So Much Soil (Not Really)

When we moved to this land, it was beautiful… and so completely worn out.

Our farm is on the east side of Hawaii island, north of Hilo - in an area often associated with deep, fertile soil. We were coming from the nearby Puna district, where the land is much “younger” and only a thin layer of earth - if any - barely covers the lava rock beneath. We were stoked on the idea of having an abundance of rich earth to farm… but that’s not what we found.

Yes, there was soil! Yes, we could actually dig holes! But this land had been farmed hard.

This area was part of the Amauulu sugarcane plantation during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Decades of monocropping, heavy equipment, chemical inputs, and erosion had stripped it of… life.

What we found wasn’t rich or fertile. What we found was dense, compacted clay. No aeration. Not a worm, not a bug.

This clay was definitely not ideal for planting. We’d dig out a nice, big hole for a new tree, fill it with the richest soil and amendments we could mix, and the sapling would thrive… for a while. Right up until its roots hit the edge of that hole and had to deal with the clay. Clearly, we were going to need to learn some new ways of doing things.

And so, we started slowly. Compost and mulch were no-brainers. We learned about cover crops and got our goats into a system of rotational grazing. We planted comfrey, perennial peanut, and pigeon pea anywhere we could.

Bit by bit, the soil started to respond. The clay didn’t vanish (this isn’t a miracle story), but we began to build small, healthy pockets where we could dig out a shovel full of earth and actually find a worm or two. Mushrooms appeared and mycelium spread. The texture of the earth in our hands became softer, richer, alive.

Now, several years in, we’re still in the middle of the story. There are patches that are thriving and patches that are… still progressing. But there’s momentum and growth. We’ve got bees working the blooms. Goats and sheep contributing their manure. Fruit trees are pushing out their first proper harvests.

I didn’t fully understand, until we started seeing these changes, that healthy soil is the key to everything.

In the early days of planning the farm, I thought about the land in terms of what we could grow, raise, harvest, build. I didn’t realize that everything we wanted to do was going to depend on what was happening underground. The healthier the soil gets, the healthier everything gets - stronger plants, better grazing, more pollinators, etc., etc. Soil is the foundation in more ways than one.