A Soil Owner's Manual

How to Restore and Maintain Soil Health, Second Edition

Healthy soil is the foundation of healthy life—and A Soil Owner’s Manual is your essential guide to restoring it.

In this revised and expanded second edition, soil scientist Jon Stika explains how the biology beneath our feet drives plant health, food quality, and ecosystem balance. Drawing on decades of field research and practical experience, Stika reveals how our current agricultural systems—focused on yields and inputs—have broken the natural functions of soil. He then provides clear, science-based steps for rebuilding that living system, whether you manage a backyard garden or a thousand-acre farm.

Through practical examples and accessible explanations, readers will learn:

• What healthy soil is designed to do
• How soil biology supports plant nutrition and pest resistance
• Why tillage, fertilizers, and chemical inputs often do more harm than good
• How to manage land using natural principles that promote regeneration

Foreword by Gabe Brown, a pioneer of regenerative agriculture, this book offers a hopeful, grounded vision of how restoring the soil can restore our health, communities, and planet.

If you care about food quality, farm profitability, or environmental resilience, this is the owner’s manual you’ve been missing.