These days phrases like burnout and hustle culture are popping up like dandelions in spring. Being a naturally slow person myself (born two weeks late and never caught up), my first response is to resist and refuse these terms. My slowness leans more toward the regenerative, small farm life - where we work in years … Continue reading Health benefits for giving and buying local: You’re boosting more than the economy
We LOVE our small-scale regenerative farms and are counting the ways they benefit us all as this year winds to its end. Let's dig in! Oh so healthy Our local farms: Produce nutritious and delicious food - Local food is often healthier and tastier because it's harvested at peak ripeness, which also means peak nutrients … Continue reading Bountiful benefits of regenerative farms: Top 24 reasons why we love local food and farms in 2024
FoxRAP made great strides in 2023 - our 2nd full year of operations. I'm happy to share here our Annual Report with you, our all-important supporters, contributors, partners, and community. With your support, we: Won a competitive $86K USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program grant to increase and improve direct-to-consumer markets and sales for local farms … Continue reading FoxRAP 2023 Annual Report
Our neighboring town of Ripon is home to South Woods, a 55-acre woodland preserved since 1902 - making it Wisconsin's oldest nature preserve - by a group of forward-thinking women who wanted to make a difference and save this special place from logging. The story is now also preserved in a beautiful short film. When … Continue reading Wonder, magic, diamonds: the treasures of (farm)land conservation
With climate extremes increasing in frequency and intensity, two mitigation methods regularly emerge - conversion to renewable energy and expanding regenerative agriculture. Both have their benefits. The problem is, they are increasingly competing for the same land. Wind and solar energy are now cheaper than fossil fuel. So project developers are eager to expand, and … Continue reading Renewable energy vs. regenerative agriculture: can we do both?
"Of the many epic challenges that climate change is bringing to humankind, one of the most significant is surely the need to reinvent agriculture.
Can the world’s farmers find a way to shift from large-scale, carbon-intensive industrial farming that is destroying soil and ecosystems to smaller-scale bioregional systems that not only respect nature but regenerate it?
Can we invent systems that grow enough nutritious food, distribute it fairly to all, and remake agriculture as a decentralized, place-respecting enterprise?
At this point in the unfolding climate catastrophe, these ambitions are not simply a nice fantasy to ponder. They are existential necessities. If humankind is going to avoid fatal disruptions to the planet’s ecosystems and civilization itself, agriculture must find ways to pursue some radical shifts.
In the short term, the top imperative must be new strategies for adapting to climate change: new cultivation practices, new crop choices, holistic commitments. Over the longer term, the art of farming must reintegrate itself with local ecosystems and the biosphere. Agriculture must do more than “sustain” an already degraded landscape. It must understand and improve the generativity of life itself.
Regeneration is not simply a set of techniques. It is a mindset and worldview. It is a deep priority and commitment. Regenerative agriculture is not only about improving crop yields and reducing harmful ecological impacts. It is about bringing new vigor to biogeoecological systems while enlivening us as humans.
The focus is not on beggar-thy-neighbor competition and market success that tends toward economic consolidation; it is about cooperative stewardship of dispersed, autonomous systems on a holistic scale. Everyone can flourish together."
Although I've studied Spanish (on and off, ahem) since high school, only this year did I learn the powerful word, querencia. From the word querer, which means 'to want' or 'to love', querencia translates as 'fondness'. However, it's also a deeper concept, one with no English translation; a concept of belonging, a love of home, … Continue reading Celebrating Sconnie: Instilling an inclusive love of place
Foxhead Regenerative Agriculture Project 