We believe that farming should be a reciprocal relationship between farmers and the land (and the many creatures with whom we share it), not a simple extraction of value from our soils. This is one reason we plan to keep our farm human scale -- design it to be worked by humans, rather than heavily dependent on machines -- so we will always have close interaction with our plants, soils, and wildlife. Growing nutritious food and flowers for our community is only one of our goals as farmers. We also work to care for our soils and local ecosystem.

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Outcomes we are working toward:

1. Improved soil health

2. Improved ecosystem health

3. Increased biodiversity

4. Increased carbon sequestration

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Practices we are using to achieve these goals:

1. Minimize soil disturbance. This protects the life and diversity of soil micro- and macro-organisms and reduces the amount of soil organic carbon that is released into the atmosphere. Plants are fantastic at sequestering atmospheric carbon (one chemical responsible for global warming) through photosynthesis, but this carbon is retained in the soil most effectively when it is undisturbed.

2. Keep living roots in the ground and/or keep soil covered with mulch. By reducing the amount of bare soils that are exposed to the elements, we protect topsoil from erosion and increase water retention. This also contributes to the big-picture goal of maximizing carbon sequestration on the land we steward -- more plants means more photosynthesis!

3. Prioritize native plants over non-natives. We are working toward our goal of growing plant species native to Kansas for bouquets. Native plants are important because they support native insects, wildlife, and local food webs that have evolved with these plants for thousands of years. Though many non-native cut flowers are beautiful, these incredible relationships are not present with non-native species.

4. Reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. With climate catastrophe looming (or already upon us?) and oil reserves becoming increasingly depleted, we do not want to become dependent on machines that use fossil fuels for farming. One benefit of small-scale, regenerative farming is that it reduces the amount of machine hours required for production.

5. Eliminate application of pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. We are uncompromising in our refusal to spray pesticides or herbicides of any kind on the land we steward. As the health of our soil improves and our ecological plantings invite beneficial insects and wildlife to our plots, we hope that our fertility, pests, and pathogens will be managed by ecological processes instead of these typical agricultural inputs.