Regenerative Land Management

If you are interested in land management or owning land there is normally an interest in having either a garden, orchard or livestock on the property as well. It only makes sense, the more you can utilize of the property and provide for you and your family seems like a wise investment. Along with this there are many different ideas of how to manage the land. We all should know that at one point God created the land perfect and completely sustainable for his creation. The problem is man has came through and devastated most areas of land and it is no longer what it was intended to be.

This is where the idea of Regenerative Agriculture came into reality. Some people may hear this and think its just another scam, something that is too complicated for the average person to understand or just too hard to do. The truth is it is not a scam and it is something that we were called to do by God, to work the land and to care for it. Also, it is made into this over-explained process with all this scientific mumbo jumbo. Which allows for certain individuals to profit off of it by offering certification and inspections to get a tag to say you are practicing regenerative agriculture.

In reality it is simply allowing the land to return to it's natural state while increasing the healthy longevity of the soil which will in turn produce more food for us humans and livestock. Sure, you can do certain grazing techniques to aid in fertilization and limit the amount of time animals have so they are not overgrazing or scalping the land. You can alternate the produce you grow in areas to lessen or bring more acidity to the land. All this said it is all focused on one thing, healthy soil, which in turn leads to healthy and naturally biodiverse land. For the most part everything that surrounds it is common sense. Even to the types of grasses that are native to an area. Yes, big shocker here, the native grasses grow better and are more nourishing to the soil and to your livestock. I know there will be a ton of people out there that get frustrated over the over simplification of my explanation but frankly it is because they do not want others to understand that you can do it too. They like sounding more intelligent or as if they have found a new way to do things.

The Scandinavians have been practicing this way before modern day. They would rotate their crops, integrate livestock into certain areas by utilizing their manure, they used a inward grazing and outward grazing pattern. Nicer weather push the animals farther away and during colder months bring them closer to the settlements.

The Natives to America were able to grow corn to sustain themselves by simply putting fish in the soil to bring more nutrients.

The Bible teaches of a Shmita or a sabbatical year for the land. This was essentially giving an area of land a break from crops or livestock and to encourage rotational grazing. Sound familiar right? I could keep giving examples but the point is anyone can do it, it is not over complicated and we should be practicing it.

You will see a bunch of pictures below which show our regenerative practices for an area being turned into an orchard, garden and yard. The property started out heavily wooded with not much pasture land or even an area for gardening. A year ago the decision was made to push the trees because this was not the natural state of the land. In our area historically, we have woods but not like there are currently. This was done by loggers who came through, scalped what they could and replanted trees for future harvest. We eventually will be pushing even more but for now the area you see was intended to be pushed because it serves a specific purpose and it was close to the house.

I will take a moment and say we at The Norsemen Ranch cannot stand waste so even though we are pushing trees we are using as much as we can from it. This comes in the way of selling logs for lumber, cutting and selling firewood, utilizing smaller posts for fence building and even using smaller branches for trellises and fence railings. The area we pushed is roughly 3 acres and from it we have made some money from the trees which has helped us not only pay for the pushing completely but also purchase materials for future plans. The area will eventually host a turnaround road, an orchard of many different fruit trees which are in their infant year already. We have a garden planted that is currently our main source for produce and is an 1/8 of the planned size. It also hosts many of the herbs that are used to make the tinctures and other products we have in the Norsemen's Wife's Apothecary. There are plans for a garden shed and a greenhouse to allow for year long growing. With plans for a brick oven wood stove to provide heat in the winter. (A project that will be shared in the upcoming year hopefully.

To get there we have pushed the trees, graded the earth to get it flatter, are currently removing rock and using them for other projects. The future plan is to plant winter rye and native grasses that grow here. Hoping to curb some of the washout of the dirt that we have, also utilizing our horses and chickens to spread hay that contains native grasses and mixing with their naturally produced fertilizer (yes, I mean manure). Wait, everything that I am explaining is normal ranch stuff and guess what, it is all regenerative agriculture. How cool is that and even though it is a ton of work it is not as complicated as everyone makes it out to be. Also, when you look at the pictures below and the progression from what it was to what it is now we have to say it looks pretty darn awesome how it is coming out. Future plans and pictures will be shared but at this point this is what a year's worth of work has provided us and with a little simple regenerative agriculture we are turning a property that was heavily wooded with not much production into something much more.