Tiny mutualism

Have you ever wondered how an old growth forest can maintain such stupendous productivity without any inputs?

Maybe you've tried to figure out how even younger forests have such resilience when the rains withhold their blessings.

On a bigger scale, you might think there are some radical carbon sequestration plans that don't get serious consideration, or even mention.

The answer to all of the above is, I am learning, the soil food web.

I have been a compost enthusiast for decades. Whether I produced it in a cylinder of chicken wire held together with nail-studded wood and twine that opened down...