Dirt

How important is it? It's essential.

And tasty, too. As a kid, a favorite thing was to pull a bright orange carrot from the ground, wipe off the loose dirt, and savor every crunchy bite of the earthy sweet flavor.

Now that it's near the end of the month, I'm finally reading my April PCC Sound Consumer. The publication always contains great information, but one particular paragraph caught my attention, "Eat More Dirt."

I've long been baffled by our current preoccupation with dirt and germs and the proliferation of all these "anti-bacterial" and disinfecting soaps, sprays, and gels. I'm convinced this can't be good for our immune systems.

The Sound Consumer "News Bites" piece supports my suspicion. It begins, "Biodiversity beats sterile home for healthy babies," citing a study by Rodale Institute, an authority on health, food, gardening and more. It goes on to say that our bodies need germs and dirt for a healthy immune system, and to possibly even prevent allergies and asthma.

While I don't advise eating a handful (although what kid doesn't at some point?!?), especially with all the environmental toxins around these days, a little dirt, especially if it's the nutrient-dense kind from your organic backyard garden, isn't a bad thing. I'm looking forward to pulling up my carrots, wiping off the dirt, and taking a deliciously satisfying bite.

Of course there's more to it than that. We're losing our soil, and thanks in large part to big agribusiness and our utopian idea of the perfect lawn, contaminating what's left. Franklin D Roosevelt once said, "the nation that destroys its soil destroys itself."

We're learning that yes, organic agriculture could feed the world, probably should, and there's a movement afoot to help organic farming grow and stop subsidizing the big agriculture businesses. We have a long way to go but the studies are plentiful and reassuring.

Further along in the News Bites, a paragraph about organics and the food crises states, "UN research shows that organic practices outperform chemical-intensive farming, while improving soil fertility, water retention and resistance to drought" (source - Treehugger.com). This isn't the first time I've read this, and I hope that message spreads like the earth worms in my compost bin.

Here's the link to PCC's Sound Consumer News Bites, and if you'd like more information on soil health, history and geology, check out David R Montgomery's book, "Dirt - The Erosion of Civilizations." A UW Professor of Earth and Space Sciences, he really knows his dirt.

(Photo: Garden plots, 4-27-09)