Living Soil 101 — The OPB Field Guide

Stop feeding plants.
Start building soil.

Ground level

For a century we gardened from the top down — leaves, blooms, fruit. The real story is underground. Here's how living soil actually works, and how to build it.

The idea in one breath

Soil isn't a container that holds roots. It's a living system — and when it's alive, it feeds your plants for you. Don't feed the plant for a week. Build the soil that feeds it all season.

The proof

Our inoculated biochar is the subject of a multi-year USDA Agricultural Research Service field trial, with genomic sequencing by the UC Berkeley soil microbiome lab. Early results suggest a pre-loaded community you won't find in raw biochar.

USDA
ARS multi-year field trial
UC Berkeley
Soil microbiome sequencing
300+
Microbial species, pre-loaded
OMRI
Listed · Made in USA

Questions, answered.

Biologically active soil — beneficial microbes; organic matter; roots; water; and air working as one system; rather than inert dirt you pour nutrients into.
Stronger roots; nutrient cycling that does some of the work for you; better moisture behavior; and a more resilient root zone — season after season.
Start with the habitat (biochar) and its living biology; then add prebiotics to feed them and organic plant food to round out the system.
Biochar first — it's the foundation everything else sits on. Add prebiotic soil enhancer to keep the biology fed; then layer in organic plant food.