Soils consist of minerals, water, air, and organic matter. While some of the organic matter is dead, healthy soils also contain thousands of species of microorganisms, earthworms, bacteria, ants, fungi, amoebas, termites, protozoa, mites, plant roots, and even small animals. Some Monterey pine forest soils on our Monterey Peninsula are a million years old. Soils are a vital link in our food chain. Without soils, there can be no plants for animals (including us) to eat.

Every soil has a profile - vertical layers of different proportions. The uppermost layer, called the A horizon or surface soil, is where life is most abundant. Mineral particles make up about half the volume of a soil.

Few soils in the United States have a self-replenishing productive dynamic. Those that do are "mainly alluvial soils along streams that receive frequent additions of nutrient rich sediment from occasional overflow." Agricultural Yearbook 1957

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