Soil Trust Yuen Long Clay Loam

This clay soil sample is from Soil Trust's test plot in Yuen Long. It has not been amended with bokashi, instead this soil was heavily compacted and used as a pathway between raised beds. This sample would be similar to a sample of the original soil of the site two years ago when Soil Trust was just beginning. Unfortunately the program has been closed as of May 2023, but if you would like to learn more about local, traditional agricultural and soil amendment practices, as well as plant-soil-human interactions please visit their website:

http://markuswernli.org/work/2021/st/

https://www.instagram.com/soiltrust/

Soil Trust summarizes "Responding to the absence of household-level organic waste recovery in Hong Kong, Soil Trust (泥玩 :集「棄」還田) is building a soil commons — a community of flourishing — around recovering food scraps that brings food consumers and producers together for mutually invigorating local soils. Particular attention is paid to the processes involved to make grassroots nutrient cycling desirable for urban households without land access. The aim of Soil Trust is to (1) make food scrap cycling an integral part in Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) for strengthening producer-consumer relations, (2) stimulate eco-farm practice innovation towards probiotic soil regeneration, and (3) demonstrate the importance of a vibrant, localised First Sector in Hong Kong for resource recovery as well as climate change mitigation.

For exploring bokashi fermentation as metabolic link between urban households and local production farms, Soil Trust established since autumn 2021 a field trial inside the Hong Miu Organic Farm (康苗有機農場) with 17 member households of the community-supported agriculture (CSA) platform TinYeah (回歸). At the bi-weekly Farm Care Mornings, the families are invited to produce their bokashi bedding, tend to compost, mulch the soil, and raise the vegetables grown out of it. At their homes, families source-separate, collect, and bokashi-ferment their kitchen scraps, as well as self-document their experience. Families unable to attend Farm Care Mornings send their bokashi-filled bins and receive empty bins as well as bedding supply through the CSA’s weekly vegetable delivery system. The Soil Trust team with the support from the Research Institute for Future Food (香港理大未來食品研究院) provides the necessary know-how transfer, scientific validation, social arena, and material supplies for orchestrating this native bokashi collective."