This Kumal dugout that was recently carved from a single Saal log has been left out in the sun and the rain to "season" and to dry fully so that it will be light in the water.

In addition to fishing they also grow corn but there is a pronounced lack of fertility in their soil caused possibly by a long history of overuse as well as poverty. The soil is predominantly clay from the river which is poor for growing corn in. The corn yields are low and the ears are spindly.

They have tried intercropping peanuts and other legumes (plants like peas, peanuts, clover and alfalfa that "fix" nitrogen from the air and release it back into the soil), to try and increase soil fertility by increasing the nitrogen content. They’ve also added composted manure and sand to help break up the clay and improve the soil by helping it to drain better. The day we bicycled to their village the women were busy bringing in the corn stalks that they would use as fodder for the village's many water buffalo .

A Kumal girl who eagerly wanted her picture taken.

Two ideas were taken back to the conference for discussion. The first was their dire poverty and the impact on their poverty by being forced to move by the Nepali government. Moving seems to be the destiny of many indigenous groups in Asian and North American history. For the Kumal the move was emotionally taxing but it also taxed their slender resources generally. A bright note was that the new site of their village may have better soils for corn and rice.

The second point taken back to the conference was the quality of the soil and how that is such a strong consideration within the concept of sustainability and sustainable agriculture. Soil is a valuable resource in any locale. It is absolutely essential to all life on earth. From the standpoint of sustainability the question came up of how to improve soils when they are heavy with clay, or lack organic matter like sand?

This was somewhat my department. I stressed the importance of seeing soil as a living thing that needs air to breate, needs to be crumbly and not compacted to aid breathing, and it needs to be fed. It needs a constant supply of food and enzymes to help break down the food so that it is absorbed by the soil. Like humans it needs digestion-aiding microbes, enzymes, and constant interactions with a huge range of soil fauna and flora. These range from worms, beetles, ants, fungi, the microrhyza of these fungi, certain algae, and microscopic organisms, too. Soils are the result of the actions and interactions of weather, plants, and animals. I also told them my pet theory of soil that it is a living tissue that is protected by the plants that grown in it. The plants act like white blood cells in mammals. When the soil is wounded, a scar is opened, the plants rush to cover it up and heal it. What we call "weeds", and all plants essentially, are the first line of the Earth's defense system when a wound has been opened up in the soil's surface.