Dirt poor?  Or poor as dirt?

My sole thought about poverty is an article I read in the Sept. ‘08 National Geographic on the fact that if your dirt is poor, you’re going to be poor.  If you’re trying to make it grow food.  If you’re building a mall on it, or a parking lot, then you’d want poor dirt.  But for millions around the world, coaxing their actual meals from the ground around them is all they’ve got sustaining them.

I just loved this article.  It talked, in one small portion, about building up poor soils.  It didn’t really go into it, but I pictured some focused composting from food waste as the main strategy.  Perhaps from animal waste too, I dunno.

I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Native Americans (seeing as how I own 5 spotted and painted ponies, I’ve gotten into some of their actual history and beliefs) and wish I could do more for them.  They were forced onto deserts and really crummy lands and have eked out a living, but perhaps they could do better if their soils were better.

Definitely worth promoting!!  I just wish the article told where to look up more information; I’d send them to the Native American Baha’i Institute I’ve been corresponding with www.NativeAmericanBI.org .

National Geographic article, Soil, Sept. ‘08, p. 80 + .