I’ve known our soil scientist, Kari, a long time. From our 4H days (she was there for me when I lost my truck keys in the porta potty at 4H pro show-a very poopy day) to our current day county Federation of Agriculture meetings, and provincial farm representative.
I trust her explicitly.
So when she samples our soil, I know I’m going to be getting great feedback on how to improve our forage for rotational grazing for our beef cows, the most natural way possible and at minimum expense. It’s very important for me to stay relatively debt free while running the farm.
Sometimes in bigger provinces with “ultra” farms, small farms get lost in between the cracks for soil testing. Too small to bother with” is the sentiment sometimes. However, with small farms making up the majority of Nova Scotia and feeding many small communities around them, our province, in my opinion from meeting with our ag reps and attending conferences, understands the necessity of supporting small farms. And with only twelve registered farms in Shelburne County now, we need that support.
But any farm, large or small, starts with healthy soils.
We sampled five pastures and will await the lab results and recommendations before amending with lime and manure. It was very interesting to hear about the benefits of frost seeding, possibly with red clover. Frost seeding can be done by hand in February before the frost heaves and at very little expense.
The talk, as we walked the fields drifted to the current state of the world, where we happily declared ourselves “Team Earth”.
I suppose in the 70’s this declaration would have made us hippies. But today, I believe it just makes us grateful.
Love Jenn xx