The Soil Lab at Mud Valley Institute engages in a variety of activities to support ecosystem restoration efforts in our bioregion, including 1) work in the field to understand and improve soil health for land stewards, 2) citizen science programs to engage the community, and 3) educational activities for everyone to share about the importance of soil health and regeneration.

2024 at the Soil Lab has been an incredible year, beginning in April, when we started Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) training and fieldwork, and continuing through to December, when we celebrated healthy soils during our Soil Week.

Soil Monitoring & Evaluation in action

We set up and conducted measurement exercises and plots at our Quinta Vale da Lama location to understand soil health in different locations around the farm, using many metrics from the Ecosystem Restoration Communities Soil Framework to assess and categorize soil health. A baseline was established in Spring in our dry fig orchard and in Autumn 2024 we began M&E efforts in the new market garden which recently began a regeneration process. These areas and others (from next Spring 2025) will be monitored for the next few years to understand the change in soil health. We will also support other local farms with this type of work next Spring (from March 2025).

New equipment was also acquired in the Spring to better support our M&E efforts, including a scientific microscope as well as a professional kiln that allows burning soil samples at high temperatures in order to measure the organic matter content in the soils.

We also created our Soil Monitoring & Evaluation plan in mid-2024. You can read more about the importance of creating a monitoring plan and how to choose the right indicators for soil healthy testing.

Indicators and collection methods specific to each location assure optimized data capture and relevance.

Citizen science programs: Learning and sharing together

This year we began citizen science sessions focused on soil M&E to groups of 15-25 participants at some of the existing regenerative programs offered at Quinta Vale da Lama:

  • In April, at our Ecosystem Regeneration Camp in the dry fig orchard zone where the first baseline measurements were taken;
  • In October, at a Permaculture Design Course during a soils-focused day, with a specific lens on soils in Zone 1;
  • In early November, the measurement baseline for the new market garden was designed and started in the field in collaboration with the market garden team;
  • Throughout November, for two different Ecosystem Regeneration Camps, we completed our soil M&E field work in the new market garden.

Using our senses, protocols and adapted materials, we learned together about how to perform Soil M&E in the field in a way that is easy for non-scientists to understand and do.

More activities and workshops are planned from March 2025 onward so that we can learn and share more about soil M&E together. Some of these programs will include additional sessions at an Ecosystem Regeneration Camp, a soil quality and M&E-focused Saturdays at the Farm, and several “bioblitz” programs for soil biodiversity in April, to name a few.

November 2024 in the new West Market Garden at Quinta Vale da Lama with our Ecosystem Regeneration Camp participants and Vale da Lama market garden team.

Creation of educational content and programs

A critical part of our work is to inspire and encourage our local communities to learn more about the importance of supporting living soils in ecosystem restoration. Therefore, we started to develop materials, activities, and programs for local schools, groups, and nonprofits, as well as the community at large, focused on soil health.

In this context, an inspirational co-creation within the Mud Valley Institute team resulted in a whole week dedicated to soils and their role in a healthy ecosystem. This celebration happened in the first week of December where we integrated World Soil Day (Dec 5) into our Soil Week. During this week the entire Quinta Vale da Lama farm ecosystem collaborated to offer soil health related education and activities:

BGA Soil Day

We created a unique Soil Day educational program attended by 35 secondary school students from Brave Academy Generation in Lagos. It was designed to expose BGA learners to an example of the real-world application of some of the themes and topics they were studying, while also getting them out into nature.

A wonderful outcome was that several students expressed a strong interest in continuing to learn about soils and so we created a junior internship program for them for 2025.

Learn more about BGA Soil Day.

On World Soil Day (December 5) we hosted a group of students from Brave Generation Academy for a day of soil-focused education and activities.

Looking forward to 2025

In addition to continuing the types of activities we started in 2024, we will also be expanding our efforts into some other key areas which support our mission. Our 2025 Soil Lab objectives include:

  • Create and present 2-3 citizen science programs related to soil knowledge and health. We will continue to educate and engage the community so that we can create informed, knowledgeable, inspired agents of regeneration.
  • Develop and launch 1-2 soil health-related service offerings by the end of the year. A key growth area for us is to begin offering services which support local land stewards and can potentially be monetized to help diversify our income sources.
  • Create and implement 2-3 scientific research projects. We will set up and conduct scientific research related to improving soil quality and how to apply it to real world contexts, freely sharing the results to enable others to use the information.
  • Create baseline educational content to improve soil literacy in society. We will publish content for placement in channels such as the website and social media, along with physical channels such as print, to support education of the public.
  • Be a key part of the soon to be launched Mud Valley Institute Junior Internship Program. This pilot program for local students aged 16-19 will focus on the intersection between science and ecosystem regeneration. The Soil Lab will lead the facilitation of the internship, which will have a heavy focus on soil health and biology.
The Soil Lab at Mud Valley Institute leverages the combined efforts of trained scientists and experienced practitioners of ecosystem regeneration to conduct its research and activities. 2024 at the Soil Lab has been a busy but rewarding first year. We will continue to grow our operations and services in 2025, so check back regularly to see what we are doing!

🌱 The Soil Lab at Mud Valley Institute is an onsite, field-based soil laboratory supporting research and education focused on improving soil health and agricultural production gains. Learn more about the Soil Lab.

Questions about the Soil Lab? Email us at info@mudvalleyinstitute.org.

👉 Learn more about our partner, Ecosystem Restoration Communities, by visiting their website.

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