If you live in a city, spend a lot of time indoors or are a devoted hand sanitizer user, chances are you\u2019re not getting your hands too dirty very often. But what if getting your hands literally in dirt is good for you? Enter the \u201cdirty wellness\u201d trend, which is focused on experiences that cultivate the connection between soil and human health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research has shown that interactions with soil can provide various health benefits, from those positive feelings that arise when planting seeds in a garden, to a decrease in allergies and inflammatory disorders. Whether it’s soil-dwelling bacteria<\/a> that boosts serotonin, or how the health of soil<\/a> can impact human immune systems and wellbeing, the benefits of soil exposure are sparking a growing interest in soil-based or “farm-adjacent” wellness experiences. Unlike the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms effort\u2014which helps facilitate homestays on organic farms by volunteering for weeks or months in exchange for food and board\u2014the dirty wellness trend focuses on short-term experiences or those closer to home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe believe it all starts in the soil,” says Anais Dervaes, Executive Director of the Urban Homestead Institute and co-founder of Urban Homestead<\/a>, a family-run farm and garden in Pasadena, California. “If the soil\u2019s not well\u2014like a human, if you\u2019re not well\u2014you\u2019re susceptible to things. The soil nourishes the plant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2010, Urban Homestead has hosted farm tours and workshops for the community on topics from gardening and growing soil to bee-keeping and raising chickens. \u201cThere are things in the world that you can\u2019t control, but the garden and this [farm] life keeps you grounded. When people are here, they\u2019re happy. It seems like their cares leave them,\u201d Dervaes says. \u201cThey\u2019re marveling at the growth and beauty. There\u2019s a sense of awe at how in these times, we can still survive and thrive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a supplier of fresh produce for restaurants and catering companies, the farm practices biointensive, regenerative growing methods and has cultivated nutrition-rich soil after decades of composting and mulching. \u201cPeople have said that they taste the difference in our plants,” Dervaes says. “It\u2019s the soil and the minerals that come through in the nutrient-dense food that they\u2019re eating.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The nutritional benefits of regenerative soil practices are embraced by the farm-to-table movement, so it\u2019s also no surprise that farmstays and ingredient-driven hotels have curated experiences that connect the culinary and wellness benefits of soil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ready to get your hands dirty? Farmstays such as Blackberry Farms<\/a> in eastern Tennessee offer activities such as the Farmstead Field School, which features tours of the farm, classes with the farm\u2019s master gardener, and artisan cooking classes using ingredients grown on the property. Hospitality startup Sagra<\/a>\u2014which operates regenerative farms such as Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales, California, Hill Farm in Vermont, and Livingston Farm in upstate New York\u2014invites guests to participate in farm and ranch activities, while also feasting on Michelin-worthy meals harvested that day. \u201cWhile the invaluable work of farmers and microbes is happening in the ground, we invite you to share in the bounty, celebrate the beauty of these places and get excited about being a part of it,\u201d Sagra\u2019s mission states. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you aren\u2019t able to visit a nearby farm or travel to one, Dervaes says that you can still reap the same benefits of dirty wellness’ soil-exposure philosophy by tending your own garden, whether it\u2019s in your backyard or on a kitchen windowsill. \u201cWe all can\u2019t move to ten acres,\u201d she says. \u201cBut if we can all take small steps, it\u2019ll have a big impact.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n References for this information: <\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you live in a city, spend a lot of time indoors or are a devoted hand sanitizer user, chances are you\u2019re not getting your hands too dirty very often. But what if getting your hands literally in dirt is good for you? Enter the \u201cdirty wellness\u201d trend, which is focused on experiences that cultivate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":4636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-body","category-food"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1750787538:21"],"_edit_last":["21"],"adobe_analytics_repeatable":["a:1:{i:0;a:2:{s:4:\"name\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"value\";s:0:\"\";}}"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["60"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["3"],"show_featured_image":["1"],"_show_featured_image":["field_609ee1cf1ce13"],"primary_category":["2"],"_primary_category":["field_608c33bdd26d5"],"mobile_image":[""],"_mobile_image":["field_60bf7692abe28"],"_post_views_count":["field_6107dfafd6a27"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["4"],"_thumbnail_id":["4636"],"post_views_count":["3676"],"_wp_old_date":["2022-06-29"],"sidebar_products_use_global_default":["0"],"_sidebar_products_use_global_default":["field_63a349a11086a"],"sidebar_products_title":["Related Products"],"_sidebar_products_title":["field_6408d62123449"],"sidebar_products_items":[""],"_sidebar_products_items":["field_63a349a110878"],"sidebar_products":[""],"_sidebar_products":["field_63a349a0dadad"],"_yoast_wpseo_title":["The \"dirty wellness\" travel trend | Murad Skincare"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Why dirty wellness is trending: explore this travel movement for embracing simple life and getting your hands dirty."]},"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":{"show_featured_image":true,"primary_category":{"term_id":2,"name":"Mind","slug":"mind","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":76,"filter":"raw"},"mobile_image":false,"post_views_count":"3676","sidebar_products":{"use_global_default":false,"title":"Related Products","items":""}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4628"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13477,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4628\/revisions\/13477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/4636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The benefits of trading city life for the simple life<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Better soil, better food<\/a>, better you<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Farmstays: The new luxury vacation? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Psychopharmacology, May 2019 <\/a>
Sage Journals, June 2020<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n