Living soil is brimming with life and contains mycelium, nematodes and billions of beneficial microorganisms.
These help retain nutrients in the soil food web upon which all earth-based life and 95% of our food depends. We are inspired by and building on the work of Dr Elain’s Soil Food Web. The microorganisms help break down the minerals in the soil, making them available to plants. They also create structure, prevent compaction, hold soil together, create habitat and create space for water absorption and retention – like a sponge, which can prevent flooding.
Biologically complete, deliciously fertile soil can only be made at a small, local scale with time, care, knowledge, energy and attention. Once our living soil is ready, it will be distributed amongst our membership.
Living soil is brimming with life and contains mycelium, nematodes and billions of beneficial microorganisms.
These help retain nutrients in the soil food web upon which all earth-based life and 95% of our food depends. We are inspired by and building on the work of Dr Elain’s Soil Food Web. The microorganisms help break down the minerals in the soil, making them available to plants. They also create structure, prevent compaction, hold soil together, create habitat and create space for water absorption and retention – like a sponge, which can prevent flooding.
Biologically complete, deliciously fertile soil can only be made at a small, local scale with time, care, knowledge, energy and attention. Once our living soil is ready, it will be distributed amongst our membership.
Next, we transfer this compost into static bays and mix it with biochar – a type of charcoal which we activate with comfrey juice. It is porous, lightweight and has a large internal surface area made up of networks of tiny chambers, making it the perfect home for mycelium to thrive. It also helps the soil to absorb and retain water.
We learned how to make this wondrous substance (famously used by the people of the Amazon prior to colonisation to nurture the soil in the region) in a workshop led by Nicky Scott (aka Dr Compost).
The living soil is then ready for members to use after around 9 months.
“But I already get my food waste collected by Bristol City Council”
In Bristol, we’re lucky to have separate waste food collection by the council, meaning the majority of our waste food stays out of landfill sites. But rather than using it to create living soil and cycle it back into the growing cycle, this food waste is processed in an anaerobic bio-digester in Avonmouth to create methane-rich ‘bio-gas’, used to either generate renewable electricity or provide gas to the grid. It is also turned into ‘municipal compost’ (see below). Methane, while shorter-lived in the atmosphere, is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide for climate warming. By transforming food waste back into living soils, methane generation is prevented and carbon is sequestered and locked into the ground where it stays.
The Council process also produces a solid by-product called ‘cake’ (yum!) which can be sold to farmers as an alternative fertiliser. Because it is industrially produced, the municipal compost produced is a low cost resource for many growing projects in the city. However, it is also of relatively poor quality with low levels of beneficial organic life and toxic contaminants such as plastics that are mixed in with food waste in people’s brown bins.