3 Practices to Regenerate Soil

How do biodynamic farmers do it?

Let’s say you have some soil that needs a little lovin’. Maybe it’s lacking nutrients or it’s been treated with pesticides over the years. 

How do you restore it’s life and keep it vibrant in a sustainable way?

Our biodynamic growers have a few great natural philosophies around maintaining healthy soils.

Encourage biodiversity

The natural ecosystem is full of different life - fruits, plants, bugs, animals, and bacteria. If you encourage this diversity of life, you are creating a “biodiverse” space. 

The healthiest plants grow when there is competition and synergy instead of what is known as “monoculture” where only one type of plant is grown for miles. 

Take the soils of a vineyard, for example. Plant life relies on a healthy balance of soil nutrients like nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen. If there’s too much of one or not enough of the other, plants will die.

Vines like nitrogen and they use it for energy. So, biodynamic farmers may plant buckwheat in the vineyard, adding nitrogen into the soil through its roots. Or maybe for younger vines, which don’t use as much nitrogen, a biodynamic farmer plants rye, converting nitrogen into carbon, or tomatoes, which can help suck nitrogen from the soil.  

All this competition between the crops, herbs, and vines for soil nutrients encourages the vines’ roots to grow deeper in search of more energy. This makes them more resilient, grounded in a deep layer of earth with thick, strong roots.

Avoid chemicals

Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides - basically all the “cides” - can be very harmful to the environment.

These chemicals are used to kill things like weeds and bugs, but they can end up harming the ecosystem and causing unintended consequences to the soil.

For example, say you use a weedkiller. The unnatural chemical can seep into the soil and potentially kill important bacteria life. This life makes up the “humus” of the soil, which is the rich layer of organic matter present in all healthy soils. 

The microorganisms that are unseen to the human eye bring life and nutrients to the roots of the plants, creating fertile growing environments that are balanced and strong.

Use natural remedies

When something goes wrong in the soil, how do you resolve it? Insects come, weeds sprout, humidity rises, or fungus grows - what natural remedies do you use to help? 

Modern farming provides quick ways to resolve issues: insecticide for insects, fungicide for fungus, and so on. This temporarily kills the problem, but it may not address the underlying issue.

Biodynamic farming works in rhythm with Nature, not against it. And biodynamic farmers address the root of the problem instead of the symptom. 

For example, fruit flies in the German region of Pfalz prefer red grapes to white. So, farmers plant white grapes amongst their reds, discouraging flies from coming. Or, farmers discovered roses are particularly sensitive to mildew, a form of mold, so they plant rose bushes to help them assess the mold risk to their vines. 

There are even more simple solutions, like this: herbs like thyme and rosemary grown in Italian vineyards distract grazing animals like sheep and goats from eating the grapes, but still bring them to the vines for manure. 

In the end, there are powerful, natural ways of avoiding risk and encouraging healthy soils to prosper. We’re glad to share pure Natural Wines made from these practices!