Readings to accompany this post:
"The Prophet" from The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C. Mann.
"Environmentalists want to stop polluting wells and protect bald eagle nests. But they see the well water not so much as property but as part of a natural cycle with its own value that needs to be maintained. The eagle, for its part, is a constituent of an ecosystem that has an essential integrity that should be protected." -Charles C. Mann
This week was my last week at Nightfall Farm. While walking the land the pigs inhabited, I noticed the soil was dark and brown and clearly worn where the pigs had been previously. Rotational grazing is the process of moving the animals to uninhabited parts of the land so that the soil where they existed previously has time to heal before they graze it again. It's a really cool system, but not one that the effects are immediately visible in. Instead, it's a process.
As Liz and I gave the pigs some fresh water and feed, we walked over the the freshly worn land one paddock over. Its surface was sprinkled with seeds not yet claimed by the ground. Liz began to explain to me that scattering these seeds allows the land to reach its full potential again. Not only that, but the ground uses the waste left behind by the pigs to build itself back up again, too. Echoes of this sentiment can be found in the quote by Mann that I included at the beginning of this post.
When Liz spoke to me about the benefits of this, she never implied that she wanted to help the land for her own benefit. Instead, she centered her reasoning around the land itself and the animals living on it. First, she told me of turnips, the seeds of which were sprinkled among the others. These vegetables have such extensive root systems that they create channels within the soil and provide routes for more nutrients. They also are a cover crop and therefore aid in absorbing carbon.
By taking this extra step and scattering seeds, Liz and Nate further do their part to heal the land. Not only does this benefit the land itself, it also benefits the animals that live on it as they have more plant matter to munch on. Mann states that "environmentalism is an argument that respecting the rules of nature is indispensable to having a good society and living a good life." By being farmers, it is a given that you will in some ways affect and manipulate the land. I do believe there is a way to manipulate the land while also respecting the rules of nature as they are outlined. I believe this experience proves that it is possible to alter the land in positive ways that mimic the land's natural cycles.