ANNUALS PLANTED UNDER THE PROTECTION OF TREES, WITH THE REDEMPTION OF GRASSES

The above statement encapsulates our farming philosophy. With the goal of developing carbon sequestering humus and nutrient dense food, the value of leaning towards a perennial pastural based food system is paramount. Every time humans plow the earth to plant annuals (crops that just grow for one season) the soil loses carbon to the atmosphere and the capacity to hold vital minerals necessary for plant nutrition.

After one season of annual production, our fields are returned to perennial grasses as pasture for cows and chickens to restore fertility for at least two years. Perennials grasses draw down carbon out of the atmosphere and into the soil faster then any other plants. Bovines with their four chamber stomachs (a living vat of probiotics, their manure is alive with life force) are our partners in fertility restoration. Their unique physiology allows them to extract the solar energy locked in the cellulose of grasses and deliver it to us in the usable form of meat and milk.

Trees create the container for our fields, trees shade give the crops a break from the sun, reduce the wind and thus evaporation, moderate surface temperatures, and bring up minerals from deep in the earth by distributing their fallen leaves on the surface. We consider soil restoration the highest prerogative for humanity. Not only to mitigate climate change but to restore health to people and communities through out the world.