Soil Rehab Experiment - Part 1: The Plants in Sand

An innovative company out of Kentucky, Organilock, is partnering with Mission Resource to begin testing their new product, Soil Rehab, in the depleted soils of Ghana and Haiti and elsewhere in the developing world. Soil Rehab has incredible potential to replace traditional chemical fertilizers in rejuvenating even the most depleted soils. And there's a bonus: it is manufactured in a way that benefits the environment instead of harming it.

OrganiLock has run multiple tests to show that you can create an environment in which plants can grow and flourish even in a container of literal sand - with the addition of just a few tablespoons of Soil Rehab.

Now I am one of those guys who has to see for himself. So I decided to run my own experiment at home.

I bought some seeds, a couple of Rubbermaid containers, and a bag of play sand.

Tomorrow I will reveal how the plants in the Soil Rehab mix performed.

But today I just want to focus on the beauty and vitality of God's creation as seen in the plant life all around us that brings us beauty and nutrition.

Here's how I came to that focus: I started my experiment assuming no plant could grow in sand alone, but - remembering my high school science classes - I knew I needed a control group regardless. So I planted 3 green beans and 3 marigolds in 2 separate containers - one with sand alone and one with sand mixed with Soil Rehab.

I wasn't surprised that the seeds in the plain sand sprouted. (I remember growing beans on wet paper towel in grade school.) But I was amazed by their will to survive and to reproduce, even in the absence of all nutrients.

Although thin, pale and fragile, the bean plants grew over a foot tall. And then each produced a tiny bean or two! I uprooted two of the these three bean plants today because I took all the plants outside one day for some direct sunlight only to have a gentle spring breeze bend these two in half, ending their valiant struggle against the odds.

The marigolds, on the other hand, sprouted quickly and then slowly grew to the height of 2 or 3 inches before stopping completely. For at least a month now they have been the same size. But now they are attempting to produce tiny blooms all the same. They are bonsai marigolds!

The remaining sand bean is still alive. It has produced two green beans but all of its leaves have withered away. From the beginning it was not strong enough to stand up straight. (Which is what saved it from the spring breeze that killed its sisters.)

Still, its two beans are each 2.5 inches in length.

So at first I was amazed at the persistence of these poor plants sprouting in sand. But then it occurred to me that there is something even more amazing going on here.

Although they are all pathetic, these three miniature marigolds and three bean plants grew in nothing but sand and water.

Imagine this: all of the tiny leaves and stem and bud we see in this little guy (as well as the root system we don't see) ...

Came from what was originally packed into this little marigold seed:

AND/OR it was derived from the sand:

How is that possible?

It seems to me that a third possibility exists: something supernatural is going on here. And I mean that literally.

And it is happening all around us every day.

“Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Colossians 1:15-17