Paul Saladino· MD
the first principle is limit chemical and mechanical disturbance we've talked a lot about that right that's tilling and spraying all the crap the second principle is armor the soil right we talked a lot about bare soil why it's a problem erosion from water erosion from wind the temperature of the sun on black soil can be upwards of 140 plus degrees temperature on healthy soil with plant covering on it likely even in the hottest area isn't going to get much above in the 80s or so life lives in the soil in the 80s life dies at the soil above where you would cook a medium steak right we can't be baking that soil we can't be exposing um that that fragile ecosystem and that that that substrate of soil that promotes life so armor the soil is number two um the third is living plants and living roots you know green living plants and living roots year round don't let it sit fallow don't let it sit bare don't till it and leave bare dirt always have something green growing on it always have something alive on it that will allow for photosynthesis to occur it will allow for carbon drawdown to occur which will allow for those reserves of carbon that are necessary to promote life to exist that also hold the water it'll also allow for water to penetrate um it will fix nitrogen not just carbon nitrogen which is a key fertilizer that gets sprayed you know veggies and clovers and all different sorts of plants that are in a diverse ecosystem we'll be pulling all of the stuff that we need into the ground so keep that soil with with life on it year round right so limit chemical mechanical disturbance armor the soil green growing plants and living roots year round the fourth principle is diversity everything has a job right every for every undesirable pest species there are thousands of desirable pests you know you could just keep going on and on you cannot spray fungicides mycorrhizal fungi is the largest living organism that we know about and it the things that it can do border on magic when it comes to transporting miles across and underneath the land nutrients that are needed to create health and fertility and vitality and land that translates to food for everything in that ecosystem which includes us and our food right we can't be looking at this in a monoculture sense in a um uh in an oversimplified reductionist manner right so allow for diversity and the fifth principle is animal impact integrate animals animals have a job their keystone because their job is so important it is greater than their numbers and being a key kickstarter and catalyst for all these beautiful systems that we've been talking about so those five principles are the principles that we recommend and work with and engage with and study and practice and try to take context and figure out how we can nuan in a nuanced manner implement these and management systems onto land