BJ Price
Each fall, the Preble Soil and Water Conservation District puts on the County Soil Judging Contest attended by students from all five FFA chapters in Preble County. Last Friday, Sept. 13, I had the chance to host the contest on some pastureland at my farm just north of Eaton.
Soil judging may seem like a rather dull subject to some, but the world underneath my feet came alive and seemed more real than ever 26 years ago when I was a high-school junior taking part in my first soil judging contest. It was not just dirt any more. Dirt is what you suck up in a vacuum cleaner. Soil is something different. Soil supports life.
For the contest, soil pits are dug approximately four feet deep, four feet wide, and ten feet long with sloping ends that taper from the bottom of the pit to the ground above it so that students can walk into and out of the pits.
In basic terms, students evaluate the physical properties of the soil to determine its best and highest use. The Rural soil judging contest requires students to evaluate the soil from an agricultural perspective, deciding what cropping practices and conservation measures need to be used to maintain or improve the soil.
Students who choose to evaluate the soil from more of an engineering standpoint can take part in the Urban soil judging contest. Here, they will determine what limitations exist for foundations, septic systems, landscaping, and driveway construction.
Weeks ago, when I coordinated the contest date with the Vo-Ag teachers across the county, little did I know what else that day would hold in store. As it turns out, I had another important event to take part in that would involve the earth we stand on. You see, my grandfather Jim Arnett passed away on September 1st and was to be buried on Sept. 13. We knew him as ‘”Papa,” and we pronounced it like “papaw.”
Papa spent his entire life in New Paris. I was named after him and my oldest son is named after him. He was an independent man who ran his own tool and die business right in New Paris for many years. To write about his whole life would take something more like a book than a simple article.
In a way, it does seem fitting that, on the same morning when the youth of our county are assembled just north of Eaton evaluating the ground beneath our feet for the ways that soil can support life, my Papa’s burial was taking place in Spring Lawn Cemetery just outside of New Paris. One body of students gathered in a pasture outside of Eaton and a mourning family gathered around a body in New Paris. Two bodies going back to the Earth.
Reach BJ Price at 937-456-5159 for more information.
