Did you know soil microorganisms of all sizes and shapes need water, air, shelter, and care to function and thrive? Dr. Ashley Jernigan, assistant professor and director of Virginia Tech's Sustainable and Organic Vegetable Crops Production Lab, returns to talk with Jeff and Mary about what farmers and gardeners can do to encourage a hospitable habitat for soil microorganisms.

As a soil ecologist, Ashley recommends keeping track of your soil organic matter level and its aggregate stability, and how these soil health indicators compare to native biological systems. Soils, like people, need quality food in diverse and complex forms (compost, green manures, plant roots, etc.). Similarly, farmers and gardeners should avoid leaving the soil naked and bare. Being gentle and reducing the intensity of tillage is also key to maintaining a comfortable environment for soil critters and not disrupting the structures and networks that soil organisms establish.   

We would encourage our listeners to visit Andy Murray's A Chaos of Delight: Exploring Life in the Soil website and tour the gallery of photos of different soil microorganisms. 

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers, graziers, and gardeners for peer-to-peer learning and to follow the four core soil health principles: 

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends and allies; avoid bare fallows;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage as much as possible in your field or garden ;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity, soil structure, and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation, high-quality food, farm enterprises,  and livestock integration. 

To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices, natural resource concerns, and soil health principles and practices to restore the life in your soil, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.

Does your garden soil just fall apart in your hands? How do you regenerate and bring back life to worn-out soils? Dr. Ashley Jernigan, assistant professor and director of Virginia Tech's Sustainable and Organic Vegetable Crops Production Lab, in visiting with Jeff and Mary, advises doing your own test in your garden or crop field with a shovel.

As someone who enjoyed digging soil pits as a seven-year-old, Ashley recommends sampling to a six-inch depth to get a sense of your soil's tilth and aggregate stability. If the soil does not have a good, varied crumbly structure, the soil's organic matter content and aggregate stability may be low. Therefore, feed your soil and soil animals to feed your plants to start the biological journey and bring back the life in the soil.

If you have ever wondered what soil animals like springtails and soil mites look like, Dr. Jernigan developed a Soil Mesofauna: Who are They? resource guide to help. Ashley also highly recommends Andy Murray's Chaos of Delight: Exploring Life in the Soil website for wonderful photos and videos. 

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers, graziers, and gardeners for peer-to-peer learning and to follow the four core soil health principles: 

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends and allies;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity, soil structure, and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation, farm enterprises, and/or livestock integration.

More details about the Virginia Farm-to-Table Feast and Harvest Celebration scheduled for Saturday, October 25, 2025, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at On Sunny Slope Farm in Rockingham, Virginia, can be found at https://virginiafarmtotable.org/2025vaf2tharvestcelebration/

To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices, natural resource concerns, and soil health principles and practices to restore the life in your soil, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.

Is the economic rationale of soil health always the top priority for farmers? Or, do other soil values rise to the top of farmers' minds, for example, having a healthy habitat for soil fungi? Kasper Krabbe, a doctoral student at Aarhus University in Denmark and a visiting guest scholar at Virginia Tech, returns to talk with Mary, Jeff, and Eric about his research into understanding farmers' intrinsic and extrinsic values in caring for soil. 

Kasper states that a deeper understanding of farmers' values and motivations is needed because of the degraded condition of agricultural soils globally. For instance, peer pressure to maintain and strive for tidy fields can inhibit experimentation with alternative minimum till systems and diverse cropping mixtures because of neighboring farmers' perceptions of certain aesthetics.    

The videos Kasper created of his interviews and interactions with cooperating Danish farmers as part of the Soil Values research initiative can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxwHRB9ybRM 

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers, graziers, and gardeners for peer-to-peer learning and to follow the four core soil health principles: 

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends and allies;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity, soil structure, and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation, farm enterprises, and/or livestock integration.

More details about the Virginia Farm-to-Table Feast and Harvest Celebration scheduled for Saturday, October 25, 2025, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at On Sunny Slope Farm in Rockingham, Virginia, can be found at https://virginiafarmtotable.org/2025vaf2tharvestcelebration/

To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices, natural resource concerns, and the financial rationale of soil health, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.

When you close your eyes, how do you envision your farm and soil ecosystem? What ideals, values, and priorities are part of your vision and farm business model? Kasper Krabbe, a doctoral student at Aarhus University in Denmark and a visiting guest scholar at Virginia Tech, talked with Mary, Jeff, and Eric about these questions and his research interest in farmers' perceptions and decision-making. 

Kasper is particularly intrigued by the human and cultural elements of farming and how context informs and shapes the agroecological system and soil health of individual farms and regional farming. Kasper's ongoing inquiry into the agroecological dynamics of farming, soil health, and specific values-based business models aligns with the objectives of the European Union's Soil Values project https://soilvalues.eu/. 

Additionally, Kasper has created videos based on his interviews and interactions with cooperating Danish farmers. This sample Soil Values video is with a Danish farmer who owns and operates a community-supported agriculture farm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxwHRB9ybRM 

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers, graziers, and gardeners for peer-to-peer learning and to follow the four core soil health principles: 

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends and allies;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity, soil structure, and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation, farm enterprises, and/or livestock integration.

More details about the Virginia Farm-to-Table Harvest Celebration scheduled for Saturday, October 25, 2025, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at On Sunny Slope Farm in Rockingham, Virginia, can be found at https://virginiafarmtotable.org/2025vaf2tharvestcelebration/

To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices, natural resource concerns, and farm decision-making dynamics you may be facing, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.

Feeding hay to livestock in the winter is very expensive, and often results in a sacrifice lot where manure gathers. At the same time, manure is considered gold because of its nutrient content, ability to supply organic matter, and to build soil life. In this second episode, Dr. Summer Thomas, education and outreach specialist with the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, takes us on a deeper dive into her research on the benefits of round bale grazing and how it pertains to the four core soil health principles

Summer explains how livestock and round bale grazing are land and soil health management tools for reducing machinery costs, better distributing manure and essential nutrients across pastureland, and truly energizing the system with biodiversity. 

Overall, round bale grazing is a sound management practice that leads to healthy soils, healthy plants, and healthy animals. 

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers, graziers, and gardeners for peer-to-peer learning and to follow the four core soil health principles: 

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends and allies;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity, soil structure, and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation, farm enterprises, and/or livestock integration.

More details about the Virginia Farm-to-Table Harvest Celebration scheduled for Saturday, October 25, 2025, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at On Sunny Slope Farm in Rockingham, Virginia, can be found at https://virginiafarmtotable.org/2025vaf2tharvestcelebration/

To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices, 4-H and FAA opportunities, and conservation activities for youth, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.

Everything good starts with the soil and a conservation stewardship mindset. In the 101st episode, Dr. Summer Thomas, education and outreach specialist with the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, explains how agriculture and soil health are good for everyone. As a third-generation farmer from Delaware, former watermelon queen, a trained soil scientist and educator, and an overall advocate for agriculture, Summer shares some of her earliest experiences of 4-H and FFA with Jeff, Mary, and Eric in public speaking, youth education, and land stewardship.

These early education and outreach experiences were a launch point for her passion for agriculture and career pursuit. 

Summer emphasizes that soil health and agriculture provide many positive community connections and must be fun for the next generation of farmers. Additionally, soil health is foundational to resilient farm businesses and systems.   

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers, graziers, and gardeners for peer-to-peer learning and to follow the four core soil health principles: 

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends and allies;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity, soil structure, and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation, farm enterprises, and/or livestock integration.

Yes, soil health is a great conversation starter. We encourage everyone to have a five-minute conversation about soil every day because we can all be 4 The Soil and for the future! 
 
To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices, 4-H and FAA opportunities, and conservation activities for youth, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.

During this 100th episode of 4 The Soil: A Conversation, Jeff, Mary, and Eric take a look back at some of the most memorable topics and guests. They share how (and why) the podcast started in 2021, and also offer their vision for the future of the podcast. 

To help us commemorate this milestone, please share how and why you are 4 the Soil with us and others. 

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers, graziers, and gardeners for peer-to-peer learning and to follow the four core soil health principles: 

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends and allies;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity, soil structure, and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation, farm enterprises, and/or livestock integration.

Yes, soil health is a great conversation starter. Have a five to ten minute conversation about soil today because we can all be 4 The Soil and for the future! 
 
To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices and outdoor educational conservation activities for youth, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.

Building confidence and knowledge through mentorship is necessary for farmers to overcome fears and take bigger steps towards meeting their goals. Dara Booher wears many educational hats. Dara is the coordinator of the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council's farmer-mentor program and the facilitator of the Virginia Farmer Mentor Network, a collaboration of Virginia State University, the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council, the Virginia No-Till Alliance (VANTAGE), and Virginia Tech's Eastern Shore Agriculture Research and Education Center (AREC).

In her work with youth and farmers, Dara recommends getting to know people and meeting them where they are, particularly for peer-to-peer knowledge exchange and understanding people's goals, aspirations, and motivations. 

The Virginia Farmer Mentor Network provides mentoring connections to any farmer interested in peer-to-peer learning on crop production, grazing, direct and intermediated marketing, and beginning farming. To find out more, contact mentor coordinator and facilitator Dara Booher at [email protected] or 540.481.6001 (call or text). 

For details about Virginia's Graze 300 program and principles, please visit https://ext.vt.edu/agriculture/graze-300.html

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers and follow the four core soil health principles: 

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation and/or livestock integration.

Yes, soil health is a great conversation starter because we can all be 4 The Soil and for the future! 
 
To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices and outdoor educational activities for youth, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.

Soil and agriculture provide us with something every day. Dara Booher is an agricultural educator with Shenandoah County Public Schools and a farmer-mentor coordinator with the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council and the Virginia Soil Health Coalition. Dara loves talking to youth and others about soil and agriculture. In this episode, Dara shares her enthusiasm for youth education and soil health with Mary, Eric, and Jeff, along with many teaching and demonstration resources (e.g., Enviroscape, Soil Your Undies, etc.) for immersive experiences and classroom fun.

Dara recommends the National Agriculture in the Classroom teacher center for lesson plans and a full suite of educational resources. Additionally, Dara encourages farmers to visit the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council's website for farmer-to-farmer networking opportunities.

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers and follow the four core soil health principles: 

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation and/or livestock integration.

Yes, soil health is a great conversation starter because we can all be 4 The Soil and for the future! 
 
To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices and outdoor educational activities for youth, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.

In this episode of the podcast, Jeff Ishee chats with Susan Watkins of Watkins Farms in Dinwiddie County Virginia, a 3500 acre farm growing soybeans, corn, and wheat. Susan shares information about the long history of her family far, their transition to cover crops and no till over twenty years ago, and their approach to cover cropping. She shares about the cost and labor savings that have come from transitioning to these practices.
 
Watkins Farms is located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which means conservation practices like no-till planting and the use of cover crops have an impact beyond the soil health of the land itself. Farmers play a key role in improving the water quality in the Bay. You can find more info at: https://farmersforsoilhealth.com/success-stories/seven-generations-of-stewardship-with-susan-watkins/
 
As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers and follow the four core soil health principles: 1) Keep the Soil Covered -- Cover crops are our friends; 2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible; 3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity and life in the soil; and 4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation and/or livestock integration. Yes, soil health is a great conversation starter because we can all be 4 The Soil and for the future! 
To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices and outdoor educational activities for youth, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.