Dirt: A Love Story

223 Pages·2015·3.82 MB·English

by  Barbara K. Richardson

Nature / Essays “Several essays
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confirm something i
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thirty-six artists, scientists, I have suspected
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all along, that r
and renowned writers go wild d
those who get s
about the virtues, pleasure, o
dirty with some n
and importance of dirt! regularity and a lot
of enthusiasm are
more likely to be u
C ommunity farms. Mud spas. Mineral paints.
healthy than those a love story
Nematodes. The world is waking up to the beauty
who don’t.”
and mystery of dirt. This anthology celebrates the
from the
Earth’s generous crust, bringing together essays by
foreword by d
award-winning scientists, authors, artists, and dirt pam houston
lovers to tell dirt’s exuberant tales. a
i
r 36
Essayists include
Geographically broad and topically diverse, these
vandana shiva,
essays reveal life as lived by dirt fanatics — admiring t writers
peter heller,
the first worm of spring, taking a childhood twirl across
janisse ray, get
a dusty Kansas farm, calculating how soil breathes, or a
bernd heinrich,
down
baking mud pies. Essayists build a dirt house, center a linda hogan,
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marriage around dirt, sink down into marshy heaven, wes jackson, to
l
and learn to read dirt’s own language. Scientists usher bk loren, o
v earth
us deep underground with the worms and mycorrhizae david r.
e
montgomery,
to explore the vast and largely ignored natural processes
s
laura pritchett, t
occurring beneath our feet. Whether taking a trek
o
and
to Venezuela to touch the oldest dirt in the world or r
deborah koons y
reveling in the blessings of our own native soils, these
garcia.
a
muscular essays answer the important question:
How do you get down with dirt?
barbara
richardson
Edited by
ForeEdge is the author
barbara richardson
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of two novels:
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www.ForeEdgeBooks.com Tributary and Guest e Foreword by
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House. She lives in d
Cover illustration: © Stephanie Frey / g pam houston
Kamas, Utah. e
123RF Stock Photo
Richardson - Dirt.indb 1 6/18/2015 9:46:04 AM
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dirt
a
a love story
edited by
barbara richardson
foreword by
pam houston
a
ForeEdge
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ForeEdge
An imprint of University Press of New England
www.upne.com
© 2015 Barbara Richardson
All rights reserved
For permission to reproduce any of the material in this book,
contact Permissions, University Press of New England, One Court
Street, Suite 250, Lebanon NH 03766; or visit www.upne.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dirt: a love story / edited by Barbara Richardson.
pages cm
isbn 978-1-61168-900-6 (cloth : alk. paper) —
isbn 978-1-61168-766-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) —
isbn 978-1-61168-800-9 (ebook)
1. Soils —Miscellanea. 2. Soils —Anecdotes.
I. Richardson, Barbara K.
s598.d5 2015
631.4 —dc23 2015003396
i’m a dirt person.
i trust the dirt.
i don’t trust diamonds and gold.
a
eartha kitt
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contents
Foreword · Scratching the Surface xi
pam houston
Preface · The God of Dirt xix
barbara richardson
1 land centered
My Life in Dirt 3
edward kanze, naturalist
The Great Beneath 8
linda hogan, author
Dirt Fantasies 15
jana richman, author
Praise to the Transformers 21
janisse ray, author
Glosses on Dirt 29
erica olsen, author
Soil Versus Dirt · A Reverie on Getting Down to Earth 35
kayann short, csa farmer
Digging In 41
elias amidon, sufi teacher
2 kid stuff
Dirt Princess 47
julene bair, author
The First Worm 55
john t. price, author
The Language of Clay 60
roxanne swentzell, sculptor
Dirt · Imago Ignota 62
john keeble, author
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Mud Pies 68
chris larson, green architect
Services at the Church of Dirt 70
marilyn krysl, poet
3 dirt worship
Dreaming in Dirt 77
bk loren, author
Tao of Dirt 79
liz stephens, author
The Life of Soil 82
bernd heinrich, biologist
Dirt in Love 87
barbara richardson, author
Dirt House 92
peter heller, author
Sinking Down into Heaven 96
jeanne rogers, artist & author
4 dirt facts
The Soil’s Breath 103
tyler volk, biologist
Earthmover 108
lisa knopp, author
Worm Herder · A Q and A with Dr. Diana H. Wall 113
carrie visintainer, journalist
Seeing Soils 119
deborah koons garcia, filmmaker
The Next Big Thing in Soil Science 126
carl rosen, soil scientist
A Badge of Honor 129
tom wessels, terrestrial ecologist
Dirty Business 134
david r. montgomery, geomorphologist
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Feed Your Soil 141
bob cannard & fred cline,
sustainable farmer & vintner
5 native soil
Hostile Takeovers · An Ode to Guts and Gardens 149
laura pritchett, author
Fight the Power 156
eban goodstein, environmental economist
Born Again · Loving the Least Worst Land in Mississippi 162
donald g. schueler, author
Stewards of the Land 170
wes jackson, agricultural activist
We Are Soil 173
vandana shiva, soil & seed activist
City Dirt 178
karen washington, urban farmer
Soil Versus Oil —Kale Versus Koch 183
atina diffley, organic farmer
Contributors 193
Credits 199
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