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#Soil sustains nearly everything we depend on, yet most of us were never taught how to understand it.

My grandmother never studied soil #science in a classroom, but she knew how to care for soil through practices carried across generations. She knew how to return organic matter, protect the ground, observe the seasons, work with what was locally available, and grow food in ways that supported families year after year. That knowledge was practical, lived, and connected to place.

After years of academic study, research, teaching, consulting, #farming, #composting, and experimenting with newer tools and technologies, I continue returning to the same essential truth: successful soil work begins with learning how to see.

We need some basic understanding of what soil is and how different soils function. We need to learn how to observe, read, and test the soil in front of us. Then we need a practical toolkit that helps us choose actions appropriate to our context—not simply copy a recipe created for somewhere else.

That is the heart of the three keys I teach:
- Understand the soil.
- Read the soil and its context.
- Use the right tools to build fertility over time.

The reel moves quickly, but every message in it points toward a larger way of thinking. Soil is not an inert material beneath our feet. It is a living foundation for #food, water, plants, ecosystems, communities, and future generations. We can learn how to work with it, restore it, and become better caretakers of the life it supports.

Several ways to go deeper:
- Watch the free webinar, The 3 Keys to Regenerative Soil Fertility
- Explore the Regenerative Soil & Fertility Systems guidebook
- Join the live four-part Master Regenerative Soil & Fertility Systems course beginning August 6 (or watch it recorded)

Comment SOIL, and I’ll send you the links to all three. You can also find them through the link in our bio.

I would truly love for more people to develop this knowledge—not only gardeners and farmers, but parents, students, educators, leaders, landowners, designers, and anyone interested in creating a healthier and more regenerative future.

RegenerativeSoil SoilHealth LivingSoil SoilFerti

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Peach Season Galette 🍑

Get yourself some local, juicy, peaches
Make a pastry dough, place on a baking sheet with parchment
Roll out into a circle 10-12” diameter or so
Pulse some nuts like walnuts or almonds with sugar in a processor
Layer onto dough, stopping 1-2” inches from edge of dough
Arrange sliced peaches concentrically
Fold dough over, making small folds as you go
Sprinkle edges with a little sugar
Bake at 375 for 45-60 mins or until golden brown depending on your oven
Enjoy with raw ice cream or whipped cream

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🌞Enjoy our Annual Mid-Summer Apothecary Sale 🌼
Prices are discounted as these were made within the last year and more recent
Send a pm to me to place your order
Venmo product total plus $10 shipping to @sunandbloomfarms
PM if you need a square invoice to pay with cc
Local pick up available as well at our farm

Tropical, rich, and deeply moisturizing
Amazing after showers, melts quickly into skin

Super salve for all kids of cuts, scrapes, insect bite swelling, and dry skin

Draws out insect stings, splinters, and other ouchies

Massage into muscles that are sore, joints with pain or inflammation

Fabulous soothing and restorative body oil, use for massage, moisture, abhyanga

Lymphatic movement, diuretic, reduce swelling, immune support

Bitters to stimulate digestion, support lover detox, can support parasite elimination

Goldenrod to support autumn allergy season, can be used in mocktails - made with ACV alcohol free

Supportive to lower inflammation, boost mental mood, sooth exhausted nervous system, support skin health

Immune support all star

Supportive to manage menopausal symptoms

Every human should be taking milky oats, especially women and mothers
Deeply restorative to the nervous system

Delicious tea to support digestion

Stunning blend to support the heart and emotional body

Can stop bleeding fast - amazing for livestock care and small children

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Wednesday evening I taught a free webinar on The 3 Keys to Regenerative Soil Fertility, and I’m honestly grateful for how many people registered, showed up, stayed with it, and cared deeply about this topic.

People joined from different places across the world - I BELIEVE MOST CONTINENTS WERE REPRESENTED - which made the conversation feel even more meaningful. Soil is local, but the need to understand it, care for it, and build fertility in healthier ways is shared by people in many places.

We spent time looking at soil as a living system — not just dirt, not just compost, not just nutrients, and not just something we fix by adding random amendments. We talked about the physical, chemical, and biological lenses of soil health, how organic matter and biology work together, why compost, mulch, roots, water, and management all matter, and how to begin asking better questions before deciding what to add.

One of the big ideas from the training was this:
- Healthy soil is not one number. It is not only pH. It is not only organic matter. It is not only a soil test. It is not only biology. It is the relationship between structure, chemistry, biology, water, roots, organic matter, and management over time.

I recorded the webinar, and I’m making the replay available for people who missed it, joined late, or want to revisit the teaching.

If you want to watch the recording, comment: SOIL RECORDING and I’ll send you the link to request access.

This is for gardeners, homesteaders, orchard growers, small farmers, permaculture students, land stewards, and anyone who wants to begin reading and building healthier soil with more clarity.

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The Nourished Garden — Week One

Last night we gathered for the first session of The Nourished Garden.

We shared herbal tea, walked through the garden, planted seeds, dug in the soil, talked about nourishment, and explored the idea that wellness begins long before a remedy is needed.

In a world that often encourages us to search for the next supplement, protocol, or quick fix, we began somewhere simpler.

We talked about nourishment.

Not just nourishment from food and herbs, but nourishment from community, fresh air, meaningful work, beauty, conversation, rest, and connection to the land.

Together we explored mineral-rich herbs like nettle and oatstraw, prepared nourishing infusions, harvested from the garden, and reflected on the many ways women have traditionally cared for themselves and their families through the garden, kitchen, and community.

One of my favorite moments was watching women who arrived as strangers kneeling and working together in the soil by the end of the evening. Sharing stories, opening up with vulnerability, and sweating away our cares.

This is exactly what I hoped The Nourished Garden would become.

Not simply an herbal class, rather a place to gather.

A place to learn and to remember.

A place to be nourished.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Week One. I can’t wait to continue the journey together.

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LAST CALL — free live soil webinar is tomorrow evening .

We now have way over 100 people registered for tomorrow’s free live training, The 3 Keys to Regenerative Soil Fertility, and I wanted to make one more invitation before we close this round.

This is for gardeners, homesteaders, small farmers, market gardeners, permaculture students, designers, and land stewards who care about soil but still sometimes feel unsure about what to do next.

Should you add compost? Minerals? Mulch? Fertilizer? Biology? Cover crops? More organic matter? A soil test? Something else?

Those can all have a place, but the deeper skill is learning how to understand the soil first, read what it is telling you, and then begin building a fertility plan that fits your actual soil, plants, time, resources, and goals.

Tomorrow night I’ll walk through the three keys we use at Sun and Bloom Farms:
- Understanding soil as a living system.
- Learning how to read and test soil.
- Building a practical fertility plan instead of guessing from season to season.

This is a free 45-minute live online training drawn from our Regenerative Soil & Fertility Systems guidebook and the Master Regenerative Soil & Fertility Systems course restarting in August.

The Webinar is Live on Zoom:
Wednesday, July 8
7 PM CST (St. Louis USA time)

Register Now: https://www.sunandbloomfarms.com/regenerative-soil-fertility-webinar.html

#RegenerativeSoil #SoilFertility #SoilHealth #LivingSoil #Permaculture OrganicGardening Homesteading MarketGardening SunAndBloomFarms

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Want to see the full rundown for Cultivate 2026?
We have a weekend PACKED full of learning, sharing, growing, creating, dreaming, sharing, eating, resting, laughing, and community all lined up for you!
Tickets are on sale now!
Workshops & masterclasses have limited availability so don’t wait!
This year is going to be so special. We can’t wait to have you join us!!!

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I’m very grateful to share that the first digital edition of Regenerative Soil & Fertility Systems: A Practical Guidebook for Reading, Building, and Managing Living Soil in Gardens, Orchards, Farms, and Designed Landscapes is now available through Sun and Bloom Farms.

This work has been many years in the making.

It brings together my decade-long work with regenerative soil, fertility, compost, plants, farming, teaching, ecological design, and living systems.

It comes from years of teaching in community workshops, college-level horticulture and permaculture classes, farm-based education, design courses, consulting, university extension work, and hands-on experience with real soil in real places.

My hope was to make this material deeply practical — something grounded, useful, and followable for people wherever they are in their regenerative soil journey.

The guidebook walks through how to understand soil as a living system, read what soil is telling us, test and interpret soil without becoming overwhelmed, and begin building fertility through compost, mulch, cover crops, biological inputs, plants, animals, organic matter, and long-term management.

Each chapter includes exercises designed to help the reader observe their own soil, ask better questions, organize what they are learning, and begin designing a regenerative soil and fertility plan for their own garden, farm, homestead, orchard, food forest, landscape, or project.

This is the first digital edition, independently published through Sun and Bloom Farms. I wanted to release it now so this work can begin serving people who are growing food, building gardens, restoring land, managing fertility, or trying to understand what their soil needs next.

The book is available now at the launch price of $43.

Thank you to the students, teachers, farmers, gardeners, compost makers, soil stewards, regenerative soil researchers, soil and ecology writers, book authors, mentors, friends, clients, and everyone who has helped shape this work over the years.

Soil is powerful. Soil is important. Soil is alive.

I would really love your support in purchasing this book and helping spread the word.

Link in Bio

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#Regenerative #farming means working with the #natural instincts and needs of the animals raised. This awesome meat will make it on the meals of the in-person #Permaculture Course we are facilitating in September and the big fundraiser #farmtotable dinner right after that. Only the best fot earth and people centered people. Join the course: link in bio!

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What are the most important skills on a farmstead?

Running a small excavator?
Building a French drain?
Hauling gravel?
Using a shovel?
Understanding animals, compost, drainage, plumbing, food preservation, soil fertility, marketing, teaching, and business?

Yes. All of that matters.

This is part of farmsteading: homesteading while farming.
Growing food. Preserving food. Raising animals. Caring for the household. Building systems. And also producing food, education, beauty, goods, and services for the community.

Some of the work is beautiful. Some of it is muddy. Some of it is done by hand. And sometimes the appropriate tool is a machine.

We believe in human-scale work, but appropriate technology matters too. Used wisely, a small machine can help build water systems, protect the body, and create infrastructure that serves the farm for years.

But we don’t think the most important farmstead skill is running equipment.
It’s planning. Learning how to observe your context. Create a vision. Name your mission. Set goals. Design systems that actually fit your land, your family, your resources, your climate, your market, and your life.
That is what permaculture teaches. Not just techniques. Not just gardens. A way of seeing the whole system.

This September, we are offering an in-person permaculture course here on the farm. You’ll get to see these systems in real life: gardens, animals, compost, drainage, trees, food, family, business, community, mistakes, repairs, and living design. The farmstead asks for many skills. But first, we learn how to see.

#permaculture #homesteading #farmsteading #regenerativefarming #smallfarm

LINK FOR THE COURSE IN BIO

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I think I finally honed in on my definition of wealth.

For a long time, I chased a different kind of security. Mostly financial. Mostly the kind of capital we are taught to measure first.

But then there are evenings like this.

After a full day of manual work outside, sitting on the #farm, watching my son fly down the gravel driveway on his bike, surrounded by green, on land our family loves and helps steward.

And I remember: this is wealth too.

Living capital. Social capital. Experiential capital. Cultural capital. Spiritual capital. #Family. Beauty. #Food. Land. Community. A life with meaning.

And the best part is that we don’t keep it only for ourselves.

We share it through food, farm dinners, lunches, education, permaculture courses, and all the small ways people come here and become part of the story.

This is a beautiful #life.

And it feels richer than I ever knew to ask for.

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There is something deeply beautiful about this rhythm: growing food, harvesting it at just the right moment, arranging it with care, and making it available to the people around us. Sometimes we feel more like artists than farmers. The rows, the colors, the baskets, the timing, the way the food moves from soil to hands to kitchen table — all of it feels like a living composition.

And of course, there is real work and investment here. This life asks for many kinds of capital: living capital, social capital, material capital, intellectual capital, experiential capital, cultural capital, spiritual capital, and yes, financial capital too.

But when the harvest comes in, and the store is full of beautiful, fresh food for our community, we remember why it matters.

We believe more people could be part of this kind of work. More people growing good food. More people feeding their neighbors. More small places becoming abundant, beautiful, and alive.

#regenerative #organic #agriculture #farmlife

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