"The sultry air draped over the countryside, making it feel like the inside of a giant Easy Bake Oven. Outside work wasn't pleasant. It didn't take long before you were soaked through with sweat. Still, there was a peace and healing in the heat, driving out the impurities from your system better than a high-priced sauna."

The dog days of summer are toasty this year, but thankfully we've had enough rain to keep the garden from baking. Many of the larger storms have missed us and pond water levels have inched down, but the soil organic matter levels make it like a giant sponge, soaking up the rain that does reach us.

Soil organic matter (SOM) is a critical component to soil health that is often overlooked. It's certainly not addressed in your bag of your typical bag of NPK fertilizer. But what is it, and why is it important?

Soil organic matter (SOM) is a vital component of healthy soil, made up of plant and animal materials in various stages of decomposition. It includes:

1. Living organisms – such as earthworms, bacteria, fungi, and other microbes.
2. Fresh residues – like dead leaves, roots, manure, and other recently added organic materials.
3. Decomposing matter (active SOM) – partially broken-down materials that microbes are still working on.
4. Stable organic matter (humus) – fully decomposed materials that are resistant to further breakdown and help build long-term soil fertility.

Why Soil Organic Matter Matters:

• Nutrient cycling – SOM stores and releases nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and micronutrients as plants need them.
• Improved soil structure – SOM helps bind soil particles into aggregates, improving aeration, root penetration, and water movement.
• Water retention – Organic matter acts like a sponge, holding water in the root zone longer.
• Erosion control – Better structure and water-holding capacity reduce surface runoff and erosion.
• Microbial activity – SOM is a food source for beneficial microbes that drive nutrient transformations and suppress disease.

When we first moved here, the area around the house was pretty beat up from construction. There was subsoil mixed into the topsoil, and all of it was badly compacted. Our sons (who were little at the time) ended up using a pick axe to help break up the garden beds on the north side of the house.

I remember looking at the soil of those every garden beds in the middle of another hot summer years ago, and it was cracked and dull looking. Now, even in the rare bare patches (and there aren't many because we keep it covered as much as possible), the texture and color is completely different.

Tips for Building SOM Organically:

• Add compost, cover crops, and mulch
• Practice minimal tillage
• Use crop rotations and organic amendments
• Avoid synthetic chemicals that harm soil biology

Our primary go-tos for soil building have been spent animal bedding, organic mulch, and minimal tillage. We make up organic amendments from materials on site, and have purchased a few others, especially early on. (Certain weeds naturally accumulate different minerals, making them a great addition to liquid fertilizer brews.) I'll be talking more about this in our upcoming Heal Your Soil guide.

This year's open house was one of the quietest we've had over the years, but we still met nice people and the house is cleaned, so I'm calling it a win. If you'd like to see an aerial overview of the homestead, you can check out the drone footage we uploaded to youtube.

It doesn't have captions or a voiceover yet, so feel free to ask questions about anything that's not clear in the video. Just note the time stamp so I can more easily identify the area in question. There's always more to do (and dream!), but it sure has come a long way from the empty pasture we bought over 20 years ago.

Helping you create resilience and abundance,

Laurie (and August IV, August V, and Duncan)

This week's featured articles...

With temps around 90 this week, you can bet that we're doing our best to stay hydrated. From homemade electrolyte drinks to herbal infusions and hydrating foods, I've put together some of our favorite ways to avoid getting parched.

Only our cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen, but the rest are sizing up nicely. For those who are already picking, this is our favorite spaghetti sauce recipe. It is a big batch recipe, so if you don't have enough tomatoes ripe at once, I like to core them and stick them in the freezer in 5 pound packages. Then when I have enough, I take them out and proceed with the recipe.

I'd like to give a shout out to my friend, Julie, who makes Prairie Pin Pouch clothespin bags. I used to have trouble with the wind blowing my clothespin bag off the line - which dumped the pins about 12 feet down onto the ground below. (Our line is along the edge of our deck.) Julie's pouch, combined with Kevin's Quality Clothespins, have been a game changer. I had way too much laundry (and pins) end up on the ground in our early years here, but no more.

And for the recipe lovers - zucchini chocolate cake, Swiss cake roll style.