Residents of a Megacity
by Maren Preiß
The soil at the farmstead of Neverstaven, Kattendorfer Hof, in early spring.
Sometimes it happens that you attend a workshop and go home not just with lots of new insights but with an agreed collaboration. This is what occured in April 2023, when I attended the workshop "Climate Crisis: Test of Strength for the Soil?" at the Freie Universität in Berlin where researchers from the Rillig Lab shared their knowledge with journalists about soil and its reactions to climate change. This kind of knowledge transfer is so much needed because unfortunately, compared to the importance of soil, our understanding of it is close to zero.
During the workshop I got to know not just Matthias Rillig and his Rillig Lab, but also one of his researchers, the soil ecologist Dr. Stefanie Maaß. She works on distributional patterns of soil invertebrates, especially Oribatid mites, food webs, and the effects of global climate change factors on these organisms and soils in general. Stefanie was my woman.
Because what I aim to show with my story about the German farm Kattendorfer Hof, which will be published in the autumn, is to present the CSA model as a living organism on many different levels. That’s why I thought it could be a great idea to add some microscopic photos to that story of the little organisms living inside the soil of the Kattendorfer Hof, where they have been working according to biodynamic principles for more than 20 years, so healthy soil is guaranteed.
I am very grateful for Stefanie’s kind willingness to examine the soil samples from the Kattendorfer Hof. (Another thank you goes to Master Farmer Mathias von Mirbach who was kind enough to take the soil samples and sent the bags filled with moist soil to Berlin.) On arrival, Stefanie mailed me some photos showcasing the further treatment in the laboratory. Here we see how the soil samples get prepared for the extractor and how they stand next to the other inside it. Now we have to wait until the organisms have dissolved from the earth and can be observed under the microscope. I am excited!
The soil samples of the Kattendorfer Hof in the extractor of soil expert Stefanie Maaß.
Photos: Stefanie Maaß
And while I wait for Stefanie’s mail with the first photos, I remember a sentence from the brilliant book "Soil. The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy” by Matthew Evans:
“There are more living things in a teaspoon of healthy soil than there are humans on Earth.”
Next time I walk in the fields, I remember: billions of microbes are living under my boots. They feed plants, fungi, animals – and us. Some people even compare these habitats underneath our feet to megacities. Now I hope that I will soon get to know some of its residents. How do they look? Stay tuned. Autumn arrives fast.
