09/05/2026
I don't think farmers have to agree on every argument surrounding climate change to agree on this: we ought to be leaving the land better than we found it.
Carbon belongs in the soil.
It belongs beneath our boots, feeding roots, building organic matter, holding moisture, and helping create living soil that can continue producing food long after we're gone.
That is one of the reasons we rotationally graze livestock here at Not Forgotten Farmstead. We move animals across perennial pasture instead of treating livestock and land as two separate things. The animals graze, fertilize, trample plant material back into the ground, move on, and give that pasture an opportunity to rest and recover.
We don't believe the answer is taking animals off the land. We believe the answer is learning how to put animals back onto the land the way they were meant to function.
Healthy pasture should catch rain instead of watching it run away. It should hold moisture when Georgia gets dry. It should grow roots, build organic matter, cycle nutrients, and support life above and below the ground.
That is also why we're not interested in building a farming system dependent on constantly pouring more fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, and other outside inputs onto our acreage. We would rather build a system where cattle, goats, sheep, chickens, grass, manure, microorganisms, sunshine, rain, and time work together.
Joel Salatin describes this kind of agriculture as an "ecological, carbon-driven, pasture-based system."
I like that description.
Because whether somebody wants to argue about climate change or never mention the words at all, I think farmers can still ask a much simpler question:
Is the soil better because we farmed it?
Can it hold more water?
Can it grow more grass?
Is there more organic matter?
Are there more roots in the ground?
Can we raise healthy livestock while depending less on outside inputs?
And can the next generation inherit land that is more productive and resilient than the land we started with?
That's the kind of farming we're trying to build here.
Not perfect farming. Not farming built around buzzwords.
Just livestock, grass, soil, sunshine, rain, and a farmer doing her best to make sure that when she's finished with a piece of ground, she gave something back.
Put the carbon back in the soil. Put the animals back on the land. And let the farm function like a living system again.
I will see you all at the National Gathering May 2027. Get your early bird tickets and boots ready to learn livestock on small acreage with yours truly! Cheryl Zuckschwerdt
— Not Forgotten Farmstead
Early Bird savings have been extended! Several of you hoped for a little more time to take advantage of Early Bird pricing, and we’re happy to make that happen. Early Bird pricing for the 2027 National Gathering at Polyface Farm is now available through September 30. One more month to save while you make your plans to join us May 21–22: https://www.nlhg.org/national-gathering-polyface
