Last week on Regen Radio, we threw compost under the bus—backed over it a few times—and left a few folks wondering: “Do these guys even like compost?”

This week, Denver and Craig set the record straight. We love compost—but only when it’s used for what it’s truly good at.

👉 Compost isn’t your bulk nitrogen source. But it IS:

A microbial powerhouse 💥
A carbon-rich soil amendment 🌿
A tool for increasing water-holding capacity 💧
A way to revive tired soils and restore communication underground 🪱
Perfect for nurseries, drip lines, and as a base for vermicast teas 🌱
They dive deep into the real economics of composting:
📊 Why bulk spreading is expensive and high-emission
♻️ How using compost as an inoculant or for sheet composting can transform your fields
🔥 The surprising half-lives of urea vs. compost
🌍 Why on-farm compost production beats hauling it in
🐄 And why livestock and trees may hold the ultimate key to soil regeneration

Craig even shares how he uses Johnson-Su compost for seed inoculation and fertigation—priming his soil biology without the massive carbon footprint.

💡 “The problem isn’t compost—it’s how we’ve been using it.”

Whether you’re all-in on organics, swear by synthetics, or are somewhere in between, this episode will give you a fresh perspective on building life in your soils… without falling for the pitfalls of dogma.

🎧 Tune in and rethink how compost fits into regenerative systems.

📌 Don’t forget to subscribe for more Regen Radio insights!
🌐 Learn more: https://soilcraft.com
💬 Got thoughts on compost? Drop them in the comments.

Is compost really the golden solution for regenerative farming? In this paradigm-shifting episode of the Regen Radio Podcast, we dig deep into the numbers behind soil building—from carbon emissions to megajoules of energy—and challenge the dogma of "green" practices.

📉 You’ll learn:

Why compost might not be as eco-friendly as it seems
How many hectares it takes to make enough compost for one hectare of crops
⚖️ The energy and CO₂ cost of compost vs. urea
Why vermicompost wins for nitrogen efficiency
🐄 The case for in-place fertility using microbes, cover crops, and livestock
What this means for smallholders, large-scale growers, and long-term sustainability
If you’ve ever assumed compost is always better, this episode will make you reconsider. It’s not about choosing sides—it’s about measuring the cost of every system we use to grow our food.

🎧 Listen, share, and let us know your thoughts.

🌐 Learn more or connect with us at: https://soilcraft.com
🎙️ Subscribe for future episodes of Regen Radio Podcast
📩 Have a story or question? Drop us a comment or message!

🎙️ Regen Radio Podcast EP.4 — The Law of Unintended Consequences

This week on Regen Radio, Craig Harding and Denver Black tackle one of the most quietly devastating forces in modern agriculture: the law of unintended consequences. What if the very tools we use to fix a problem — fertilizers, fungicides, insecticides — are creating bigger issues downstream?

From caterpillars colonizing amaranth to fall armyworms striking on cue, the guys unpack the biological backfire that comes from applying nitrogen too early or spraying herbicides with hidden side effects. You’ll hear real-world examples of MOP (muriate of potash) gone wrong, how a seemingly helpful input can trigger pest explosions, and why certain inputs are acting more like biological landmines than solutions.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. They dive into:
🌿 How carbon balancing reduces pest pressure
🧬 Why calcium and sulfur might be your secret weapons
🔥 What happens when you stop using fungicides—and don't get disease
🌱 Why the answer is rarely "more input," but often "smarter biology"

The message? You're not crazy—you're just caught in a system where symptoms pile up because the causes are overlooked. But you don’t have to stay there.

📩 Share your own stories of unintended consequences in the comments or email us directly. Let’s learn from our mistakes—and each other.

📡 Subscribe to stay updated with Regen Radio, where every week we break down what’s happening in regenerative agronomy, one conversation at a time.

👇 Connect with Soilcraft 👇
🌐 www.soilcraft.com
📧 denver@soilcraft.com
📍 Based in Yakima Valley, WA + Zambia

What if everything you’ve been told about soil compaction is only half the story?

In this episode of Regen Radio, Denver Black and farmer Craig Harding tackle one of agriculture’s most assumed villains: compaction. From deep ripping to gypsum applications, we unpack whether the problem is really physical—or if it's chemical, biological, or even electromagnetic.

💥 Hear why:

Cover crops may outperform ripping over time
Compaction might just be an emergent property of poor chemistry
Biological tools like LAB, worm teas, and soil amendments shift the entire paradigm
Water treatment tech like the Rainbox AOP system is unlocking structure without steel
We challenge the dogma around tillage, and explore real-world data comparing mechanical versus biological intervention on clay and sandy soils—including stunning results from banana fields and wheat pivots in Zambia.

🔥 Plus: Discover how weeds like amaranth might be nature’s way of punching through the lie of compaction.

👉 Don’t miss this conversation if you’ve ever questioned the return on diesel, the need to rip every season, or whether you're just fighting symptoms with steel.

🌾 Subscribe for weekly episodes as we challenge convention and uncover what it means to farm in alignment with living systems.

📩 Got a story or experience with compaction? Let us know in the comments or at soilcraft.com

#RegenRadio #SoilCraft #SoilCompaction #RegenerativeAgriculture #NoTill #LivingSoil #BiologyOverSteel #Rainbox #CoverCrops #SoilStructure

Welcome to Episode 2 of the Regen Radio Podcast, a SoilCraft production. This week, Denver Black is joined by farmer Craig Harding for a raw and honest conversation about what it really means to “learn how to farm again” in a world dominated by chemical dependency and short-term fixes.

💭 Ever wondered:
"Why can’t we just farm the way we always have?"
This episode challenges that question—not with judgment, but with lived experience, vulnerability, and a deeper call to steward the land.

🎙️ In this episode, you’ll hear:

A powerful analogy from childbirth to farming: how one intervention leads to another
Craig’s personal wake-up call—realizing his farm was no longer safe for his barefoot kids
Why Denver isn’t “anti-chemical,” but rather skeptical of systems built on dependency
A frank look at the cost of tillage, fungicides, herbicides, and the “spray & pray” model
How regenerative practices start with asking better questions, not taking moral stances
The difference between symptom suppression and system regeneration
How to move from reaction to resilience in your farm system
🔁 This episode isn’t just a critique of the status quo—it’s a rallying cry for change.
We’re not against tools. We’re for life-giving systems.
We’re for soil that breathes.
We’re for farms where your kids can run barefoot—again.

🔗 Connect with SoilCraft:
🌐 Website: www.soilcraft.com
📺 YouTube: SoilCraft Channel
📧 Email: connect@soilcraft.com

🎧 Subscribe to Regen Radio Podcast for weekly episodes that challenge convention, empower change, and uncover the real roots of regeneration.

#RegenRadio #SoilCraft #RegenerativeFarming #CraigHarding #FarmerWisdom #BarefootFarming #SoilHealth #RegenMindset #FarmWithLife #SystemsNotSymptoms

Welcome to the very first episode of the Regen Radio Podcast, a new series from SoilCraft where we get real about regenerative agriculture, soil biology, and the messy, miraculous process of learning how to farm again. 🎙️🌱

In this kickoff episode, Denver and Craig share a hard-hitting story from the field—a 10x herbicide over-application that could have wiped out a wheat crop... but didn’t. Instead, it opened the door to some of the most powerful regenerative recovery insights we’ve seen yet.

💥 From disaster to regen: the soil told us what to do
🧪 How humic acid, gypsum, sulfur, and worm castings reversed the damage
🦠 Why microbes are the unsung heroes of detoxifying our soils
🌍 A blueprint for turning chemical mistakes into microbial miracles

🎧 In This Episode:
– How a common herbicide was applied at 10x the label rate
– What biological and mineral strategies we used to mitigate damage
– The chemistry-biochemistry-microbiology crossover explained
– Why sulfur might be the secret catalyst nobody’s talking about
– Real examples of microbes breaking down herbicide residues in soil

🧪 Mentioned in the Episode:
– SoilCraft’s regenerative soil recovery approach
– Scientific references on pesticide degradation by Pseudomonas, Actinomycetes, and worm casting microbiomes
– Biochar’s role as a molecular sponge for toxins

⏱️ Timestamps
0:00 – Regen Radio Launch
2:45 – The Herbicide Blunder
6:10 – Recovery Phase: Humics, Gypsum, Sulfur
11:00 – Microbial Breakdown 101
14:30 – What’s in Worm Castings?
18:00 – Resilient Farming & Next Week’s Episode

🔥 If you’ve ever messed up in the field and wondered if there’s a way back—this is for you. This isn’t theory. This is regen, boots in the soil.

📩 Want to hear your story featured? Drop us a comment or email and be part of the Regen Radio community.

👍 Like | 🔔 Subscribe | 💬 Share this with a fellow farmer

#RegenRadio #SoilCraftPodcast #RegenerativeAgriculture #SoilHealth #WormCastings #HerbicideResidue #MicrobialFarming #Gypsum #HumicAcid #Biochar #Glyphosate #zambiaagriculture #RegenFarming

Join the Soilcraft Team and our special guest Craig Harding, as we talk about the importance of silica.

1. What is Silica
2. What is Silica responsible for in plants?
3. How do we use Silica at Soilcraft?
4. What have we seen from the use of Silica

📞Call us to learn more about the solutions we have for the challenges you face in farming and ranching. info@soilcraft.com or 509.907.7305

👍Like, Subscribe and share with your friends.

Other links:

🌎Website: https://soilcraft.com/

🎙️Regenerative Agronomy Podcast: https://regenerative-agronomy.captiva...

🗞 Regenerative Agronomy Blog: https://soilcraft.com/blog-3/

Sign up now for our newsletter: https://soilcraft.com/newsletter-signup/

#healthyplants #healthysoil #healthesoil #healtheplanet #potatofarming #sustainableagriculture #farmtotable #soilhealth #resilientcrops #regenerativefarming #microbes #organicfarming #rainmaker

Join us as we interview Craig Harding, Director at Riverside farm in Zambia Africa, and learn about what urged him to regenerative management on the picturesque farm producing bananas, soy, and wheat on the edge of the Kafue river. Craig has been integrating livestock as well as cover crops, mineral nutrient foliars, and soil stimulating fertigations. He describes how the farm serves the community surrounding for food security etc as well as the “why” that is propelling his conviction to change.

📞Call us to learn more about the solutions we have for the challenges you face in farming and ranching. info@soilcraft.com or 509.907.7305

👍Like, Subscribe and share with your friends.

Other links:

🌎Website: https://soilcraft.com/

🎙️Regenerative Agronomy Podcast: https://regenerative-agronomy.captiva...

🗞 Regenerative Agronomy Blog: https://soilcraft.com/blog-3/

Sign up now for our newsletter: https://soilcraft.com/newsletter-signup/

#healthyplants #healthysoil #healthesoil #healtheplanet #potatofarming #sustainableagriculture #farmtotable #soilhealth #resilientcrops #regenerativefarming #microbes