Guided feel-test workshop
Step cast strength, ribbon length, and grittiness with hand-cue diagrams until you hit a USDA texture class plus drainage and tillage notes you can trust in the field.
Field scholarship · Education utility
SoilRibbon Feel Lab
Run the classic cast–ribbon–grit test on your phone, land on a USDA texture class, and match crops and amendments before you plant another wrong bed.
Cast · ribbon · grit — branching feel paths
USDA classes
Offline library
Site cards
Texture triangle
12USDA texture classes seeded
40+Crops & covers in the catalog
100%Offline library at first launch
iOSOn-device SwiftData site cards
Illustrative marketing figures; not App Store metrics.
Asymmetric field desk
Dense educational utility—not a weather gadget. Work moist samples, resolve texture, then branch into crops, covers, and amendment study.
Live texture triangle
Tap or drag sand through clay zones to open field-feel cues, crusting and puddling risks, compaction flags, and one-tap jumps into crops and amendments.
Crop & cover fit browser
Filter 40+ seeded vegetables, fruits, forages, and covers by preferred texture and drainage; star a study set and compare side-by-side why a crop thrives or struggles.
Amendment scenario desk
Set current class versus target feel, then review educational mix directions—compost bulk, coarse-sand caution, gypsum context, OM goals—with verify-locally prompts, never prescriptions.
Site cards & compare shelf
Author on-device cards for beds, rows, or paddock corners with class, checklist results, optional sample photo, and notes; pin two classes or sites to contrast ribbon behavior and crop fit.
Recognition drills & seasonal coach
Timed quizzes on ribbons, triangle regions, and crop–texture pairs, plus coaching when wet, frozen, or powder-dry ground skews feel—and a WidgetKit ribbon cheat sheet for the field.
Orchardists, homesteaders, MG trainees, ag students
A branching texture-by-feel workshop with a full seeded library—built for the row edge, not a thin list of soil facts.
Workshop path at a glance
01Moisten & castBall strength and fracture cues with illustrated hands.
02Ribbon lengthBand the ribbon until the feel class narrows.
03Grit checkSand, silt, clay signals lock a USDA name.
04Match & drillCrops, covers, scenarios, and timed recognition.
About the lab
SoilRibbon Feel Lab is a branching field workshop for home orchardists, homesteaders, master-gardener trainees, and ag students who need more than a soil-fact list. Work a moist sample through cast strength, ribbon-length bands, and sand/silt/clay grittiness with illustrated hand cues; each path resolves to a named USDA class with plain-language drainage and workability notes.
Explore that class on a live texture triangle, filter vegetables, fruits, forages, and covers that prefer it, and walk educational amendment scenarios toward a target feel—with explicit non-prescription wording. Save site texture cards for beds and paddock corners, drill recognition under a timer, and keep the full seeded library offline so the lab still works at the row edge.
On-device education utility · SoilRibbon Feel Lab · 2026
Hands-on before you plantTexture class → crop fit → study amendments → site card