Dear Friends,
By golly, I think we’ve got it! “Got what?” you ask. A way to farm which is regenerative, coupled with hemp and a local food system which reduces carbon emissions, builds community, and creates jobs in a coal state. Many of you know that my story has 35 years of twists and turns. I hope lessons learned will help farmers, friends and customers. Since the whole project is hard to keep straight, my husband has drawn the diagrams below.
The first is a circular economy connecting the farm to the farm-to-table distillery, restaurant and bakery. The second is of the hemp program, starting at the U.S. Capitol, moving to the farm and our organic hemp. Locally, we make our artisan hemp products, and then distribute regionally to brick and mortar stores. Our national distribution is through the U.S. Post Office.
Talented young people are running Laura’s Mercantile and Wildcat Willy’s Distillery. I have turned my attention to the climate crisis, working with our farm team and Chief Science Officer to build organic matter in our soils and thus sequester carbon. The Rodale Institute says we can sequester all 52 gigatons of CO2 and CO2 equivalents emitted annually by switching to farming practices which maximize carbon fixation while minimizing the loss of carbon returned to the soil.
Laura and CSO Dr. Susan Shore are ready to take soil samples.
We are bootstrapping this research in a practical farm way. I detail our efforts at MtFollyFarm.com and on the Mt. Folly Farm Facebook page.
Always, please email me if you have questions, want to know more, or have insight into regenerative farming practices. Indeed, I hope this summer to host local groups here at the homestead to discuss our system: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Thanks always for your support.
