Picking the name of anything (a pet, a song, a child) can be a difficult process. Ellen and I went back and forth for weeks before we landed on naming our farm Living Pastures, after the name came to Ellen in a dream. We think it captures both the reality of what is happening in the soil and the plants, and what we hope to accomplish through our farming.
I think it’s fairly common to think of soil as just “dirt”, a kind of inanimate material. That at least was my view until I started farming and began to realize that soil is an incredibly complex living system, or maybe better put, system of living things. Thousands of living things. Below is an illustration of some of the kinds of things that make up the soil. The categories of bacteria and fungi represent thousands of different species of bacteria and fungi that one can find in soil.
The health of the soil is really the health of all these different living creatures. One example, which I have learned about recently which is mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi attach themselves to plant roots, but grow much deeper into the soil than most plant roots can. The draw up nutrients from deep down in the soil that plants wouldn’t otherwise be able to access. They store water molecules, which they then send into plant roots when the plant is short on water, as well as building soil aggregate which increases the soil’s ability to absorb water and reduces erosion. They also suppress pests and disease. Pretty awesome!
Part of what we hope to achieve through our grazing management is the increase of the soil biology. The healthier the soil, the healthier the plants. The healthier the plants, the healthier (and more nutrient dense) the animals. And the healthier (and more nutrient dense) the animals, the healthier we are who eat those animals. In short we want to help create soils, plants, animals, and people that are ever more alive.
So in one sense it might seem funny to name a grass-fed beef farm living pastures – we certainly aren’t selling grass to anyone. But the foundation of any good farm, whether it be producing beef, chicken, vegetables, grains, etc., is its soil. And the more alive the soil, the more alive everything else can be.