On Farm Recipes
Roberto and I planted our new pasture/cover crop mix last week. I had ordered all the ingredients and we made a mix of 12 different crops. According to Elaine Ingham (soilfoodweb.com), the more crops in the mix the bigger the variety of toot exudates the soil fungi and bacteria feed on. They are then eaten by the protozoa, arthropods and nematodes in the soil who in turn feed the soil and the subsequent crops with their droppings. So we give the soil life a smorgasbord to feed on, and life just cannot get any better below ground.