4 The Soil: A Conversation Eric Scott Bendfeldt

Are you resistant to change or risk averse? You may need to calm your lizard down and understand how important safety and security are to change, risk aversion, and the adoption of new behaviors. 

Dr. Elizabeth Heilman, Professor of Education at Wichita State University, talks with Mary Sketch Bryant, Jeff Ishee, and Eric Bendfeldt about how our "lizard brains" relate to farming and ranching. For farmers and ranchers, many day-to-day factors (i.e., markets, weather, public policy, etc.) are out of their control. The lack of control can cause stress and anxiety that activate our lizard brains. 

In thinking about emotional and environmental ecology, Dr. Heilman shares several strategies for self-care and calming down the anxious parts of our brain and nervous system. The strategies include keeping a done list; a gratitude list; your mission statement visible; and remembering to Eat That Frog. 

For a description of Dr. Heilman's teaching, research, and recent publications, please visit https://www.wichita.edu/profiles/academics/applied_studies/School_of_Education/Heilman-Elizabeth.php

To access close to seventy episodes of the 4 The Soil: A Conversation podcast and additional resources on soil health-building principles, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/. To learn about the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, visit https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. We would love to hear your stories about self-care and strategies for regenerating the ecosystem health of your farm and organization.

A passion for gardening and tasty, flavorful tomatoes, cucumbers, and hot peppers continues to drive Bill Patterson's experimentation with crop rotations, mulching, composting, and winter and summer cover crops in his home garden. Mary Sketch Bryant and Eric Bendfeldt talked previously with Bill about his conservation work with soil health and grazing lands. Bill is equally passionate about his home garden as he is about farmers' grazing lands.

He uses his garden as an experimentation station to test and observe the soil health-building principles. Bill emphasizes: "rotations, rotations, rotations," and allowing the critters to do the tillage for you. With his love for building soil carbon and enjoying a great-tasting tomato, Bill's gardening rotation includes a diverse mixture of summer and winter cover crops.

To learn about winter and summer cover crops, please visit the Southern Cover Crops Council's website at https://southerncovercrops.org/  The site includes a selection tool for vegetables, grazing, and row crops. For information about careers and programs of the Virginia USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, please visit https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/conservation-by-state/virginia 

To access close to seventy episodes of the 4 The Soil: A Conversation podcast and additional resources on soil health-building principles, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/. To learn about the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, visit https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. We would love to hear your stories about the passion you have for experimenting with the four core soil health principles in your garden, cropland, and grazing lands.

A love and curiosity for soil sparked a fifty-year career in soil and natural resources conservation. Mary Sketch Bryant and Eric Bendfeldt talk with Bill Patterson, retired district conservationist and present grazing specialist with Virginia USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, about his career and to hear his insights on soil health and grazing. Bill is affectionately called "Pops" and has served as a mentor for many farmers and soil conservationists. Bill was recently recognized at the Virginia Farm to Table Conference for his lifetime achievement with the 2023 Carl Luebben Soil Health and Water Quality Award.

In reflecting on his career that started in 1974, Bill states that we know more about soil health, but there is still a whole lot more to learn. The more we learn, the less we know. Therefore, it is important to ask good questions, be observant, remain flexible, stay curious, and love what you do.

To learn about careers and programs of the Virginia USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, please visit https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/conservation-by-state/virginia 

To access more than sixty episodes of the 4 The Soil: A Conversation podcast and additional resources on soil health-building principles, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/. To learn about the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, visit https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. We would love to hear your stories and the ways you follow the four core soil health principles and express your love for the soil.

Are we there yet? Have we arrived at the intended destination? Have we reached the goal we set out for improving soil health and how soil functions? Have our good intentions of attempting to loosen the soil resulted in negative unintended consequences?

In part one of our conversation with Dale Stricker of Regenerative Wisdoms, Dale stated that tillage and soil disturbance make farmers very susceptible to drought. However, in relying on deep tillage and subsoiling to remove a mechanical barrier (i.e., a compacted layer or hardpan), farmers may exacerbate the problem, and tillage can result in unintended and unforeseen consequences in decreased root growth, increased compaction, and limited soil porosity. Dale shares how roadbuilding is very analogous to the procedures that farmers follow in subsoiling and the multiple tillage passes often used to try to loosen the soil. Dale encourages farmers and market gardeners to consider soil health as a bank account, where deposits outweigh withdrawals that encourage real wealth and health.

For more information about Dale's books on drought resilience, pasture management, restoring soil health, and the overall mission of Regenerative Wisdom, please visit https://www.regenerativewisdom.com/

To access two years of the 4 The Soil: A Conversation podcast archives and additional resources on soil health-building principles, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/. To learn about the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, visit https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. We would love to hear your stories and the ways you are following the four core soil health principles.

How functional and drought-resilient is your soil? Is your soil a week away from a drought and an hour away from a flood?

Dale Strickler of Regenerative Wisdom talks with Jeff Ishee and Eric Bendfeldt about ways to increase drought resilience moving forward. Dale draws on his experience and expertise as a farmer, cattle rancher, college soil science instructor, and current agronomist to provide sound information for restoring soil function so the soil can hold water and allow water to infiltrate.

Does tillage and subsoiling pay and make soil more drought-resilient? Dale states that tillage and soil disturbance make farmers very susceptible to drought. In many cases, farmers think they are moving forward with deep tillage and subsoiling to remove a mechanical barrier. However, subsoiling can increase the sealing of the soil surface and decrease soil porosity so oxygen and water are less available to plant roots.

For more information about Dale's books on drought resilience and the overall mission of Regenerative Wisdom, please visit https://www.regenerativewisdom.com/

To access two years of the 4 The Soil: A Conversation podcast archives and additional resources on soil health-building principles, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/. To learn about the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, visit https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. We would love to hear your stories and the ways you are addressing drought resilience and soil health on your farm or in your garden.

How does a purposeful mindset contribute to soil health and rebuilding soil fertility? What can we learn from culture, history, and mindset in storing our farm landscapes?

Rebekah Slabach recently became the associate director for the Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture within Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Formerly, Rebekah was an extension agent for agriculture and natural resources with Virginia Cooperative Extension in Halifax County. Rebekah reminds us that culture and history are part of agriculture and that managing soil health through changing weather, markets, and environmental demands requires a purposeful mindset. In striving to keep the soil covered with more species of cover crops, Rebekah emphasizes that a planted cover crop is better than waiting to plant the perfect cover crop mixture and that something covering the soil is better than a bare fallow.

The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture is a pilot program that seeks to incentivize and reward farmers and ranchers for adopting climate-smart agricultural practices. To learn more about the Alliance and Virginia Tech's role, please visit https://www.allianceforcsa.org/

The basic information and core principles of soil health, along with two years of the 4 The Soil: A Conversation podcast archives, can be accessed at https://www.4thesoil.org/. To pledge your support to 4 The Soil, fill out the form at https://www.4thesoil.org/take-the-pledge and tell us about your mindset for building soil resilience and health in your community.