HEALING THE LAND
August 2020
At its heart, sustainable farming is about stewardship of earth’s ecosystem, the interconnectedness of land, animals and people that leads to health and abundance. Nature is the ultimate teacher on the path to balance, and as simple as it sounds, that path begins with water.
When I bought my first 23 acres to start Tabula Rasa Farms, I was hit with a devasting reality. There wasn’t enough water on the land to support a farm.
I was forced to put my farm dreams on hold but I refused to give up. A few years later I was able to acquire 10 acres adjoining my land. That changed everything. There was enough water there to restart my dream but it was clear more work would need to be done to reinvigorate a sustainable ecosystem.
Water is the life blood of any farm, especially a grass-based farm. Healthy pastures are foundational to raising nutrient dense meat. Without water, the land is sick. The natural water cycle is out of sync, disrupted. For the farm to thrive I needed to heal the land and restore balance to its ecosystem.
My research led me first to Sepp Holzer, an Austrian farmer and pioneer in the art of permaculture and natural farming. This in turn led me to Zach Weiss, a Holzer’s protégé and a visionary in his own right in permaculture water retention landscapes.
Partnering with Zach has been transformational for Tabula Rasa. With his help, we’re developing unique systems where we’re creating hydrology not only on the land but underground.
That’s the essence of water retention permaculture. Build up the water table and find ways to capture surface water from rain. As soon as you create a system to get more water into the ground, you create resiliency. Once you have water staying in one place long enough so that everything around it can capture that water, you start to improve your pastures and control erosion.
Before Zach helped us develop all these interconnected systems for water retention, erosion was one of the biggest worries. Rain was a source of concern. Now that these systems are all in place those worries have subsided. The rain is welcome and feeding the systems for a healthy pasture. The root systems of the grass grow deeper and deeper, making it easier for the earth to hold more water. The grass itself is thicker which also impedes erosion.
This summer Zach and his team at Elemental Ecosystems returned to help us repair the new land our farm has acquired. Five new ponds for water retention are under construction along with other improvements. As Zach says, “Water is the earth’s blood. The elemental building block of life. Creating interconnected ecosystems not only provides tremendous agricultural yields, but also a life rich in fulfillment, living in connection with the surrounding world.” We are so happy to have him on our team.
Zach is part of a grassroots movement to regenerate the earth’s biosystems. His company blends a unique combination of systems thinking, empathy and awareness, to provide an action-oriented process to improve his customers’ relationship with their landscape.
If you would like to learn more about what people like Zach are doing to restore the natural state of ecosystems around the world, take time out for this three minute trailer for the film Elemental Change. You can also follow us on Instagram for updates on the work we are doing now.
HEALING THE LAND
August 2020
At its heart, sustainable farming is about stewardship of earth’s ecosystem, the interconnectedness of land, animals and people that leads to health and abundance. Nature is the ultimate teacher on the path to balance, and as simple as it sounds, that path begins with water.
When I bought my first 23 acres to start Tabula Rasa Farms, I was hit with a devasting reality. There wasn’t enough water on the land to support a farm.
I was forced to put my farm dreams on hold but I refused to give up. A few years later I was able to acquire 10 acres adjoining my land. That changed everything. There was enough water there to restart my dream but it was clear more work would need to be done to reinvigorate a sustainable ecosystem.
Water is the life blood of any farm, especially a grass-based farm. Healthy pastures are foundational to raising nutrient dense meat. Without water, the land is sick. The natural water cycle is out of sync, disrupted. For the farm to thrive I needed to heal the land and restore balance to its ecosystem.
My research led me first to Sepp Holzer, an Austrian farmer and pioneer in the art of permaculture and natural farming. This in turn led me to Zach Weiss, a Holzer’s protégé and a visionary in his own right in permaculture water retention landscapes.
Partnering with Zach has been transformational for Tabula Rasa. With his help, we’re developing unique systems where we’re creating hydrology not only on the land but underground.
That’s the essence of water retention permaculture. Build up the water table and find ways to capture surface water from rain. As soon as you create a system to get more water into the ground, you create resiliency. Once you have water staying in one place long enough so that everything around it can capture that water, you start to improve your pastures and control erosion.
Before Zach helped us develop all these interconnected systems for water retention, erosion was one of the biggest worries. Rain was a source of concern. Now that these systems are all in place those worries have subsided. The rain is welcome and feeding the systems for a healthy pasture. The root systems of the grass grow deeper and deeper, making it easier for the earth to hold more water. The grass itself is thicker which also impedes erosion.
This summer Zach and his team at Elemental Ecosystems returned to help us repair the new land our farm has acquired. Five new ponds for water retention are under construction along with other improvements. As Zach says, “Water is the earth’s blood. The elemental building block of life. Creating interconnected ecosystems not only provides tremendous agricultural yields, but also a life rich in fulfillment, living in connection with the surrounding world.” We are so happy to have him on our team.
Zach is part of a grassroots movement to regenerate the earth’s biosystems. His company blends a unique combination of systems thinking, empathy and awareness, to provide an action-oriented process to improve his customers’ relationship with their landscape.
