In Practice a publication of Holistic Management International
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 3
NUmber 150
w w w. h o L i S T i c m A N A G e m e N T. o r G
~ INSIDE THIS ISSUE ~
Building Relationships and Experimenting with Holistic Management
Sustainable Cropping
By SALLIE CALHOUN
A
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Land & Livestock
FEATURE STORIES
Because Holistic Management is a whole farm planning tool, many crop farmers are finding the benefit of this management and decision-making process. Gabe Brown, one of the Midwest farmers who are experimenting with cocktail seeding in their cover crops and integrating livestock to increase soil health is getting some remarkable results. To learn more, turn to page 7.
The Benefits of Holistic Management in Finland
TuOMAS MATTIlA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
using Holistic Management to Make a Non-Profit More Effective
ElIzABETH MArKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The V6 ranch— Agritourism as another ranch Enterprise HEATHEr SMITH THOMAS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
A Holistic, Soil-Healthy System— Gabe Brown’s regenerative Farming Practices
ANN ADAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Work ranch – Managing for Cows and Wildlife
HEATHEr SMITH THOMAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
reviewing the Basics— Holistic Planned Grazing
DON CAMPBEll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
News & Network
few days ago, we had the opportunity to host one of the first workshops in HMI’s new Open Gate Series at our ranch in Paicines, California. These events are designed to bring together the community, both people familiar with Holistic Management, and people interested in an introduction, for a day of on the land learning and relationship building. We did significant outreach through HMI’s mailing lists and those of the ranch and generous sponsors. We were quite pleased with the number of sign-ups and had over 50 people who attended. Frank Aragona, HMI’s Program Director, facilitated the event. The day was organized around the dual goals of learning together on the land and building relationships. After introductions, we spent a couple of hours out in the field. At our first stop we looked at native oak trees and perennial bunch grasses. We described our monitoring protocols for both and gave anecdotal information on what we are seeing in our monitoring plots—no change in oak tree condition or regeneration, clear spread of native perennial grasses. Joe Morris, a neighbor who is incredibly skilled at explaining the principles of Holistic Management, talked about the ecosystem processes and managing for their improvement. We looked at litter and talked about water and mineral cycles, along with management goals. Then we headed out to see the main herd of 1,800 steers. We pulled up to the paddock with quite a herd of our own – about 8 trucks and 50 people. As we parked at the gate and piled out, a few members of the herd looked at us and walked away, but most remained in the large mob that was patiently and quietly waiting for a noon drink. Chris Ketcham, our ranch manager, explained how he weans and trains incoming truckloads over the course of 2 months and consolidates them into a single herd by midDecember. Based on his grazing plan, he moves the herd around the ranch, usually at 2 or 3 days intervals. He explained that our average paddock size is just a bit over 300 acres, and that our recovery periods have been between 60-80 days this season. One long-time Holistic Management practitioner commented that he had never personally seen a herd this large in our area, and marveled at how calm they were on the other side of the single wire electric fence. We headed back to headquarters for a great lunch and much spirited conversation. It took a good bit of work to break up the lunch conversations and move onto the afternoon portion of the program. Because of our outreach, we had a mixture of producers, agency and land trust folks, and people just interested in California grasslands. For the afternoon, we asked people to form groups of 5 or 6, with people from each of the three groups. This was a chance to create relationships and get widely different perspectives. In the small groups, the first activity was for each person to share a problem or issue. The group provided thoughts and suggestions to each person on how they might address the issue. In the final step, we asked that each person write down, with dates, 3 action items that they could immediately work on to address their issue and share those next steps with the group. There were grassfed beef customers, vegetarians, and urban
Grapevine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Development Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Book review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21