MELISSA THOMPSON
Melissa Thompson (farming with microbes) reclaimed 46 Douglas fir trees from an exhibition at the Barbican and built her studio with friends to sustain her work. She was a founding member of Phytology helping to establish the medicinal field of common weeds where her fascination of soil began. She studied with internationally-renowned soil scientist Dr Elaine Ingham who is best known for her work on the soil food web. Co-founded the Roving Microscope with Hari Bales and Ellie Doney, a community microscope club in Bethnal Green, London. Whilst working on projects in Wales she studied: Permaculture Design with Sector 39, Korean Natural Farming with Chris Trump (Biomei Natural Farming), and how to make bio-amendments and mineral-brews with Colombian educator/activist Jairo Restrepo in the field of sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty. Melissa uses methods from across art, design and science to collaboratively solve complex problems. She is an educator with thirty years experience as a lecturer in the expanded field of visual communication. She is a mutually supportive person and a certified Soil Food Web Lab Tech/microscopist of soil and compost. Many of our ecosystem services rely on a functioning soil biota, she is an advocate of collecting and cultivating native microbes to make a controlled microbial compost to restore soil health, build resilient food systems and mitigate effects of climate change. Currently Melissa is working 1:1 on field trials with a farmer in Kent to transform farm manures and crop residues into a microbrially-rich compost then monitor any shift in soil biology in soils after spreading.
www.compost-mentis.com/heap/project-roving-microscrope
@farming_with_microbes