DIRT means the substance is dead, it is lifeless. made of inert minerals.
SOIL means the substance is alive, made-up of inert minerals and many living organisms. 
Here, I am laying on DIRT, missing the SOIL that was completely removed several days ago.

Every pinch of SOIL is immensely valuable to you, me, plants, insects, bacteria, and living things on land, air, and oceans.  Healthy soil is vital to balancing Earth's biosphere. ​

Here is the tragic story of what happened to an entire acre of topsoil in 2012.  Precious ancient soil that took Earth eons to build.   I understand this soils history and importance and I fiercely guarded it during the time I was steward of the land that contained it.   During my 34-year tenure (1969 to 2012.) this basin of soil, and I nurtured a garden that became famous as Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden  (the last wooded acre in the heart of old town Key West that had not been developed.  Crazy escalating real estate prices and land taxes caused me to lose the property to foreclosure in 2008.  A devastating man-made catastrophic happened in 2012 when I lost control of the property and the new owner completely eradicated the soil in four days for ascetic reasons.

(Nancy Forrester)
The soil was contained in a bowl like sink hole (solution hole) located near the highest elevation on the island of Key West, Florida.  Over time a long time soil built up and gave rise to a Lush Green Oasis as plants sprouted slowly and naturally.  This green "Oasis" took hundreds of years to emerge.  ​ The topsoil was critically important and chiefly responsible for the living site-specific environmental art project I created know as Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden.  It flourished from 1993 to 2012.
To help you understand how this soil came into existence and the time it took to create it I offer a little info on topography, solution holes and soil.  The isle of Key West emerged as an exposed area of Miami limestone, the current surface bedrock of the lower Florida peninsula and the lower keys.  This happened in the Eocene period. (56 million to 47.8 million years ago). A Sinkhole (called solution hole in the keys) takes centuries to evolve.  It is a depression or hole in the surface caused by collapse of the bed rock.  Puddles of water acidify while steeping in vegetation creating chemical reactions in the limestone that dissolves the bed rock and creates a depression.  There were two sink holes near Solaris Hill.  Often, they contain sugar rock and clay. No land animals were present in Florida prior to the Miocene. The Miocene epoch (23.03 to 5.333 million years ago).  Flora and fauna began appearing during the Miocene. 
Tequesta and Calusa Indians lived in this region since the 3rd century BC.   They were charted by Juan Ponce de León in 1513. Calusa and Tequesta tribes walked on the island and visited these two solution holes. Solution holes were of great value to the Indians because were able to access fresh water by digging down thru sugar rock and then clay to the freshwater lens. Sometimes they were able to protect the open water in a cave like structure made of surrounding clay.
A freshwater lens is a convex-shaped layer of fresh groundwater that floats above the denser saltwater and is usually found on small coral or limestone islands and atolls. This aquifer of fresh water is recharged through precipitation that infiltrates the top layer of soil and percolates downward until it reaches the saturated zone. By the 1800s, most Indians died for a variety of reasons.  The Tequesta tribe had only a few survivors by the time that Spanish Florida was traded to the British, (1763).  The Calusa tribe died out in the late 1700s.  

(Nancy Forrester's Soil Story)
Once upon a time soil education, soil protection, soil building and enrichment was a specialty of mine.  A love of mine!   I had a love affair with an acre of ancient fertile (MEANING ALIVE) rich black topsoil before its tragic loss. My passion for this soil blossomed when I encountered it as a special pocket of it collected in a bowl-like depression on the ground near the highest part of the Island called Key West.  This is my story of how I treated this soil and a little history on how it came into being.  This is also the story of its "solution hole containing sugar rock, clay and potential access to the underground lens of fresh water.   
In ancient times from the beginning of the emergence of the small coral island (1 mile by 4 miles) now known as Key West there came into being an interior parcel of land near the islands highest elevation (now 18 feet above sea level) known as Solaris Hill.  I was caretaker of this nearly 1-acre parcel of land from 1969 to 2012 (43 years). Under my care this Oasis this beautiful magical booming with wildlife place gave me so much.  When I first entered this oasis and seeing its wildlife and plants and feeling its energy gave me the goosebumps, others felt this too.  Under my care it became known as Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden.  My genius friend "Magic Ray" felt the presence of other spirits and others Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding Magic Ray  said "This solution hole is the beginning of the Bermuda Triangle, and you (meaning me) are the keeper of knowledge".   I am a logical thinker rooted in science and not prone to following the spiritual gobbly gook. para normal. not a believer of Other people felt the spiritual presence of the Calusa Indians. But so many people felt the presence of others here that I took notice. This parcel of land had a special topological feature, a sink hole, ( a solution hole) one of only two on the island.  Because of the bowl-like drop in elevation the force of wind, water and gravity all sorts of things got trapped in this low-lying area.  Natural detritus from animal and plant matter was carried there by wind and water.  Humans have a habit of throwing their waste into holes in the ground.  This hole got hard use by island inhabitants for a couple hundred years..  When I took possession, It functioned as an undesignated city dump where unlawful dumping happened daily by downtown residents, I put a stop to the trash dumping in 1969.  This treasure of fertile black top soil was built slowly and naturally in this depression for hundreds of years.  When I first saw it, I was stunned by this lush oasis of Trees, bushes and vines and animals. Myriad life forms flourished everywhere in this sink hole all supported by their dependent on the rich fertile black alive soil.   It takes 500 years for natural processes Nature to make one inch of soil.  When I became caretaker of this parcel in 1969, I took the responsibility of being the keeper of the soil seriously, I protected it and enhanced it.  Guarding the soil meant no covered pathways constructed of bricks or pavers on the earth.  Insecticides, fungicides, pesticides, herbicides and other toxic substances were not allowed.  Guarding the place meant sharing this green lush oasis with the visiting public and providing education on its importance and why it should remain undeveloped.   For 43 years, I recycled all my garden waste, and I composted all my wet kitchen waste from the house and cottage.  In the 70's my sister Dede hauled salty seaweed in garbage cans. She collected it at the beach. The salt had to be rinsed off the weed and it had to be somewhat decomposed before use.  She and I labored to enrich the soil with this composted the seaweed and wet kitchen waste including massive amounts of coffee grounds (acidic) from her restaurant Las Palmas del Mundo. This hauling, washing and composting was time consuming,  It was heavy work but well worth it because it enriched the soil.  From 1969 to 2012, we scouted curbside for other peoples raked up and bagged leaves.  There were three of us (me, Dede and Cousin Peter) we went on runs with my van every Sunday as far as Key Haven looking for raked up bagged leaves and yard clippings set out as trash. We found tropical plant cuttings that we could root and grow in the garden.  We stuffed the van with bags of leaves and throw away clippings of exotic plants, sometimes we made numerous trips because there was so much bounty.  We brought leaves and grass mowing's back and spread this bounty on the beds.  It was fun. a great adventure.  In the 80's I collected and hauled in large rocks and wooden stumps for the Secret Garden to make hideaways for animals.  In 2012 I lost ownership of Garden to foreclosure.  The new owner who to my knowledge had always coveted my place and want to own it finally it got the beautiful magical Secret Garden construct (he had made me several offers over the years).  I always referred to the real estate developers as "The Wolves at the Door".   Once this "Wolf" owned it he said "I want to sit with the Garden and understand it".  I felt hopeful because this person who calls himself a conservationist appeared to be on an environmental learning journey after paving over paradise. Then came the catastrophic event in which the garden had all of its soil removed in four days.  Mister X, the new owner decided he did not like the way the "skin of the earth looked" which was leaves protecting the forest floor and the understory beds.  1,000's of years of soil in the making was gone because he "did not like the look" the "aesetics" mulched foot paths of cypress wood chips and the forest floor and beds covered with leaves  He hired a group of five or more men to rake and rerake to rid the entire acre of all soil. this lasted from for a least four days.  Every bit of leaf compost cover and rich black fertile alive soil was scraped up, placed in big trucks and hauled away. All of "Earth's living skin" was removed.  1000 of years of Earths fertile soil in the making ended.   I tried reasoning with him!  Nothing, I said or did as an environmental artist and educator swayed his decision.  I was rendered useless and at my wits end!  I was devastated by the magnitude of the loss.  Unable to hold fast, the stilt rooted plants fell over and died,  The weather became dry and windy.  Much of the parched inert dirt blew away!  The green plants turned yellow then brown suffering from the sudden lack of protecting moist Earth and it nutrients.

Listening for signs of life in the remaining chemically inactive dirt

Laura and Nancy "Soil" Performance Art

WHAT WAS LOST
A picture of a few components of soil, fungi, nematodes, earthworms, bacteria, microscopic animalcules, pockets of air and water made by critters.

​

---

A Picture of Fertile Alive Topsoil
Life forms found in soil, collaboration by Nancy Forrester/Dall-e-3 

 ​My focus on top soil is an important story to tell because according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), it can take at least 500 years for one inch of topsoil to form and according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a full 90% of the Earth’s topsoil is at risk of being lost by 2050.  This story with an acre of very special top soil.
imwnse quanities of green house gases sils balances our climatereplenish our fresh water supplies and feed the world racing to ave 
soil conservation agronomist health soils lead to a healthy planet healthy climate healthy plant healthy animal healthy water. Man made disaster called the Dust Bowl in the 1930'shealthyclimate healthy planet Eroison is when soil becomes dirt. Rapid erosion happened after Mister X, 
leaf litter to protect the living soil that was Largest Man made environmental disaster in history called the Dust Bowl in the 1930's caused by tilling and leaving the soil exposed 200 million acres ofcropland where destroyes 1934 I watched first hand Mr X who called himself a conservationist destroy 
the soil which then destroyed the biophere forever first hand. my plan of cooperation with nature. Mr X bucks nature. Work with Natural resourses water
leaves thru a natural plant microbes live in the porous soil industrial chemicals damage the soil. getting my message out is difficult social problem educational issue until we get that right we can not fix our ecological issues Mr X realy did not know how the soil works basic ecological issues everything runs by carbon we are built by carbon the soil mocrorganisms run by carbon. carbon is the driving engine It runs the system, carbon dioxide is a 
gas we breath it out an plants breathe it in we make carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels. carbon isn't bad. it is the basis for all life on earth. 
carbon is the good guy we are carbon humans are 16 percent carbon and it came vegetation from things that eat vegetation plants use sunlight as enery
they pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere,use it as feul and that is how they grow.Temperature droped 10 degrees at Secret Garden.
40 percent of that carbon feul they send down to their roots they leak it out in a very specific way th soil microorginisms. plants are feeding soil microrganisms carbon an microbes are bring plants mineral nutriants soil organisms make a carbon glue out of that carbon fuel they make habitat in the sil little pockets in the soil to control the flow of water and oxygen and that is one of the ways that carbon gets fixed in the soil 
Soil has the unique ability to sequester out of the atmosphere the siol contain an entire universe of life sioll science how soil works It is alive in very handful of healthy soil there are more orgnisms than the number of humans that have ever lived on the planet those organisms are processing organic matter
that is in the soil and putting nutrients into the soil that plants need humans heve more bacterial cells in our bodies than human cells we are 1% human and 99% microbes quality of soil is hugw, it is the beginning of the quality of the food. our health and health of our plant are connected.choose healthy food it makes the earth healthier tking care of the microbes in the soil is critical to humanhealth  our chem and pull the carbon from the atmosphereically sprayed soils are alost devoid of 
living organisms spraying the soil with toxic chemical kills the moicrobes we need to give us health and pull the carbon from the atmosphere Welcome Bugsno no No fungcide herbcide insecttacide
understanding and honoring natural processes for the betterment of soil It does not function anymore e have lost one third of the Earths top soilfatr of eater and carbon tied to soil matter are tied to soil and waterwhen you damage soil you damage climate stress. when you damage soil you give off carbon
healthy soils absord water and carbon dioxide when  destro soil it releases water and carbon dioxide dries out soil and turns it to dust desertification land that is turning to desert soil plant and climate are connected evaporation we want transpiration wanted moisture leaving thru the leaves of plants increases humidity60 percent rain comes from ocean 40 percent comes from inland ​

---

Ritual For Loss of Soil Performance Art by Lara

 Mourning The Loss of All Soil at Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden 
Performance Art by Nancy Forrester and Lara Cat 2012