You’re Treading on a Gentle Revolution
10.05.2024 Miica Balint
Daniel Souza on soil and watching plants grow
Picture Sou, seated at a bistro table having a cup of coffee at a cafe in London’s Borough Market. Pen to blank page, his eyes took inventory of his surroundings. I suspect but couldn’t be sure, that while he investigated the tapestry of various produce shops, his mind meandered all the way back to the humid mountains of home. On this day he was feeling particularly inclined to find a name for an idea.
“The butchers, no. Cabanossi, no…”
To his right were two young brothers, the eldest no older than twelve, both also enjoying a cup. Conjuring up the courage, the traveller turned to the older of the pair and asked; “If you were going to name a project that was going to change the world, what would you call it?”
“What?”
“If you were going to name a project, that was going to change the world, what would you call it?”
“What?”
Almost as though the querist had somehow landed himself a seat in the audience of this child’s pantomime, he attempted the question once more. “If you were going to name a project… that was going to change the world…what would you call it?”
“Green four you” the young consultant then confidently responded, whilst signalling a four with his hand, almost rehearsed-like.
Other than the numerical alteration of ‘for’, which was deemed confusing, the name stuck. An inconsequential fact to the story that I couldn’t help but glean, is that following on from Green For You being named by a little stranger in central London, Dan travelled for another four months before bringing it home.
This idea, originally a byproduct of thoughts about camphor, was to essentially create a mulch product from felled camphor trees and mix that with food waste. Camphor laurel, for those of you that may not be familiar, is an evergreen dreamlike tree native to China and Japan.
Natives tend to have a desperate time competing with the naturalised camphor forests, which were introduced to us down under in the mid-eighteen hundreds and subsequently planted across our region for purposes of shade. Sheltering the paddocks that claimed the once lowland subtropical rainforest that densely foliated our landscape. Conversations on management processes of this tree run thick here. But really, the starlet of the dirt coloured carpet quickly became theories of commercial food waste solutions.
From this point on, Green For You has been collecting, processing, and composting food waste from businesses, and soiling notions of burying our waste-filled heads in the sand. The numbers on food waste are damning for humankind– exponentially so if we consider our rate of population growth. And though tackling it systemically and structurally is a global obstacle for giants, by focusing on accountability at the point of waste creation, it lessens the injustice for us little folk.
By this I mean, food waste already deeply undermines the sustainability of our food systems. When food is then left to rot anaerobically (without oxygen) in landfills, so goes to waste all the perishable resources required to get them there– such as water, land, energy, fuel, labour, and capital. Turning waste into rich biologically active soil is far from a new concept, but with soil being the most species rich habitat on our Earth, learning from it withstands time.
In our conversation on soil-and-related, soft insistent rain (that sound we all know so well here in the Northern Rivers) acted as a metronome. I learnt of a young boy named Sou, who took care of his friend Dylan’s pot plants with curious fervour, and who to this day continues to watch plants grow. We spoke of people in his life with incredible knowledge, intuition, and nature toward plants, and a teacher with a wildflower farm who supplied the Sydney Olympics with their gymea lilies.
I asked about resources that have been instrumental in his intrigue and cognizance, and learnt of an inspiration-fueling gardening section in a used book shop in Mona Vale. As I often am, I was curious about the name Mona. I researched further into the Garigal people’s place name for this area and learnt it is referred to as Bongin Bongin, translating I think to many shells. I was also clued onto a pertinent study out of Tasmania titled Soils Alive! Which looks at soil as an ecosystem; its biological function, and the ability for it to be regenerated. Which, considering human’s inclination to experiment, is an exceptionally fortunate finding.
In his naturally hopeful demeanour Sou explained; “Soil health is a measure of biological, physical and chemical components, and these components will continue to exist”. Meaning the poor soil that we are seeing globally, with intensified topsoil erosion, “is only bad because the biological activity is bad''. In the face of chocolate coloured rivers and degraded dust pastures– and notwithstanding the broad need for farmers to be adequately supported in a transition from monocrop to regenerative agricultural practices– this hopefulness for soil ecosystems is shared.
Regeneration emulates regeneration, so by “increasing microorganism activity and fostering ecosystems that work in unison (plants, animals and organisms) you start to accumulate carbon in the soil”. Which is to say, you can cultivate longevity and sustainability in any soil composition, which really is the raison d’être of soil health.
Our rich soil in this region– which is naturally high in carbon– has the potential to be incredibly fertile for growing. As a standalone though, this measure doesn’t liken to the biological activity in the soil. If processes and management of that soil is poor, then the biology of that soil is only going to decline, as will the yields.
And compost? A healthy compost is an incredibly stable compound of carbon and nitrogen, facilitating microbial decomposition. Essentially by adding a compost that houses microorganism diversity (different types of root exudates, sugars, and liquid carbons that different types of plants and organisms need to extract nutrients) to a soil profile, the biological activity of that medium will proliferate. A consideration I hadn’t come across before is that local compost means local microorganisms. So if you are using your own compost on your land, or compost that is made locally, it will be especially impactful for your soil.
The compost heaps of Green For You are raised to high (a temperature of between sixty and seventy degrees celsius) for three to four months, regularly turned for oxidation throughout, and subsequently left to sit for a month. The people of businesses such as Sky and Tull of Highlife, and Joel of Lennox’s Station Grocer have been onboard with this food waste solution since the beginning of the project, and participation has consistently grown since.
To the man who sifts through tonnes of compost weekly for plastic contaminations and takes care of plants as a meditation, thank you for your time. And really, what’s the rush?
Resources mentioned in conversation:
Dirt to soil by Gabe Brown “which talks about his journey from conventional agriculture to regenerative agriculture”.
Gardening Down-Under by Kevin Handrick.
Soils Alive! A study from the Department of Natural Resources Tasmania, which was carried out over ten months in 2009 and “is a great basis in knowledge, that anyone interested in growing should get their eyes on.”
Gardening Australia.
Information about Green For You:https://www.greenforyou.com.au