Let’s begin softly. Take a breath with me… because what I’m about to share is something I wish someone had told me years ago, long before I had to piece it together myself.
Here’s the simple truth:
Your gut and the soil beneath your feet aren’t separate worlds. They mirror each other.
I know, it sounds poetic — maybe too neat — but once this connection clicks for you, it changes everything: your food choices, your sense of vitality, even the way you look at the land around you.
The Soil Is Speaking… and So Is Your Body
Have you ever had those days where you just don’t feel like yourself? Not sick… but slightly dull around the edges. A little foggy. A little “off.”
I’ve been there more times than I can count.
For a long time, I blamed stress, age, a chaotic season — anything really. But after listening deeply to my own body and to countless stories from people who’ve reached out over the years, a pattern began to emerge.
When the soil is depleted, our health quietly echoes that depletion.
And it doesn’t happen suddenly. It creeps in gently, almost politely, the way evening light fades without you noticing — until suddenly you realize you’re sitting in the dark.
Why the Soil Is Struggling (And Why It Matters to You)
Most farmland today isn’t the rich, vibrant earth we imagine from gardening books or childhood memories. It’s overworked. Chemically dependent. Stripped of the life that once made it fertile.
And honestly, it reminds me a lot of how many of us feel these days — overextended, stretched thin, surviving on routines instead of nourishment.
The land is under pressure from:
- Pesticides
- Herbicides
- Synthetic fertilizers
- Heavy machinery that compacts soil
- Repetitive monocropping that exhausts microbial life
And just like the toxins added to our water supply — including the fluoride so many people still assume is harmless — the impacts show up downstream in ways we were never warned about. (If you haven’t read the breakdown on fluoride yet, it’s worth a look: Why Are We Still Using Fluoride?)
When the soil microbiome breaks down, the gut microbiome doesn’t get the support it needs. It can’t. The inputs are already weakened long before that food even reaches your plate.
The Gut–Soil Connection, Made Simple
Let me put this in everyday language.
Healthy soil is alive — truly alive — with microbes, minerals, organic matter, and organisms working in harmony.
Your gut thrives in that same kind of environment.
When your food comes from soil with microbial richness, your body recognizes the energy in it. There’s a subtle rightness, a sense of nourishment that goes deeper than just calories or nutrients.
But when your food comes from depleted soil, your body ends up doing detective work — trying to assemble wellness from fragments. It’s possible… but it’s harder. And over time, it shows.
Regenerative Agriculture: The Way Back Home
This is why regenerative agriculture isn’t just a farming trend — it’s a path back to ourselves.
Regenerative practices don’t fight against nature; they work with it. Slowly. Intentionally. Respectfully.
Farmers who steward the land in this way:
- Build soil instead of breaking it down
- Rotate crops to keep microbial life diverse
- Use compost that brings biology back to the earth
- Integrate animals responsibly
- Protect fields with cover crops
- Avoid chemicals that harm the entire ecosystem
And when the soil begins to heal, the shift in the food is unmistakable. Then the shift in your body follows.
It’s a chain reaction — the kind that starts quietly but ripples outward in ways you can feel.
What You Can Do Without Changing Your Whole Life
Most meaningful changes begin with small, doable steps. Not dramatic overhauls.
Here are a few gentle places to start:
1. Buy from local growers when possible.
You support the people who are healing the land right in your community.
2. Look for regenerative or soil-first farms.
Even a single weekly purchase makes a difference.
3. Add more variety to your meals.
Different foods support different microbes — which support you.
4. Spend time outdoors.
Natural environments offer microbial diversity your body responds to instinctively.
5. Grow one thing.
An herb, a tomato, anything. It reconnects you to where nourishment truly begins.
Healing your gut isn’t just a personal journey — it’s part of a bigger, older conversation between the body and the earth.
Next Week on Farmland Friday: Nature as Medicine: Grounding, Sunlight, and the Wild Reset
We’ll explore how the natural world restores you — sometimes without you even asking.
With love and truth,
Donna 💚
Sources & Studies Mentioned
- Blum WEH, Zechmeister-Boltenstern S, Keiblinger KM. “Does Soil Contribute to the Human Gut Microbiome?” Microorganisms. 2019;7(9):287. Full text available at MDPI – Microorganisms.
- Ma H, Cornadó D, Raaijmakers JM. “The soil–plant–human gut microbiome axis into perspective.” Nature Communications. 2025;16(1):7748. Article available at Nature Communications.
- Roslund MI, et al. “Scoping review on soil microbiome and gut health — Are soil microbes missing link between soil health and human health?” People and Nature. 2024. Available at Wiley Online Library.
- Saha K. “Regenerative agriculture: A boost for soil health.” ASBMB Today. 2022. Available at ASBMB Today.
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Exploring Linkages Between Soil Health and Human Health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2024. Available at National Academies Press.
