CIISA- DORSET SOIL

DISCLAIMER : With each recording I took I asked the land before I pressed play and I gave gratitude and said thank you after I need the recordings. I also took a few minuets with the landscape before I started recordings to acclimatise myself with the space and see what I could hear sonically to try to understand the space. With each area I left offerings of flowers that I had picked earlier those days to give something back to the land that allowed me to record it.

I have chosen to take these Geofon recordings in three specific locations. Firstly in Dorset where I grew up. My home was built originally as an agricultural farm, many for breeding and milking dairy cows. This soil should be and interesting one to listen to due to the years of over agricultural work. As the farm has been dormant for the past 50 years I am curious as to if it has bounced back and become healthy again. My parents are very anti pesticides and chemicals to kill off weeds and prefer a natural approach so during the 50 year break from farming the soil and ecosystem there should have significantly changed.

The soil type here is loamy brown calcareous earth on calcareous glauconitic sandstone. It also consists of clay.

This is a recording from under the apple tree. There was an interesting knocking coming from underground. As there was no one around me moving I thought that maybe this knocking might be from some underground pipes perhaps.

I then took a recording below a cherry tree close the the apple tree. I heard the same knocking but slightly silenced.

Here is a field recordings of that area:

I took a recordings under this fig tree which has fed my family figs each year since I was born.

I then took recording in the raised bed that my mother grows rhubarb from. I thought that I would hear a lot of activity from here as the soil has fresh compost but I think because they were raised beds there was less underground activity as it isn’t connected to the ground below.

This is a patch of the lawn at the back of my house. 3 years earlier my dad had sown some wildflower seeds here, but unfortunately they didn’t sustain them selves as normally all that grows here are weeds.

I took this recording in the field toward the back of my house which each year hosts cows for a few months.

Here is a field recording of that area:

I took this recording in the field at the front of my house which also host cows each year for 3 months.

Here is a combination of all of the soil recordings together:

Here is a combination of all of the soil recordings and the field recordings to give you a full soundscape of the area:

Upon reflection, I have come to realise that the soil in Dorset for me sounded the healthiest. As this was the last location I visited for this project, I was able to see what the different wildlife in each location consider off. I found that the soil in Dorset had the most spiders beetles insects etc than any other location. This had lead me to believe that because it had more fauna that had to a sign that the soil was healthier.