Some time last summer, I came across the No-Till Growers YouTube channel. As most people, I grew up being taught that in order to grow vegetables I absolutely had to turn the soil. Preferably more than once before planting actually. And yet, the gardens of most people who taught me this basic “fact” looked rather sparse.

As I started caring for the soil in our garden, I somehow started indiscriminately rejecting all things I was taught about plants and learning everything from scratch, largely due to the daily episodes Jesse Frost and his team put out. As thankful as I was, I did not have high hopes for this book, which I admit is a decent bit of academic narrow-mindedness on my part. The theory I feared would be absent or sidelined in favour of guides? Present, complex and yet engaging and fully attached to the history it deserves. 

Frost not only answers the questions of why we shouldn’t till and what that means for the rest of the process (composting, amendments, layout, decompaction) but to my delight also highlighted the backdrop of our current no-till/no-dig practices by precisely naming and giving credit to various Indigenous agricultural practices.

And although he did not name this aspect as an element of decolonial thought, he continuously stresses positionality, and the absence of universalization. As the structures of our world continue to change on a global and local scale, the daily reminder not to be dogmatic with practices and beliefs in the field is essential to truly helping the ground beneath your feet. It is necessary for us to adapt to our specific circumstances and let go of the idea of universally “always good” practices, that can cloud our vision of the needs and unique characteristics of different ecosystems, as well as the lived realities of farmers. 

Writing not only for those who wish to grow food but also those wishing to understand the structures behind the food on their plates, Frost covers everything from the microbiology of the soil, to a plant’s needs and realities of farming. This book is a true gem that I couldn’t recommend more.