Discovering Regenerative Agriculture
- Sprouting Roots
- Apr 17, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 21, 2022
Read below to find out how my current journey of exploring regenerative agriculture is shaping up.
@maggie.eileen.art
The term "regenerative agriculture" has been floating around in my life for a few years now: I have friends interested in the topic, my parents have recently started implementing it on their sheep farm, and I'll read about from books about growing food/farming/herbalism/nature-based practices.
It's not until I watched Kiss the Ground documentary that I began to understand what it means, and even then I still have a lot to learn!
So what is Regenerative Agriculture?
Regenerative Agriculture uses practices like no till, diverse cover crops, and animal integration to draw down carbon from the air and return it to the soil where it belongs - all without the use of chemicals or GMOs. This both mitigates climate change and creates more productive, healthier soil.
Regenerative Agriculture is basically a practice that supports all lives in the eco-system, and not just what a lot of us redeem to be most important: human lives. It respects the diversity of and the necessity for diversity within nature. That plants and animals can thrive in the same environment and it's not only unnecessary but also unhealthy to have monocultured farms growing just corn/soy/wheat for the mass-produced animals living in terrible conditions.
What am I learning so far?
So much!
First: how regenerative agriculture is apparently a modern name given to ancient practices. We didn't come up with this, it's always been, and we're re-discovering the simple but significant benefits of it. Secondly, it can be used in small-scale farming, big family farms or your backyard garden as the practices are universal. Third: how it can help with global warming/climate change/environmental issues at it's one way to help capture carbon in the soil- by not tilling the ground therefore not disturbing the plants and soil that's capturing said carbon and releasing it into the atmosphere. It helps keep the carbon in the loop rather than trapped in the atmosphere.
At this point, I'm mostly learning how much inspiration, joy and energy is arising for me just from discovering regenerative agriculture. I'm currently living in Ontario with family friends of Sasha's, as we had to step out of Zen Mountain Monastery for personal reasons- and they happen to have vegetable garden beds available and willing to offer us a patch to play with!
I'm hoping to sign up for Kiss the Ground's Introduction to Regenerative Gardening course as a way to deepen my understanding and have some guidance on the practices and hopefully integrate it in the vegetable garden here.
(Edit May 06, 2022: I've signed up for the course and have slowly begun. Life has turned another trajectory recently (as mentioned in this blog post) and I haven't gone beyond the introductory modules- but I'm very excited to dig in!)
I'm also in the process of reading up on books mentioned in the documentary as well as any I've found online or at the local library. Some are about Regenerative Agriculture, and others are some I've come across while researching for RegenAg books and find interesting. Books like:
Drawdown by Paul Hawken
Kiss the Ground by Josh Tickell
Holistic Management by Allan Savory
The Soil Will Save Us Kristin Ohlson
Dawn Again by Doniga Markegard
Letter to A Young Farmer by Gene Logsdon
Recipe to a Kinder Life by Annie Smithers
Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway
It's early days yet in this journey into Regenerative Agriculture...
But it sure feels hopeful and brings a lot of energy into my life. Especially right now when I've just moved to this house and feeling the transplant shock of leaving the monastery cloister, which I'd been living for 2 months. It feels strange having all my time be my full responsibility once again, and I do miss the community and the friends I've made.
I'm practicing being with how my life is taking shape right now, even if nothing seems clear (and my mind definitely wants to make things clear, concise and definite!) and I feel anxious a lot when it comes to logistics, finance and future directions.
May this one offer something wholesome!
Kiss the Ground
To Which We Belong
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