Song of the Week

Listen to this song as you read to help open you up!

Updates!

I had a dream about the soil scientists the night before a team of them came to help with the family farm in Puerto Rico. In my dream there was a hot soil scientist hovering around all the weird dream activities I was doing. By dream standards, but it was a little boring, but it revealed how excited I was for their visit. The morning they came I jumped out of bed, walked an hour to the farm, and eagerly awaited their arrival. Yes for those of you who are wondering, the scientists in real life were a pretty good looking crew.

One of our main question for this team was, why are the trees not growing?

Some five year old trees which are three feet tall should be fifteen feet by now. Their finds were that the lack of foliage and ground cover needed to create more habitat for healthy bacteria to grow had stunted their growth. This healthy bacteria activates and releases nutrients into soil. Through bacterial agency, the plants are better able to absorb the nutrients. I learned that there are 12 soil types in the world and that the dark orange brown clay we have is the ultisol soil type! This clay, like much of the clay in Puerto Rico is thick and it’s character fairly reliable— it’s a dark orange brown to ochre yellow, dense, fine particled, and oh so smooth.

It’s smoothness feels a bit like a miracle. When you hold it, and you’re used to the rougher sandy soil of Minnesota, the difference in delightful. Gliding it between your thumb and forefinger, you can feel the slippery potentiality bound in it’s dense consistency. You can’t help but feel the infinite number of other shapes it could become. I felt envious of the soil scientists who sauntered about the farm, which by the way is more forest than farm, but forests are better at farming than traditional farms will ever be, hence why the farm is more of a forest. I wonder how many soil scientists turn into ceramicists? The textures of time and the minerals you need to help a seed blossom, all in the palm of your hand. What a superpower. We learned our clay needs more lime as clay run acidic. Finally we were tasked with creating rings of compost around stunted trees and pockets of compost mixed into other areas to make sure everyone gets enough food without burning their roots. My question for you inspired by the forest-farm this week is:

• If we added more ground cover over you, what kinds of latent power would bacteria unleash?

• If you’re running acidic, what can you do to balance things out, so you can think and live clearly again?

It’s been a big week, with the news about Cesar Chavez and all the survivors coming out. I think soil remediation is a good metaphor for how we move about this. I, and the collective we is glad that these women have come forward. It’s such a good thing that they have shared this with the world. The soil is indeed more important than the seeds, and these women are helping to remediate the soil which our movement seeds grow out of. May each generation continue to make our people and land more resilient. May we all find ways to unleash our latent powers, whether through helpful bacteria, foliage, or a knowing that you’re just ready to share what you no longer need/want to hide.

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xoxo Eiko