Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey into Regenerative Agriculture

Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene function that do not involve changes to the DNA sequence. It is the study of biological mechanisms that will “switch” genes on and off.

“plant” potatoes we simply place the seed potatoes on the soil surface and then cover them with a thin layer of second-cutting alfalfa hay, but not too thick, otherwise the tender shoots have a hard time growing up through the hay. As the hay breaks down, consumed by biology over the course of a summer, we simply put more hay around the plants to k

What is hugelkultur? The word means “hill culture” in German and is a technique where woody debris is utilized as a resource

the grass plant (corn) cycling phosphorus, and legumes (peas and green beans) cycling nitrogen, being transferred to each other by mycorrhizal fungi.

a plant must attract specific microbes that are genetically hard-wired to solubilize that particular mineral.

The rhizosphere is the zone surrounding a plant root on all sides, often only a few millimeters wide, and the scene of highly concentrated biological activity.

The sun’s energy, captured in photosynthesis and channeled from above ground to below ground as liquid carbon, fuels the microbes that solubilize minerals.

The soil–root interface is called the rhizosphere,

the C horizon, which consists of rock and other unconsolidated parent material that has not yet been weathered or decomposed into smaller particles. This layer provides the source material for B and A horizons.