What is this newsletter?

Soil is Sexy is the newsletter I’ve always wanted in my inbox - carefully crafted accounts of the wonders beneath our feet, plus insights from a woman building a career in soil health - that’s me, Andie! (she/her/hers)

Who’s it for?

The community coming together around Soil is Sexy has many different backgrounds. The scale of interest in soil life for folks reading ranges from curious to obsessed.

Some readers are home gardeners, some operate large scale farms, others are researchers or general environmentalists, and many don’t cultivate plants at all!

All are welcome.

The main thing we share is our desire to be good stewards of our own health and that of our respective communities.

We’re seeking information that empowers us so we can operate from a knowledgeable, hopeful, and connected place. After all, there is a trove of resilience within us and below us!

What to expect:

At this time, I plan to write semi-monthly newsletters (2/month) and publish for free. As a subscriber, you’ll receive newsletters directly to your inbox.

If you find this content valuable, you can let me know by supporting the continuation of this publication via a paid subscription.

Paid subscriptions encourage me to keep developing my practice and making the time to write! With enough financial support I plan to devote more time to create resources for paid subscribers only. However, it is important to me that the majority of content be freely accessible.

You’re meant to come, comment, and go however you please, so long as it is respectful!

Please know I’m always open to requests for topics you’d like to see discussed here. Simply reply to a newsletter to contact me.

Concluding thoughts:

Western science is not the only way of knowing, especially when it comes to plants and stewarding the land. Our unique personal experiences and backgrounds inform our different ways of knowing.

My hope is this platform enables us to share our different perspectives (in comments & threads) and hold space for others’ viewpoints.

That’s it! If you want to learn more about my business, Rhizos LLC, check out my website rhizos.science and if you want to learn more about me, keep scrollin’

Thanks for bein’ here!

With Love, Andie

About Me:

Soil science found me, that’s for darn sure. I happened to go to a big Ag school, Texas A&M (class of ’13), but that makes me sound like I knew what I was doing when I applied there, and I really didn’t…

I was an athletic kid who grew up in the suburbs of Fort Worth, TX. For as long as I can remember I’ve loved science, and took a liking to microbiology early on (any other 10-year-olds out there watch “monsters inside me” marathons on discovery channel??) By the time I got to college I thought I wanted to work in human health – medicine or nutrition, maybe fitness, anything to do with human anatomy. And well, the interesting thing about that is once I started learning about nutrition, I quickly started connecting the dots: we are what we eat, and what we eat, whether it’s an animal or a vegetable, ultimately comes from the soil.

Looking back, the subject of human health was my portal to soil health, and since then I’ve learned healthy soil isn’t only where we get nutrients from, it’s also where water gets cleaned, carbon gets stored, and how drought and fire are tolerated across our landscapes.

And do you know what the main contributing factor is to soil health?

It’s not a mineral content or a target pH or a specific texture, the main factor that contributes to the health and function of soil, is the biology that lives there.

^ That intriguing fact right there is what’s responsible for the unconventional career journey I’ve been on the past several years.

It is both an honor and a responsibility to have found such a strong interest, something that constantly commands my attention and whispers things like, “start a blog…” over and over again until I finally give in ;)

Before you leave, it’s important to me you know I’m not a purist.

For example…

• I don’t always live up to the earthy stereotype of a soil scientist, let’s just say it’s taken decades for me to tolerate certain bugs and I still have some work to do…

• I fail often as an environmentalist, even after learning all about the disgusting aspects of our industrial food chain, I still sometimes find myself craving a fast food chicken sandwich… I’m not proud of it, but I also don’t think this is a consumer’s shame alone to carry, it’s also the responsibility of culture and industry. We need to do better at a government and corporate level for public & environmental health.

• I really like technology, convenience, and modern comforts. I’ve got grit, but if I can work smarter not harder (while maintaining integrity) or make something low-tech a little more sophisticated, I’ll definitely be doing that.

• I’m also a huge proponent of good, better, best scales when it comes to choosing solutions, and always within the context of what resources are available.

• I’m here for improving controlled indoor & greenhouse farming as much as I’m here for land restoration. Sometimes people find that conflicting, but I see it as embracing a “yes, and…” approach to global food issues as opposed to exhausting ourselves debating “this or that”. Both can benefit from microbiome stewardship, and in doing so improve the quality of food provided to consumers.

• I embrace flannels and work boots for the dirty work, but when I’m done shoveling shit, I am quick to put my favorite dress and lip color on. We are all allowed to be more than one thing. Go on with your bad self.

Something that is more important to me than soil work is my own mental and physical health. You may find lessons from my own wellness journey woven into the experiences I share here. I can’t think of a better pairing than healing myself alongside healing land.

Speaking of priorities, my partner James is up there too ;) I adore him and wouldn’t be doing this work without his love and support. I may reference him, or our puppy, Clover, as they are part of the fabric of my daily life.