John began his love of soil and learning how to improve them in 1990. After earning a BA in microbiology in 1989, John worked with John Jeavons/Ecology Action and taught a wide variety of students about GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming. During that time, he wrote two books, Future Fertility: Transforming Human Waste to Human Wealth and Test Your Soil With Plants (now in its 2nd edition).
John continued focusing on soils and how to improve them, founding Grow Your Soil (growyoursoil.org) in 2012 to provide recommendations and consultation to help growers improve their soils around the world. John completed his Master of Science in Soil and Crop Sciences from Cornell University in 2021. In 2021, John also began the Soil Test Analysis and Amendment Recommender (STAAR) training program, teaching small-scale organic growers from around the world how to improve their soils.
John aims to help farmers and gardeners understand and improve their soils anywhere in the world regardless of their resources. Where access to a soil testing lab and organic fertilizers is limited, John loves teaching farmers and gardeners how to use simple tests to understand their soil and determine what it needs (and does not need) to become more fertile organically and sustainably. Toward this goal, John created Read Your Soil (readyoursoil.com) as a way for anyone to understand and improve their soils using a variety of simple tests that can be performed in the field by the grower. Also toward this goal, John is actively working the Bountiful Gardeners for Africa (bountifulgardenersforafrica.org) to develop safe and effective ways of utilizing the fertility of human waste to increase soil fertility, close the nutrient cycle and also improve sanitation.