Good food starts with good soil - a food for thought piece
“These are actually the best berries we have tasted”
“Amazing tasting berries”
“They smell divine and taste even better”
“I cannot believe the size of them!”
Since we started our venture, growing strawberries, we have been blown away with the positive reception our berries have received. Above are just a few comments that we have had and we are very grateful that people have taken the time to do so. We always thought our berries were pretty tasty but to hear other people say how delicious they look; smell and taste is truly something that we are really proud of!
One question we have been asked many times is - how is it that your berries are just so sweet?
And every time I always reply - Healthy soils will grow good food, no matter if we are talking food for our cows - such as pasture for milk production or delicious summer strawberries for us as humans to enjoy. It’s really that simple, healthy soils promote health – in every sense of the word. But to have healthy soils we firstly have to understand what a healthy soil is and then actively manage this resource under our farming practices to maintain our soils health.
Soil is made up of mineral compounds (sand, silt and clay) which make up about 45% of total soil components, water 25%, Air 25% and Organic matter (living organisms, roots, humus) which make up around 5%. Each of these components play an important role in soil health and the ratio’s in which they are present has the ability to significantly change the way our soils function and as a result effect the quality and over all health of the food produce we are grow. An ecosystem of any kind, including soil ecosystems, have evolved in a specific way which can support all life by providing exactly what it needs. Soil supports plant life and plant life supports animal life right. The effectiveness of our soils ability to support plant and animal life is today, largely dependent on how we as humans treat our soils to avoid soil degradation.
We, at Dairy’s Berries look at soil as a whole ecosystem, above and below the ground and through each of our practices we consider ALL aspects of that soil ecosystem. We look at how each aspect influences the other and what we can do to maintain a healthy soil system through the demand we place on it by growing our berries. For us the key principle we follow is that nature has come up with a way to create and maintain a healthy soil ecosystem and so we must adhere to the ‘rules of nature’.
Now we have to be honest, we cannot always mimic nature as she intended (due to the fact that we as humans make use of the land in order to live) therefore, we have to find ways to significantly minimize the effects or counter balance the ‘un-natural’ practices that intervene with soil ecosystems. A great example of this would-be cultivation. Through heavy cultivation, which is a common practice in strawberry growing, we lose soil structure. The loss of soil structure influences water cycles within the soil, can release Carbon from the soils, disturbs important microbial populations and can throw out the natural ideal ratio of soil components, along with many other effects. When we do have to cultivate, here at Dairy’s Berries we think - how can we have the least effect on soil structure, how can we keep the Carbon and air in the soil and how can we keep microbial populations intact after cultivation.
It is through practices such as minimal till during row formation, and the application of soil amendments such as rich composts, carbon sources and food sources that are specific to all of the beneficial soil micro-organisms we can lessen our impact. We also have the ability to rest cultivated areas for a period of time after harvest where we can put the areas back into perennial vegetation so that the soil is not exposed to continuous cultivation - something that we are fortunate to have the luxury of doing. These things have and will allow us to maintain healthy soils soils and grow delicious berries that receive positive feedback. This is just one example of how we can impact soil ecosystems and why Fraser and I see the importance of what it means to have good soil.
Growing produce of any sort that has a short life span (such as strawberries) can heavily impact our soil systems and as growers it is critical to recognize this and act in a way that minimizes the effects of what we are doing and as consumers it is critical to understand this concept when purchasing foods. Understand and ask how your food is being grown. What is the effect in which your food, such as your delicious summer strawberries, is having on the very land we want to protect and enjoy? Seek out producers that are actively implementing practices to reduce soil degradation and with it environmental impacts.
This is what we focus on at Dairy’s Berries, and its this holistic approach that allows us to produce our tasty berries. And I will say it again, through healthy soils. The added bonus of this holistic approach is that healthy soils produces healthy berries with higher nutrient densities, better taste, better small and better size. It also means that our plants are healthy and are not subject to pests and disease. Interestingly pests and diseases only target plants that are not at optimum health. It’s the same concept as out own health. Those who have a weaker immune system, for whatever reason, are those who are more likely to get sick with the flu or cold when exposed to bugs. For us having plants that are free of pests and disease, we do not need to think about applying chemical sprays which can largely be put down to the fact that out plants are grown in a healthy soil system. The final piece of the puzzle is that healthy food equals healthy people – without the chemical sprays!
I am sure you have heard the saying we are what we eat. Well, it is the same for any living being. So, we need to apply that saying to our plants as well. I can’t say it enough – healthy soils = healthy plants, healthy plants (produce) = healthy people.
Follow our ‘journal’ updates to learn how we take our values around soil health and implement them into our strawberry farm through our practices. We will be discussing practices such as feeding soil microbes, composting, cover cropping before cultivation and throughout the growing season, companion planting, minimizing cultivation, putting carbon into our soils and much, much more.