While looking for some information on the famous soil scientist Hans Jenny (mainly, actually, how to correctly pronounce his last name - he was Swiss - so is it "Jenny" or "Yenny"?), I ran across this article. Lots of information about soil in a pretty short article, including the suggestion that we humans are essentially parasites on the soil (think about it) and the observation that some cultures personalized the soil (or imagined it as having a spirit) and others saw it as the source of all fertility. (Interesting, that, from an "unscientific" culture).

Jenny is also quoted in the article as having said: "[S]oil appeals to my senses. I like to dig in it and work it with my hands. I enjoy doing the soil texture feel test with my fingers or kneading a clay soil, which is a short step from ceramics or sculpture. Soil has a pleasant smell. I like to sit on the bare, sun-drenched ground and take in the fragrance of the soil. ...Soil profile art...resembles abstract art. ...Soil speaks to us through the colors and sculptures of its profile, thereby revealing its personality; we acknowledge it by giving the soil a name."

This was a man who was probably one of the most respected soil scientists (and still is, I suspect) in the U.S.

I think I would have liked him.

Maybe all of those "old soils guys" were just cool; here is a memorial site to Francis Hole, another famous soil scientist. He wrote songs about the soil (he played the fiddle). It's said he regarded himself as sort of an ambassador of soils. He also described the soil as

"...the hidden, secret friend, which is the root domain of lively darkness and silence."

I think I would have liked him, too. (He also looks a little bit like my great-uncle Fred, at least in the pictures on the memorial site)