Alchemy is commonly known as that strange pursuit to turn lead into gold. A more general definition of alchemy is “A seemingly magical power or process of transmuting.” Where transmuting means “To change from one nature, form, or substance, into another; to transform.”

LEHR Gardens have a seemingly magical ability to turn wood chips (our prima materia) into supercharged, powerful soil (our black gold) in as little as 6 to 9 months. If Mircea Eliade is right in suggesting that at the heart of alchemy is accelerating the natural process of development, then it’s not much of a stretch to say that with the help of our LEHRs, we’re practicing alchemy.

Before and after

Sifting out the larger woody pieces so we’re left with high quality finished soil, aka Supie Soil.

And it really is black gold. Experts say the world’s topsoil could all be gone in less than 60 years, and soil is the foundation of nutrition between plants and humans. Soil provides water, nutrients, and support, along with oxygen for the plant's root growth. Healthy soils grow healthy plants that keep people healthy.

A key to healthy soil is having the right fungi to bacteria ratio. Weeds like low fungi/bacteria ratios, old growth trees like high fungi/bacteria ratios, veggies like mid range fungi/bacteria ratios. Fungi likes a moist and damp environment, not the dry climate we have in Arizona. That’s why it’s even more remarkable that we’re able to make fungi rich soil here in Superior.

We bagged, bucketed and branded the soil from our garden and sold it to those around us who understood the value of what we’re making here. The soil is so good that we’ve heard a number of stories where people revived their dying plants by giving them some Supie Soil.

Happy Supie Soil customers

Here is an example of **Nalwoodi Denzhone Community** in San Carlos, AZ doing an experiment with the Supei Soil they purchased from us

In the past, we sold our soil for $8 a gallon on average. We’ve paused selling our soil because of the expanded work we’re now doing at the Erickson-Hall Demonstration garden. We need to use our soil for our own land, but, we’ll be back in business again as our LEHRs in Yards program takes off later in 2024.