To understand more deeply the intricacies of the human/soil relationships, we can immerse ourselves in the book Dirt, the Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, by William Bryant Logan, and/or watch the magnificent documentary film inspired by this book: Dirt, the Movie. (www.dirtthemovie.org ) And to wholeheartedly enter the elegant and multifaceted realm of Dirt, we can go on to view The Symphony of the Soil (www.symphonyofthesoil.com) a film by Deborah Koons Garcia, which brings science, art and activism to bear on the long, long history of soil.

I meditated on Soil. What does Soil contain, how is Soil made? Who lives in Soil? The more I followed this, the more amazed I was. I began to think of all the Plants, Animals, and Humans who were on this property for centuries and how they contributed to the Soil. I thought of the Rocks and Stones who were ground down over eons by the Waters. I started seeing the miracle of Soil.

I have found French Green Clay to be the best solution for a Poison Ivy Rash. It dries up the rash quickly, especially if applied as soon as the rash appears.

The earth forever calls us home, and the "ground" of any true culture lies in the soil. It's that in-between common world of civilization and wild nature, that place where relationship is formed. It's where our human hands and feet marry mineral and plant, there in the world of microbes and insects, sun and rain.

Poets and scientists have both developed a refined sense of observation of the physical/natural world.  Scientists can use this sharpened skill of observation to de-mystify and bring understanding to the mechanisms of the physical world. Poets can use their heightened sense of observation to transform the physical and allow us transcend what we might otherwise overlook as mundane.

Between two particles of soil,
small invisible relations
rise and fall, feast, party and toil -
complex cultures, cities, nations...

Slow dancing in the world's embrace,
entwined with what we hold most dear -
when all is gone without a trace,
the soil will know that we were here

We give thanks to the rock that has been ground fine by ice and wind and flowing water. That has been permeated by tiny patient life forms who nibble it into the dance of life. We thank you for making this Earth blanket, this bed of possibility. We give thanks to the microbes and fungi and roots who work beneath the surface, conjuring soil out of bedrock, making space for air and water and warmth to mix with the mineral.