The cool nights this past week have made for some pretty happy cattle on the farm. The 14th and final calf of the season was born last Wednesday bringing the herd up to 45 animals. The cows and babies are all healthy and content, enjoying the lush pasture that was invigorated by the recent rains. Tails switch, bellies are full, and the young ones chase and play at dusk. These are a few of my favorite things.
As the herd moves through the pastures, we work to keep them happy because they have an important job to do. Managing nearly 70 acres of vegetation without fossil fuels is no small task, and everyone on the farm must pull their own weight, quite literally. As bison once did on this land, the cows trample, eat, and manure, doing exactly what mother nature intended for them to do. Grasslands, like the pastures at the farm, evolved with large ruminants and are in fact dependent on them to thrive. When we farmers do our job well, the partnership between the cows and the grass is an upward spiral of vitality; the more the cows stimulate the grass, the more the grass satiates the cows. The result is zero erosion, increased water holding capacity, abundant habitat for native species, and general resilience in the face of climactic extremes.
While the vegetables are central to the CSA, the pastures provide the context. Our goal as farmers is to create an agro-ecological system that can be sustained indefinitely. For that to happen, we need to be continuously improving the soil that produces the food. The bovine blissfully grazing in the pasture are actually doing the hard work of building soil, an invaluable ecological service whose benefits ripple beyond our fences.
Mat
PS: As for those veggies, take a moment to close your eyes while you munch your carrots this week and take in the sweet sunshine that this orange root has to offer. May you taste the love!
