What lives under your feet? First graders learned today in our soil invertebrates session! Samples from various locations on campus were tested and students counted the invertebrates they saw!
When we think of #food, we often aren’t paying attention to soil, but it’s actually what sustains our global food system.
Unfortunately, #ClimateChange, unsustainable farming practices & more are degrading soil around the world.
I don’t get to see each episode of Serving Up Science until they are published, but I like this new video. And I’m so glad they let me talk about soil health. https://youtu.be/FnOHwq6iSpk?si=5umwoGQU7DFrdhCD
A predatory mite (family Bdellidae) doing what it does best - feeding on a springtail. Having a mite skewer your head with its pointed chelicerae isn't the nicest way to go, but fascinating to observe!
For #InternationalBiodiversityDay I'll look beyond the soil, and showcase the amazing water-living springtail Podura aquatica.
Their adaptations for a life on the water surface include a flattened jumping organ, hydrophobic cuticle, and depositing their spermatophores and eggs on water!
Indigenous Microorganisms (IMO) are captured & cultured by burying a box of cooked rice in the ground surrounded by leaf litter and fungal matter. White fuzz forms on the rice , this is IMO#1, add this to brown sugar and ferment it & you have a refrigerator stable IMO#2.
I added a tablespoon of IMO#2 to approx each 15 L of rainwater and mixed into bran until I had the right moisture level (i.e. when I squeezed the bran in my hand I had one or two drips of water between my fingers).
I used 35 kgs of bran. This should now heat up to 40°-50°C, will need turning to avoid going hotter. In a week this should be covered in white fuzz (IMO#3). 🤞
I’ll then add equal quantity of soil to the bran and again this should grow a white fuzz in a week. This will be IMO#4 and the end of the process. This can be stored and used as a biologically rich soil amendment.
This photo was taken earlier this morning with an outdoor temperature of 2°C. I’ve no idea for how long or how much more heat the pile will build to but the indigenous microorganisms are doing their thing and feeding off the bran. The pile felt very toasty on a chilly spring morning.
That’s the IMO#3. Nine days in the temperature is now falling below 40°C it’s maintained a high enough (I hope) heat and I’ve just peeled back the hay outer layer for a peek and look at all that white fuzz!
Today has to be IMO#4 making day. It’s the only chance I have in the coming days to do so. I’ll take it all up to the allotment this morning and mix it with an equal quantity of soil and compost, adding litres of rainwater and some FPJ, humic acid, basalt & gypsum, crushed eggshell, brown rice vinegar, vermicast, dried kelp and anything else rich in biology I have to hand.