At RedBud Soil Company soil health is our passion. Rehabilitation of our soils is going to play a large role in the future of farming. We hope to be at the forefront of the debate concerning the merits of ecologically sound farming practices. Putting knowledge of soil health back into the hands of farmers is a goal of ours.
Through observation, experimentation, and implementation of research into the study of soil, we hope to empower people of every walk of life with data that can help them be stewards of their own soil. Through scientific research it is possible to show that organic practices, when employed correctly, can rehabilitate your soil to health. Whether you are growing on a large scale for food or textile production, or a small scale in your personal garden, once you begin to notice the affects of your soil being revived you begin to see the connection of healthy soil equaling healthy plants. The introduction of micro-diversity into the equation of soil health drastically improves conditions for farmers, crops, and the environment as a whole. We at Redbud Soil Company have seen multiple successful no-till/living soil applications on many scales and believe it to be the future of farming.
When incorporating a no-till/living soil farming method one simply does not till their soil after a harvest or before planting the next crop. Doing this leaves behind essential organic matter crucial to the rehabilitation process. This along with inoculations of beneficial organisms creates an environment that speeds up the decomposition process. Through decomposition, this organic matter feeds the microbiology that resides in the soil. The waste of the micro-organisms feed other organisms and the plant. Use of pesticides and salt based nutrients since the industrial revolution has decimated our soil diversity, and thus the soil has become dead. A dead soil cannot support life, which means you have to supplement nutrients and large amounts of water, and erodes faster than an alive healthy soil. With our notill practices you turn dead soil into a living teaming soil that can support healthy plants.
Through incorporation of cover crop for nitrogen fixing bacteria, inoculations of beneficial organisms, predatory beneficial insects, and diversifying microbiological content, your soil comes back to life in full force. Once life begins to flourish in your soil, some really beautiful things begin to happen. Micro-diversity begins to increase drastically, creating a competitive environment. In this highly competitive environment, the strongest organisms survive, in turn giving the plant a strong immune system, a strong rhizosphere, and a strong root zone. The fortitude gained by the plants through this process creates a situation where your plants are healthy. They are being fed what they need from the microbiology present, which creates need for less pesticides and nutrient supplementation.
It also creates a soil that is drought resistant and that has amazing water retention capabilities. Increasing micro-diversity has long lasting affects that you can see all the way up the food chain. Making a beautiful end product that ends up on your table or in your medicine. There is a direct correlation between diversity in the soil and the complexities of taste and oil production in whatever you are growing. Cannabis for example, when grown in a no till/living soil setting, begins to take on the complexities of a fine wine when a strong microbiological ecology is present in your soil. The profile of the plant is directly affected by the microbiology present in the medium. The micro-diversity increases over time and creates a positive feedback loop where quality and quantity increase with the passage of time.
For growing your own medicine, there is not a better method in our opinion. Since the medicinal properties of the plant are determined by the oil production, you end up with a much more complex medicinal profile, allowing for the true medical potential of the plant to be reached. Your end product will have a far superior cannabinoid profile. Cannabinoids are the the compounds that are thought to regulate the effects of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), and have many far reaching applications in the medical field. These compounds are present in cannabis. THC is the most commonly known, psychoactive compound in cannabis. When the levels of these other cannabinoids are raised, there seems to be a direct correlation to the medicinal value pulled from the compounds and their medical applications. When grown in a diverse microbiological environment, cannabis becomes a much more efficient and diverse medicine. Any increase in medicinal properties should be the goal when growing medical cannabis.
As we can see, the medical applications for cannabinoids are immense. This method of growing your medicine will result in a product that has more medicinal potential overall. Humans have CB-1 and CB-2 receptors in the cells of our bodies. The combinations of cannabinoids with specific terpenes dictate the effects of these compounds on the human endo-cannabinoid system. Terpenes are what give essential oils their odor and thus their medicinal value.
This is a wheel of the terpenoids that have been found in cannabis. As you can see, there is a wide variety of smells that can arise from the cannabis plant. The medical community is learning that terpenoids and flavonoids play a large role in the therapeutic effects of the plant. When taking advantage of knowledge that a strong soil microbiology increases flavor complexities, you can extrapolate that growing cannabis in a completely organic notill soil is going to increase the medicinal potential overall of your flowers and any oil extracted from them.
Beyond the quality of soil health and end result of whatever is being grown in it, the input costs of a no till/living soil diminish over time. Using cannabis as an example still, your soil health will increase gradually, making a better product and higher yield over time, while reducing the amount of supplementation needed. In an indoor or outdoor no-till/living soil setting, cannabis can reach its full potential while lowering overall input and labor cost. Any industrial level growing of cannabis should take a very inquisitive look into this method of growing. You end up with a superior medicine, less impact on our delicate ecosystem, less of a financial burden, and less work.
One can see how this same model would incorporate into the end product of a vegetable as well. The more diverse the populations of micro-organisms in the soil, the healthier, better tasting your food is going to be. You will have less need for pesticides, and have an overall diminished impact on your environment. Taking advantage of what is intrinsically built into the nature of soil, and creating an environment in which it can flourish, results in every aspect of growing becoming more in tune with its surroundings and needing less intervention from us. Nature will take care of the plants itself if we just nudge it in the right direction. In fact, its much better at it then we are.
At Redbud Soil Company we will be offering classes to teach anyone interested in a no-till/ living soil application how to get started. Having a community of people interested in sustainability of farming practices is a goal for us. We wish to spread knowledge of sustainable farming practices to anyone wanting to learn. In the process, hopefully we can create a movement of like minded people that have a comprehensive understanding of soil health.
Through rediscovery of techniques that have been used for millennia, and scientific research, farmers are beginning to take back knowledge of soil health. It is our companies mission to empower everyone with available information concerning soil microbiology, climate, water purity, and any natural or organic alternatives to conventional pesticide and nutrient use. Environmentally conscientious farming practices employed to replace our current ones will help us as a species to survive on this planet. A planet with healthy soil, is a planet with healthy inhabitants. RedBud Soil Company is here to create access to this knowledge and locally sourced inputs essential to rehabilitating soil health.
