>>2270639The summary of "true soil" seems to really be creating as natural an ecosystem as possible where the production of food is secondary to the maintenance of a self-sustaining soil biology.
Permaculturists strive towards this idea in conjunction with the models of no-till, mulching, and the planting of diversity rather than segregated plant life.
The problem here is that each soil and each climate will have specific needs that need to be met. I cant confidently say that just adding woodchips is the key to making self-sustaining soil but the operations I've seen that do not require constant inputs of external fertility are those that adhere to the rules stated above:
>Build canopies of plant life (Symbiotic trees and shrubs) >Keep the soil covered (Dry or living mulch)>Keep the soil alive (annual or perennial vegetation, microbes, fungi)>Keep the soil diverse (No monocultures or even broken up plantings of like crops) "Milpas" has been something I've really wanted to read into lately. It's what was actually practiced by ancient cultures before rows of planting and monocultures became dominant. This isn't the three sisters meme but a far wider picture with dozens of crops both for the soil's health and production of food planted together.
https://greencover.com/shop/milpa-garden-warm-season/ 