Dear Friends, As the tributes to Wendell Berry pour in, I’d like to pay homage not as a poet or essayist, but as a farmer. I first met Wendell in the early 1980’s. Hal Hamilton introduced us. Hal had recently graduated from Cornell and moved to Henry County to learn from–and live by–Wendell’s ideas. He…
Friends, The war with Iran arrived in Winchester, Kentucky, this morning. First, a little background: Industrial agriculture has two lifelines, synthetic fertilizer and diesel fuel. At Mt. Folly, we have spent years building our soil fertility naturally, with cover crops, green manures, cattle and compost. But our tractors run on diesel, and until I can…
Dear Friends, I don’t drink, so why did I found a whiskey company, Regeneration Distillery? Besides being a little nuts, which I can’t help, there are two reasons, really. Let’s start with the first one, which is from the farm point of view: To improve soil health, which means optimizing the soil and microbiome…
Organic Farming and the USDA’s organic certification program, despite its flaws, remains the gold standard for chemical-free food production. Since 2014, Mt. Folly Farm has proudly maintained this certification. Part of the process involves an annual inspection and testing of organic crops, like the farm’s corn. The latest test results, received in December, showed non-detectable…
It’s here and we are on it… World Soil Day is here. This commemoration stumped Bernie Sanders at a Town Hall before the Iowa primary, but now he knows that regenerative farmers feed the soil, and the soil feeds us. You may have heard about the human microbiome, a better understanding of which has…
Buffalo clover, unlike other legumes, doesn’t need bacteria to fix nitrogen, as it historically thrived with buffalo herds that provided this benefit naturally. Today, we replicate this process at Mt. Folly Farm by rotating cattle, promoting soil health, and helping revive the endangered plant.
Buffalo clover, unlike other legumes, doesn’t need bacteria to fix nitrogen, as it historically thrived with buffalo herds that provided this benefit naturally. Today, we replicate this process at Mt. Folly Farm by rotating cattle, promoting soil health, and helping revive the endangered plant.
If our civilization can’t stop the pumps (construction, transportation, heating and cooling), can we buy some time by putting atmospheric carbon back in trees, plants and soils, where it belongs? Is it possible for agriculture to become a solution rather than a cause of climate change?
Dear Friends, Fall is here, the silage for our winter feed is up, and our plans turn to harvest, cover crops, complex rotations, grass and soil diversity. Per my last letter, I’ve paid a visit to our friends the Halls, at The Troublesome Creek Times in Hindman, Knott County.* There, I spent an afternoon, delivering…
Dear Friends, And the winner is Julia Truitt Poynter! Thanks to all who signed up for the Mt. Folly Farm newsletter and entered to win a stay at the Homestead. Julia and I will tour the farm, visit the distillery and the new Mercantile on Main, see our downtown. She plans to visit in October…