This is a regenerative farming practice that benefits soil health, the quality of the grass/ hay, and the cattle. We strategically graze our cattle groupings to in smaller subsections of our pasture (called a grazing cell) for a day or two. They eat down the fresh grass and aerate the soil with their cloven hooves, fertilizing with their manure as they go. Once they have finished that grazing cell, they are moved to a new one and the process repeats until they have moved through the whole pasture and return to where they first started. By the time they get back to the beginning, the hay has replenished itself and the soil has started to incorporate all of the incredible nutrients from the cows.

Our Deep Winter Greenhouse follows technology out of the University of Minnesota. The technology allows for the heat that is produced inside of the greenhouse during the peak summer months to be collected and stored under the Earth in geothermal tubing. The heat and energy can then be released and used to heat the greenhouse in the cold, deep winter months, requiring very little electricity to heat the building. This allows us to grow fresh produce year round as well as get a jump start on our veggie and flower seeds for the summer growing season.

Especially in the winter months, we like to optimize our growing capacity through the use of hydroponic growing systems. Hydroponics allows for the precise control over nutrients, light, and temperature allowing for plants to have higher yields. It also minimizes water waste, evaporation, and run off through recycling and reusing water. Hydroponics allow us to also maximize the growing space within the greenhouse, particularly in the winter months.

While we were restoring the farm, we made the conscious decision to switch over as many of our systems to electric as possible: cars, tractors and power tools included. Solar is Tom’s speciality, so we have designed and will be outfitting our farm with enough solar panels to meet 90% of our energy needs.

From electric cars to electric tractors, electric appliances to heating/ cooling sources, we believe in utilizing a sustainable energy source for our farm. While we still do have to use some gas/ diesel equipment to get large, tough, rugged jobs done, we make every effort to use our electric options first.

We believe in the symbiotic relationship of all things on our farm. By composting our food scraps, we work to reduce our waste, improve soil health, create our own natural fertilizer, and sequester carbon.

To further improve the quality of the compost, we incorporate biochar. Biochar is carbon-rich material produced from burning organic matter in a low-oxygen environment (pyrolysis). It not only helps speed the compost process, but also supports nutrient retention and microbial habitat within the soil making it highly productive to grow with AND reduces the release of greenhouse gases.