• SoilPebble pattern on soil image by Vytenis from Fotolia.com
  
  Soil is much more than dirt. It is useful in many more ways than you might think. Soils are used everyday to improve people's health and beauty, manufacture useful items and make homes more efficient and comfortable. Soil is part of the outer shell of the Earth and is the product of the forces of erosion and decay. Weather constantly erodes rock to produce sand that mixes with decaying organic matter to produce soil.
  
  

Food

• The food web starts in soil.farbenfrohe Suppen image by Silvia Bogdanski from Fotolia.com
  
  Your very life depends upon soils. The food that you eat is directly or indirectly a product of the soil. The soil food chain begins with the microorganisms in the soil that eat organic matter and produce the nutrients that feed the plants. Plants in their turn supply food to you and the animals that also provide food to humans. According to the University of California, the soil food web is the community of organisms that are interdependent for sources of food and carbon. This food web encompasses every living thing on land.
  
  

Beauty Products

• Mud maskfacial mask image by sasha from Fotolia.com
  
  Soil is an active ingredient in several beauty products. Calcium Bentonite clay is used in many spas as a beauty mask or for mud baths. Many women use clay facial treatments to cleanse their skin. According to Yale Dermatology School the clay used as a base in many facial products is rich in minerals and can detoxify and temporarily improve circulation in the skin.
  
  

Building Material

• The Great Wall has rammed earth sectionsthe great wall of china image by Horticulture from Fotolia.com
  
  Soil is becoming a popular green building material. Rammed earth home construction methods result in homes that are inexpensive to build, are naturally temperature controlled and are unaffected by fire or termites.
  Rammed earth homes are constructed by pouring a damp mixture of sand, clay and gravel into shaped forms and tamping it down firmly. Cement or lime is used as a stabilizing agent in the soil mixture. After the walls are formed the wooden forms surrounding them are removed and the wall structure is allowed to dry and harden. According to the University of South Carolina, the rammed earth walls harden like stone and can take up to two years to cure completely. The longer the rammed earth walls cure the stronger they become. These homes can store the sun's heat in winter and block it in summer to keep the inside at a comfortable temperature.