What distinguishes our home planet from all the other rocks out there? Hint: there’s a reason we call it “Earth.” We’re alive because we’ve got dirt — and not just any dirt: we’ve got fertile soil.

Soil makes bountiful living possible, whether around the table, in the fields, or out in the wild yonder.

It’s also another of those regenerating wonders that keeps on giving.

Life springs from the earth and returns to the earth in an ongoing nutrient exchange. As part of this cycle, healthy soil also stores carbon, keeping it safely in the ground.

Soil covers our planet like a gift wrap, but soil itself is the gift — a surprisingly fragile one.

It takes hundreds of years for natural systems to create an inch of topsoil, but just one gullywasher to send it all downstream. Today, we’re losing life-giving soil faster than it regenerates. This loss is happening in Rockbridge County too.

The good news is there are many actions we can take to prevent soil loss and its host of downriver problems. We can even reverse the loss process by turbocharging soil’s creation through activities like regenerative agriculture and composting.

Tending soil keeps land productive, waterways healthy, and life abundant. That’s why you’ll find soil regeneration projects in the COREworks portfolio.