Dirt Off Your Shoulder

The Earth. Third Rock 9, Milky Way. I love her. The Cannavatar has a spiritual connection to this place. Her mountain ranges caress her surface, and her oceans are deep. She gives us life and holds infinite secrets. We continue through our fantastic journey of the Cannavatar into the loam of the Earth, in search of a greater understanding of the world beneath us. There’s treasures unimaginable, and hidden lakes of water and fire. Microbes, insects, reptiles and even mammals find refuge and sustenance right below our feet. The thought alone might give you the creeps, but don’t worry, that thing moving between your toes is just a worm and it’s helping to make some mighty fine soil.

Colliding, scraping and folding masses of tectonic plates release our core’s promethean elements; creating continents, mountains and volcanoes, canyons and faults. The air and water meet the jagged rocks to polish, refine, and transport earth from one edge of our planet to another. I don’t want to go full David Attenborough about it, but the Cannavatar’s connection to the spirit realm makes me wax poetic about the immense and almost impossible nature of our world.

Our land, cut into imaginary and arbitrary pieces by hoomans, is one of the only things you can possess that will almost never depreciate in value, and I’ll spare you the population, demand and price part so we can just enjoy the ride. If we can remember our 5th grade science class and recall a bit more from high school, we’ll also agree that the science of soil can be complex and that getting some help from professionals is always a great idea; so I’ve asked Nels Fymbo to join me in our revelatory travels through the dirt. He’s a cannabis cultivator, business owner, and soil man.

Having lived in a farming community in the South of Colorado, my own family has been privileged enough to learn about soil and sediment, minerals and nutrients through practice. It can be intimidating for the novice, some who are just starting out in the garden and have no idea what even those three little numbers in the corner of your fertilizer mean, let alone the other ingredients in a bag you can buy at the store. 

“What’s NPK?!”

What even is NPK? That’s almost a bird call for the garden newbie. Luckily there’s plenty of resources from books to websites, to your local garden store or neighbor to let us know that Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium are the macronutrients plants need most to remain healthy from seed to harvest. Even our land grant colleges and universities like Colorado’s own State Universities, Agricultural schools, and places like University of Idaho, have resources on up to twelve soil orders. Who knew that there could be so many classifications? U of I’s site describes each in great detail for any of our curious followers looking to educate themselves on the differentiating characteristics of each order.

From the dense rainforest with soils vibrant with life, to the arid sands of the world’s many and expanding deserts, the soil is foundational to the surrounding ecosystem. If you want your garden to be a flourishing, fruiting oasis, then your soil has to have its own vigorous oasis of microbes, beneficial bugs and fungus. The potting soil we use in our gardens is not the earth you might find if you took a shovel and dug out a pile to the side. Your soil has to be composed of the right mixtures of essential nutrients and minerals, peat moss and coir in order to hold the necessary moisture and provide an ideal home for roots. Nels, a new friend of ours, comes from generations of soil conservationists. Iowa is home to many farmers, ranchers and guardians of the soil, and Mr. Fymbo’s family is one of them. Nels owns his own company, Pro Gro, and is a distributor for Paonia Soil Company. I wanted to see if he could give me the dirt on...well, the dirt.

So, Nels, how long have you been working with plants and in soil conservation? Give us a peek into the pot.

NF: "Originally I’m from Iowa. We always had a garden since..well since I’ve existed. They (my parents) had a whole ‘nother property from the parcel where our house was, and half of that other property was a garden. So we grew everything and anything, perennials and annuals, asparagus, potatoes, green beans, bud. *(shared laughter)*

I pretty much have been gardening ever since. Started growing medical cannabis in CA about 11 or 12 years ago now.

As far as soil conservation, it’s super important from a historical standpoint. A lot of civilizations have either fallen or taken massive population hits due to the lack of food, disease from food or disease in crops. Here in the U.S., the dust bowl was a huge ordeal. So taking care of the soil is a foundational topic of concern for the advancement of civilization.

The farming going on right now with indoor and hydroponic farming...I don’t see it being viable for crops like wheat, corn, rice and soy. So without the stable ground soil, you would be in a tough position.”

For the unwary reader, the dust bowl refers to a dark time in U.S. history when, due to the industrialization of agriculture and devastatingly improper farming practices, the land dried up so much that it turned into dust and blew across the states creating walls of earth that blacked out the sky. It was a tragic scene in America, as people across the country starved, lost farm land, cattle and died from the harsh environmental consequences of particulate matter in the air. Dust. It’s the duty of all of us, including the Cannavatar, to ensure that another tragedy like this is prevented at all costs.

Biodynamic Agriculture

I ask Nels to sing us a tune about what makes a quality soil and to tell us what kinds of magic that we may find in a bag of Paonia. 

NF: Well it’s an all plant mix, and it’s all in the mix. The beauty of organic soil is that once you understand the science behind it, for all intents and purposes, growing things like fruit trees and other edible plants...once you dial in the soil, you can pretty much grow anything in it. Certain things may take more nutrients out than other plants. As long as you keep a mineral balance right, then you can pretty much grow anything.

SM: Is the paonia blend a cannabis specific mix? If so then explain what components of the soil are different from any other bag.

NF: Well let’s break it down. By definition any bagged soil is a potting soil. Whether it’s Miracle Gro (en: aka Sucky McDeath-Sack), Fox Farm or The Bomb, it’s going to be a porous arable top soil. It’s going to have a coco peat or a sphagnum peat, it will contain perlite. And that’s what most have in common. Where they differ is what gets added aside from that, for example paonia sells a product called the bomb and the difference is the peat . We add a compost that is made on site,  and we source all of our own biomass materials for making our own compost. Many potting soils esp organic based will have some sort of compost.

We like to think ours is effective because we source our material from the same local sources which adds to continuity. We add biodynamics preps, chicken litter, saw dust. We implement a system of biodynamic agriculture. 

SM: That sounds like an important concept to break down. Can you give me a more detailed idea of what biodynamic agriculture is?

NF: It’s a system that uses a specific set of practices and beliefs that attempt to treat your farm as an organism to keep your farm ecosystem self sustaining and self correcting. So adding things like specific herbs will create a reaction that helps to compost the materials in the pile. The Bomb compost has a higher fungal content. The old practice of turning over the soils to breathe it  may actually kill the fungal matter inside of the soil, so our air injected static pile is mixed through a turbine which keeps that fungal network intact.

SM: Those are all amazing ways that Paonia is standing out and pushing not only the narrative about our soil, but also the science and practices of the industry. What would you say is the best way for a person to improve the quality of the soils in their own backyards or in a forgotten garden box or family farm?

NF: Number one. Always get a soil Test. If you’re going through the effort of improving your yard you’ll definitely be shooting in the dark unless you get a test. I would recommend Logan Labs. When you get your soil test, it’s well laid out and you can ask them for tips for the layman on recipe’s for x amount of square feet. The second fundamental step is to analyze the test to tell you what you are missing or what you have too much of. Using biology you can amend and bring life back into your soil. If you’re using organics and starting off with a mediocre soil you can always increase your biology by adding fungus or microbial life. There is a preference to dry amendments as opposed to liquid because they are available and begin to affect the soil faster, and are less costly. You use less and it’s easier to dose so there’s less stress and no hassle with preparing and mixing salty solutions.