CEWAK Soil
Our soil is a complex ecosystem, just like above-ground forests and prairies. Healthy soils are full of life. They clean our water and sustain our food crops. They provide a home for many creatures. Working soils are remarkably resilient: with careful management they can be highly productive and healthy year after year.
Soils exhibit dramatic and fascinating differences in response to environmental variables. The study of soil properties and their relationship to the 5 "soil forming factors": parent material, topography, climate, biology, and time, is called Pedology.
Antigo Silt Loam was named the official state soil of Wisconsin by the State Legislature in 1983. About 11,000 years ago, near the end of the last Ice Age, glacial meltwaters deposited the sand and gravel outwash that forms the lower subsoil and substratum of the Antigo soil. Strong winds and glacial meltwaters then deposited 2 to 3 feet of silty loess and loamy outwash on top of the sand and gravel. Soil development, under northern hardwood forests, produced an organic enriched surface layer and a clay
enriched subsoil.
Francis Hole wrote the Antigo Silt Loam song, which tells this story in a more entertaining way. To hear the first part of the song, sung by Judy and Carl in 2002: Antigo Silt Loam Song
To learn more about soils: USDA, NRCS
Soils exhibit dramatic and fascinating differences in response to environmental variables. The study of soil properties and their relationship to the 5 "soil forming factors": parent material, topography, climate, biology, and time, is called Pedology.
Antigo Silt Loam was named the official state soil of Wisconsin by the State Legislature in 1983. About 11,000 years ago, near the end of the last Ice Age, glacial meltwaters deposited the sand and gravel outwash that forms the lower subsoil and substratum of the Antigo soil. Strong winds and glacial meltwaters then deposited 2 to 3 feet of silty loess and loamy outwash on top of the sand and gravel. Soil development, under northern hardwood forests, produced an organic enriched surface layer and a clay
enriched subsoil.
Francis Hole wrote the Antigo Silt Loam song, which tells this story in a more entertaining way. To hear the first part of the song, sung by Judy and Carl in 2002: Antigo Silt Loam Song
To learn more about soils: USDA, NRCS