Soil Health Workshop

Join App State's Dr. Alexia Witcombe and Dr. Ashley Adams, along with BRWIA, for a soil health workshop for farmers, gardeners, and soil enthusiasts. Come learn how to assess your soil health!

We'll measure soil texture, pH, aggregation, and other properties that impact water infiltration and retention, root growth, nutrient availability, soil organic matter, and soil organisms. We'll discuss ways to discover and identify different soil organisms, support a diverse and healthy soil ecosystem, and build soil organic matter.

This workshop is free to attend and open to anyone who wants to learn simple, affordable methods for assessing soil health on their own land. We’ll get our hands dirty as we demonstrate quick, low-cost tests you can do at home to evaluate soil nutrients, structure, and biological activity. Participants will also compare healthy and degraded soils firsthand and leave with new ideas for improving their own soil—whether in a backyard garden or on a large-scale farm.

At this workshop, you can expect to:

• See and interact with the organisms that call your soil home.
• Gain a better understanding of what "soil health" really means.
• Learn practical, low-cost methods such as quick soil texture assessments, soil pH testing, nitrate and phosphate checks, and simple soil respiration tests.
• See demonstrations of soil structure, soil aggregation, and how water moves through different soils.
• Compare healthy and unhealthy soils to observe visible differences in structure, color, and biological activity.

This will be a hands-on day in the field, not a classroom lecture, so bring your curiosity and a willingness to get a little dirty! Bring your soil health questions. Whether you're just starting out or have been working your land for years, you'll leave with tools and techniques you can use right away to help your soil thrive.