Hello,
I saw a few weeks ago a talk with John Kempf (
link) in which he described the effects of oxidization-- aerobic tillage/chemical agriculture on soil biology, organic matter, etc. and mineral availability. In essence, oxidation is what happens with tillage, death, and drought-- with the destruction of soil, and reduction is what happens when plants grow and flourish and reduce the oxygen and
CO2 in the air to build their tissues and healthy soils.
I was also thinking about antioxidants in food... those same antioxidants, I imagine, are present in the plant's
root exudates, which
should be one reason why, as Kempf says, "It appears as if the root exudates from most plants that have a functional immune system also have the capacity to be reducing." That extends to "exceptionally healthy" plants that normally are reducing. Don't healthy, well adapted and wild plants already produce antioxidants? I imagine an easy way to test is to put an uprooted plant in sunlight with
water at the
roots, let sit for a short while, and then apply to a food, like acorns or
nettle, which becomes easily oxidized, and watch for the difference between that and just water. Maybe, considering this, antioxidant-rich plants, incorporated into fermented amendments or simply as a tea or soaking water, may also help to turn excessively aerobic/oxidized soils the other way around, by preserving the organic matter from oxidation during drier periods and generally through oxidizing influences.
The reason I actually brought this up is the interesting mirroring between soil and human health. Our bodies need antioxidants to stay healthy... and so does the soil. Apparently,
urine also contains some amount of antioxidants;
this article that I found seems to say that the urine of non-ill people is more antioxidant than ill, and more for people who took certain health supplements. From what I skimmed, it sounds as if urine is also more antioxidant when relatively fresh.
Animals (us here) give antioxidants to the soil in the form of urine, the soil grows and supports the plants, and the plants provide healthy food that contains lots of antioxidants for us! And the soil microbes themselves. All of life, in a healthy place, supports itself, the cycling and health, in a positive cycle, towards greater life and vitality.
I wonder about
poop too: I need to look into it more, but I heard that many of our lower intestinal bacteria are the same bacteria in the vast majority of healthy
compost and bacteria, and also living inside plants as endophytes; it was suggested that they might be conveying information between all of these interconnected life forms. And a turd is essentially a little plop of mulch: thick, full of water and organic matter, delicious for small animals like larvae and earthworms. And they come embedded with seeds: when the turd turns into soil, places you poop might become a ground cherry, as I have seen with grazed pastures, or a tomato, a black raspberry, even maybe a watermelon: any fruit whose seed is small
enough to swallow, and the ones too large are tossed away and sprout on the ground. That is a very direct form of feedback to the ecosystem.
Another article that I will read further some time soon says that antioxidants in the diet
do lead to higher antioxidants in poop-- that is, the organic matter in the poop, and the soil bacteria who will live in them,
are healthier and safer because the poopers are healthier.
Very interesting, and much to consider.
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