Soil: The Incredible Story of What Keeps the Earth, and Us, Healthy

"A love letter to Mother Earth and entertaining must-read that goes to the heart of our survival." - Charles Massy, author of Call of the Reed Warbler.

Perfect for fans of Wilding by Isabella Tree.

What we do to the soil, we do to ourselves.

Soil is the unlikely story of our most maligned resource as swashbuckling hero. A saga of bombs, ice ages and civilisations falling. Of ancient hunger, modern sicknesses and gastronomic delight. It features poison gas, climate collapse and a mind-blowing explanation of how rain is formed.

For too long, we've not only neglected the land beneath us, we've squandered and debased it, by over-clearing, over-grazing and over-ploughing. But if we want our food to nourish us, and to ensure our planet's long-term health, we need to understand how soil works - how it's made, how it's lost, and how it can be repaired.

In this ode to the thin veneer of Earth that gifts us life, commentator and farmer Matthew Evans shows us that what we do in our backyards, on our farms, and what we put on our dinner tables really matters, and can be a source of hope.

Isn't it time we stopped treating the ground beneath our feet like dirt?


About the Author

Matthew Evans is a chef and food critic turned farmer-food activist. He lives on a mixed farm that occupies a one-time apple orchard in the Huon Valley outside Hobart. He is nationally best known for his long-running SBS series Gourmet Farmer (six seasons), set on Fat Pig Farm's 70 acres, but also was the star of food documentaries What's the Catch? and For the Love of Meat. He has authored or co-authored 14 books on food, and is regularly interviewed on radio about all things to do with farming, growing, soil and eating. He has capitalised on his broad appeal hosting weekly farmhouse feasts and on-site cooking classes, which are often booked out months ahead. He is beloved of television audiences but also widely respected in the food world as someone who lives his truth - giving up the apparently coveted life of a Sydney food critic to create something real and meaningful with Sadie on their small parcel of land in southern Tasmania.