Wow, what a day. Colin Seis in his element, explaining to 30+ folks why pasture cropping is such a big deal. Farmers, permaculturalists and agri-entreprenuers seemed to make up the bulk of the crowd.
There’s a lot of interest in this regenerative cropping technique. And so there should be. Read More
So here we have it. Folks, this ain’t normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World. At last, after 7 self-published books on everything from ground-breaking poultry systems to inter-generational farming strategies, Joel Salatin has finally written a book aimed fair and square at the mainstream.
A self-professed Christian Libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer, Joel Salatin is one of a kind. His family enterprise, PolyFace Farms in the Shenandoah Valley of Virgina, USA, is a unique example of profitable family ‘beyond organic’ farming. But that’s not what this book is about. Read More
Why was Joel Salatin so excited when we took him to visit Col Seis’s pasture cropping farm last year? I think it had to do with Joel wanting to close the loop on his regenerative farming enterprise by plugging one of the biggest holes Polyface Farm has: grain inputs for animals.
The idea of truly regenerative grain cropping within a mixed-farming system is really exciting. So we’re working with Col Seis to deliver a course on it:
>> Pasture Cropping Workshop: 15th October, Winona, Gulgong NSW.
It’s a chance to learn how to design and integrate regenerative cropping into a small farming enterprise that can produce grain for animals and/or people, while using the same paddocks for grazing, and building topsoil to boot. Read More
When I’ve thought about small scale grain cropping in the past, I thought of long skirts, plaited hair, and a whole lot of winnowing, threshing, and hard work. Somehow, I always thought this stuff was either the province of the seriously self sufficient, or the seriously delusional.
Nowadays I wonder why the heck in Australia we don’t grow more grains and pulses on a small scale. It would seem to me that grain production is one of those things we’ve whole-heartedly outsourced to industrial agribusiness without a second glance. And I think I want it back. Read More
Joel, Kirsten and Nick at Milkwood Farm
May all your carrots grow long and straight,
may the foxes be struck blind by your chickens,
may your customers love cooking your food in their kitchens,
may the rains be gentle on your pastures,
may your fields grow with soil,
may your earthworms dance with celebration,
may the wind be always at your back,
your children rise up and call you blessed,
and may we all leave a better world than we found…
With such a blessing did Joel Salatin close each workshop and talk he gave while in Australia on his recent RegenAG tour. And I could feel the crowd accepting that blessing with gratitude, each and every time.
We were lucky enough to run 3 public talks and 2 workshops with Joel while he was in Australia this year and I’m afraid he’s changed our outlook on agriculture, land use, land stewardship and the funkiness of farming forever. Read More
pasture cropped oats growing in symbiosis with native perennial pastures at Col Seis’s farm
Grain cropping is something that, for the vast majority of us, is someone else’s problem. We just eat the results; certainly every day, and nearly with every meal. Bread, rice, corn, soy, beans and so on. Produced somewhere out there, by someone else.
So a portion of our every single meal is coming from a grain crop, somewhere way out west. We wish it were grown organically, and in a way that doesn’t destroy too much of our topsoil. But we’ll eat it regardless of the farming practices, really. It’s in our diet. It’s what we do. Read More
