January Vibes: Third Way Farm and the Regenerative Ag Movement

This month's blog post was written by Peter.  Here, he shares his reflections on regenerative farming practices and how the farm implements them to improve soil health, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration, thereby regenerating Earth and her community. 

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Earlier this month I heard that 2024 was the hottest year on record.* In fact, the past 10 years have also been the past 10 hottest years on record for the entire world. This gave me a huge sense of dread.

As a farmer, as a human, and as an active member of society, I have been following global climate change closely.  This information threw me into a cold pool of shock. Not just because 2024 was hotter than 2023, but that the past 10 years have been the hottest…ever. And, as a young 30-something person, that means that the weight of this reality is going to fall on my generation. I felt…I feel overwhelmed by the weight of it all.  

There’s a great band, The Head and the Heart, that has a song, 10,000 Weight in Gold. The first stanza says:

“I was burned out and lost, a dusty bulb, an abandoned lot.

And the nighttime was the worst, it shows you all the things you lost.”

Sadly, I feel like my generation has become a “dusty bulb,” weighed down by a metaphorical 10,000 weight in gold. We have grown up hearing about climate change and its incredibly terrible impact, from increasing sea temperatures to erratic weather to economic disaster to the January wildfire in California; the problems are heavy.  Or at least it feels like the weight of the world is on our shoulders.

I know that the problem is bigger than us. I know that it will take a solution bigger than us. I know that the world will outlast us if we keep moving at this pace, and so nature continues.  But that doesn’t make me feel any better.

So, in my overwhelmed state, I try to remember to become grounded. To ground myself in the small specific things that I, or my community, can do to make a change.  

I remember that we, at Third Way Farm, practice not just sustainable agriculture, but beyond that to regenerative agriculture. Our practices seek to regenerate the soil. Regenerate the food.  Regenerate the community.  And in further practice, regenerate the Earth.  

It’s the small things that make a difference.  We don’t till.  This keeps the soil pathways intact and lets the microbial life continue to thrive.  Minimal soil disturbance allows the plants that we put back into the soil to take up those resting nutrients and return needed nutrients to the Earth. Rotation of crops means that whatever nutrients we take with a certain plant (say tomatoes), then is planted with something like lettuces to return nutrients to the soil and take up different nutrients.  We strive to not constantly take. We strive to give back, to return.  

This goes for companion planting, for including pollinator hives on the property, for rotating our grazing animals, and letting chickens work through the cattle manure, spreading it out, and fertilizing the pastures. This goes for cultivating a store where we can bring people from all backgrounds together to buy food that grounds us in healthy, intentional, and hopeful ways. Where people can come together to find like minds and like actions to help bolster the larger community. To bring awareness to the hard work it takes to grow food that doesn’t just take. To grow food and to grow a community that regenerates.

When I get overwhelmed by the weight of climate change - I remember to ground myself in Third Way Farm; where regenerating faith, community, and justice are just part of what we strive to do every day, through small actions.  It’s not easy, and we don’t always get it right, but you bet your bottom dollar we try day in and out. For that work, is what’s going to regenerate this planet.

*https://www.nasa.gov/news-rele...