Today we’re doing something a little different.
We’re at our farm, about half an hour south of Thessaloniki. This is a natural farm, and the land has not been plowed for about 25 years.
Our goal is to
introduce what is called biology into the soil. Ideally, we would do this with animals — for example, a herd of 25, 30, or even 50 sheep. The sheep would graze lightly on the land, eating about half of the plants above ground. The rest would be trampled, and the animals would also urinate and deposit manure. This process would introduce biology into the soil and help improve soil health in an accelerated way.
Since we don’t currently have access to sheep, I’m trying a different approach. I’m taking
fresh compost and placing it directly on the soil surface. We’re not digging and we’re not burying anything. After placing the compost, we cover it with dry or green leaves.
We’ve done this in about 20 to 30 different spots across the farm. I honestly don’t know how this will behave, and I don’t have a way to monitor it closely. This is the first time I’m doing this.
The best-case scenario is that it’s wildly successful: the biology in the compost thrives in the soil and gradually spreads throughout the farm. The worst-case scenario is that it does very little — the quantity may simply be too small to have a major impact.
I don’t have a way to measure the results yet, and as I said, I’m at the very beginning of this process. Still, I don’t think this can do any harm. Even if the impact is small, it doesn’t damage the land. And personally, it has already been beneficial for me — spending time with the land and the soil matters.
If anyone knows more about this than I do, I’d really appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks.
Kostas
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