It is a pleasure to learn more about how farmers and ranchers like us are utilizing the land to enrich our environment as well as our health, through careful animal and earth husbandry. Here are some of our recommended resources for learning more:
Tallgrass Network www.tallgrassnetwork.com
One of the first 20 fully accredited international hub sites in in the Savory Network for Holistic Management. Located in east central Kansas, the Tallgrass Network provides training and consulting in regenerative holistic agricultural practices including adaptive multi-paddock grazing management. Mettenburg Farm is the official demonstration farm for the Tallgrass Network.
Allan Savory
How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change, TED talk video.
Can our humble cattle and other animals really do all of that? Indeed. This TED talk by Allan Savory, the father of adaptive managed grazing, offers a paradigm-change education in only 20 minutes. Profound.
Savory Institute for Holistic Management www.savoryinstitute.net
http://savory.global/institute
Soil Carbon Cowboys
Arizona State professor and filmmaker Peter Byck showcases drought-resilient regenerative soil practices featuring 3 Holistic Management practitioners in a 12 minute documentary.
YouTube video | Vimeo video
ASU-Soil Carbon Nation Whole Systems Science Team
“Adaptive Multi-Paddock grazing (AMP grazing) is regenerating soils around the world, producing healthy grass-finished beef. But the science on AMP grazing is sparse, to say the least. Now, a group of leading soil, rangeland, bug and social scientists are setting out to fill the science gap. Led by Dr. Richard Teague of Texas A&M, and convened by filmmaker Peter Byck of Arizona State University, the ASU-Soil Carbon Nation Whole Systems Science Team is positioned to do large scale science that’s never been done before.”
www.dixonwater.org/soil–carbon-curious
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/asu-cas021015.php
Defending Beef: The Case for Sustainable Meat Production
Environmental lawyer turned rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman in her new book, Defending Beef, argues that cattle are not inherently bad for either the Earth or our own nutritional health.
Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth
Judith Schwartz (Chelsea Green Publishing, May, 2013)
The Soil Carbon Coalition
A nonprofit organization working to advance the practice and spread awareness of the opportunity to turn atmospheric carbon into water-holding, fertility-enhancing soil organic matter and humus.
www.soilcarboncoalition.org | www.facebook.com/Soil-Carbon-Coalition-521712917982720/
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
The seminal book that will forever change how you look at food and our food system. If you don’t have time to read the book, watching Food, Inc. will have the same effect.
Soil4Climate www.facebook.com/groups/Soil4Climate
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Folks might wonder why we would recommend this book by a vegetarian, but after a personal investigation into the ethics of eating meat, his conclusions are surprising. And while Big Beef may protest any advice to reduce meat consumption, we believe that if you can’t get meat from Mettenburg Farm or another sustainable source, that our planet, animals and public health would benefit if you eat less of it.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Prairyerth (A Deep Map): An Epic History of the Tallgrass Prairie Country by William Least Heat-Moon
Folks, This Ain’t Normal
By Joel Salatin, Polyface Farm, a pioneer in this type of farming (and whose farm we have visited, for information and inspiration ). Also good: Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, to give you an idea of the bizarre regulatory and other challenges of trying to farm and sell food this way – outside of the Big Food system. Spoiler alert: the deck is stacked against us!