-
Stockpiling Grass for Early Spring Grazing
Last season, the sheep grazed our South Meadow in mid June, and instead of mowing and baling the second growth in August or September, we let that grass stand and go into winter. About two weeks ago, we brought the sheep out of their winter paddocks and started them back on their grazing rotation in…
-
2017’s Vermont Regenerative Soils Program
I’m excited to tell you that, earlier this month, Senator Campion introduced a revised and updated version of our regenerative soils bill to the Vermont legislature. The bill is S.43: An act relating to establishing a regenerative soils program. (Full text here.) It is currently with the Senate Commitee on Natural Resources and Energy, and…
-
Personal Thoughts on the Upcoming Vermont Regenerative Soils Program Legislation
Today, Senator Brian Campion will introduce to the Vermont Legislature our second attempt at a bill that, if passed, would incentive the responsible stewardship of our state’s ecosystems through the regeneration of our state’s soils. I’m immensely proud of this bill and will publish a post tomorrow with the nitty-gritty details and text. For now,…
-
The Regeneration at Studio Hill: A Slideshow
I had the pleasure of presenting the story of our farm—from it’s roots as a dairy in the ’30s right up to it’s current iteration as a regenerative farm—at this year’s Vermont Energy & Climate Action Network (VECAN) Conference at the beautiful Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, Vermont. I was joined in our workshop by…
-
Our Public Comment on Vermont’s Required Agricultural Practices
We submitted the following letter to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets on the last day that they were accepting public comment on the Required Agricultural Practices—or RAPs. Now that the rule has been formally submitted by the Agency, we thought we’d publish our final comments. See the bottom of this post for an…
-
Our Response to Vermont’s Proposed Required Agricultural Practices
I applaud Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets—herein referred to as “The Agency”—for trying to move the state’s water quality in the right direction. When our wonderful Senator Campion stood in my barnyard one morning a year or so ago and asked me my thoughts on a hypothetical program, I was all for it.…
-
The Vermont Regenerative Agriculture Certification Program
FINAL UPDATE: Friday, February 26th, 2016 I received word this afternoon that the Vermont Senate Committee on Agriculture has decided to table the bill for this session. I was given no more details than that. Sad news for the day, to be sure. But the future is bright! Throughout this process we’ve learned that support…
