We shall never achieve harmony with the land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. -Aldo Leopold
Returning home.
The calling to come home, do something bigger and more impactful was ringing in my ears. I had fallen out of love with career in the hair industry and was searching for a new direction. I knew that part of that direction was to return home to the farm and find a way to bring that farm back into our family hands - from a management & lifestyle perspective. It was the start of summer 2018, I looked into enrolling in a few classes at the local technical college for fall, NWTC. They offered a Sustainable Agriculture Certificate and a plethora of classes to help me learn all about farming in 2018, I reached out to the lead instructor, who proved to be a very helpful person to speak with. I was elated, I enrolled in three classes, Sustainable Agriculture Issues & Practices, Organic Soils, Nutrients, and Compost, and Applied Botany.
I was on my way!
Field Days, Fieldtrips, and Workshops.
Fall of 2018 was a busy time for me, attending school part-time, working part-time, and attending as many field days, workshops, and invites to other farms were my calling. My mom and I reveled in all the invitations to see what other's were doing in the conservation space of farming. There were so many new sights to take in, terms to learn, people to meet, and beautiful acreage to see restored. One workshop we attended was put on by SARE at this 1-day workshop we learned about grants, beginner farmer initiatives, and became formally introduced to our future conservation planner - Julie Hagar. This was a pivotal workshop that opened our ears to learning all about conservation restoration. After this workshop we were determined to go to as many conservation restorations as we could to see first hand what this entailed, looked like, and the lifestyle it warranted.
Learning about rainwater, root systems, and infiltration - a great demo from NRCS office!
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