A note from me
When you work with your hands in the soil, you connect to the energy of the land.
I learned this when I built a food forest in the Amazon.
A food forest copies how a natural forest grows. Tall trees sit above smaller trees. Shrubs, herbs, and roots fill the space below. Everything feeds something else.
Building one meant working the soil by hand. The soil taught me about the land. It showed me what the ground could hold and what it needed.
You learn this through your hands. You can’t learn it by reading.
Where in your life could you put your hands in the ground this week?
When did you last put your bare hands in the ground?
Your gut talks to your brain.
Your gut holds a large nervous system. Researcher Michael Gershon at Columbia University called it the second brain.
It makes most of the body’s serotonin. Much of that serotonin works in digestion, and it does not cross straight into the brain. The two organs still stay in constant contact. The vagus nerve carries messages between them every second.
Scientists John Cryan and Ted Dinan have spent years studying this link. They call it the microbiota-gut-brain axis. The bacteria in your gut affect your mood, your stress response, and your sleep.
So what you eat and what you touch both matter.
What soil does
In 2007, a team led by Christopher Lowry studied a bacterium found in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae. In mice, it activated neurons that make serotonin.
In 2013, Dorothy Matthews and Susan Jenks fed the same bacterium to mice. The mice solved a maze faster and showed less anxiety.
These were mice. Human evidence is early. Treat it as a reason to look further, not a promise.
Two human studies point the same way.
In 2012, Finnish researcher Ilkka Hanski studied 118 teenagers. Those who lived near more varied nature had a more varied mix of bacteria on their skin. They also had fewer allergies.
In 2020, Marja Roslund and her team in Finland changed the yards at daycare centers. They added forest floor and sod. After 28 days, the children had a more varied mix of bacteria on their skin and in their gut. Their immune markers shifted too.
Dirt is not the enemy.
Gardening and stress
A 2011 study from the Netherlands asked people to do a stressful task. Then half gardened for 30 minutes and half read indoors.
The gardeners recovered better. Their cortisol dropped more and their mood was better.
You do not need acres. A pot on a windowsill counts.
How working with plant medicine opens this
When you work with Mapacho, you work with a plant that grows in the soil. In Amazon traditions, it is an offering to the ground. You give before you take.
When you work with Psilocybin, you work with a fungus. Fungi live in soil. They break down what has died and return it to the ground.
Both medicines come from the earth under your feet. You could treat that as a fact, or you could treat it as an invitation.
Try this week
- Spend 30 minutes with your hands in soil. Garden, repot a plant, or dig in a park.
- Plant one thing. Herbs work well.
- Eat one fermented food each day. Sauerkraut, kimchi, or plain yogurt.
- Notice how you feel afterward. Write one line.
Something to listen to this week
Put on Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock. Play it while you work with your hands in the dirt.
See you next Monday.
