About 150 years ago, a young Liberty Hyde Bailey from South Haven, Michigan, was showing curiosity in the world around him. Fascinated with nature, he had been reading the work of a noted botanist at Michigan Agricultural College (now known as Michigan State University - Professor William James Beal. Bailey admired the professor's expirements with seeds, gardens, and his encouragement towards students to learn from living plants rather than from books alone. Rather than study Beal from afar,...

It's the chilly time of year, most of the leaves have already turned and are on the ground. Many assume the gardening season is at it's end - but alas, autumn is one the most rewarding times to get your hands in the soil - micro-gardening soil that is. It proves that even the smallest patch of earth can become a living classroom and a reminder of Bailey's belief that everyone can cultivate life, no matter the season. For beginners new to gardening, micro-gardening is the art of maximizing...

When the world feels uncertain - governments shutting down and headlines reminding us how big of a world we live in - it's worth reminding to turn to soil. Liberty Hyde Bailey once wrote that "the land must be lived with, not merely lived on." To Bailey, the garden wasn't an economical factory of production; it was a moral landscape. A classroom. A covenant. In uncomfortable times, Bailey wouldn't tell us to huddle and endure, but to plant. To make the earth fruitful, even in small ways. A...