every day. Without it, plants wouldn’t be able to live, and many organisms would not have a home. Therefore the chain would start to break. When our earth loses soil, we are losing food, and a home for animals. Due to erosion and agriculture we are losing at least 1% of our topsoil per year and after a couple years the percentages will start to build up and create a bigger problem. A serious issue that has been occurring for millions of years is topsoil loss. Topsoil loss is mainly caused by erosion. Soil erosion is the process by which the top layer of soil is washed or blown away. Erosion is mainly caused by water and wind. The soil has lost much of its nutrient rich topsoil layer; so, the soil quality reduces. Following the disappearance of topsoil, we are left with land that is incapable of producing necessities. If the material that we depend on for food, forests, and animals is slowly disappearing, there will be major consequences. Soil erosion has been tied to the falling of civilizations like the Aztec and the Mayan.
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Soil is a necessity for life on earth. It provides a habitat for plants that we depend on for food and for many of the globe’s forests. Farming and food production are dependent on soil. Over the past 50 years, the world’s population has increased at a fast rate, and soil has been a necessary resource for increased food production. Similarly, along with climate, soil is an important factor in the growth of forests that we use as sources of timber and fuel. These forests are also the home to a great variety of plants and animals. Not only do the forests provide homes for organisms, but the soil itself also houses a diverse collection of organisms. Soil stores water that plant roots and organisms use; and it can act as a filter for the water before it makes its way to lakes and rivers. Soil and plants are like a chain reaction. Soil helps grow plants, and plants provide us with much of our food. Without healthy soil we can’t grow plants. Without plants we don’t have food, and without food, we can’t live. Soil is like the trunk of a tree that holds everything up. But we are damaging it are with pesticides. Instead of using natural bug repellant such as “Worm Tea,” which is a natural juice that earthworms produce and that repels bugs, (which is free and easy to obtain) we use pesticides. Pesticides have poisonous chemicals that are absorbed into the topsoil and then absorbed by the plants. “Soil is a living ecosystem, and is a farmer’s most precious asset. A farmer’s productive capacity is directly related to the health of his or her soil” -Howard Warren Buffett. What Howard Buffett is saying is that not only food and animals will be affected by the loss of soil, but, people will be impacted as well. People make a living because of soil. For instance farmers need the soil to provide for their family and receive a steady paycheck. Moles are helping them by digging through the soil and making enriching it. This quote brings to our attention that so many things rely on soil and we think that it is important to know that moles are improving the soil. You are privileged if you have one in your lawn.
One Wild and Precious Life Poem By: N’Dea
Power On this path lined with trees, I spot a flower. Drawn to it by a mysterious force I proceed towards. I hear a conversation of chirping going on above me, My eyes do not shift. This flower has the power of a lion and the delicacy of a hummingbird. Its petals stretch upward as if reaching towards something. Small in size, But strong in essence. Unable to tear my eyes away, I notice its fur, Its leaves, Its colors, And marvel at the complexity of life.
One Wild and Precious Poem By Cleo Arlington Gardens A little garden sits next to my school It separates the concrete streets And the moist dirt ground It holds secret prayers from ones who have sinned Once the kids come The silence is broken Some are quiet While some are just kids The further I go The less I can hear And the older I get The more respect I gain Today I explore Tomorrow I pray
One Wild and Precious Life Poem By: Lily This world around Us Above me, the clouds have kidnapped the sun for today and won’t release it until tomorrow. My eyes come down to stare off into the distance I admire the sea of trees huddled into one large line of green chaos, with leaves pointing this way and that. I am startled by an uproar of electronic sounds and wheels skidding on cold pavement, but up close, birds sing their light-hearted air. Whispering classmates thinking teachers can’t hear them. I amble through the garden and trip on my shoelace, only smell the rich, thick scent of tan colored soil crumbling underneath my shoe, and instead of getting up, I lay down on my stomach to get a glimpse of this life from a different perspective. Ants rush to and fro across the path, and stems which were below me are now mighty trees with beautiful leaves, no longer just small petals. This world is bathing in smells of all different types. The light, elegant scent of the rose-like flower standing taller than another flower in its area, the smell of the dead leaf that fell to the ground. It smelled natural, like earth, a musty scent that only the world can produce. I picked up the pile and clutched my fist, while I watched the dried leaves break down into smaller and smaller pieces. What is our life after this? Will the human race just eventually crumble away? Piece by piece into a smaller and smaller population until we are nothing but dust and soil like the leaf I crumbled?
Phat Beets Produce By: N’Dea Phat Beets Produce is an American non-profit organization based out of North Oakland, California. It was started by Max Cadji and Bret Brenner in 2007. The group describes itself as a “food justice collective” with the goal of connecting farmers of color with urban communities that need fresh produce. Much like urban gardening advocate Ron Finley, Phat Beets believes that “healthy food is a human right, not a privilege” and that everyone deserves to have healthy and affordable food that is easy to access. “Food justice” is people utilizing their right to grow, sell, and eat good, healthy food. The organization’s mission statement states -- “Phat Beets Produce aims to create a healthier, more equitable food system in North Oakland through providing affordable access to fresh produce, facilitating youth leadership in health and nutrition education, and connecting small farmers to urban communities via the creation of farm stands, farmers’ markets, and urban youth market gardens.” Phat Beets has three community gardens, and holds four farmer’s markets each week in different areas of Oakland: North Oakland Children’s Hospital, the Arlington Medical Center Farmer’s Market, the Arlington Medical Center Produce Stand, and the Saint Martin De Porres School Community Produce Stand (where Phat Beets was first started). Thanks in large part to Phat Beets, farmers of color have a greater chance of being successful due to the opportunity to sell their produce at farmers markets and produce stands at these nearby schools and hospitals. By providing local farmers these opportunities, Phat Beets also endeavors to minimize urban residents’ dependence on inexpensive, processed food. The organization wants members of the community to have more healthy choices to buy locally, and it has taken the extra step of assuring that all of its farmer’s markets not only accept EBT (food stamps), the organization doubles shoppers’ EBT purchasing power up to $10. In addition to its weekly farmer’s markets, Phat Beets runs a number of other programs, including free produce stands, youth gardens, community supported agriculture programs (they call the “beet box”), food and social justice workshops, and a kitchen and cafe cooperative. Each of these programs is designed to provide civilians access to good, wholesome food by collaborating with farmers, institutions, and low-income communities to use empty land for urban gardening. While the organization’s primary focus is underprivileged North Oakland residents, it also serves other groups who need help -- such as people suffering from obesity -- and teaches them how to make healthy food choices.
Cleo’s Cleo’sArt Art For my soil unit “article of choice” I chose to draw a picture of a succulent. I have people hanging on the root because we can’t live without plants. It’s supposed to make people aware of the fact that plants help us in so many ways. Plants provide food for us and keep our bodies functioning. I want people to look at it and feel grateful for what they have.
Lily’s Song Soil Unit Song: By Lily
Click Here to Listen
Much about Mulch Your gotta, get down on your hands and knees, to dig up that mulch so you can cover the weeds. You better, get ready with your shovel in hand and take a stand! So you can, dig-dig-dig and you can save the water and can avoid the drought, because that is what mulch is all about… You gotta, dig-dig-dig you better, dig-dig-dig you need to dig-dig-dig and the pile won’t be as big Mulch helps keep soil moisture by reducing evaporation, and a layer of mulch also helps with water needs for plants, in this situation. Mulch improves soil fertility, because bacteria decompose. (decompose) So you can, dig-dig-dig and you can save the water and can avoid the drought, because that is what mulch is all about… You gotta, dig-dig-dig you better, dig-dig-dig you need to dig-dig-dig and the pile won’t be as big!
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Poster reflection The poster on pg. 10 is so posted to inspire people to start a garden. Our team wants to put these posters in places that are food deserts. People are so posted to look at this and want to help there children by making healthy food choices. There are two sides of the poster, one is a heathy living style, and the other is a unhealthy living style. Unhealthy: this side represents a typical family living in a food desert. The people are sad because they are not healthy. The people are bigger than the people the other side because there bodies are not in good health and are filled with junk. Healthy: the people on this side are happy because there bodies are healthy. The people are growing a healthy tree with green leaves and tons of fresh produce. It is so easy to start a garden and save your body and health. All it takes is seeds, soil, and water.
This garden is a garden that Cleo, (one of our writers) started. Her garden is home to over 16 different species of plants including tomatoes, strawberries, mint, basil, carrots etc. “ the garden was really easy to start and it is a really fun thing to work on.�
Welcome To my Back Yard i let my body melt into the cold stone it feels impossible to get up, but why would i want to the sun impales the opaque leaves above me the bamboo sway to a certain beat that i can feel in my fingers and toes "i swear, i'm falling" i clutch the stones for dear life but when i open my eyes reality is revealed suddenly i have a longing for what was there before it was the best thing i never had. -Cleo
Give and Take It is sustenance. It is a filter, A producer, A necessity for life. We are reliant on soil, More than you might know. It provides food, forests, flowers! Without it, Life would be nonexistent. You would be nonexistent. The world gives, And we take. But when our time comes, We will return what it has given.
-N’Dea
Energy I steep my toes into the rich thick soil. I imagine a bright light surrounded by flashes and noises with explosions of vivid colors. This is energy. Energy is the plant that starts out as seed and flourishes with water and soil. Everything I touch is energy. The trees, The plants, The soil, Every organism, and me. I soak up every life that was in the soil and feel it radiate through my veins. The life wakes me up with eyes wide open to a beautiful place beneath the concrete world. My toes wiggle, tighten, and release as I push farther and farther through the dirt, almost as if I have become the soil, the other organisms in the compacted ground. Energy is everywhere you look, everyone you touch. I am energy. We are energy. - Lilly
As one of our trips, we journeyed to South Central Los Angeles and met Ron Finley at his Gangster Garden. He grew up in South Los Angeles in a food desert where he would have to travel 45 minutes to get a fresh tomato. In 2010, he set his mind to fixing this problem. Since then, he has built an urban garden in front of his house that is open to the public. His goal is to turn food deserts into food forests. When we arrived at this Garden, he explained to us his dreams and allowed us to taste the wonderful food he had grown.
On the fifth day of the soil unit, we spent the whole day mulching. Mulching is better than grass because it doesn't require very much water, it stops evaporation into the air, and can prevent wildfires in this case. Our job was to dig and fill buckets with mulch and cover as much dry grass as possible. We enjoyed this because now we know a lot more about the benefits to mulch.
These are picture from our adventure at Arlington t garden. The garden is right next to our school so we took a walk. In the garden we got to look at tons of plants and animals. We even got to explore a labyrinth made by kids Mayfield Senior .
Dear readers of Soil Talk, My name is Cleo and I am one of the writers of Soil Talk magazine. This addition is inspired by my resent school “soil unit�. For the past week and a half my friends and I have been studying the importance of soil and the effects of soil loss. My group was told to study the animal the mole. It was challenging finding out how they help soil, because in many ways they just damage it. After hours of extensive research I found that they actually do help soil. While building there tunnels, they spread soil surrounding them around , and create underground water ways. During this unit we studied the amount of microorganisms in different types of soils and the different types in many other places. We tested soil under different plants, microorganisms from under a snail, air, and pond water. Here were our results:
Pond water:
Under orange tree:
air:
bottom of snail:
under a rock:
under cactus:
In the end my hypothesis was correct. The pond water contained the most species of microorganisms . All the other substances contained six or less different types of microorganisms. During my school unit, I have learned so much about soil. Before this unit I thought the only issue regarding soil was water. Though lack of water is an issue, I had no idea that we where loosing soil too. During this unit I also learned about how there is a food desert nearly ten minuets away from my house. This whole experience was eye-opening. If any of you have a backyard, or even a front yard, you should make a garden. Gardens are so easy to start and they make great food.
Letter From an Editor By Lilly Soil, it is brown, has many microorganisms, and worms live in it. That's about as much as I knew about soil before starting the soil unit. Digging deeper into the subject of soil, learning about what lives in it, and why it is so important. I have become aware about topsoil and why we are losing it, and that we need to prevent it. Who knew it was all due to us humans and our careless ways. We use harmful pesticides that are absorbed into the topsoil, which then is absorbed by the plants. There are also many different kinds of microorganisms that help decompose. Like when we were shoveling mulch we learned that it was warm because all of the microorganisms that are busily working as decomposers and get over heated. Though shoveling was hard work I can only imagine all of the work that the tiny microorganisms have and challenges. I also had many challenges during unit. Most of the had to do with working with my group mates but we eventually found away to agree and compromise. During the first day of the soil unit we had gone to the Arlington Gardens and had rotations, I was surprised to hear as many different sounds that were polar opposites. In the gardens I heard the sings of birds, the hum of bees, the whispers of my fellow classmates. But just next door lies cars honking and screaming at each other to move because their blocking the intersection. Without all of these sounds there would be silence. But at the Arlington Gardens I learned that if there was silence it would be louder them the sounds right now. I am not talking about a physical sound that you hear when music plays or honking the street. The sound I am talking about is mental. The silence would be so loud that it was everywhere and it would overrule everything. There were many challenges that I had to face. Most of them were social, but others were physical. I enjoyed shoveling mulch and carrying the buckets. That was very fun and a new experience. The part that I didn’t enjoy was pouring out the mulch. I wasn't fond of climbing up and pouring the mulch over the grass. It took up time I could be digging up mulch and making the mound smaller. I think that this was a great activity for our class because we all worked together to pour, carry, and shovel the mulch as a team. We had a group covering the ground and other covering the lower ground. Everyone had a task and fulfilled them. I also learned that mulch is better than grass for many reasons such as it prevents fire in this case, we covered up the dry grass so it wasn't as much of a fire hazard. Mulch also really helps with the drought and conserving water. Also grass isn’t a good habitat for most trees. But put a little much over and watch the trees sprout beautiful flowers and leaves. Something I thought that important was that we become aware about soil and water issues, because then we can spread out knowledge to other people and so on. During the soil unit I think everyone is better educated on issues that we are creating. But we didn’t only more aware about soil, we also became more aware about the world around us. The noises, sounds, and touch. I really enjoyed this unit and can’t wait to share everything I have learned!
Letter From the Editor By N’Dea
Dear Readers, In the past eight days I have learned and done an incredible amount. I have gone on field trips and participated in activities that I will never forget. Everyday, I discovered new things. From visiting the “7 circuit labyrinth” in the Arlington Gardens, to reading about “food deserts” and being stunned that 2.2% of Americans live in one, I always learned something that I had not known the day before. After participating in this unit, soil has a new meaning in my mind. Now it is not simply a place where plants grow, it is the key to the production of forests, and the home to important organisms. It is a necessity for life. During the last two weeks, I was most surprised to learn about the issue of soil erosion. Soil erosion is the process by which the top layer of soil is washed or blown away. It was stunning to discover how many disasters are resulting from it. Topsoil (the top layer of soil) is slowly disappearing and, eventually, we could be left with land that is incapable of producing essentials like food and forests. I have learned that there is evidence that humans are causing the acceleration of soil erosion in many areas in the world and that is very concerning. However, there are ways that we can prevent further damage. Although I know it sounds strange, one of my favorite things that we did during this unit, was covering weeds with mulch at Millard Canyon. I especially enjoyed this because of the feeling it gave me. With every bucket I filled with mulch, and every pour onto the weeds, I felt happier and happier. As I buried the weeds, I thought about how I was helping my environment. When I know that I am contributing to bettering the environment, no matter how big or how small the impact, I feel better internally. After our time had finished at the canyon, and I looked back on our work, I realized that there are so many ways that we can positively affect our environment. This small act that we performed saved water. It might not make a huge difference, but at least we made an impact. I was very inspired by the trips to the Arlington Gardens and to Ron Finley’s Garden as well. While in the Arlington Gardens, I was at peace. Wandering along the paths and seeing beautiful flowers and plants calmed me. It was a wonderful experience. Also, Ron Finley was truly an inspiration. His successful streetside garden caused me to want to create my own. He inspired me because he saw an issue in his community, and he did what he could to fix it. People often see issues and ignore them, but Ron Finley saw one and did something about it. Further, I was thrilled to learn about Phat Beets, an organization in Northern California, that shares much of Ron Finley’s mission. This experience has been truly eye opening. The things that I have learned will stay with me forever. The soil unit has inspired me immensely and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be a part of it. Sincerely, N’Dea
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