Blane A
l ID:
7556
Interested In:
For Sale
Co-Op
Preferred Acreage: 100-1000
Description:
So many people talk about climate change but let’s be real.. talking on social media about issues doesn’t change anything if there’s not action taken. Chances are, the people who go to environmental protests are likely driving a car to attend them, eat foods from monocrop farms and use paper for signs that was supplied from a former forest that no longer exists. The irony. Let’s be honest here, nobody wants to hear this or talk about it but even investing in electric vehicles has its negatives that everyone needs to understand, you are still pulling things out of the earth, you are not improving the environment worldwide, just degrading the environment in other countries to give ourselves the sense of accomplishment. I believe there can be a greater change that’s beneficial for everyone.The good news is that we are learning from past generations mistakes when it comes to farming by looking to even older methods of agriculture. Returning to letting nature do the work through observation, an investment of time and Regenerative Agriculture. Combining Regenerative Ag with well planned and managed rotational grazing utilizing a North American Keystone species, the Bison.
The Bison. Likely you’ve heard of this animal, possibly you’ve seen one before roaming Yellowstone National Park. What role does this animal play in climate change? How does it relate to modern day agriculture? For starters, it is native to North America unlike the cow. They’re as hardy as an animal can be, tolerating temperatures in places where they currently roam, like Wyoming where it can be -40*F but down south in Texas it can easily gets above 100*F and they’re unfazed. We don’t know a current temperature that the North American Bison can’t tolerate making them the ideal animal for battling climate change. The North American Bison has hooves more similar to an Elk providing aeration to the soil rather than compression like cattle. The meat is leaner than salmon. The list goes on and I could talk all day about why the Bison should be reintroduced to North America.
Lately there’s more and more talk about Regenerative Ag. If you’re not familiar with it then that’s a longer conversation I’m happy to go into, but long story short it’s doing exactly opposite of what modern agriculture is doing today. Instead of tilling, killing and desertification, the soils being nourished. Instead of emitting greenhouse gasses, the soil is sequestering carbon. Instead of having unhealthy cattle being pumped with antibiotics and hormones, eating imported grain crammed into small plots of land, you let the bison roam and graze for native perennial grasses and legumes free of any antibiotics or added hormones. Healthy animals, create healthy food, which in return creates healthy people, who create healthy communities.
My wife and I own a farm on the kitsap peninsula where we raise chickens, over forty different fruit trees, several nut trees, dozens of cultivars of berries, annual vegetables and a small section of the land is your classic beautiful western Washington forest home to many native plants and animals that we plan to keep native. Through studying the microbiology, using proper cover crops and creating habitats for pollinators we have seen a shocking change in the health of the land. This is home for us, we plan to only keep improving.
If you’ve made it this far, I appreciate the time you’ve taken to read what I’ve written. We hope that we have inspired you to learn more about the North American Bison. Our dream is to have a piece of land in Washington to raise a herd of bison. This needs to be a very large parcel of land, ideally around 100 acres. Each head of bison needs approximately five acres of land. While we do not have the money currently to outright buy a piece of land that size, we are trying all options and it’s a long shot but seeing if anyone with degraded land or unused land would be willing to donate it or do a rent to own agreement. I have looked into leasing land but with the cost it will take to get started with fencing alone is not a sound investment if it’s not something that I can keep forever. At the end of the day I think everyone has to ask themselves, how am I going to help with climate change?
Thank you in advance, please feel free to reach out even if it’s just to get more information about bison as I have done an endless amount of research. I’m more than happy to share my rotational grazing plans if you have a property you would like to see brought back to life better than you’ve ever seen it.
Farm Business Type:
- Row Crop
- Livestock
- Pasture
Intended Farming Practices:
- Sustainable and Organic Practices
