Name: Foundations of Soil Science: A Soil Circle Short Course
Start: 2026-04-12T10:00:00-07:00
End: 2026-04-19T13:00:00-07:00
Location: Alemany Farm

Foundations of Soil Science: A Soil Circle Short Course

Join Soil Circle (soilcircle.org) for this two-part series on soil science, soil health, and practicing this knowledge with reverence.
About this Event

Soil Stewardship - 2-Part Series
Sundays April 12th and 19th, 2026: 10 AM - 1 PM at Alemany Farm
DAY 1: April 12th: Foundations of Soil Science
DAY 2: April 19th: Land-based Soil Health Stewardship
Instructors: Cole Rainey and Zai Wang of Soil Circle
The health of our soils is critical to maintaining healthy crops and a flourishing ecosystem, both above and underground. Yet the costs can be significant, and barriers to knowledge prevent us from acting with dignity and reverence for the lands we tend. In this 2-part series of workshops, we hope to demystify soil science, discuss the physical, chemical and biological aspects of soil health, and share easy and accessible strategies for gardeners and landworkers to improve soil and plant health.
Attending to the soil is foundational to the liberation and sovereignty of all our peoples as we struggle for self-determination and a dignified food system. Together, we can increase autonomy in our care for the soils that we depend on for our livelihoods!
In Part 1, Foundations of Soil Science, we will learn the basics of soil science, understanding how physical, biological and chemical properties affect soil health. We will run field tests together to get hands-on experience with different soil properties.
In Part 2, Land-based Soil Health Stewardship, we will discuss how to steward our soils, including working with cover crop at the farm, understanding the principles of soil health, and how to work with the soil microbiome.

TICKETS: Please register for each day that you plan to attend.
Suggested Donation: $32 for one day ($64 for both days) - no one turned away for lack of funds. We encourage everyone to make an offering commensurate with your means, and in an amount that feels powerful to you - such gifts make sliding scale and NOTAFLOF workshops like these possible. We also do not want money to be a barrier to entry. Please reach out if you would like to attend but are unable to donate at collective@soilcircle.
If you can afford to make a bigger donation, your contribution will support the work of Soil Circle and the opportunity for others with more limited funds to attend this class.
INSTRUCTORS:
cole rainey (all pronouns) Cole is a seed keeper, agroecologist, artist, organizer, and educator. As a 5th-generation Californian and a descendent of early settlers, Cole is committed to a lifelong practice of rematriation and reparations. They believe in the radical power of Earth stewardship to heal communities, reclaim ancestral traditions, and lead us towards collective liberation. Cole earned a PhD from UC Berkeley in 2024 at the intersections of soil science and agroecology. Cole’s study of seed, soil, and liberative practice have taken many forms: conducting soil ecology surveys, conspiring with monarch butterflies to re-imagine the commons, creating land-based educational programs, conducting performance art pieces with seedlings, and supporting mutual aid efforts across the Bay Area.
zai wang (they/she) is an interdisciplinary naturalist whose background is in Soil and Watershed Sciences. Formerly a USDA-NRCS Soil Scientist, zai has worked with farmers and land conservancies to survey land and map soil types to support conservation land stewardship practices. They have gained a wide breadth of ecologic knowledge from mapping Anza Borrego Desert State Park, working with soil microbial reduction in subaqueous soils with the Wetland Pedology lab of the University of Maryland, and surveying permafrost soils in the remote Copper River Basin, AK. zai's work is formed around increasing equitable access to knowledge of land by supporting soil sampling and site surveys for farmers, community projects, and home gardeners.