#204 IN PRACTICE July/August 2022

Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.

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J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 2 2

The Power of an Imperfect Holistic Goal

BY ANN ADAMS

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s editor of IN PRACTICE and as a Holistic Management® Certified Educator I talk to a lot of people about their holistic goal. What I am struck by when I talk to many people is how concerned they are that they aren’t doing it “right.” We have the unfortunate habit as humans of judging ourselves against some perfect outcome and get stuck in the “should” trap.

To me, one of the joys of Holistic

Creating a Holistic Goal INSIDE THIS ISSUE Creating a holistic goal is a critical piece of the Holistic Management process. For some people it can be challenging. Learn what some of HMI’s Certified Educators do to help people with creating their holistic goal, like Seth Wilner on page 2 and Brian Wehlburg on page 14.

In Practice a publication of Holistic Management International

NUMBER 204

W W W. H O L I S T I C M A N A G E M E N T. O R G

Management (and its power) is that there is no able to improve their quality of life, profits, and one right way to practice Holistic Management. land health—keeping people on the land and working lands working.

There also is no one right way to create a Recently, I was watching a video from holistic goal or use it. Some people put their holistic goal in a prominent place in their home the 2018 REGENERATE Conference in which Deborah Clark of the Birdwell-Clark or office to review formally whenever they Ranch near Henrietta, Texas talks about her are testing. Some people may have a very brief statement, while others create elaborate experience of working on the holistic goal for the ranch with her husband, Emry. Like many documents or even pieces of art or visuals ranches, the Birdwell-Clark Ranch had been to help guide their decision-making. The managing holistically for many years without a Colville Confederated Tribe in Washington state even created a shield that was the visual holistic goal. When Deborah asked Emry what she needed to do to get Emry to sit down and representation of their holistic goal. write a holistic goal with her, he said, “One Ultimately, the power of a holistic goal is taking the time to articulate to yourself, whether hour and you have to use my words.”

Deborah, who was going through HMI’s in a written document, visual graphic, or in your Certified Educator Training Program at head, that which you value and is important the time, was at first flummoxed by Emry’s to you. We know that creating a document or something external is a driver to most people to parameters as she thought of her holistic follow through or make a commitment to living goal which was lofty, finely articulated, and those values. But, there are many people that spoke of her many values and desire to make are more driven by their internal compass, and a difference in the world. Emry, on the other a commitment to themselves is just as strong hand, wanted time with his bird dogs and, maybe, Deborah. So Deborah put on her as something externally shared with others. educator hat and agreed to Emry’s demand Again, there is no one right way. Instead, I would ask: “Are you moving in the direction you so that they were able to create a brief holistic want to go?” “Are you enjoying a good quality goal with some of Deborah’s words as well as of life?” The answers to these questions are far Emry’s desired time with his bird dogs. They needed that time to communicate their key more valuable than any “should.”

As Holistic Management practitioners, you values and desired outcomes because that clarity helped them weather “The Armageddon have your own experience with your holistic Years” as Deborah puts it. And that is where goal and have learned some lessons along the way. You probably have your own “should” the power of the holistic goal lies—regardless of how imperfect your goal might be. list that you may have some shame about To learn more about the power of Holistic for not doing Holistic Management perfectly.

Management, attend the 2022 REGENERATE But if you can put that “should” list aside and Conference from November 2–4, 2022 in ask those questions above, what would your Denver, CO. Registration is slated to start in answer be? If the answers are negative, is there some aspect of the Holistic Management early July but you can go to the website to process or community you could engage? We learn more at: https://regenerateconference. com/. There will be many Holistic Management are all in this together and we all want each practitioners presenting and attending as well of us to succeed. I have been so inspired by this community and their generosity of spirit to as other regenerative agriculture producers, share their knowledge and experience because educators, and advocates, as we explore the topic of “Cultivating Restorative Economies.” they are so excited about seeing others be

Forging A Holistic Goal

BY SETH WILNER

Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.

®

In Practice a publication of Hollistic Management International

HMI’s mission is to envision and realize healthy, resilient lands and thriving communities by serving people in the practice of Holistic Decision Making & Management.

STAFF

Wayne Knight. . . . . . . . . . . . . Interim Executive Director Ann Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Education Director Carrie Stearns . . . . . . . . . . . . Director of Communications

& Outreach Marie Von Ancken . . . . . . . . . Program Manager Dana Bonham. . . . . . . . . . . . . Program & Grants Manager Oris Salazar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Program Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Walter Lynn, Chair Breanna Owens, Vice-Chair Jim Shelton, Secretary Delane Atcitty Alejandro Carrillo Jonathan Cobb Ariel Greenwood Jozua Lambrechts Daniel Nuckols Brad Schmidt Kelly Sidoryk Casey Wade Brian Wehlburg Seth Wilner

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT® IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by: Holistic Management International 2425 San Pedro Dr. NE, Ste A Albuquerque, NM 87110 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: hmi@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2022 Holistic Management® is a registered trademark of Holistic Management International

FEATURE STORIES Forging A Holistic Goal

SETH WILNER.............................................................................. 2

Sweet Grass Co-op— Supporting One Another For Success

ZACH ROMERO (with interviews by Jonathan Loth) ................... 3

Why Learning Networks

PETER DONOVAN........................................................................ 5

Quality of Life Statement Exercises

BRIAN WEHLBURG....................................................................14

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s someone who works with what we call “Yankee Farmers” whom (to generalize grossly) are notoriously challenged to get in touch with their feelings and values, here are some techniques I use to help people develop a holistic goal.

Identify Values

To help identify values I have found it pretty successful to ask people to walk around their houses and offices and look at the photos and artwork they put on their walls. Family vacations, religious symbols and replicas, travel, pets, kids, scenic vistas, hiking, athletic achievements…what goes on walls and shelves often represents the value of things that are important to us. It also helps us understand how we refuel/recharge and energize. It’s a simple non-touchy-feely way of values identification.

What Annoys You?

I also find it successful to ask people to identify things on their farms/ranches that deplete or annoy them. Often it is easy for people to see negatives in life. If lost tools irks them, it comes to their mind easily. Tools and equipment not being put away, wasteful use of inputs, conflict wasting peoples’ time and consuming their energy, people not showing up to work on time, etc…I ask the same in terms of what depletes them in their personal life.

I then ask them to identify the values behind their annoyance. If it’s clutter or waste or lack of work ethic, what is their value around this?

Order and cleanliness, employees giving their all, etc…? This too helps people identify their values.

Identifying Current Reality

A final method I’ll share is a story I sometimes tell. I was driving in my car enroute

to yet another meeting some 15 years ago. I spent numerous hours driving and attending meetings or going far and wide to teach. I was getting fat, I was away from home, I was burnt out working all the time. I was too tired for hobbies or exercise. I decided to write quality of life statements to describe the values I was living. I value being away from family. I value being in poor health. I value eating fast food produced with crap ingredients. I value not using my body. I then compared this with my quality-of-life statements and contrasted the differences. Thereafter, I set out to put systems in place to correct the life I was living and move towards the life I wanted to live. It was a powerful exercise. It took me a couple-few years in which to change and redirect, but I did. This story is true and personal, so it might not work for others, but it inspires farmers with whom I work when I share it.

Creating Systems and Behaviors

Systems Identification I ask people to identify systems for each value statement even if it means the same system is written down. I remind them to keep it at a systems level, a strategic level and not a specific action. If a value is to be profitable, debt free, produce enough finances for the family’s expenses, pay employees a living wage, or what have you, then one needs a financial record keeping system. We don’t get to QuickBooks, Square, Excel or anything specific, those will be tested decisions. I remind people of the difference between strategic planning and action planning. Action planning is where we can get specific and test potential specific choices. Strategic planning allows us to identify the systems we need to achieve the values with which we want to manage and live by.

For me, I like Behaviors and Systems to help make Holistic Goals operational.

System Prioritization I then lead my clients through prioritization CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

LAND & LIVESTOCK

The Golden Hoof— Regenerative Farming in Colorado

NEWS & NETWORK Program Round Up................................................... 16

HEATHER SMITH THOMAS......................................................... 7

Grapevine................................................................. 17

Freestone Ranch— Healing the Land and Being Healed by It

Reader’s Forum........................................................ 18

HEATHER SMITH THOMAS......................................................... 9

Board Chair.............................................................. 20

TomKat Ranch—Swath Grazing Harding Grass

Certified Educators................................................... 21

MARK BIAGGI.............................................................................13

Market Place............................................................. 22

Litter Cover & Decomposition is Crucial for Land Health

Development Corner................................................ 24

Graeme Hand..............................................................................15

Sweet Grass Co-op—

have been considered out of this world by previous area regenerates. other corporate protein providers but with 12 With agricultural practices changing at an functioning ranches, they have surely reached unsteady rate, it is uncertain where the slander the moon. Each day these families and their on methods of meat-raising originates. However, workers cultivate the highest quality

BY ZACH ROMERO 100% grass-fed beef. La Montañita (with interviews by Jonathan Loth) came into the picture when a co-op supplier began purchasing beef from Editor’s Note: The following article has the family-run ranches, later to become been reprinted by permission from La Sweet Grass. The delivery was nearly Montañita Coop, who first printed this article impossible for a single supplier to in the bean, their monthly newsletter. It handle, and a coalition of ranches shares the story of George Whitten and Julie was going to make this process much Sullivan, two long-time Holistic Management easier. With deliveries from southern practitioners who helped found Sweet Grass Colorado and here in New Mexico, Co-op with the help of La Montañita Coop. You there has never been a disruption in can download a copy of that article at: https:// deliveries. La Montañita Co-op has lamontanita.coop/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ had a growing market demand for the-bean_Winter2022_web.pdf. grass-fed and the addition of this highquality beef along with some scientific long-time vendor with La Montañita, research has bonded our relationship Sweet Grass Co-op is a cooperative and kept both cooperatives running composed of families that care for strong. each other, their land, and their What does it mean to raise cattle cattle. This community believes that beef-based on a truly grass-fed diet? Once a calf is Sam Schmidt talking about the commitment products are given a bad name when being weaned off its mother’s milk their only Sweet Grass has to the soil and sustainability. compared to other protein sources. Sweet Grass food source becomes naturally grown founder, George Whitten, is passionate about piles of grass or hay. These greens are not only it does interrupt the marketing aspect that Sweet all that is beef and how the food we buy truly organic but provide a higher level of nutrients Grass aims to obtain. Many forms of animal affects the health of our families. With more than going back into the soil and in the beef when cruelty and unfair living conditions are exposed a decade of hard work and research, Sweet consumed. A “Beyond” burger contains more regularly by media that can be damaging to Grass has developed one of the most reliable than ten different ingredients while Sweet Grass organic farmers focusing on regeneration. While sources of beef in the area. only has one ingredient, beef. One of the core conversing with Sweet Grass founder George In March of 2010, a collaboration of seven practices featured by the Sweet Grass ranches Whitten, we learned about the false connections is ‘regenerative grazing’ which is a practice “Selling our beef to La that mimics past grazing done by Montañita requires that we bison. Pastures do certain quality controls are allowed to rest and and protocol in raising the recover, resulting animals so that the LMC in a diversity of grassland customer knows they are vegetation across getting the high quality of the ranches.

Maintaining beet that Sweet Grass Coand improving op is recognized for.” the quality of grasslands allows —George Whitten for increased sequestration of Julie Sullivan, Noelle McDonough, Sam Schmidt, Bridger Rearden, carbon dioxide, a and George Whitten of Sweet Grass Co-op. major contributor between raising cattle and selling beef. Not family-owned ranches decided to change to climate change. The goal is to keep a group only are the Sweet Grass cattle raised in the how agriculture would not only affect cattle of cattle together with various movable fences best of conditions, but they are also cared for but those seeking a safer, healthier way until an area is cleared of grass and then the by families that live and maintain the ranches CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 to purchase protein. Their intentions may cattle are moved to another area while the

Supporting One Another For Success

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Sweet Grass Co-op

animals down there and they raise a cover crop for us to help finish the cattle for La Montañita “In early 2010, La Montañita Co-op. But we’re also building their soil. That’s realized that the people themselves. This form of nurturing reflects on why we’re there and they don’t have to buy the cattle as much as it does on the family. fertilizer. The farmer states, “If I can run your who had been supplying Knowing that you have a negative carbon cattle on my land, I don’t have to buy fertilizer. them with grass-fed beef footprint is a source of pride. The process of It’s already there from the cattle.” And so, that is recycling nutrients back into the soil shows that a relationship for the customer to think about. year-round couldn’t keep the agricultural methods used by Sweet Grass Sweet Grass Cooperative has served La up because no one ranch are much better than other major corporations Montañita’s meat department needs for over a like Tyson. Sweet Grass believes that their decade now and has shown total support for our could possibly do that in this Ends. Not only are they abiding by all environment. We had been the organic certification rules, but they are also seeking ways to teach more looking for a way to form folks about their practice of raising some sort of collective, but cattle. Assisting the community is where cooperatives thrive and is one we needed a customer if we of the many ways to show that your were going to do that. La dollar is recycled back into the community. Making better food readily Montañita was the customer available does not happen overnight, we needed, and it came even though more and more young ranchers are climbing the organic together at the right time. In ladder and wanting to make sure that March of 2010, we formed healthy, sustainable food sources are available for all generations. With the Sweet Grass Co-op with the right methods and caring families, we original members.” can achieve a community that helps their neighbors strive for better food, — Julie Sullivan not only for those that care, but for everyone. Being mindful of where your Sweet Grass Co-op founder, George Whitten, Zach Romero is Communications food comes from is only half the job. talking about water issues and usage on his southCoordinator at La Montañita Co-op and Learning how to support these ern Colorado, San Juan Ranch.

Jonathan Loth is the Social Media & agricultural practices and spread the Marketing Coordinator for La Montañita methods are better for the environment when knowledge that comes with it is the challenge. being compared to cultivating vegetables for Support your local resources and see how much Co-op. All photos: Jonathan Loth, Staff Photographer. a vegetarian diet. Julie explains one factor as, we can truly provide for the community.

“Some cultures feel that we should never take from the soil. It is not the right way. We should never dig further into the ground than needed.”

Julie talks about things that she wants our customers to know about their operation. “Truly, it is families who live on this land with their cattle. It’s not like what many people do—a lot of meat companies show pictures of farms and ultimately there’s a farmer, but the business itself is not run by those people. Sweet Grass Co-op—it’s like our board is raising the money! It is truly a family, a small-scale family agriculture with people who are not absentee owners. They live on their land. And they love it. And they’re raising their families there.

George adds, “Well, the thing I want them to know is that if they’re buying our meat because they care for the environment, then they’re making the right choice. This is the real deal. We have the potential to change the whole way that agriculture works. Right now, we’re working with a farmer who raises potatoes. We’ve taken our Sweet Grass cattle and land.

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Why Learning Networks

BY PETER DONOVAN

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’ve spent a dozen years reporting on ranchers, farmers, and groups in North America, and another dozen years measuring soil carbon change on 100+ ranches and farms. My experience is that: 1. Everyone with some understanding of the connections between soil and water wants better soil health and watershed function.

As a desired and needed direction, this is not controversial.

2. Those land managers who are doing the most for soil health and watershed function are internally motivated: by their love of their land, by living and working the way they want to, and by their growing curiosity about the complex relationships and feedbacks between the decisions and choices they make and the outcomes they observe, which can provide the allimportant sense of possibility. Most are eager to share what they are learning.

Yet the self-evident ‘best practice’ approach for governmental, research, and advocacy groups remains external or extrinsic motivations: rewards and penalties, carrots Feedback can be much more than a grade from a school teacher or an evaluation; it can be a co-creation or coproduction, a relationship, a possibility.

“Simple causal reasoning about a feedback system is difficult because the first system influences the second and the second system influences the first, leading to a circular argument. This makes reasoning based upon cause and effect tricky, and it is necessary to analyze the system as a whole.”

—Karl Johan Åström and Richard M. Murray, Feedback Systems: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers

and sticks. These are usually aimed at practices such as cover cropping or manure handling, and include incentives or cost shares for soil health practices and carbon “sequestration,” market certifications, credit trading, “best practice” advice and technical assistance, policies, taxes, regulations, and buyouts, all backed by predictions, promises, and threats.

External motivations work well for increasing production in an input-output system where cause and effect are mostly linear. Higher corn prices result in more acres planted, more inputs applied.

But external motivations, along with the expert information model that often informs them, have disadvantages, especially where internal incentives such as curiosity, love, feedback or active learning, or sense of possibility are weak or absent, and where causes and effects have mutually influential relationships (water cycling and carbon cycling for example) and form feedback systems and loops.

In complex domains such as agriculture and ecosystem function, reliance on external motivations can: 1. Create antagonism or dissonance between what we know or believe, and what we do.

External incentives are typically rule-based programs rather than outcome-based explorations, and may kill off creativity, curiosity, experimentation, autonomy, and the acceptance of responsibility for one’s actions and choices—all of which are crucial in dealing with changing, complex systems with multiple feedbacks.

(Education researchers have long realized this.) The antagonism and conflict affects researchers and policymakers as well as producers who are the targets of the programs and incentives—eroding trust, integrity, and effectiveness, and producing resistance, backlash, and the belief that significant change requires stronger forcing, or is impossible.

2. Substitute judgments, surveillance, and compliance—acres of soil health practices implemented, number of plans, contracts, or certifications signed—for real feedback on results. Without good feedback, procedures and “best management practices” displace principles and holistic understandings. Dysfunctional approaches may persist, and beneficial innovations may be resisted, ignored, or misapplied.

3. Cost a lot for the results or outcomes achieved. Controversy persists over the effectiveness of incentivized practices such as buffer strips, no-till, rotational grazing, compost applications, or cover

crops. When the incentives or cost shares disappear, so do the practices.

In complex, feedback-driven domains such as soil health or regenerative agriculture, internal motivations are essential, which require participation and empowerment. Learning networks are an increasingly popular way of developing, articulating, sharing, adapting, and testing these intrinsic motivations and values. In some academic literature these are called “communities of practice” engaging in “transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge.”

They can take advantage of generations of advances in the theory and practice of peoplecentered learning.

“We suggest that a more promising approach to scaling up RR [regenerative ranching] will involve government-led peer-to-peer learning programmes…We have also proposed that, although top-down incentives such as carbon markets may help incentivize RR practices, more important is recognizing RR as a bottom-up movement that calls for in situ research involving producers in the co-production of knowledge…”

—Hannah Gosnell, based on interviews with 50+ Australian and U.S. ranchers But learning networks can be challenging: • Bottom up, spontaneous, indigenous.

Learning networks begin with local conveners, connectors, champions, and local concerns, questions, and issues—all of which vary, and can be hard to maintain or scale, particularly from afar.

• Without effective facilitation and leadership, people coming together around a common concern often remain focused on judgment questions, problems, and positions rather than on assets or strengths, and end up imitating and aligning with top-down rulebased programs of external motivations, “education,” and technical transfer. In terms of culture, beliefs, and skills, this is what most of us are familiar with. Effective facilitators with practical experience may be difficult to discover.

• Reporting and evidence, ground-truthing questions and evidence, even recognition and evaluation of progress, can be more challenging for “soft,” peoplecentered approaches, especially with the reporting tools and contexts used by nonparticipant evaluators, such as surveys. Learning networks require sharing and reporting platforms that: 1) support learning, feedback, and whole-system understanding, not just surveillance, judgment, advocacy, or information delivery; 2) can give good context to data, CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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observations, and stories; and 3) are adaptable and responsive to the needs and creativity of a group.

It’s not that external motivations are always wrong, or that internal motivations are always right. It’s a relationship issue, with possibilities for complementarity and synergy as well as antagonism or dissonance. Where internal motivations are undeveloped, hidden, or unconscious, external motivations may form a pervasive monoculture without a working, participatory, learning and inquiring feedback loop, and thus a high tolerance for unseen risk.

Everyone wants better soil health and watershed function. Learning networks can help align external incentives such as peer pressure with internal incentives such as curiosity, learning, and a land ethic.

Three legs of a learning network 1. Framing good questions • Questions often begin with resource concerns or problems, including the need to form judgments, assign categories, and take positions. But good questions will also include deeper levels: understanding and observing underlying forces and processes (such as water cycling, carbon cycling, economics, change, conflict, and the relationships between them), and influencing them toward what people need and want.

• Good questions are the ones the participants want to learn from and can own, and can be answered with participatory inquiry and evidence of results or outcomes such as measurements and observations over time.

• Good questions are open-ended, can generate bigger and better questions, and can transform our understanding As humans in society, we will always be concerned with judgments—our own and those of others. It’s easy and tempting to stop there, but we can also add bigger questions, learning questions: 2. Facilitator-coordinators These essential roles, which can be shared, require commitment, skills, and experience in people-centered approaches, as well as some form of continued local support. Facilitator roles, which could be filled by employees, part-timers, contractors, or volunteers, include: • creating, maintaining, and connecting a continuing variety of learning environments: events such as farm tours, pasture walks, and get-togethers and 6 IN PRACTICE

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Problem-oriented: When dealing with complexity, this structure becomes risky. Positions, predictions, and advocacies may overshadow evidence. Fragmentation and resistance is guaranteed, and there is little accountability for results. Diversity of opinion or perspective becomes a threat.

Opportunity-oriented: a diversity of framings and contexts, and wider participation by both people and land, become assets to a shared intelligence based on local evidence. How can the structure on the left transform itself into the structure on the right?

communications where learning is shared, as well as one-on-one sessions with participants around evidence and new questions; • enlarging judgment questions with learning questions, and connecting with people who can help answer them; • sharing leadership, blurring the boundary between teachers and students, helping people recognize and respect their own knowledge and experience, and that of others, in a new light; • curation and presentation of evidence, data, and stories; • addressing conflict around change, scarcity, power, diversity.

3. Platform for questioning, reporting of evidence, and sharing • helps connect questions and answers with evidence-based feedback; • provides appropriate ways of entering, displaying, and sharing data and stories among participants and stakeholders, with a variety of privacy options; • adds visibility, memory, repeatable observations, and some degree of permanence.

In combination with good questions and effective facilitation, a questioning and reporting platform can help groups move beyond the information delivery and advocacy stage to active, evidence-based participatory learning and a shared intelligence. (This is the design of soilhealth.app, a web app for learning networks; but online or digital is not the only answer here.)

Conclusion

Antagonism or “balance” between external and internal motivation

Functioning learning networks can improve the relationships between external and internal motivations, and introduce learning, curiosity, creativity, autonomy, participation, real feedback, and integrity into the conflicts between external motivations and the backlash and resistance that emerges everywhere. So, two new questions: How might learning networks, existing as well as potential, be better supported, for example through locally hired or supported facilitator/ coordinators?

Judgment questions • Am I doing the right thing?

• Are we doing sustainable or regenerative practices?

• How do I kill this weed? How do I get rid of this person or group, or solve this problem?

• Is it good or bad? (Cow, wolf, carbon dioxide, knapweed, etc.)

• add a judgment question here Learning questions • What results am I getting?

• Is our soil covered, do we have living roots for all of the growing season, and diversity of plants and animals? How might we find out?

• What conditions or relationships can I begin to create, what position do I need to be in, so that this weed, person, group, or problem is no longer a problem?

• How does it function in the system as a whole, and how to find out?

• add a learning question CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

LIVESTOCK

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The Golden Hoof—

Regenerative Farming in Colorado

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

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arel Starek and his wife Alice run The Golden Hoof, a Regenerative Slow Food Farm in Boulder, Colorado in the urban interface area. Their mission, as stated on their website, is: “We enjoy providing healthy food for local consumption. We manage our farm holistically using methods inspired by nature’s self-sustaining ecosystems. Our focus is on creating the highest quality, most nutrient dense meat, eggs and dairy available while creating the healthiest, most resilient soils possible. Healthy Ecosystem. Happy Animals. Healing Food.”

On the Road to Healthy Food

Before the Stareks ventured into farming, they started the Gold Lake Mountain Resort and Spa in Ward, Colorado in 1994, which they operated for eleven years. “At Gold Lake, we wanted to create a place that would allow guests to relax and reconnect on a deep level. It was a magical place that had great food, art, beauty, undisturbed nature and quiet, without the snob appeal of the typical upscale resort,” Karel says.

“We learned a lot from our experiences at Gold Lake, especially about the challenges of creating a healthy worklife balance in our culture.” They also discovered that they both had digestive problems and food-related illnesses— as did their children.

“During our attempt to regain our health, we discovered that grains, legumes, and processed foods were neither easily digestible nor nutritious for us,” says Karel. “Through our interest in great, healthy food, our longstanding desire to be part of the solution, and our inability to get what we were looking for at grocery stores or restaurants, we gradually realized that we wanted to grow food for ourselves and others.

“As we researched various growing systems, we Photo Credit: Jennifer Young learned the central role that animals play in every ecosystem designed by nature, and in those of diversified farms. Petroleum-based pesticides and fertilizers and large machinery in our industrial food system have been used to replace the work normally done by animals. Instead of learning from and copying the brilliance of nature, our society systematically eradicated natural ecosystems and replaced them with sprawling mono-cultures dependent on endless inputs ultimately leading to a myriad of problems.

We believe that it’s time for us as a culture to reconnect with the brilliance of nature: to watch, learn, and mimic.”

The Herd Share Approach

The Stareks currently manage about 250 acres and raise mostly beef cattle in a diversified operation that includes a few dairy cows, sheep, pigs, chicken, turkeys, ducks and geese. This is a small boutique high-end directto-consumer operation.

“Our former careers were in the resort business with our dining/ restaurant in the mountains west of Boulder,” says Karel. “We were doing some farm-to-table food before we’d actually heard that term, and focused on using locally produced high-quality food. We are somewhat purists because we don’t want to use anything that’s synthetically produced— whether it’s flavors for food or soil amendments for the land. We are not certified organic but we do use natural products. We’ve been especially interested in high-quality foods and feeds grown locally—first as consumers of these kinds of products and now as producers. We are very aware of how much compromise is built into the price in the food system; the bulk of what’s available is produced by people who are trying to do it at the lowest cost possible.

Karel with some of the Golden Hoof Herd.

“On our 250 acres we can’t compete with the people who are doing it on a much larger scale, so we must have a niche market. We want to continue to try to optimize what we are producing, rather than thinking about yield.

We concentrate more on flavor and quality, and health of the animals we raise, and that’s easier to do on a smaller scale.

“To do this, we started following the model that was set up for raw herd shares for dairy, and now we are doing this for all of our products. We use what is basically a private club. The way it’s set up in Colorado for herd shares is based on co-op law. When you buy raw milk or meat from us you CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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Management training with Roland Kroos. The applicability of Holistic Management for a very large operation like the Durham Ranch was evident. It was also very thought-provoking to figure out how some of the are buying into ownership of the herd. The farmer is providing management land management practices could scale down to an operation like ours which was only 20 acres at that time, but I found the decision making service for the customers’ animals. This creates an exempt space for us to framework to be very helpful. market directly to these customers.

“Alice and I continue to read a lot about Holistic Management. In that “This trend of direct-to-consumer private sales seems to be the coming class I also learned about the Stockman Grass Farmer and started reading model that’s growing around the country. In Colorado during the pandemic that publication. At first I didn’t understand very much about what I was the legislature passed the ranch-to-plate bill at the state level, that allows reading. We started fairly late in life with all of this; we were already in farmers like us to break up the ownership of the animal for 100 people, our 40’s and realized we didn’t have a lot of time to come up to speed, which essentially allows us to sell a beef animal by the cut, rather than and didn’t have the benefit of a lot of guidance. In a way we were putting having to sell the whole animal. ourselves through a self-guided education in which we read every book we “We now do on-farm slaughter and are selling a lot of value-added could get our hands on and toured as many farms as we could tour. products. I have a nice relationship with a fairly small membership base.

“We didn’t have the benefit of apprenticing anywhere. We started by The members come here and do all the pickups right at the farm, so we biting off some things in which we could learn through doing. We read a lot don’t ever have to leave the farm to deliver the products. This is all on an of ACRES USA articles and became less scared and more empowered and honor system; they come and take what they want, and pay for it. It’s a confident. You start doing something and then you realize where your weak simple model that works at our scale. link is, and realize that you “Only 27 acres of the need to come up to speed land that we manage is quickly or things are not ours. The rest of it is owned going to go very well! It by the city of Boulder. has been a very intensive The city owns most of the process for us and we are agricultural land in this 12 years into it. I don’t feel county. We manage their like a beginner anymore, land for them, and they but there are certain areas have various objectives in in which I do still feel like terms of good stewardship a beginner—though I am of the land, and this works sometimes surprised by really well for the kind of how much I have learned, product we are trying to just through reading and produce. Good stewardship doing it, and finding out leads to a higher quality what other people are end product. doing, that works.

“Our focus is largely on “In terms of going soil health as a means to through the planning produce healthy, great food process with Holistic and healthy animals. This Karel Starek observing the recovered sward on Golden Hoof pastures.

Management for the is a niche angle, that allows grazing, our farm was so small that we had to do everything with temporary us to be able to do this.” electric fencing. We didn’t have very many paddocks, and every year it’s a Adapting Regenerative Practices little different, and we can be flexible.

Karel had multiple introductions to Holistic Management which led him “Being on a small land base, it was important for us to manage the toward learning more about other regenerative practices. “I went through a grass in such a way that we could grow as much forage as possible. Almost series of Holistic Management training classes about a decade ago. It is a all of our land is irrigated so we are able in some of the heavily used areas great program. At first I went to a farm design program at the Yestermorrow to get five and sometimes six grazing periods on the same pieces and School in Vermont,” says Karel. The Yestermorrow Design/Build School not overgraze. We are optimizing how much forage we can produce on a teaches hands-on courses in design, construction, woodworking, small area.” architectural craft and many other skills. The intensive, hands-on courses Because it’s a competitive bid process to get these leases from the city are taught by top architects, builders, and craftspeople. of Boulder, a person has to demonstrate that their program will do what the “They had a two-week intensive program on farm design, and it was taxpayers are looking for. “They want good stewardship, so we’ve spent the a good place to start for a person thinking about going back to the land. past 10 years trying to come up with a system that will win these bids for For two weeks, every minute that I wasn’t in a class or visiting a farm, or us—so we can grow, with the demand we have for our products. So far it’s learning what good farming is about, I was reading books in their library. been going pretty well,” Karel says.

They definitely presented Holistic Management to the students as one “We have tried a lot of different things that all fall into the category of of the areas of interest and I became very intrigued by this concept. I optimizing both the forage yield and the forage quality, and have enjoyed then signed up for a course at the Durham Bison Ranch in Wyoming and seeing the land respond in a lot of ways. The Holistic Management model followed that up with another class in Pueblo, Colorado,” he says. has been essential for us, in terms of identifying where we can best “It was at the Durham Bison Ranch where I did my initial Holistic apply our resources. We continue to experiment with different things we 8

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learn about. We want to see if an idea is something that will make a big At the same time, we love having customers become loyal because they difference or not. see the difference between what we are doing (and trying to optimize the “I like to call what we’re doing regenerative grazing rather than rotational system) versus what they could buy through other channels where the grazing, but even beyond that, we are trying to measure soil health through producers are not trying to optimize anything other than yield. We still a variety of different ways. We are part of a citizen science soil health don’t know the extent of what we can contribute. We have a lot of young initiative and we’ve been experimenting with the Haney test (which gives people coming in and working with us. We have interns who have a lot of a complete soil nutrient analysis) to evaluate the health of the microbes in inspiration and they want to change the world. It’s nice to be able to give the soil. We have an intern them a chance to learn on the farm right now who what we are learning, and is going through a program see where they take it. with Nicole Masters to “I think we are in the follow her protocols that she right place at the right uses to assist regenerative time. When we were first growers in figuring out and doing the restaurant, determining what are the there was no farm-to-table things they can be doing to language. We came at it allow the systems to thrive. through the whole slow “Here on our small food lens, and then very acreage we’ve also done quickly people started some things in which we talking about sustainability. have applied a lot of soil There are all kinds and mineral amendments of problems with that to balance our soils, in a term and its vagueness Alice Starek and the Farm Shop.

William Albrecht sort of way, and its tendency to be and have been very encouraged by that.” greenwashed.

Karel says the soil health in the pastures on their little farm has been “The momentum just keeps building, however. At first the big new thing steadily improving. “The food we eat that was produced in those areas was organic, and people were questioning it—about the time we were where we did soil balancing is very high quality and you can really taste starting this venture—but it doesn’t get questioned as much today. Now, the flavor difference. I think it also comes through in the beef from those the whole idea of regenerating the land (versus simply doing less harm) pastures, but it’s not necessarily the most cost-effective way to be applying is really coming into people’s minds, wanting to do something positive, those mineral amendments to large acreages. Even though our acreage is but they don’t have any experience with it, just like we didn’t have any not large, we still have to look at the cost of doing this—for instance putting experience when we decided to start doing this. We were maybe just a little soft rock phosphate on the land to balance the calcium and magnesium,” bit ahead of the curve. he says.

“We had the beginner’s mindset and were not beholden to a set of “We will be working next year with Nicole Masters. She has a lot ideas that came from more conventional thinking. Many of those ideas were of ideas for stimulating the soil biology through various inoculants like not going to work at our scale anyway. We were trying to figure out what an vermicast (a mixture of earthworm castings and uneaten bedding harvested on-ramp looks like, for getting started, and we are still trying to figure that from worm beds) and other things that can be done at fairly low application out, but we are enjoying the process!” rates—looking at things that might kick the ecosystem into the next level.

To learn more about the Golden Hoof, visit: http://www.

We plan to keep experimenting with those ideas and see where it takes us. thegoldenhoof.com/ “This is exciting stuff to be working with and measuring the results.

Freestone Ranch—

Healing the Land and Being Healed by It

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

M

isty West Gay and her husband, Jon Gay, both came from families with an agricultural background, but it skipped a generation. Misty’s grandparents were Mormon farmers in Utah and Jon’s grandparents were Ohio dairy farmers. “Both of our sets of parents left the farm, however, and went to the city. Both of us grew up in the suburbs, and we met in the tech industry,” Misty says.

Her father was a nuclear physicist who became an early computer programmer. He was opposed to the fossil fuel industry having so much control over societies, back in the 1950s and 1960s and was hoping that

nuclear power would be a solution to this dilemma. “He didn’t have the green thumb that my grandfather had. Instead, my grandfather worked for the United Nations as an ag expert. He left the farm in Utah and traveled around the world,” she says.

When he retired from the UN, he came to live near his son and grandchildren in the San Francisco Bay area. “In his home garden, he used fertilizer, but also tons of compost. He and my grandmother had a wonderful garden, and I grew up helping out in their garden and greenhouse. It was very inspiring. I loved eating their vegetables—with lots of margarine, because they were always ‘better living through science’ people. I am not a fan of margarine now!” says Misty.

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husband’s mom hadn’t bought into the margarine hype, perhaps because of her parents’ involvement with dairy, and Jon had a healthier, more solid digestive system. Jon tells stories of his grandparents’ dairy and of milkman deliveries in glass bottles—in San Diego—which is where his parents lived after they left Ohio. His parents both became teachers.”

Jon’s mother was a Home Economics teacher. “She was a very inspiring person. Another part of our healing journey was that both of our moms died young, of cancer, which made us curious about health, and what happened, and what might be done differently,” says Misty. From these agricultural connections, Misty and Jon’s love of the land and desire to grow healthy food was born.

Back to the Land

Jon and Misty met in a software office in San Francisco. “Jon is one of the pioneers of graphics software,” says Misty. “He started programming as a teenager, with the early Macintosh computers. He wrote many programs, some early Mac games that I grew up playing, and graphics systems Bottle feeding a calf is one of the many ways used around the world. that the Gay children are learning about “Jon and I were reconnecting with nature. both involved in Internet software in San Francisco, but we could see that things were shifting. What had been kind of utopian, with free information, wanting to genuinely be of help and of service to people, was turning into something else. Corporate interests were converging and the dreams of free access to information for everyone was going sideways.

“We also realized that we’d become too far removed from the land and nature. We could not imagine raising children in the city. Jon and I both have a deep desire to be of service in a genuine way and do something that is genuinely useful. In the early days of the Internet, we felt like we were doing something useful, but then it turned—so we left in 2005.”

They bought a remainder parcel of an old ranch in Sonoma County, about an hour’s drive north of San Francisco. “We knew that we wanted to run some kind of ag business and take our time—and become rooted in and figure out how it would go,” says Misty. “We had twin babies at that time, which made it more challenging to be starting a new business.

We had another baby when the twins were 2 1/2 years old and we were pretty busy!” In 2006 they joined with Jon’s sister Susan and her family to start Freestone Ranch. Over the next few years, they dove deep into regenerative land stewardship, building a business raising grass-fed beef.

“When we first came here, the place had a grazing lease with a local dairy guy,” says Misty. “When he first heard that these city people were coming, he didn’t want anything to do with us. But when we got to know him a little better, we told him we were not ready to do anything on our own yet and that we respected what he was doing. He could stay for a while until we were ready. When he recovered from his shock at all this, he stayed.

We learned a lot from him, and the way he managed his animals.

“We watched everything very carefully. We walked around the place a lot and got to know the creeks and the land. We rooted in, and asked 10

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him a lot of questions. One of our strengths is that we are never afraid to ask stupid questions. We read everything we could find about Holistic Management and Allan Savory and rotational grazing. We learned about re-wilding and read a lot of books and did a lot of exploring on our place.

We saw the difference between what you read in books and what actually happens on the land right away.

“Jon is good at reading something, trying it, and seeing instantly what we need to do a little differently on our land, or tweak it to fit our situation.

This is a wonderful skill, and I don’t have it. I usually need to ask ten people questions and wrestle with all of it to get some sense of what I’m doing. Jon has done great things and I am several years behind what he’s learned.

Between the twins and our other little guy (who is 10 years old now) I was also very busy being Mom!” They also decided to homeschool their children, and Misty is glad they did—especially now, with the pandemic. “I am grateful that we were already homeschooling and knew how we could weather something like that,” she says. “We’d walk outside in the storms and watch the way the water went, and it was beautiful. We’d stand and look at the patterns of the hedgerows we’d planted in our yard, to see their way of growing, what they wanted and who they were as beings. Jon understood and used everything—willow cuttings, acorns, hazelnuts and several different kinds of oaks, cottonwoods, dogwood, etc. For our inner yard—our Permaculture Zones 2 and 3—it’s oak savannah and fruit orchard.

We also put in some small crops, experimenting with row crops and food foresting over the years, since this was something that was part of the heritage of both of our families.”

They’ve had Jon has worked to create a series of ponds at chickens, ducks, Freestone to increase wildlife habitat as well as and geese, which places to water the cattle. was great for the kids. When they hand-raised the goslings, the young geese imprinted and bonded with the children.

“We started noticing that our inner yard became an amazing habitat,” says Misty. “Now we have hedgerows and trees and shrubs, and a couple of landscape ponds. Jon began creating natural swimming ponds and was very curious about why people would create swimming pools instead of ponds; he still wonders why more people don’t do ponds. The wildlife he’s called in, just by planting these things, is amazing.”

Taking a Holistic Approach

After about three years on this land, they started getting more serious about setting up a holistically-managed grazing operation and raising grass-fed beef. “We finally told the dairy guy that we appreciated having him there, and we thanked him, and we were ready to go out on our own,”

says Misty. “We bought a small starter herd of Black Angus cows from a neighbor to the east of us. They are great folks and they joke about being a cattle guy who married a sheep woman. That’s not supposed to work, but it works beautifully for them. They do multispecies grazing and rotate their cattle and their sheep. That’s considered a good thing, now, but when they were young, they joked about how the cattle people were not supposed to like the sheep folks.

“We got our starter cattle from them, and one of the Holistic Management books stated that cow herds are matriarchal. We wanted a closed herd, and the book suggested that young heifers should have adult supervision and role models. So we bought a couple of older cows along with the young ones. That was one of the best management decisions we made, in those early days of having cattle. Those moms kept everyone in line, and it was interesting to watch the way they would teach the young ones.

“Even when we’d introduce new management techniques, like more intensive rotations, the older cows always figured it out first, and the young ones learned it from them. It was inspiring watching the social dynamics and to see their intelligence and behavior. We were awed and grateful to watch the blooming of this native intelligence in these creatures. It was really amazing.

“I’m sure they adjusted so readily because they were already a healthy herd that had been well cared for, before they came to us. These cattle were emotionally well balanced.

“We’d heard a lot of horror stories about the challenge of handling cattle, and we never had to deal with any of that. These cattle were very mellow from the beginning.

We did some early experiments in managing them with dogs. My husband’s sister and her sons are now living on another ranch we own, north of here in The Gays have experimented with raising Mendocino County, numerous types of poultry. and they are more into handling cattle with horses and dogs, with a more conventional cowcalf operation.”

Reconnecting with Nature

Eating locally as part of climate resilience is another focus for Misty and Jon. “With the ecological issues we are facing now, we are looking more seriously at what it will mean to feed ourselves, as a culture, and what it’s going to mean to put down roots and take care of ourselves in new ways,” says Misty. “We are experimenting here with starchy tubers. Some people think acorns were the staple food of the native people here, but as far as we can tell, acorns were among several foods. We wonder whether a more foundational staple food might’ve been starchy roots like camas and brodiaea (cluster lilies), and several different kinds of lilies.” She and Jon are planting some of these and working with them to learn what this might mean in terms of what these plants might supply nutritionally.

“Sometimes I worry about all the discussion about getting people to stop eating meat, because the nutrient density of vegetables is not as high as it is in meat. We need to be more real about many things, including the importance of meat, and the regional vegetable varieties and regional staple foods. People should grow and eat the things that grow best in their region,” Misty says.

“I think the most important shift that I would like to see ourselves be part of, is to reconsider ourselves as humans, and realize we are also creatures who live in a habitat. We need to look at what is our habitat, and what actually grows here, and how can we take our places as respectful members of a habitat—rather than harboring the delusion that we are somehow separate or apart from our habitat.”

Misty hopes to see people become curious and open-minded rather than judgmental. “I am constantly asking myself what I can learn,” says Misty. “It is important to realize that we need cows. They are hugely important for recovery of the land (improving soil fertility, etc.) and moving forward, and meat is massively important for our diets and for moving forward.

“We have to remember that A misty morning at Freestone Ranch. domestic cattle weren’t native here, but some of their relatives were here—like the bison.

Those relatives are gone, so we have to make do with what we have, from a position of respect and in service to our habitat. You can’t even begin to enter this without humility and respect for the habitat—and a curiosity about what it is and how we can work with it and be at home in it.

“Many people today are in a bizarre, ugly divorce from the natural environment and it has to end with each of us becoming more rooted in nature and seeing ourselves as having a place in our habitat. We need to find out what that means for each of us, and it will mean something different for each of us. There will be a different answer for everyone, but we need to ask that question and find that answer and follow it. For us, it is asking how we can use lily roots--and understanding what the staple foods here actually were, and learning about what the habitat here was like.

“On our land there is a mammoth rubbing rock. A local geologist confirmed that the curved spot on one huge rock was from mammoths rubbing to get rid of ticks. We don’t have those grazers and browsers anymore, so we have to put some animals on the land that can assume that role.

“What we are seeing here is that if you fence cattle out of a creek, that may be great for a little while, but then it gets overgrown and is no longer a healthy balance of plants. It needs to be periodically grazed and periodically browsed. Otherwise the willows get really thick and nothing can get through them. You can see that they evolved to be grazed/browsed.

“We can prune them a little, but these willows are so much bigger than we are. So the challenge is how to learn these patterns, and can we prune and maintain some sections of willows along the creek? In a section of creek where we did that, we started to see native sedges growing along the creek, where we’d been told nothing would grow—but there it was! Nature is very good at healing herself if you let her—and we let her by pruning up CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

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“We have a seasonal harvest because we don’t try to have animals finishing year-round. This is a bit harder for us because it means we can’t sell to restaurants; they need a consistent supply year round and consistent those willows so the sun could get in. If sunlight can penetrate through the cuts. We sell whole animals, seasonally. This is part of the disconnect willows and berry thickets because of careful grazing or careful pruning, a between human society and the natural world. lot more plants can grow in there, with more biodiversity. Suddenly there “We live in this disconnect and try to educate and inspire, and nourish they were—these gorgeous native sedges holding the soil and keeping the people with our good beef. Jon has a very active Instagram account and he creek bed together! inspires a lot of people.

“How do we begin to understand what it means to work on the land “When you buy a quarter of beef it puts you outside of the typical, ‘What yourself? In our present society there is so much stratification and so many am I going to have for dinner tonight?’ It also puts you outside of the idea different ideas about who should or should not work on the land. Only that it’s entirely up to you, and that you can get everything you need at the a few people are growing food for the rest of the population. I think this grocery store, with no clue where it comes from. You have some beef in contributes to our alienation from the land. the freezer and you have to think about having a freezer, and cycle through “If people are working on their some cuts that may be unfamiliar— relationship with the land, they have to and learn how to use them. You navigate this overgrown thicket of ideas try new recipes and become more about who should or shouldn’t be doing self-sufficient and these are all what kind of work on the land and why, great things. and what’s the pay rate associated with “We are very proud of our beef that. Why do we have to navigate all this and all that we’ve done and all social insanity before we can re-root into that we’ve learned. Our favorite the land itself? If we could set all that word is aggrade, because from our craziness aside for a minute and just go perspective, if you are degrading outside and be with the land and start to that’s not good. If you are promising build a relationship with even just a small to just make things less bad, that’s patch where you could plant something not enough. You have to commit to The cattle following Jon on one of their pasture moves. and tend it, then maybe all that social stuff doing active good, and also realize would start to seem like the delusion that it is. that this is not always going to be celebrated or even recognized—but you “The social stuff runs deep and is very thick and gets in the way. We have to do it anyway. That’s the way we want to move forward, and that’s hoped that our story—people who left the city and made this choice—might what aggrade means! inspire people to want to consider this choice. We want to tell a new story, “We walked away from city life and we are not going back. The learning that the land is ready to heal itself, but the people who touch it in the curve is big, and the requirement for humility is big, but it’s all worth it. healing are also healed by that experience. It’s all there waiting for us. You There are many people who have already made this choice, even though don’t need the resources to buy a big ranch; it doesn’t have to be like that you may not hear from them so much. They may not be out there on social because you can start on a very small piece. media talking about this. You might think you don’t know anyone who has “We still grow grass-fed beef and sell quarters direct, as well as made this choice, but there are a lot of us out here, and you are not alone. wholesale to a couple of local markets. We don’t currently offer shipping, They are not trumpeting it in the usual ways, but if you look for them you but we are happy to nourish anyone who can come to the butcher shop in will find them. Some of them can be good mentors. You can learn from Santa Rosa, California to pick it up. We have great regular customers.” them, and you can find your way in the course of your daily life.”

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exercises to select up to three they can focus on in a one-year period.

This helps alleviate the pressure, anxiety and expense of needing to implement a huge plan.

I find having big lists of systems that need creating results in stress that often paralyzes people and precludes them from moving forward.

Choosing 1, 2 or perhaps even 3 systems to implement, depending on their size and complexity, helps people move forward and celebrate their gains.

Seth Wilner has been a Holistic Management International Certified Educator since 2005. For 22 years he has worked as an agent educator with University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension where he specializes in farm business management with an emphasis on whole farm planning.

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the soil health. Additionally, this style of grazing allowed the cattle to deposit roughly 21,546 pounds of manure and 4,104 gallons of urine onto the pasture. These increases by the cattle are first a food source for microbes and will eventually increase the fertility of the pastures.

Our next steps for 2022.

• Set up monitoring and testing • Set up long term transects to monitor plant diversity • Establish photo points • Compare forage value inside and outside of swathed areas.

• Track costs.

• Track animal production. (use Yearling gain as a measure of success)

This article was first published on the TomKat Ranch website at: https://tomkatranch.org/2021/09/30/swath-grazing-harding-grass/

TomKat Ranch—

Swath Grazing Harding Grass

BY MARK BIAGGI

There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.

We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. ― Mark Twain

S

wath grazing is a practice where forage is cut into a swath (a long row of mowed forage) and left in a field as stored feed for cattle during the non-growing season. In the right climate, this can be an extremely economical practice as compared to traditional haying as it eliminates baling and handling costs.

While there are many options for storing feed for your animals, determining the ‘right’ one is a matter of matching practices to your context.

My time in the Peace Corps taught me that feed does not always need to be stored in a bale, silage pit, or bag to retain nutritional value. Growing up on a ranch where we made and purchased hay, the idea of cutting hay, leaving it in the field rather than baling it, hauling it in, stacking it, and then hauling it back out struck me as a smart and efficient practice for TomKat Ranch especially as we have portable electric fencing to partition fields and ensure cattle get access to only the hay they need each day.

At TomKat Ranch, April and May provide a “Spring flush” the rapid growth of forage that needs to be stored for consumption later in the year.

Stockpile forage, grass left to grow to maturity, and grazed later as needed is a good practice in regenerative ag on rangelands. We have a lot of Harding Grass, a very productive introduced perennial cool-season grass with a long growing season. It was first introduced as a hay and forage crop and has since become endemic in many areas of California. If left to stand it will shade and crowd out native grasses, it also serves as a fire hazard as it becomes unpalatable to animals if not grazed at the right time, and therefore cannot be stockpile forage. Since our mission is to regenerate grasslands and biodiversity above and below ground, we have attempted to use cattle grazing to manage overabundant stands of Harding Grass.

We have tried grazing with a variety of intensities, durations, and recovery times. While shortening recovery times during Spring grazing has helped limit some Harding Grass expansion, we have not been able to graze all stands across the property in this manner.

6.17.21 Cutting done.

We have also tried mowing to reduce unpalatable overshading. Mowing, the traditional method locally, removes the upper unpalatable plant material but creates a thatch layer so thick that it can contribute to limited plant diversity. The thatch often is so thick that it can’t contact the soil and therefore doesn’t break down and turn into food for soil microbes.

Most Swath Grazing is mechanically harvested in the fall and fed out on frozen ground in the winter. Our climate is different so we asked ourselves

2017 High density grazing on standing stockpiled Harding grass.

Cattle trampled a lot, grazed some. Not happy with feed quality and cattle did not do well.

2021. Cattle have been in for 4-5 hours and are fully satiated and ready for the next move. Left side grazed and right side is the next move. “how can we adjust this practice to our Mediterranean context?” One option was to harvest Harding Grass when it is palatable and nutritious, store that forage, and feed it out during the non-growing season. Thus our focus on harvesting the Harding Grass in late spring/early summer and feeding it out in late summer through fall.

Swath Grazing Trial

To test the Swath Grazing method in our Mediterranean context, we selected our “Front Field”, a Harding Grass-dominated pasture, flat enough to access and operate a tractor and mower, brush-free.

On June 17, 2021, we mowed 6 acres of the pasture. Given the realities of the dry year, 2 weeks earlier may have been preferred to improve palatability, but the contractor was busy cutting his own fields. We set the height of the mower 8-10″ from the ground with the goal of leaving at least 1 green leaf of any plant still growing in the field an opportunity for regrowth. With only 0.15″ of rain in the previous 90 days, there was very little regrowth.

The cut forage was left in a long row for a week to dry. In an effort to decrease the amount of forage surface area exposed to the sun and reduce the loss of nutritional value, two windrows were raked into one combined windrow.

The next two months were a mix of weather conditions, oscillating between sunny and foggy days, and dry and damp conditions. The outside, surface layer of hay was bleached by the sun, but it did not blacken or rot.

Due to our grazing rotations with the cattle, we moved cattle back to the Front Field on August 9. Based on past experience and number of cattle, we estimated we would graze the herd (76 Animal Units), pairs (cow-calf), replacement heifers, yearling steers, and 3 bulls for the next 2–3 days with 2 moves per day using approximately 2 acres per day.

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On Day 1, we gave them generous space, we did not want to short them on feed and let them settle without pressure onto a feeding system they were not accustomed to. By afternoon the cattle were settled and it was obvious they were going to utilize more of the feed than we had anticipated.

Excellent manure coverage post graze.

Starting on Day 2, we reduced the feed space provided and increased the moves to 3 times per day, approximately 4–5 hours between each move. When we arrived for the daytime moves, the cattle were often lying down, ruminating and not eager to move until the new section was opened—a good sign that the feed was satisfying their needs. In total, we grazed this field for 7.5 days.

At first glance, it appeared that we were achieving approximately 80% utilization of the swath. After further observations, it became clear that we achieved closer to 100% swath utilization, as anything not consumed by the cows had been trampled, pushed, kicked around the field, and was thus now making contact with the soil and, therefore, in a position to feed the microbes.

Reviewing the Numbers

To compare, we use the following: • Animal Unit. (1 AU = 1,000 lbs) Animal unit equivalent allows for calculating feed and water requirements and consumption.

• AUD Animal Unit Day – Feed required for one Animal Unit for 1 day.

• Cattle consume approximately 3% (rounded number accurate enough for this project) of their weight per day in dry matter forage.

• 1AUD eats 30lbs of forage/day.

• 1 AU produces 63 lbs of manure/day.

Projected: • 2 acres per day.

• 76 AU for 3 days (76AU x 3 D = 228 AUD) • 1 AU x 3 % = 30lbs/day/AU x 228 days = 6,840 lbs of forage consumed.

• Herd moved twice per day. Intensity 76AU/acre per move Actual: • Average 0.8 acre per day.

• 76 AU x 7.5 days = 570AUD. A 250% increase over projected days of feed.

• 570 AUDx 30lbs/day = 17,100 lbs forage consumed. Additional 10,260 lbs of feed consumed by the herd.

Intensity: Herd moved 3 times per day averaged 280 AU/acre (360% increase). This increase provided excellent disturbance, manure, and urine distribution. With the soil hard and dry we created a potential seedbed and improved infiltration by breaking soil crust, fully trampling all non-eaten materials, and spreading out dung piles making them less fly friendly.

In conclusion, the Swath Grazing allowed us to increase the utilization of stockpiled Harding Grass that would have otherwise become unpalatable plant material. It provided a higher plane of nutrition to the cattle than the dry feed otherwise available. The additional consumption of forage through the cattle’s rumen improves the cycling of carbon and minerals, which will help improve the water cycle and provide microbial food which improves CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

Quality of Life Statement Exercises

BY BRIAN WEHLBURG

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n exercise I have been using for a number of years to help people really focus on what is important in life and create a powerful Holistic Context is to get the class to spend an hour or two in the local cemetery. I give them a couple of exercises to get them to think about their desired Quality of Life. Even reading the inscriptions on the headstones is enlightening in terms of what is important—no inscriptions around fame, or fortune or working harder!

As to what ‘exercises’ I run in the cemetery with classes, there are a number of exercises I’ve learned from other Certified Educators over the years including: Writing your own Eulogy—Get everyone to imagine they are dead and what do they want people to say about them at their funeral. Not an easy thing, so give it a bit of structure to get them to start with: Have them choose the one person they are closest to—partner/child/parent.

Get them to write down what they would want them to say at the funeral.

(Not what they are going to say that may be different!) From there expand it to other family members, the neighbors, customers, suppliers.... the mayor of your local community.

A Regrets List—The power of this is to turn the regret into a positive

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exposing the drivers or positive values—regrets being negative and therefore not driving the sustained change required. It could be as simple as regretting not going for a run this morning. It’s not the physical slog you regret but some deeply desired feelings such as a sense of health, or being energized or One of Brian’s classes pondering success—capture these what their values are. as they are your drivers.

Sitting on a tombstone in a graveyard doing the above I have certainly found opens people up to discover their deep drivers. Moving into creating the Holistic Context/Goal I find goes a lot smoother and with more deep meaning.

Brian Wehlburg is a Holistic Management Certified Educator and lives in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia.

Litter Cover & Decomposition is Crucial for Land Health

BY GRAEME HAND

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itter cover and decomposition is crucial for land health.

Specifically, litter provides protection from erosion also known as stability, water infiltration and nutrient cycling. The below graph shows the changes in infiltration and nutrient cycling when a grassland has 100% ground cover from mature perennial grasses with litter in the intertussock space, but decomposition increases from nil to moderate decomposition.

Grazing factors that increase litter cover and decomposition are increased recoveries, stock density and plant utilization. A trial in your “safe to fail” trial areas at greater than 12 months recoveries, 1 cow/3 m2 (32 sq ft) or 1 sheep / m2 (11 sq ft), with greater than 80% plant utilization, will show you what is possible on your farm.

1. (left) Nil decomposition (n) the litter is loosely spread on the surface with few signs of decomposition and incorporation.

2. (middle) Slight decomposition (s) litter is broken down into small fragments and intimately in contact with soil; some fragments may be partially buried.

3. (Right) Moderate decomposition (m) litter is in several distinct layers; some fungal attack is visible; the layer next to the soil is somewhat humified; some darkening of the soil to a depth of less than 10 mm.

This picture demonstrates the difference between slight (left) vs nil decomposition (right).

Degree of decomposition descriptions from Landscape Function Analysis, D J Tongway and N L Hindley, CSIRO.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

methane, particularly in northern temperate grasslands.

This study builds on other scientific studies that have proven that improved grazing management results in greater soil health with attendant ecosystem benefits including improved carbon sequestration and water infiltration as well as improved forage productivity and quality.

To read the study, go to: https://www.mdpi.com/20734395/10/11/1781

Increased soil health and nutrient density on regenerative farms

A study recently published in PeerJ by David Montgomery, Anna Bikle, Ray Archuleta, Paul Brown, and Jazmin Jordan showed that regenerative farms (averaging 5–10 years of regenerative practices) compared to conventional farms in the same area with same soil type out performed their neighbors on soil organic matter, soil health scores, and nutrient density of food.

Graeme Hand is an HMI Certified Educator in Mount Coolum, NSW and can be reached at: graemehand9@gmail.com. He would like to thank David Tongway and Dr Peter Ampt for patience and persistence in training him in Landscape Function Analysis.

In particular, they found that regenerative farms averaged 3-12% soil organic matter while conventional farms averaged 2-5% (as much as a five-fold difference. With Haney soil health scores, the regenerative farms averaged scores of 11-30 while the conventional farms averaged scores of 3-14 (as much as a seven-fold difference).

Lastly, when measuring the vitamins and nutrients in the food (a particularly challenging comparison), the researchers found that farm crops from the regenerative farms had 34% more vitamin K, 15% more vitamin E, 14% more vitamin B1, and 17% more vitamin B2, as well as 15% more total carotenoids, 20% more total phenolics, 22% more total phytosterols, 11% more calcium, 16% more phosphorus, and 27% more copper.

Farms included in the study were from North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Tennessee, Kansas, North Dakota, and Montana. The regenerative farms practice no-till, cover, crops, and diverse rotations.

Fatty acid tests on beef showed that beef raised on regenerative farms had 6 times more essential omega-3s and pork had more than 9 times the omega 3s.

To read the study go to: https://peerj.com/articles/12848/

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PROGRAM ROUND UP HMI Collaborates with NCAT Armed to Farm

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uring the week of March 28–April 1, 2022, Holistic Management International partnered with NCAT to host the first NCAT Armed to Farm program in New Mexico with 27 veterans and their Elan Silverblatt-Buser presenting spouses or family farm partners at Silver Leaf Farm. in Albuquerque.

The week was jam packed with information, resources and on-theground learning opportunities. Speakers presented on funding programs from the Farm Credit of New Mexico, where they have special funds for veteran-owned businesses, the numerous USDA assistance, conservation and loan programs through the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resource Conservation Service, bee keeping with NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist, Justin Duncan, presentations on record keeping and farm branding with NCAT’s Southwest Regional Director, Margo Hale, and our Education Director and long-time Holistic Management Certified Educator, Dr. Ann Adams, shared an overview of Holistic Management Whole Farm/Ranch Planning.

Dr. Adams’ presentation touched on the importance of setting a Holistic Goal and learning how to make sound decisions that bring you towards that goal. She led the group through the Management Inventory worksheet and parts of the Holistic Goal. Participants began creating their own goals and will hopefully continue the process by participating in one of our upcoming Interactive Online Courses, for which we have scholarship funds available.

Through our evaluation we learned that participants most appreciated the focus on the interconnectedness of land health, profit, and quality of life and the importance of getting input from all stakeholders and including them in the decision-making process.

Program Manager Marie Von Ancken was charged with figuring out the on-the-ground learning sites and was excited to bring in local HMI collaborators and friends to host the group at their various operations. On Monday we visited the Trilogy Beef Community and heard from the Encinas family. They emphasized the increase in profitability that came with changing their operation to marketing beef directly to consumers. On Tuesday the group visited Polk’s Folly Farm where the Withers Family run a pork operation feeding their pigs with food waste from Albuquerque food banks and restaurants. They focus on soil heath and have been experimenting with various composting methods to reintegrate the waste from the pigs into the soil. They also visited their farm store where the group bought locally produced goods and watched a butcher demonstration from Ethan Withers.

On Wednesday they visited Chispas Farm, owned and operated by Casey Holland who talked about her experience in no till vegetable production, integration of animals and focus on soil health principles. The last visit was in Corrales at Silver Leaf Farms. Elan Silverblatt-Buser, one of the co-owners of Silver Leaf Farms, shared his story of how he and his brother, Aaron, started a hydroponics operation in Corrales.

Thanks to all the farms/ranches that hosted the group and a HUGE thank you to NCAT for putting this all together!

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CO Ranching with Nature Workshop

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ith conditions ranging from gusting dust, to an exhilarating Spring storm with lightening and hail, and ending in a calm blue sky, attendees celebrated Ranching with Nature at Chico Basin Ranch southeast of Colorado Springs, Colorado on May 4–5, 2022.

In collaboration with Ranchlands, Chico Basin Ranch, Audubon Conservation Ranching, and Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, HMI held this first of three workshops dedicated Participants discussing to providing training on the importance of improving habitat for interrelation between positive all species on their ranch. Photo grazing management and the credit: Claudia Landreville support of birds, pollinators, and wildlife and their habitats on holistically-managed ranches.

Duke Phillips IV, Tess Leach, Jonathan Tullar, Brandon Sickel, and the team from Ranchlands shared their knowledge on managing the Chico Basin and other Ranchlands properties and entities.

Training sessions were led by Wayne Knight, Executive Director at HMI. Ben Berlinger, a Rangeland Management Specialist who recently retired from the USDA NRCS and Victoria Crowe with the NRCS Canon City Field Office conducted a rainwater simulation demonstration that illustrated how more water is captured by healthier soils with living plants versus bare ground.

Ben provided information on maintaining soil health and healthy plants and how crucial that is especially in times of drought. After learning new methods and tools for grazing planning and monitoring, the group spent time in the field practicing the tools and discussing habitat management.

On day two, the group were able to move outside and enjoy the beautiful scenery by a lake with Katie Merewether, Private Lands Wildlife Biologist, and Colin Woolley, Banding Manager, from Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (BCR) kicking off a rangeland roundtable discussion highlighting their experiences with Chico Basin Ranch and the bird banding and conservation that is conducted there. They then shared BCR efforts to work with land managers on increasing and maintaining critical habitats for birds, many of which have been on the decline in recent years.

Aaron Maier, a Range Ecologist from Audubon’s Conservation Ranching Program, added to the discussion presenting Audubon’s efforts at developing the “Bird Friendly Beef” program and how it rewards land stewards who participate in the program by adding value to their products.

Discussions included how grazing and rest can be used to enhance the health of soil, plants, and a variety of habitats from upland to riparian for the benefit of numerous species. The workshop addressed effective tools to use to maintain and monitor animal body condition, including a look at the calving heifers followed by a review of habitat and forage.

This workshop was made possible by a generous contribution from the Carroll Petrie Foundation. Thank you to our partners Ranchlands, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Audubon Conservation Ranching, and Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. Special thanks to scholarship sponsors L&L Nippert Charitable Foundation and ISA Tantec.

GRAPEVINE The

An on-going drought that ranchers faced on these arid landscapes forced Alejandro to look for better ways of doing things, so in 2005 he took his first Holistic Management class. Since then, he has traveled and learned from ranchers around the world and through trial and error, he has adapted these learning experiences into his ranching environment. Today, Alejandro can carry three times more cattle than neighboring ranches on a per-acre basis, while substantially lowering his inputs. To accomplish this, he has relied on his adaptive grazing observation and management skills, selecting cattle that thrive under his conditions and management, and developing a solid, welldistributed, reliable water system to graze every paddock anytime of the year.

Before getting his boots on the ground full time, Alejandro worked as a software engineer in various countries. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Monterrey Tech and a Master of Science degree in technical management from Johns Hopkins University.

people programs projects

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New HMI Board Members

H Directors.

MI is excited to announce three new members who have joined our Board of

Seth Wilner

Seth Wilner has been a Holistic Management International Certified Educator since 2005. For 22 years he has worked as an agent Seth Wilner educator with University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension where he specializes in farm business management with an emphasis on whole farm planning.

Seth works across the state and throughout the Northeast Region. He has delivered numerous presentations on Holistic Management throughout the northeast region, including several multi-day workshops for both farmers and agricultural service providers. He received his B.S. from the University of Connecticut in soil science and his M.S. from the University of Wisconsin in Soil Fertility. Seth also served in the Peace Corps working with farmers in Senegal, West Africa from 1993 to 1995.

Seth’s areas of interest are in: financial planning, enterprise analysis, cost of production, effective communication, goal setting, whole farm planning, effective adult education, program development, program evaluation, and Beginning Farmer/Rancher Curriculum. Seth feels one of his most used talents in farms is systems analysis. He especially likes to hone in on social and financial systems as they relate to moving towards farm sustainability. Recently, due to demand, Seth has focused a great deal of his efforts on succession planning and farm transfer work.

When asked why he is excited to join the Board, Seth said it has been a dream of his for decades. He is excited to be part of the BOD team and bring his systems thinking and outlook as a resource. But he says he enjoys the synergy he experiences in serving on Boards and he emphasizes that he sees himself as just another team member working toward a common goal of advancing Holistic Management and HMI.

Alejandro Carrillo

Alejandro Carrillo is a fourthgeneration rancher, and he is quite familiar with the challenges of running a profitable cattle ranch in the Chihuahuan desert. Because annual precipitation seldom exceeds nine inches, every drop counts when it comes to growing more grasses. Grazing year-round with only sea salt as an input, he is not willing to waste any water in such a brittle environment.

Jozua Lambrechts

Jozua Lambrecht is from South Africa and divides his time between their home in Somerset West and their family farm in Sutherland, one of the coldest places in South Jozua Lambrechts Africa, where they farm with sheep.

He is married to his wife Therese and they have two daughters.

Jozua has a background in education and is passionate about how people learn and change. He did his first course in Holistic Management in 2002 and completed the Certified Educator Training Program in 2006. He also did a Permaculture Design Course in 2001.

Jozua has been involved for over 20 years in adult education and worked on a variety of sustainable development projects in rural communities in Southern Africa in which the Holistic Management framework was used in various ways to develop appropriate curricula and training courses. He also worked extensively with the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe adapting the Holistic Management framework for communal farmers and communities in Africa where fulltime herding is still the preferred livestock management strategy. He also does facilitation, strategic planning and conflict resolution for farming and ranching families by using the Holistic Management framework.

Jozua is very excited about joining HMI’s board and looks forward to learning from and working with other board members to strengthen HMI. Welcome, Seth, Alejandro, and Jozua!

Canadian Study Shows Increased Carbon Sequestration with Planned Grazing

Alejandro Carrillo

A University of Alberta study titled “Adaptive Multi-Paddock Grazing Lowers Soil Greenhouse Gas Emission Potential by Altering Extracellular Enzyme Activity” indicates that Adaptive Multi-Paddock Grazing (AMP Grazing) can sequester 1.5 times more methane than grasslands not grazed in that manner. Scientists concluded that AMP grazing alters biogeochemical properties and processes that could potentially mitigate the impact of a warmer soil on GHG emissions by consuming more CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

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Reader’s Forum

Do We Love Our Machines More Than Our Children?

BY TONY MCQUAIL

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ur current problems stem from our failure to understand and accept that we are biological organisms on a finite planet. We have experienced a brief moment in history when we seemed able to step outside those constraints and that has coloured our assumptions of what is real and what is normal. In a century we have burned through millions of years’ worth of accumulated biomass in the form of fossil fuels. Our beliefs in economic growth and mechanical progress rest on this conflagration. It seems intuitively obvious to me that we cannot sustain these levels of energy use with annually renewable sources. But what seems obvious to me seems to be unthinkable in most of the discussion of how to address climate change, peak oil and environmental degradation. Our society has a passion for technofix fantasies which are held out as allowing us to continue on our present trajectory. Don’t believe them.

I’ve been a farmer for over 40 years. I’ve been interested in renewable energy for all of them. In the ‘70s we built a passive solar home.

We put up the first modern interconnected wind generator on the Ontario Hydro grid in 1978. We were using photovoltaic panels to run electric fencers more than 20 years ago and currently use them to run our livestock water and garden irrigation in the summer. We have a microfit solar array that produces more electricity in a year than our home and farm consume. We formed a coop with some other farmers and tried to make an ethanol still but were unsuccessful. We bought a team of horses for farm power that could run on home grown renewable fuel. We helped form the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario and have been Organic Farmers since 1976.

Huge Decline in Agricultural Energy Efficiency

In the early ‘70s I was in the environmental studies program at the University of Waterloo while farming. I was interested in Agriculture and looked at the research on energy productivity of different systems. Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI) or Net Energy Productivity is the ratio of energy that comes out of a system divided by the energy put into it. What was fascinating was comparing pre-industrial with

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industrial agriculture and food systems. Preindustrial systems showed an EROEI of 5 to 50.

That is to say that for every unit of energy put into the system between 5 and 50 units came out. In pre-industrial agriculture that energy was human labour, draft animals, tools and seeds saved from previous crops. The high end of the scale was intensively managed and layered systems like paddy rice. The low end was simple subsistence agriculture—but to me the interesting thing was that agriculture systems did not go lower than 5 units out per unit in. My guess is that an agricultural system that produced less than 5 units literally “starved out”. It didn’t yield enough surplus energy to have a reserve for bad harvests or to raise the next generation.

Industrial agriculture with its fertilizers, pesticides, diesel fuel, big machines, transport, processing and distribution networks has an EROEI of 0.1. In other words, 10 units of energy are used in the system to get one unit of energy to the table. Industrial agriculture is a system for converting petroleum into food in an extremely wasteful fashion. Unfortunately, what we have done with industrial agriculture has been echoed across our whole economy where we have redesigned our activities to use ever greater amounts of energy as we replace labour with fossil fuels. When we first started this substitution, the EROEI of petroleum was impressive. Early oil wells often produced over 100 units of energy for every unit spent in drilling. They were the easy oil to get to. Today’s light crude is returning between 6 to 8 units for every unit in. The Tar sands may be getting down to 1 out for 1 in if you count all the hidden subsidies. As EROEI decreases, environmental impact increases and the driver of our past 100 years of economic growth collapses.

Without a high EROEI, the rate of growth that we assume denotes a healthy economy is impossible. Trying to achieve those rates of growth with low EROEI energy systems will be incredibly destructive and counterproductive.

Compost Conundrum

The reason is the “compost conundrum”.

We’ve all heard of the greenhouse effect but I’d like to offer an additional phrase to help us grapple with the challenges ahead. We actually have a green house on our farm. I understand that CO2 acts like glazing helping hold radiant heat inside the earth’s atmosphere. But I also think that if I took all the biomass that I grew in the green house over the course of the summer and torched it inside the greenhouse some night the green house would still experience a sudden rise in temperature—even if there was no

sunlight. Our burning of the fossil fuels is taking the biomass accumulated by millions of years of photosynthesis and burning it in the geological equivalent of a night. So I’m concerned that we not get so focused on CO2 that we loose track of the CAUSE of the problem which is our intensity and scale of energy use. CO2 sequestration and carbon credits attack the symptom but not the root cause of our problems and delay our addressing the real issue.

As an organic farmer I make compost piles. These heat up, not because of sunlight, but because of the rapid increase of microbial populations within the compost pile and the heat build up from their metabolic activity. They are oxidizing carbohydrates within the compost pile and generating heat from the rapidity of their growth.

When 1 unit of input energy produced 5 to 50 units of food, our food really only contributed a fraction over one unit of waste heat to the biosphere for each unit of food we ate. Once we started eating food produced in the industrial system, each unit of food eaten contributes 11 units of waste heat—one for the food eaten and 10 for the energy used to grow it. If we look at human population, it is on a J curve similar to the increase in microbes in a compost pile. If we add in the additional energy, we humans now use over and above the energy value of our food, we see an incredible increase in our energy use and waste heat generation. A “modern” North American probably produces 100 times as much waste heat from their machines as from their body heat. We’ve figured out how to turbocharge our compost pile.

We are not going to create a sustainable society by feeding our food to our machines. We are going to completely destabilize society if we plan to take the food out of the mouths of the poor to put into the tanks of SUV’s and jet planes.

We will also continue to destabilize the ecological life support systems of this planet. But we are reaching the point of “peak oil” or as Richard Hindberg has written “peak everything.” What can we do?

Creating a Sustainable Society

Well, the answer seems to me to be right under our noses. We need to redesign our economies and societies to run on the energy that goes into our mouths. And we need to remember how to produce that energy (call it food for ease of comprehension) in a manner that yields an EROEI of 5 or more. As a society we need to develop an ecological agriculture around and within our urban centres where food is grown

with a minimum of energy inputs and a maximum of ecological design. We need to redesign our cities to be walkable, bikeable, breathable and livable. Where most of the energy to make the city function comes from the food we eat. If we did that then we could likely use photovoltaics, wind generators, methane digesters and convert some biomass into liquid fuels to provide the energy to run public transit and communications technologies and even some tractors and combines in larger farm fields. And we could use our remaining petroleum far more carefully to bridge the gap between where we are today and where we need to be if we are to have a tomorrow.

We may love our machines—but they don’t love us. We need to remember that as we make choices. We need to love our children more than our machines.

As individuals we can set out to redesign our personal lives. Each time we have a choice to make we can ask “Is there a way I can accomplish this task with my own energy?” “Can I live close enough to my work so I can walk and bike there?” “Could I grow some of my own food with my own labour?” “Could I use a heat exchanger and seal and insulate the house so we could heat it with passive solar and our family’s body heat?” Each time we figure out ways to meet our basic needs with our own energy we are part of the solution and we buffer ourselves from the disruption to our lives from peak oil and the economic chaos associated with it.

If we don’t, there will be hell to pay. Most of the “new Technologies” have dismal EROEI’s.

When Petroleum had a 100/1 EROEI it meant that for 100 units of CO2 released by burning that petroleum only 1 unit of CO2 was released

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How might learning networks add participatory, evidence-based learning to ongoing efforts of information sharing, technical assistance, and advocacy?

See also: Institution or association? A brief comparison from managingwholes.com “Do civilizations fall because the soil fails to produce—or does a soil fail only when the people living on it no longer know how to manage their civilization?” —Charles E. Kellogg, 1938 “Underlying every single conflict is power—

in producing it. With a technology that yields only 4 units per unit of input energy it means that 25 units of CO2 are going to be released in producing 100 units of energy What are the global warming implications of our high tech, low EROEI plans to keep fueling our Machine Culture? The whole global warming debate seems to ignore the law of thermodynamics that states that all energy eventually ends up as waste heat. The more energy we use, the more waste heat we dump into the Earth Ecosystem. The act of burning fossil fuels, the act of fissioning Uranium adds to the heat load of our planet. In the current “climate,” desperate strategies for turning tar into liquid fuel or beaming solar energy from space into our ecosystem to become waste heat hardly seem like wise plans.

I would be much happier if the bright minds seeking techno fixes and the stacks of dollars funding them were focused on learning to live within the “solar power from space” that we get on an annual basis. For virtually all our species existence on the planet we managed on the solar energy stored in our food. Stonehenge, the pyramids, and Tical were built with that energy.

Redesigning our society to run on food that we grow ourselves may hold out far more hope for “Safe, Clean, Renewable Energy” than high tech fantasies. The rhetoric reminds me of the past enthusiasm for Nuclear Fission which bankrupted Ontario Hydro. We ratepayers are still paying for it with the “debt retirement charge” on every bill.

We have yet to deal with fully decommissioning a plant or coming up with a permanent solution to high level radioactive fuel wastes. The environmental costs of that “energy too cheap to meter” fantasy have been swept into the future.

who gets it, who doesn’t get it. You have to know how to balance power, to empower, to create an environment where I empower myself.”

—Bob Chadwick “The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself…The [Standard State Soil Conservation Districts Law] provides for the organization of ‘soil conservation districts’ as governmental subdivisions of the State…Such legislation is imperative to enable farmers to take the necessary cooperative action.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1937 letter to state governors (emphasis added) “Subsidies and propaganda may evoke the farmer’s aquiescence, but only enthusiasm and

Let us be careful not to commit vast quantities of our limited resources to high tech adventures that are likely to make matters worse not better.

We are more likely to survive and prosper if we return to being tool users and minimize our reliance and addiction to machines. We can set our personal and societal design criteria to rejoin the community of life on this planet.

Rediscovering our own “metabolic energy” can be the key to our survival. It would address the causes of both the “compost conundrum” and the “greenhouse effect.”

Tony McQuail is from Lucknow, Ontario.

He can be reached at: 519-528-2493 or mcqufarm@hurontel.on.ca. Learn more about Meeting Place Organic Farm at: www. meetingplaceorganicfarm.ca. This article was written in 2009 and originally published in The Canadian Friend, 2010 #1, page 17-18.

Tony is a farmer, environmentalist, and politician. He is a graduate of the University of Waterloo, Environmental Studies 1976.

He has been active in farm organizations at the local and provincial level. He is a founding member of the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario and has been farming organically since the mid ‘70s. He served as Executive Assistant to the Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in the early 1990s. He and Fran owned Meeting Place Organic Farm and operated it with assorted interns, apprentices and Belgian Work Horses. In 2016 they sold the farm to their daughter, Katrina. He is a Holistic Management® Certified Educator helping farmers learn how to have healthy people, land and profits.

affection will evoke his skill.”

“Obligations have no meaning without conscience, and the problem we face is the extension of the social conscience from people to land. . . In our attempt to make conservation easy, we have made it trivial.” —Aldo Leopold “If you want to make small changes, change how you do things. If you want to make big changes, change how you see things.” —Don Campbell, Saskatchewan rancher and facilitator of learning networks

This article was originally published at: https://soilcarboncoalition.org/why-learningnetworks/ N um ber 2 04

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From the Board Chair

BY WALTER LYNN

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n this month’s column, I would like to consider the holistic concerns raised by two authors and tie those concerns to our HMI purpose.

Tom Philpott is a food-farming journalist and wrote the 2020 book Perilous Bounty; Art Cullen, a Pulitzer Prize newspaper editor, is with The Storm Lake Times in the Northwest Iowa town, Storm Lake. He authored the book Storm Lake.

Philpott expresses concern about agriculture in California and in Iowa.

He discusses the dependence of California agriculture and its dependence on water for the fruits, vegetables, and nut trees. California grows more than 50% of fruits and vegetables consumed by the U.S. population; 25% of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts are grown on 1% of U.S. farmland in the Central Valley.

Philpott uses data from the Daily Erosion Project (DEP) Index monitored by Rick Cruse, an agronomy professor at Iowa State University.

Rick is a farm kid who grew up in northeast Iowa. His father coached him about “gully washers” from the rainfall deluges. Rick notes a quote from his father he never has forgotten —”Soils are connected to everything.

Without soils we have nothing.’’ This quote stands for the purpose of Rick’s work in Iowa. With over a decade of DEP data, Iowa’s average soil loss is 5.4 tons per acre annually (sheet-and-rill erosion); when we add the ephemeral gully erosion of 3 tons per acre annually, the loss is 8.4 tons.

This results in a 17 times rate greater than nature replenishment.

Art Cullen notes in his book, borings showed 17 feet of muck atop the

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help create wildlife habitat and slow down the spread of catastrophic fire.

They also brought in experts to help determine the appropriate use of prescribed fires and mechanical thinning. The decision-making process helped them with the ecological questions and the social challenges. They even got every university in New Mexico to be partners with the ranch and held ecology days for students from the local school districts as well as field days where they invited their neighbors.

Sterling believes the problems of desertification are worse than ever as the effects of climate change are felt throughout the West. “I’ve observed that the problem that drew Allan to New Mexico is still here,” says Sterling. “He said that New Mexico is the most rapidly desertifying part of the richest country in the world and we still see that. But, people who manage the land are devoted to the idea of improving the land. I’ve observed that those producers who take Holistic Management seriously and attend a course begin to observe what is happening on the land. Once a land manager buys into Holistic Management and crosses that threshold of understanding, I’ve seen huge improvements to the functioning of the land. I support HMI because they are a big part in spreading the word and making Holistic Management effective.”

Sterling now serves as a soil health coach to help people as part of New Mexico’s soil health program with the New Mexico Healthy Soils Working Group. “There has been some shift in perspective in soil health

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blue clay floor of Storm Lake. This lake has had three dredgings. In the last dredging, which ceased in September 2017, seven million cubic yards of mud had been removed to two distant spoil sites and the project was not complete—rather damning evidence of the erosion happening in that neck of the woods. Art challenges the ethanol industry and its focus on a corn monoculture that causes the aforementioned erosion. A Princeton University study indicates that biomass could be produced on 40% of row crop acreage for hydrogen production and economists posit there would be five times more revenue per acre than growing corn for ethanol.

The traditional management decisions relating to agriculture in California and Iowa promote the consumption (mining) of the very resources used in the production’s bounty—living soil.

With the concerns noted, it seems the communities we are involved with need to be engaged to consider other management decisions that could actually stop erosion and create living soil. Humanity needs clean water and nutrient dense food for its survival. HMI has its RAMP groups and other educational programming to interface with the people on farms and ranches.

A recent survey from Minnesota notes 69% of landlords shared they learn from farmer peers. Our Certified Educators are trained to help coach Holistic Management to farmers and ranchers with all kinds of different operations. We have a tremendous opportunity to support great producers inspiring others to make significant progress in their local communities and networks. We have a story to share. Our story is more than encouraging our community, but uplifting others to transformation in their own community.

h July / August 2022

in New Mexico,” says Sterling. “As the effects of climate change become more dramatic, the appeal of Holistic Management will come to the foreground. I really treasure the soil health coach idea and I’ve seen some pretty good receptivity from producers. As people are exposed to more effective land managers, the practices will become more wide spread, and I think things are going to improve.”

Sterling and Anne went to Africa a couple of years ago and visited the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe. “That was a really eye opening experience,” says Sterling. “We were glad to see the attitudes of the village near the Centre who had adopted Holistic Management.

When I used Holistic Management in my projects, it became clear to me that there is a universal appeal to Holistic Management once people get over the steep uphill climb. Once they get up the hill, people get it, and it’s really not that difficult.

“As I see Holistic Management evolving, I think the concepts become more widespread. It’s really gratifying to see that. The grazing planning chart can be overwhelming and I’ve seen various reactions among people from all walks of life to that process.

“There is no question that Holistic Management is the answer to climate change for land management, but it is tough to make the transition. I really appreciate how HMI is working so hard to overcome the complexity of the planning. Ecology is not a simple thing.”

Certified

Wayne Knight

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Educators

Seth Wilner

The following Certified Educators listed have been trained to teach and coach individuals in Holistic Management. On a yearly basis, Certified Educators renew their agreement to be affiliated with HMI. This agreement requires their commitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives and to seek out opportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Management.

Holistic Management International Van Alstyne 940/626-9820 waynek@holisticmanagement.org

Newport 603/863-9200 (w) seth.wilner@unh.edu

Tracy Litle

NEW MEXICO

Ann Adams

Orange Grove 361/537-3417 (c) tjlitle@hotmail.com

Holistic Management International Albuquerque 505/842-5252 ext 5 anna@holisticmanagement.org

Peggy Maddox

Hermleigh 325/226-3042 (c) peggy@kidsontheland.org

Kirk Gadzia

Bernalillo 505/263-8677 (c) kirk@rmsgadzia.com

U N I T E D S TAT E S ARIZONA

Tim McGaffic

Cave Creek 808/936-5749 tim@timmcgaffic.com CALIFORNIA

*College of Agriculture, CSU Lee Altier

Chico 530/636-2525 laltier@csuchico.edu

Owen Hablutzel

Los Angeles 310/567-6862 go2owen@gmail.com

Richard King

Petaluma 707/217-2308 (c) rking1675@gmail.com

Markegard *HalfDoniga Moon Bay

650/670-7984 doniga@markegardfamily.com

Kelly Mulville *Paicines

707/431-8060 kmulville@gmail.com

MICHIGAN

Larry Dyer

Petoskey 231/881-2784 (c) ldyer3913@gmail.com

Rob Rutherford

San Luis Obispo 805/550-4858 (c) robtrutherford@gmail.com COLORADO

Joel Benson

Buena Vista 719/221-1547 joel@paratuinstitute.com

Cindy Dvergsten

Dolores 970/739-2445 cadwnc@gmail.com

Tim McGaffic

Dolores 808/936-5749 tim@timmcgaffic.com IDAHO

Angela Boudro

Moyie Springs 541/ 890-4014 angelaboudro@gmail.com MARYLAND

Christine C. Jost

Silver Springs 773/706-2705 christinejost42@gmail.com

Jeff Goebel

Stowe (1/2 year in Oneonta NY) 802/760-7799 thurgood246@gmail.com

Belen 541/610-7084 goebel@aboutlistening.com

WISCONSIN

MISSISSIPPI

Elizabeth Marks

*Madison

601/384-5310 (h) preston.sullivan@hughes.net

Phillip Metzger

Laura Paine *Columbus

*Meadville

Preston Sullivan

*Montana State University

*Hazen

Bozeman 406/581-3038 (c) • kroosing@msn.com

Cliff Montagne

Bozeman 406/599-7755 (c) montagne@montana.edu

NEBRASKA

Paul Swanson *Hastings

402/463-8507 • 402/705-1241 (c) pswanson3@unl.edu

Ralph Tate

Papillion 402/250-8981 (c) • tateralph74@gmail.com

608/665-3835 larrystillpointfarm@gmail.com

Chatham 518/567-9476 (c) elizabeth_marks@hotmail.com Norwich 607/316-4182 pmetzger17@gmail.com

MONTANA

Larry Johnson

NEW YORK

Roland Kroos (retired)

Don Nelson

Red Bluff 208/301-5066 nelson-don1@hotmail.com

VERMONT

John Thurgood

608/338-9039 (c) lkpaine@gmail.com

NORTH DAKOTA

For more information about or application forms for the HMI’s Certified Educator Training Programs, contact Ann Adams or visit our website: www.holisticmanagement.org.

Joshua Dukart

701/870-1184 joshua_dukart@yahoo.com SOUTH DAKOTA

Randal Holmquist *Mitchell

605/730-0550 • randy@heartlandtanks.com

Deborah Clark

TEXAS

*

These associate educators provide educational services to their communities and peer groups.

Henrietta 940/328-5542 deborah@birdwellandclarkranch.com

I N T E R N AT I O N A L Judi Earl

AUSTRALIA

Coolatai, NSW 61-409-151-969 judi_earl@bigpond.com

Graeme Hand

Mount Coolum, NSW 61-4-1853-2130 graemehand9@gmail.com

*Warwick, QLD

Helen Lewis

61-4-1878-5285 hello@decisiondesignhub.com.au

Ralph Corcoran

Philipp Mayer

Langbank, SK 306/434-9772 rlcorcoran@sasktel.net

Pirkanmaa 358-409306406 mayer_philipp@gmx.at

Blain Hjertaas

Redvers, SK 306/452-7723 bhjer@sasktel.net

NAMIBIA

*Windhoek

Usiel Seuakouje Kandjii

264-812840426 kandjiiu@gmail.com

Brian Luce

Ponoka, AB 403/783-6518 lucends@cciwireless.ca

Wiebke Volkmann

Mt. Pleasant, SA 61-4-2906-9001 dick@naturesequity.com.au

Noel McNaughton

Windhoek 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@afol.com.na

Jason Virtue *Cooran QLD

Tony McQuail

John King *Christchurch

Dick Richardson

61-4-27 199 766 jason@spiderweb.com.au

Brian Wehlburg

Mid North Coast, NSW 61-0408-704-431 brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au CANADA

Don Campbell

Meadow Lake, SK 306/236-6088 • doncampbell@sasktel.net

Edmonton, AB 780/432-5492 • noel@mcnaughton.ca Lucknow, ON 519/440-2511 • tonymcquail@gmail.com

Kelly Sidoryk

Blackroot, AB 780/872-2585 (c) kelly.sidoryk@gmail.com FINLAND

Tuomas Mattila

Pusula 358-407432412 tuomas.j.mattila@gmail.com

NEW ZEALAND

64-276-737-885 john@succession.co.nz SOUTH AFRICA

Jozua Lambrechts

Somerset West, Western Cape +27-83-310-1940 jozua@websurf.co.za

Ian Mitchell-Innes

Ladysmith, Kwa-Zulu Natal +27-83-262-9030 ian@mitchell-innes.co.za

N um ber 2 04

h IN PRACTICE 21

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h July / August 2022

KIDS ON THE LAND Kids On the Land is a unique STEM environmental program designed to teach children about the region where they live, connecting them to the land and a more sustainable future.

Kids On the Land is proud to report that we have made it through the Covid-19 pandemic. When we couldn’t be with our kids on the land last year, we made videos of some of our activities and put them on our website. We also provided the teachers with activities and resources that go with each site-based video. Check them out at www. kidsontheland.org. We hope to begin our regular programs in the fall.

Executive Director Peggy Maddox 325/226-3042 peggy@kidsontheland.org http://kidsontheland.org peggyhermleigh@gmail.com

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Rangeland can provide an abundance of Six varieties years of plant for independent livestock nutrition. But what about the research more “developed” university on pastures and hay meadows?

Soil tests fromplots all types randomized, replicated of livestock producers show 95+% of all such at the Research soils do notBradford have the correct nutrient levels to Farm the at best University Missouri, provide nutrition foroflivestock.

Columbia, has now shown You can change that! Choose an area, split it and soilthe test both sides separately.

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Depending on nutrients requirements the soil chemistry requirements it may take two or three years to achieve the that Dr. William Albrecht top potential. Test each year and, as fertility recommended as necessary needs are met, feed value and yield tendfor to increase for allwould three years. soils that grow the best Increased more pay for plants yields basedwillon histhan work in the the investment with increased feed quality early twentieth century. as a bonus. Prove it for yourself!

N um ber 2 04

h IN PRACTICE 23

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PAID Jefferson City, MO PERMIT 210

Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.

®

a publication of Holistic Management International 2425 San Pedro Dr. NE, Ste A Albuquerque, NM 87110 USA

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DEVELOPMENT CORNER Holistic Management Works Everywhere In 1985, Sterling Grogan was working as the lead environmentalist at the 5,000-acre Navajo Coal mine that supported the Four Corners Navajo power plant. “The smoke from that smokestack used to be the only human made thing that astronauts could see from space,” says Sterling. “It was one of the largest strip mines and I was working on reclaiming it.

We wanted to bring back the cold desert vegetation Sterling Grogan that had been there before.

“Walter Russo was a colleague of mine and he was the first person to tell me about Holistic Management. We attended a week-long course taught by Allan Savory and Jody Butterfield. What we learned blew my mind. It was the first time anyone had talked about the natural world like Allan did and it made sense.”

Walter and Sterling decided they would use holistic grazing planning to reclaim the Navajo Mine and they established the Navajo Mine Grazing Management Project. They borrowed 150 head of animals (cattle, sheep, and goats) from local Navajo graziers and provided veterinary care and supplemental feed to keep the animals healthy.

“It was fabulous project and very successful,” says Sterling. The Navajo Nation veterinarian came to visit us in 1996 after we had been running the project for five years. This was during the worst drought

in recorded history. He told us that the animals involved in the project were the healthiest animals on the reservation.

“We also had monthly meetings with the local herders and they were translated into both English and Navajo. One old Navajo man who lived just south of the mine wanted to know what this Holistic Management was all about. I gave him my 10-minute rap about Holistic Management and he said, ‘That’s the first time I’ve heard a white man say anything that’s made sense.’ That was the best endorsement we could have had I think.”

Unfortunately, the mine company decided that this reclamation was too expensive so they ended the project even though they had been achieving the desired results of returning the plant community back to a cold desert plant community.

“The Navajo Mine Grazing Project was the highlight of my Holistic Management career,” says Sterling. “We had great support from the Center for Holistic Management (HMI’s previous name) and Kirk Gadzia was a partner on the project. He was the principle technical guy who designed the grazing plan and managed the Holistic Management planning process. He is so good at connecting with everyone and is an effective communicator so he helped get people on board.”

Sterling had a small consulting business and was a graduate student at the University of New Mexico in what is now known as Restoration Ecology when the Navajo project ended. He went on to use Holistic Management in other programs he worked on as a soil scientist in Venezuela, Brazil, and Tajikistan. “In every place, Holistic Management helped. It became part of my life. Later I was asked to turn a horse ranch into an environmental center and Holistic Management helped with that too.

“I have observed Holistic Management in practice in many ranches in New Mexico, Colorado, California, and Texas. My partner, Anne Watkins, and I put together a support group for people learning Holistic Management and that was gratifying to see how Holistic Management can be such an effective land management tool in so many very different places.”

Sterling found that the Holistic Management planning process helped them engage effective partnerships for the 3,300-acre horse ranch he and Anne managed for a while. They engaged the U.S. Forest Service to determine how to structure the forested part of the ranch to

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