Jeff Lowenfels - The Soil Food Web
My guest is Jeff Lowenfels, co-author, along with Wayne Lewis, of Teaming With Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, which recently released a revised edition. He was recommended as a guest by Dr. Doug Tallamy of Bringing Nature Home. Located in Alaska, Jeff writes a weekly gardening column for the Anchorage Daily News, without missing a single week in more than 30 years. This makes him, according to the Garden Writers Association, the longest running garden columnist in the United States. His work is important because whether you are a gardener, farmer, attorney, or Permaculturist, who works with the earth, you need to have an understanding of the soil food web and the inter-actions and inter-relationships of the life in the soil. Building soil builds life. We spend our time together discussing the importance of supporting this system, continually marveled at it's productivity and efficiency, starting with the smallest members: the bacteria, archaea, and fungi. We need to support this system. Organic processes: mulching, composting, and compost teas, are the way to go. If you would like to learn more about the soil, I highly recommend Jeff's book, Teaming With Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web. It is now a part of my standard permaculture library.
If you have questions or comments that arise from this episode, contact me: The Permaculture Podcast
Resources:
Teaming With Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
Paul Stamets Articles and Studies on Compos<br />t Tea Tea for Trees Enhancing Phyto-nutrient Content, Yield, and Quality of Vegetables with Compost Tea in the Tropics
Promoting Plant Growth with Compost Teas (PDF)
The Grass is Greener at Harvard