Homesteading 101: Regenerative Farming and the American Farmer.

Our heritage deserves celebrating

Jill and I have advocated for and have been regenerative farming practitioners long before we ever heard of the name “regenerative.”

It goes back to our love of the horse and our passion for the history of the American farm.

In 1999, we decided that it was time to return to our roots and expand our passion for gardening. To take our ability to grow our food to the next level. To create our own paradise of a working, family farm. We both were lucky to grow up with farming backgrounds of one sort or another, and we both had ridden horses from a very young age.

Heck, back in our married student housing days - when I worked at the Salk Institute, we had a large plot of land in the student coop. We filled that little bit of land with all sorts of vegetable plants, as well as chickens. An old photo from forty years ago depicts our son Zach, with his hens, Henny and Penny at UCSD married student housing in La Jolla, Ca.

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As we have always shared a love of horses, we stumbled upon the idea of getting a pair of draft horses to learn to farm like our forefathers did; to learn the craft of working drafts, to expand our small but productive gardens into something more, and to learn more about the history of farming. Ah, the romanticism swept us away in a fantasy that we still haven’t escaped from. Photos of me working horses from 25 years ago:

Eventually, this journey led to us buying 55 acres of land in Jefferson, MD. This was 55 fantastic acres, with several falling-down barns and a house, all built between 100 and 150 years ago. It was all so post-card pretty.

There are two kinds of old houses: those that rich people built and those that poor people built. The house in Maryland was the latter, and it was a shambles, having been rented out to members of the motorcycle gang called the Pagans for many years. Who used it as a hang-out and party place. The house had no heating, very little electricity, and a bathroom with a floor that had fallen into the hand-dug basement. Someone had literally taken a car jack and stuck it under the bathtub - so at least there was that. Did I mention no hot water? It had asbestos siding, but the underlying structure was a cabin constructed of chestnut logs at least two feet thick. Unfortunately, bugs had eaten into a lot of it. The upstairs floor sloped four inches from the center to the walls, as it was anchored to the chimney in the center, but as the exterior had sunk into the ground, the floor had shifted also. We used old bricks to prop up one side of the bed. As you can imagine, our children were “overjoyed’ at our new digs. But kids have a way of adapting, and soon, we got the house whipped into liveable condition. Barely.

The land had been used for hay for generations. Countless farmers had grown hay, scalped off the crop, planted seed - then repeated the process with occasional supplements of lime, infusions of fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides. So there wasn’t much left of the soil on this farm. It was just hard subsoil, consisting of red clay. The truth is that without the heavy use of petrochemical-based fertilizers, most farms in the United States could not produce enough agricultural products to be profitable. Petrochemical fertilizers are synthetic fertilizers produced using petroleum or natural gas as key ingredients. These fertilizers primarily contain nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. They are what fuel the growing of crops throughout most of America. Rebuilding the land to make it fertile again requires a lot of time, effort, and patience. But that was our goal then, and it is still our goal, even though we have a different farm, and our thinking has evolved into what that might look like. Now our farm has more land devoted to forest and biodiversity - and we try to build our farm, vegetable gardens, and fruit trees in synchrony.

Two wonderful Amish Percheron were purchased in 2003, Annie May and Katie Sue. Anne was the first - she was a stout, no nonsense mare, who had done it all. From plowing and tedding (fluffing the hay before harvest) to driving down the quiet roads surrounding our farm, nothing phased her. She was our greatest driving teacher. There is nothing better than a draft horse who has done it all. Not only was she a powerhouse of a work animal, but she would also produce a beautiful foal year after year.

We discovered the Maryland Draft Horse and Mule Association, and were encouraged to attend their workshops and events, we purchased books on harnessing and work horses, and slowly learned the craft of working big horses. Earl Nicholson, a very old dairy farmer in Maryland took us under his wing - and we spent countless hours on his farm helping him and he us.

2004: Jill and our son working Anne and Katie - tedding the hay, getting ready to bale.

The old farmers keeping these skills alive 25+/- years ago grew up using horses to farm way back to the Great Depression up through the 1950s. They knew how to keep the soil alive, before modern farming practices. Big Ag and what the USDA has advocated for farming practices since the 1950s and 1960s destroys the bacteria and sucks the soil dry of micro-nutrients. Many of the draft horse community farmers still practiced old-style farming skills on their farms. We sucked up the knowledge as fast as we could. We went to draft horse shows, farm horse auctions and used Amish farriers (very few “light” horse farriers will work with drafts). Then, we slowly began to build up friends in that community.

Sadly, these old farmers are dying off. Each year, the knowledge base around keeping a small family farm going gets smaller and smaller. Luckily, the Amish and Mennonites keep these traditions alive, and now a new generation of farmers has taken up the calling.

What we learned was how to farm back to how it was done at the turn of the 20th century, over a hundred years ago. We learned about “resting” the land, pasture rotation, building organic matter, planting winter crops to hold the soil, using legume crops to fix nitrogen, etc. We learned how to plow, ted, bale and harvest grain by horse. We learned how horses hooves don’t impact the soil the way the huge, modern tractors do. We also learned how to harness draft horses and how to use the horse-drawn equipment - most of it being refurbished from years past. We learned how to refurbish said equipment and we built up a fine collection of old farm implements, wagons, and carriages.

As this happened, we began breeding Percheron, which are magnificent black or grey drafts with feet the size of dish platters. Then we started teaching others how to hitch and drive, and our community grew. We taught various teens how to drive and helped them to show our horses in local and state fairs.

Our farming neighbor had 200 acres, with the most beautiful orchard grass I had ever seen. I once asked him how that pasture came to be. He explained that his family had been farming it for over a hundred years and they had always kept cattle, which were rotated on and off each pasture. That he would just mow out patches of broad-leaf weeds. That orchard grass would set and, if taken care of properly, would crowd out the weeds. We learned what types of hay and grasses worked well for building sustainable pastures.

I began to use the mower (sometimes horse-drawn) and the weed eater to cut down weeds before they seeded. We learned about using cover crops in the winter to build nitrogen and to keep the weeds in check.

Of course, as we have been farming, growing vegetables and fruit for as long as we have been together, or longer, composted, building organic matter, choosing what to plant wisely was already deep in our subconscious.

Organic harvests like this, require good soil, lots of TLC, and some basic knowledge.

So, we would to pile up the horse’s manure - using our old tractor, then turning the compost occasionally, adding plant waste to the pile, adding chicken manure, and letting it get well rotted. When you have a farm, you have the luxury of land - so the manure and compost pile dodn’t need to be contained. Once one pile got to the point of being out of control, we would start another. Then in half a year or so -when the old pile had stopped steaming - when turned, it would be ready to use.

Then we would either use the bucket of the tractor to titrate out the organic matter onto land that needed organic matter or we would use a manure spreader. A manure spreader is a wagon that holds manure or compost, and a set of paddles in the back titrate out the product in an even manner. These can be chain driven - horse drawn or run off of a tractor PTO. Of course, unless we had a big vegetable garden, we also use the good old wheel barrow to move what needs moving. Farming is all about hard work. You either love it, or you don’t.

During this time, our passion for driving and draft horses expanded. So, we ended up with two teenaged boys, and a gaggle of teens who volunteered to work with the horses. There is a whole generation of Gen Xers and millennials, who still thank us for the gift of learning to drive and ride horses, to be able to indulge their passion for horses, to have a wholesome community of friends, and even a few who chose to go into farming because of the time spend on on our farm.

Those kids got to ride those big old drafts all over the place and I believe that for some of them, they may have been some of the best times of their youth.

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In 2007, I was recruited to join a firm in Georgia, so we loaded up our 12 horses onto the Eby trailer and moved to a farm there, carrying on with the same traditions. By then, the farm in Maryland was thriving - so selling it was not an issue. However, leaving that farm and our friends was heartbreaking.

Six years later, we moved to Virginia. In 2017, we bought our current 30-acre farm. At the time, it consisted of worn-out, weedy land - that was only good for making cow hay, some 100-year-old buildings that were almost beyond repair, and ten acres of forest with an old quarry pit in the back. We have since expanded to include 45 acres.

We had lost our shirts selling the farm in Georgia, as we bought that farm before the recession in 2008, and then the value never returned to the old farms in the hills of North Georgia. So, we were cash-poor. We bought basically raw land and started from scratch yet again. Despite all that, the topography of this farm is beautiful, with rolling hills, two creeks, and native cedars, mulberries, walnuts, sycamores and pines abound. Boulders and cliffs surround the quarry pond. We have otter, beaver, bear, foxes, bald eagles, vultures, hawk, and a vast variety of other animals and birds either as permanent residents or just passing through.

As we had a number of horses, we needed to get everyone on the land as quickly as possible. So, we started living in an old office trailer with 400 square feet of space, no electricity, no running water and no plumbing. We rented a porta-potty, used the local gym for showers or showered outside on warm days. We threw up some solar-charged electric fencing for the twelve horses and converted an old building for the chickens (after we immediately lost two to a fox). It took grit and hard work. But that is how our journey here began. It truly was a leap of faith - that we could pull it all off -but we did.

This farm has grown into an extraordinary endeavor. We now have multiple houses and barns, horse fencing, a sixty-tree fruit orchard, gardens, chickens and assorted poultry, walking paths, the start of a native botanical garden, and a riding arena. But we also have built those worn-out hay fields into fertile land. With each passing season, the grass gets more lush, the weeds fewer, and the pastures more nutritious for the farm animals.

Anyone who knows Jill, knows that our farm always has an abundance of animals. Most have to “pay their way” - and we have experimented with chickens, turkeys, dairy cattle, and sheep. Horses continue to be our main product, although somewhere between 2007 and 2012, we switched from breeding draft horses to a rare breed of horse called the Lusitano.

Mini Jersey cattle on our farm in Georgia (2011).

So, we learned our craft in small farming from some of the best - the last generation of American farmers to actually farm before big ag - with its heavy use of petrochemicals, pesticides, and herbicides took control. Before big ag, each farm generation passed down their skills to the next, who would build upon that skill set to create even more ingenious ways of doing things. That “can do” spirit, is what truly made America what it is today. We also learned from the Amish, who also are an American institution - who generously taught us how to farm with horses, and who allowed us entry into their private lives to learn how to farm the old way

When someone first explained to me “what” regenerative farming is, I kept waiting for the punch line. What was I missing? See, rotational agriculture is nothing more than what our forefathers have been doing for hundreds of years with a bit of Agenda 2030 and sciencey talk to explain the concepts. It is what we set out to learn over twenty-five years ago or earlier.

Which is why when I hear the term regenerative farming, I kind of chuckle inside. But if repackaging what our great American farmers did for generations into a new age “woo-woo” concept makes people want to try it, I am all in!

Basically, regenerative agriculture is nothing more than a farming and grazing approach that focuses on improving soil health, enhancing biodiversity, and restoring degraded ecosystems. Key aspects of regenerative agriculture include:

1. Soil regeneration: Rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring soil biodiversity.

2. Carbon sequestration: Drawdown of atmospheric carbon into the soil (basically creating organic matter).

3. Water cycle improvement: Enhancing water retention and quality (again - organic matter).

4. Biodiversity enhancement: Increasing plant and animal diversity on farms. This all sounds very Agenda 2030, but the truth is that birds, wildlife and a healthy eco-system are necessary for a healthy farm and life.

Regenerative farming practices often include:

• No-till or reduced tillage farming.

• Cover cropping and crop rotation.

• Minimizing chemical inputs (pesticides and synthetic fertilizers).

• Adaptive multi-paddock grazing for livestock.

That is it. That is exactly what I learned from those old farmers and the Amish. Just repackaged as a bright and shiny new concept.

The truth is that we have to stop thinking about regenerative farming as something farmers “should” do. Every suburban house, urban plot, and farmette in the county should consider growing their own food, enhancing the organic matter in the soil that they live on, allowing space for natural habitats, and taking care of the earth that they have been given responsibility for. We used to have other ways to express this - the victory garden, the kitchen garden, and agricultural coops. All work towards the same goals.

But let's also give credit where credit is due. Until recently, our ancestors found ways to farm that did not include poisoning the ground they drew their living and life from. Those men and women need to be acknowledged. Using the term regenerative farming negates their very existence, wisdom through the ages, and their expertise.

But in the end, it is just a word. What is important is the movement, and it needs to expand. So, if the term regenerative farming gets some Gen X, Gen Y or millennials back to the earth, then all is good.

In the end, it seems hypocritical and wasteful for the average, everyday American to be buying expensive, organic veg and then turn around and use a commercial lawn service to poison the very ground that they live on. Is the goal of owning an abundance of land in one’s backyard to turn into a sterile mono-crop of Kentucky 31? Where even our native wildlife can’t thrive? We can do better.

Regenerative living is something we should all be investing in.

Which comes down to homesteading or having a victory garden, if you will.

Homesteading is a path to refining and re-finding one’s place in the world, to be productive, as well as to give children a way to provide service and be productive. Productivity and having a place, by being just a little bit more, trying a little bit harder, and by being responsible for one’s food and well-being. These are things that can bring a real sense of peace and satisfaction. They also are skills that may be needed in the future.

But in the meantime, let’s all take care of what we can on this earth. Let’s keep the spirit of America alive.

Our farmers helped build this great country; let’s celebrate and re-invent what it means to be truly self-sufficient.

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In writing this, we dug up an old video made fifteen years ago by Jill. It is good to be reminded of how long we have been at this.

Life is what we make of it.

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