Natural cycles
Nature functions in cycles, from the micro to the macro. All around us are organisms working tirelessly to improve the world around us. From bacteria fixing our soil and feeding our plants to digesting our food in our guts to fighting off diseases on plants and animals, microbes and natural cycles are working toward a greater good. While we still have a very low level understanding of the whole picture, we can focus on what we do know and help nudge health in the right direction.
Human health starts with soil health.
Humans rely on micro-organisms such as bacteria, protozoa, and fungus to digest our food and turn it into enzymes, calories, bio-available minerals, acids, etc. Everything our human cells need to survive. The key to a healthy person, is a healthy gut biome. The same is true to plants. They rely on the same processes and micro-organisms for obtaining nutrients. The difference between plants and animals is that the biome is for plants is external in the soil around the roots, or rhizosphere. In order for our food to be healthy and nutrient dense, our plants need to be grown in healthy living soil. While we can grow big, beautiful fruits and veggies with chemicals in sterile soil, they lack the nutrients required for health and introduce a toxic load that kills the very micro-organisms required to break the food into useful materials.
Healthy soil consists of organic matter packed with a diversity of microbes mining and breaking down organic matter and minerals making them bio-available as nutrients in our food. The microbes also leave ‘glues’ behind that bind the soil together, helping to retain water and not wash away minerals. The organic matter also allows energy to be stored in the soil that healthy plants can add to or take from, making them more resilient to weather changes. Healthy soil makes healthy plants that properly nourish people.
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​Basic Overview of Soil succession
Soil evolves over time from rocks and desert into old growth forests. Dirt, sandy, and rock soils are low level succession and tend to have a high PH and no or very little micro-organisms. As weeds move in, they encourage low level biology to help them mine minerals and leave organic matter as they root deep and die off. Each generation of weed builds up the organic matter, soil structure, and bio-available nutrients. After many years, there becomes enough organic matter for grass to start growing and out competing the weeds. At this time, the PH becomes slightly lower, more complex microbes are present, and fungus start appearing in the soil partnering with the plants. Grasses bind the soil and hold it in place as well as create deep roots and continue to add organic matter. Over time, the grasses build enough soil to start supporting annual and even some perennial shrubs. The soil PH is around 7.0 and there is around a 2:1 fungal to bacterial ratio. This is the point where most of our common garden vegetables prefer to grow. This process can take many years naturally, but with an understating of these cycles and relationships, we can help nature achieve this level within a few years or less. If we continue through the natural succession we work our way into levels of deciduous trees and fruit trees. As succession flows into an old growth forest the fungus become more dominant, micro-organism diversity increases, and the PH continues to lower.
Think of what would happen then if at the end of a season you remove your crop and till it back to bare soil. You’ve now taken a forest edge soil and created a dessert and the whole natural process needs to start again and step one is for nature to start growing weeds.
Natural Health
Natural health starts with diet and toxin reduction. Eating chemical free foods such as home grown or organic is a great start. Limiting dairy in adults as well as limiting gluten at all ages also goes a long way toward hearth. Many times, these simple steps improve health on their own within a week or so. Our immune systems is constantly working at high level to remove toxins, process dead cells, and fight diseases. Say for example that our immunity system is running at 89% all of the time just to maintain normal health. Every toxin or infectious material we come across makes our immune work harder. Now we our immune system is running at 99%. Add just a little more load and our immune system can no longer keep up. Something has to give. Our bodies at this point will do their best to prioritize what to fight. It may choose to fight a bacterial infection and stop fighting a viral infection resulting in shingles or a cold sore appearing. It could present as arthritis or eczema. Doing our best to reduce our toxic load allows our immune system to keep everything at bay and work within it’s means. Other toxins we need to watch out for is our water, air, and personal products. City water often contains chlorine, fluoride, and other chemicals to reduce harmful microbes. Drinking and bathing in filtered water can reduce toxic load considerably. Air quality is probably the hardest to control. Keeping an eye out for mold in your environment, changing your house air filters often, and avoiding any chemicals air products can help.
Herbalism
Nature provides many natural solutions to the health care of all animals. While most animals instinctually know what to eat to treat their ills, humans have lost this ‘most’ of this function. I say ‘most’ because we do have a certain amount of intuition of what our body needs if we listen closely enough. When you sense something is wrong, we will have an affinity for the right cure. Always listen to your body and subconscious. Herbalism is the study of phytochemicals in plants and how they affect humans and animals. Most herbs, and really any plant, has multiple actions that often complement each other to help support a natural bodily process. Understanding and utilizing nature to support natural health can be life changing.