Starting January 11, 2022
SOUL’s 2022 Year of the Ecological Garden
A year-long series promoting ecological land care and the expertise of SOUL members
Every Tuesday at 3:00pm Eastern, Noon Pacific on Zoom
Organic Land Care for Your Community Guide
A Step-by-Step Guide for Community Members Working to Change Municipal Policies for a Greener Future
Organic Urban Land Care is much more than simply restricting the use of synthetic chemicals, it is working with natural systems to create healthy and resilient landscapes. It is a process of planning and caring for spaces with an ecosystem approach, relying on various elements of that ecosystem to support each other so there are fewer inputs needed and less waste produced. At its core, Organic Land Care is about increasing the biodiversity and subsequent resiliency and function of landscapes.
Most municipalities have recognized that diverse urban tree canopies are less susceptible to pest and disease pressures, both by breaking up pathways for the travel and transmission of pests and diseases and by minimizing the chances that a single pest or disease will cause extensive damage to an entire urban forest. There is growing awareness and acceptance of the fact that mixed species turf areas are less bothered by pests and diseases than monoculture lawns and are usually the first to return to active, lush growth at the end of a drought.
Read More...We are working on making it easier for you to help us spread the word about organic land care.
We now have an information pamphlet that introduces organic land care and outlines what we have to offer for the general public and for horticultural professionals. This PDF copy of the pamphlet has been formatted to be home-printer friendly. On most newer printers there is sufficient margin set into the layout that you can print set to 'actual size' and it will sit nicely on a letter sized page. The pamphlet is double sided so there are two pager to the file. If your printer has two sided printing as an option, simply set it to 'flip on short edge' and set it to the number of copies you would like. Otherwise, print as many copies as you need of page 1 and then flip them and print page 2 on the back. Try one first though, to make sure that you know which way your printer feeds the paper so everything comes out on the correct side and the right way up on the final product.
If you need larger quantities, please email us with your address and the quantity that you need and we'll send you some professionally printed copies in the mail.
If there are horticultural professionals that you know who you think would be interested in joining SOUL's Organic Land Care Advocates directory, we have a template email that might be helpful for starting a conversation.
The email template can be downloaded as a Word Document or you can copy the text below directly into your own email. Please feel free to edit the contents and personalize it with why you think your contact would be a valuable addition to the directory.
Read more...Become an Organic Community Advocate
Organic advocates, experts and activists available to support, participate in or offer their experience or resources to local efforts to increase the adoption of organic land care practices within their community. Membership is free and does not require certification. SOUL does not certify the level of knowledge for members at this level. Member names, areas of expertise, website (if provided) and town or city are publicly listed. Email addresses are visible to other SOUL members.
Annual Membership Fee: $0. Annual renewal is required to ensure that contact information remains current.
Join SOUL as an Organic Community Advocate
In my work at SOUL, one of the questions I’ve been mulling over for some time is why, with all of the passionate graduates from the Gaia College courses and the public interest and concern around the collapse of pollinator populations and native ecosystems, businesses focused on caring for land continue to struggle to be successful and financially sustainable.
My personal challenge, as a designer, has been helping clients find resources that are locally, ethically and sustainably sourced, plants that are locally native that don’t come in disposable pots, high quality compost for regenerating the below ground ecosystem and professionals who actually want to reclaim, repair and repurpose materials and tend complex ecosystems. What I don’t have trouble with is finding clients and engaging them in the idea of land care.
I’m confident that there are people who would like to be filling all of these horticultural niches and making their livelihood through this work but it can be challenging and risky to start a new business and cultivate a client base, especially when you are doing things in unconventional ways. For land care to be locally, professionally viable, we need to develop our professional ecosystem.
Read More...