Next time you or I go to hospital we run the risk of becoming infected with some bacteria which has evolved to become immune to even our most powerful antibiotics. There is no polite way of describing this — it is just crazy and immoral. Most people realise that factory food is not doing us any favours. It is packed with fats, sugar and salt, while the real goodness — the vitamins, minerals and fibre — is missing. We may enjoy the taste and the convenience, but in the long run it makes us sick and drains billions from our health system.
We all love factory food; it is cheap, tastes good, convenient and addictive. It makes the food industry — the world’s largest industry — a lot of money.
Science and the Rise of Biology
When we talk about science we tend to think of the latest electronic gadget or computer. Certainly big business, but now a mature technology. The new kid on the block is biology, which is teaching us so much.
We know that there are more bacteria in our guts than in our entire body — they are totally crucial. They help us digest our food and create vitamin K which our bodies cannot. (Did you know that there are only two animals that cannot synthesise vitamin C — humans and Guinea pigs?).
Gut microbes also form part of the control system of our bodies — sending chemical messages to our brain which in turn tells us to eat more or stop eating, and whether to store extra fat.
The sort of bugs we have in our gut depend on what we eat. Highly processed food makes us eat more and store more as fat.
What Can We Do?
We can eat more fruit and vegetables — but not factory farmed, chemically reliant ones. We need to eat real vegetables grown in real natural soil.
The simplest, easiest and cheapest way of getting real food is to grow your own in real natural soil. (Not all — just some.)
Wicking Beds are a great technology which enables people with restricted time, space or experience to grow their own healthy vegetables. However, they won’t deliver the goodies if filled with some dead inert soil — they need a living soil like nature has evolved.
But What is Real Natural Soil?
The science of biology is greatly expanding our knowledge of soil biology but requires a different way of thinking. Classic science is essentially reductionist — each scientist working on some specialist area, perhaps some particular species of nematodes. All good work, but what really matters in soil is how it works as a system.
There are countless different species of soil biology, most as yet unidentified or studied. Maybe we will get there one day, but what really matters is how it works as a system — how the plants photosynthesise to produce the energy and sugars to feed the biology and how the multiple species interact with each other and the plants to create a stable living system.
We don’t have to invent this — nature has spent billions of years evolving this system. We don’t have to understand every component — what we really need to know is how to use this system for our benefit.
My aim is to supply the tools where people can grow their own living soil. Nature makes soil by the biology decomposing organic material. Most people have an abundant supply of suitable material which is generally thought of as waste — food waste and weeds.
This can be transformed into nutrient-rich healthy soil — all it needs is the introduction of soil biology to act as a culture and appropriate minerals.
I well understand that many people are perfectly happy with their sterile food and lifestyle and would be put off by soil biology. I have no intention of wasting large sums of money and my time trying to convince them to change their views.
But I have a feeling that there are many people who believe that natural food is more healthy. I have been studying diet, health and soil for many years now. My first step is to provide the educational facilities for what I accept may be a small but dedicated group of people.
