I looked at the clock. 3:23 AM. It was time to turn in, especially since I got up at 2:45 AM. The day before. Occasionally nature gangs up on us and we have interminably long days. There's just so much to do; first, we have the day-to-day, and then, the big jobs—and then, the …
Cows, Concrete, and Carbon
Soil Carbon Coalition founder, Peter Donovan, after giving a conference lecture on soil health, stepped out of the conference room. Before he could think about coffee or the restroom, a farmer stopped him in the hallway. “What is the fastest way to get carbon into my soils?†Peter thought for …
The Soul of Soil
Dear Friends and Partners This in my minds eye: Bison. Thousands of them. They form a sort of brownish-black sea around me. The wave, or current of them parts around me slowly as they graze—a river in slow motion-- giving me an apprehensive look with their one-sided brown eye. Like a whale, …
Close Encounters of the Salmon River Kind
The bizarre and unexpected sometimes show up in our headlights as we track through the Idaho wilderness night on twisty 2 lane highways. Linnaea, alone in her Outback, was carefully traversing the loneliness of highway 21 at 1 AM on a midwinter night a few years back. Idaho 21 is the only road …
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Regenerative Ranching: Tripling Organic Matter in 10 Years
The ground fairly shook with the rumble of 350 head of elk stampeding away as I made my approach to my sample area in our south meadow. To my chagrin, they had been dining on the rich green that still grew in fits and starts on this late October day in our high valley of the Pahsimeroi in the remote …
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Pastured Pork and Cover Crops for Organic Weed Control of Quackgrass
I had no idea that my life could be transformed by a pig. Or pigs, rather. It started with the horses. They were the first teachers. We had them on some of our worst ground. I call it the worst because it was comprised of only quackgrass. This European non-native grass species was a ready and …
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