Once Upon a Time… there were three boys that ran wild around a country property, exploring all its cracks and creaveses, that was until the day they reached the outer edges of a viney, bushy mess that could be named nothing else but, “The Dark Forest.” For days they tried to figure out a way around the forest, they so badly wanted to get to their friends house on the other side, but each way they tried just led to more thorns and even the stingy dragons (aka wasps.) One day, the friend, decided to layer as many items of clothing on as he could and with a deep inhale and subsequent, puffed out chest, pushed his way through the forest. As the three boys watched intently on their side of the forest for their friend, they decided they too could be brave and started plowing a path themselves through the overgrowth wooden shield and stick swords at the ready. Loud cheers, could be heard for miles as the friends found each other in the middle and realized that they had, through their courage, paved a usable path for the friends to pass through the “Dark Forest” to visit one another. The three boys did not fear what could be lurking at their feet, or their ears, or arms, or really any part of them, but their mother did. And so this mother did what any mother would do…..she got price quotes for someone else to come mow down the forest and thus eliminate the lurking, unknwown creatures.
Tales aside, my boys really did call our back property, “The Dark Forest,” and it really was! Vines, bushes and overgrowth taller than a 6 foot man (yep, Jason is also a measuring tool, he’s so handy.) Clearly all of this did indeed pave the way for the boys to get to their friend, but it was also a necessary first step to us fully seeing what land we had to work with for our grand plans. This back portion of our property is where we plan on putting an orchard of 20 trees, beehives, garden, compost bins, turkey paddock, pig pen, and a goat and donkey pen, so yeah a lot! As it cleared, my excitement, had to be about the level, ok maybe half, of what the boys’ was when they made it through “The Dark Forest.” The plans we had drawn out made sense now! We added in some trees to our drawings that we decided to keep and changed the location of the driveway that will connect the front and back gates (for easy access to transport animals, feed, dirt, you name it, a truck has to be able to get in and out!) We had a plan, we could see it and we were ready!
Until… we walked around the newly cleared land and realized it still needed quite a bit of work to get to the dirt. So a few Saturdays later after lots of raking, pulling endless roots that resembled sea creatures, burning, borrowing a tractor to scrape and level, the garden side is clear.
And like a story, there are more twists and turns. In every homesteading article you will ever read (until this one that is) the writers will say the best and easiest first step is to plant a garden. With all our land clearing we already knew this was not the case for us, but even with cleared land, the new twist in our tale emerged…..we have very little, good dirt on our land. It is a silty mix in parts and thick, clay in other parts. Truth is in the saying that “your garden is only as good as your soil.”
In that first garden of ours, it was established with a pretty, white picket fence around it, and I never bothered testing it, we just weeded, planted, watered and let it grow. In our next garden in North Dakota, we did the same process, used the established garden marked with what would become trademark of that home, pallets of course, weeded, planted, watered and not a lot happened after that. We worked that garden so much! BUT I never took the time to test the soil to see what we were working with! I know better now. I know that I have to treat my soil like another living thing on our homestead or we WON’T be successful plain and simple. So here is what I know I do in fact have different soils (3 in fact) on my property and NONE of them are what you want.
There are two different DIY tests that I used here at Faith, Family Farm, the first is a ph test I learned from the Prepared Mama https://preparednessmama.com/testing-your-soil-ph-without-a-kit/
Cam Cam and I went out with his official yellow, sand shovel (if you got kids, they will LOVE helping with this test) and a few canning jars and filled each part way with soil from different parts of the garden area (1 area per jar and labeled them 1, 2, 3, 4 for each area and to make it easy we just started at the front with 1, and moved back til we were at the end of the property #4.)
We brought our jars inside and pulled out a couple unused jars. In the first jar I put 2 large spoonfuls (by large I mean I used the big spoon in my utensil drawer and scooped a mounded pile up) and dumped it into the first jar. Then I grabbed my bottle of vinegar and measured out 1/2 cup before pouring it over the dirt. It fizzed which means that soil sample 1 is acidic with a ph of 7-8.
We did this with each soil sample and then the ones that did not fizz we did this alkaline test…
2 spoonfuls still, but then add just enough distilled (yes it is important it’s distilled, trust me I tried to get away with filtered and it doesn’t work ) water to make the dirt muddy. Once muddy, pour 1/2 c baking soda over the mud. If it fizzes, then you have alkaline soil which is ph 5-6.
Now, if you followed the steps and got no reaction on either test, you are my least favorite person right now because it means you have practically perfect soil, get planting!!! In all actuality though, and probably to make the rest of us feel better, the majority of people, don’t have practically perfect, Mary Poppins, soil, we just don’t. But it doesn’t mean we can’t make it dang close!
The other test you should do is to find out what type of soil you have. And again if it ain’t DIY, you ain’t trying hard enough! It’s really easy, is what I mean to say. Ready….. go outside to your garden area, take a handful of dirt and squeeze (best not to do this when you’re having a bad day, this is not that kind of squeeze.) Now, if the dirt stays compacted and is slightly sticky ( I compare it to playdough) then you have clay dirt.
If your dirt, holds it shape for a bit, but feels smooth, its silty.
If your dirt, falls apart immediately (like sand at the beach before you add water to make your castle) you guessed it…you have sandy soil!
The other option is again, that Mary Poppins soils, that will be dark and rich, an will feel moist and smooth, it will slightly hold a shape. Again, you people know who you are and that I want your soil!
I said that you can change your soil, or rather improve it and that you need to treat it like your pet, a chicken,a pig, another being at your home and you should! There is plenty you can do. BUT right now the majority of us are in fall (I know some have already had the dreaded “s” word (snow) and fall (and you snow people or those that would rather do it later, spring is great too) are the best times to do these tests so you can make the changes (which are honestly pretty simple; be thinking mulch and lots of organic matter) before you plant your gardens this upcoming planting season (side note, my new climate is really throwing me and planting season here is in February, WHAT?!)
So let’s recap….”The Dark Forest” was eradicated, it revealed new tricks with different kinds of soil, but good for you and me there are easy, DIY tests to know what you are working with that you can do NOW, like right now. Go!
-Megan
Faith Family Farm Homestead 
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