06/05/2026
Confession time.
I used glyphosate.
If youāve followed our farm for any length of time, you probably know thatās not a statement I ever expected to make. Trust meāI swore I would never use it.
But when we bought this farm, we inherited more than just pastures and fences. For decades, the land had primarily been used for hay storage and free-ranging cattle. Along with that came an overwhelming amount of poison ivy, especially around the areas where we lived, worked, and walked every day.
I searched for every alternative I could find.
Goats? I looked into it.
Vinegar? Tried it.
Hand-pulling? Absolutely.
In fact, I got covered in poison ivy more times than I care to admit because I was determined to tackle it without spraying. But eventually I had to admit that the problem was bigger than my preferred solution.
So that first spring, I made the decision to use glyphosateābut as intentionally and minimally as possible (and the animals never were in that area until it was fully dried out and the ivy was inedible)
I spent time learning how poison ivy grows so I could be strategic. I cut when I could cut. I pulled when I could pull. And I sprayed only where I needed to spray. The goal wasnāt to blanket the propertyāit was to target a specific problem while disturbing as little of the surrounding ecosystem as possible.
Year one was rough.
Year two was still a battle.
By year three, it finally felt manageable.
Now weāre in year six, and I havenāt even pulled out the sprayer. Do I still have poison ivy? Of course. But itās a tiny fraction of what it once was, and itās no longer taking over the places where we live and work.
The goal was never perfection. The goal was stewardship.
Sometimes that means making the best decision you can with the tools you have and the challenges in front of you. Good farming is rarely black and white. Itās a series of thoughtful decisions made with the long-term health of the land in mind.
Thatās what happened here. And now here I am in short and flips walking around. Grateful.
Whatās a farming, gardening, or homesteading decision youāve made that wasnāt your first choice, but ended up being the
