Soil Revolution Green Thumbs
Judith Horvath is the shepherdess at Fair Hill Farm.
microbes below the soil that need living or dead plants to get their food. The microbes prefer roots in the ground and dead leaves to eat in winter and spring.
Horvath told AcreageLife that healthy soil is alive with billions of different species.
“ It’ s astonishingly complex and delicate, and it’ s the source of life on our planet,” she said. Without healthy soils, life ceases.”
Horvath’ s Farming Routine
Horvath’ s venture into farming wasn’ t a straight line. It wasn’ t born out of tradition but through a deepseated desire to connect with the earth in a manner that respects its natural rhythms and cycles. At the core of her farming philosophy lies a profound respect for the soil— the very foundation upon that all life depends on.
At Fair Hill Farm Regenerative Agriculture and Permaculture Design, Horvath teaches aspiring farmers how to get started and improve soil health.
“ I offer consulting services for clients who have their own projects. Usually, it’ s people who are dedicated to healthy living and have decided to make a life change to a more rural lifestyle, homestead or small farm location. They want someone to be their training wheels until they have the lingo worked out and have a few years of actual farming under their belts,” Horvath said.
Horvath’ s approach to integrating sustainable practices into a farming routine includes improving soil quality.
These four tips are how Horvath embraces soil health and restores soil biome.
Continuously add compost as top-dressing to beds. When harvesting vegetables like lettuce, cut off the vegetables at ground level and leave the roots in the soil to contribute organic matter.
Keep beds mulched between plants. As soon as something is harvested, add compost and plant something else on the same day.
The foundation of regenerative farming is soil health.
Plants like friends. Plant every square inch, putting small things between big things, like onions between cauliflower or lettuce.
Let clover grow next to veggies. Top dress beds with a light layer of compost throughout the growing season.
In the heart of central Ohio, Fair Hill Farm is a testament to resilience and ecological harmony. It is a beacon for those aspiring to tread lightly on the earth while reaping its bountiful rewards.
Soil Testing
For Horvath, crop rotation, green manures, composting and mulching forms the pillars of her approach, ensuring the soil remains healthy, vibrant and alive.
“ The goal is to make compost and build soil full of microbial life. All this decayed vegetable matter is food for earthworms and mycorrhizal fungi under the surface, and it retains moisture like a sponge, making things drought-resistant. It all works together to ensure healthy plants and nutrient-dense foods,” Horvath added.
Your first step to building healthy soil is to get it tested at the beginning of each season. Analyzing the soil’ s texture and organic matter content always tells a rich story, and standard soil testing evaluates plantavailable nutrient content and soil pH.
Horvath told AcreageLife that, if it’ s a big area, she’ d recommend soil testing to determine the nutrients present.
“ It’ s more about the texture of the soils. I have one particularly sandy area that’ s prone to drying out and being acidic. I add compost to these areas for organic matter and ashes from my woodstove to make the pH more alkaline. I have other soil types rich in organic matter but they have a lot of silt and are prone to waterlogging in low-lying areas.
30 AcreageLife July 2024 AcreageLife. com