Bringing The Land Back To Life
Bringing the land back to life. What exactly does that mean? Land that is living and breathing, working for us, not against us.
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
What is regenerative agriculture? Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. In a nut shell, it’s putting focus on regenerating the soil. It’s pulling carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it in the ground. Regeneration practices include no-tilling, using diversity in planting, rotation of crops and livestock.
Scott & I are strong believers in giving this land everything we can so it can give back to us. Along this journey, we have found many farmers who are striving for the very same thing. Brown’s Ranch is one of my personal favorites. My eyes and ears were glued to a YouTube video series he has. Another great resource is Greg & Judy with Green Pastures Farm. They have endless how to’s out there and have been so helpful to our own plans.
OUR PLANS
Our family has big plans, but those big plans need finances so we start where we can start. The plan for this spring is to start with our first plot of land right behind our barn (around 2 acres). We will fence with Timeless Fencing, no-till drill seed with a mixture of organic cowpea, sorghum-sudans, pearl millet, radish, forage brassica and sunflower, as well as, mix that contains field peas, oats, and hairy vetch. Yes, all of them. Come fall, we are going to no-till drill seed the remaining of the acreage (including the 2 acre plot) with winter rye, field peas, ryegrass, crimson clover, and hairy vetch.
Pendleton Family Farm will not only have ducks at this point, but goats & chickens as well. All these animals will have a purpose on the land…to provide not only the obvious eggs and adorable character, but fertilizer…natural fertilizer. They will be grazed rotationally (moving from acre to acre), give organic pest control, and organic matter back to the soil.
SOIL TESTING
Soil testing is a vital part of knowing how your farm soil is doing and then how far it has come. Starting with a baseline is important to know what you need to add to give it the fuel it needs. Soil testing provides:
- Detailed chemical soil analyses, such as
- levels of major plant nutrients, including phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium & sulfur;
- levels of plant micronutrients, including copper, manganese & zinc;
- levels of sodium;
- pH and acidity;
- soil class;
- percent base saturation;
- percent humic matter;
- cation exchange capacity and
- weight-to-volume ratio.
- Source: here
You can learn more about our land here.
HOW ARE YOU BRINGING YOUR LAND BACK TO LIFE?
Tell us what your farm is doing to bring life back to your land and soil. We would LOVE to hear from you.