Regenerative Agriculture
Our mission is to nourish ourselves and our community with healthy food, while also supporting a healthy natural ecosystem. To do that we look to nature as our teacher every step of the way. Some terms that describe our practices include regenerative, permaculture, no-till, holistic land management, beyond organic. We are not certified organic at this time for a variety of reasons, but about 95% of our inputs meet organic standards. We have followed many mentors over the years including Joel Salatin, Gabe Brown and Justin Rhodes along with learning from and working for local small farms around California.
The principles of soil health
Using these five basic principles, our goal is to increase our land's resilience in the face of a changing climate and an ecosystem that has been fragmented and weakened by many factors dating back to Spanish colonialism.
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limit soil disturbance as much as possible: avoid tilling, cut plants off at the base rather than ripping roots out of the ground, avoid compaction
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keep soil covered as much as possible: either with living plants or with a mulch like straw or dead leaves. This protects soil from evaporation, wind erosion and temperature fluctuation while providing safe habitat for worms, microbes etc.
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increase plant diversity: each species of plant has a unique root structure and microbial community associated with it, and also supports a diversity of life above ground. Plants form symbiotic relationships with each other in order to thrive
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keep living roots in the ground as much as possible: when a plant photosynthesizes, it pumps liquid carbon into the soil which feeds the soil microbes who in turn convert soil nutrients into forms usable by the plant. When soil sits vacant, those microbes begin to starve and die off
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integrate livestock: nowhere in nature will you see a thriving plant community without any animals present, or vice versa. Plants rely on animals to move nutrients around and stimulate growth with concentrated grazing followed by rest periods
Rotational Grazing
In nature, healthy grassland ecosystems are populated by hooved herbivores who move frequently. They typically stay close together and move often in order to remain safe from predators. This supports a healthy grassland in a variety of ways:
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biting the plant tops stimulates new growth, while moving often keeps plants healthy enough to continue photosynthesizing
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manure and urine fertilize the plants
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the animals' hooves create indentations for rain water to be caught and soak into the soil
In our system, we act as the predators and use mobile fencing to keep the animals bunched together. This allows for targeted grazing and gives our herd the best quality food possible.
No till gardening
We grow vegetables and flowers using methods that increase SOM (soil organic matter) and keeps soil structure intact. The higher your SOM, the more water your soil can retain and the more life your soil can support in the form of microbes like bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, yeasts and macrobiology such as worms and beneficial insects. Those microbes consume liquid carbon being pumped into the soil by plant roots, and in turn convert nutrients in the soil to forms usable by those plants. The more life in your soil, the more your plants will get out of that soil.
In conventional agriculture, synthetic fertilizers are used which are much less absorbable to the plants and don't feed the soil microbes at all. Therefore, much higher amounts of these inputs are needed in order to fertilize the crops, most of which stays in the soil or runs off into waterways causing toxic effects downstream.