It's All A Blur

written by

posted on

August 6, 2023

Watch the video of our week in photos - Click Here

The week started like many others, Sunday morning coffee with Monte discussing the plan for our week to come. Monte manages his calendar and I manage mine and that works out well most of the time until I realize his schedule includes my participation. Our farm was privileged to host a three day Soil Health Academy where Gabe Brown would be presenting along with Brian Dougherty and Luke Jones from Understanding Ag (more about the conference in a bit).

SUNDAY:

Monte drove to Moline to pick up our mentor, friend and guest, Gabe Brown. We prepared a dinner for Gabe and Monte's parents on that evening featuring our HCR (Henry County Reserve) Pork Chops. The biggest of which weighed in at a whopping 1.65 pounds! That's pretty much a 2 for 1 right there.

MONDAY:

The day started with all hands on deck for a cattle move. The herd was brought into the corral where the steers and heifers were sorted off and moved to a field of cover crops where they are eating a salad bar of beautiful green leafy plants. Before loading on the trailer Remington brings a group in and one by one they come into the scale. Monte and Matthew were running the gates so each one can pause briefly to be weighed. Their weight and ear tag are recorded and a quick look over to make sure all are in good health. Grazer does his part by making sure they get right into the trailer. You can see him give a little nose nudge in the video after Monte opens the gate to the trailer. We use two trailers to keep the loading process moving. While one driver takes a load to the new location the other trailer is being loaded. Today Bob got to a fuber...that's a Farm Uber.

After loading the cattle that needed moved it was time to check the collars on each of the momma cows. It's so routine for them now they just walk in and let us check the collar. We make sure each one is working properly and check for comfort to make sure it is fitting properly. The calves all wait patiently for moms to come out and then they pair up again and walk back out to the pasture together.

While the team finished up the cattle move Monte had three guests from the Nahant Marsh Education Center come out to research and identify native plant species we are seeing in our back pasture. They identified 60 different native plants in the short time they were there and even more than are non-native. The news of some plants found here really excited us and it's just by grazing that these plants are coming back. We will share more with you later when we get the final report.

That afternoon Matthew switched hats and began preparing a five star dinner for Gabe, Brian, Remington, his wife Anneliese, Monte and myself. Our grandson, Treyten, stepped in as sous chef and together they prepared a fabulous dinner of fresh salads (even kale that Owen picked from the cattle paddock hours before) with a little added crunch from some Grateful Graze bacon, Vaca Vieja Ribeye's, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and mushrooms. For the finale...Crème de la Crème Brûlée made from our very own beautiful egg yolks. Owen and Joel had to help squeeze a few extra eggs out for me lol!

TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY:

The Soil Health Academy kicked off with training sessions in Geneseo and an afternoon farm visit where they looked at shovels full of soil and for evidence of what they were learning in the classroom. This was the schedule for all three days. Farmers attended from Spain, UK, Austria, Washington, Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Illinois. All are just beginning their regenerative farming journey and they were filled with questions about how they could implement the same practices on their farms. We spent every evening with the group at local restaurants unpacking all the information from the day. The status quo was shown the door! The question for this group of farmers is no longer what will these changes cost me? Rather, what will the cost be to my farm and the health of my family if I don't make the change?

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of guiding a private tour for a dear friend, Chef Robert Lewis, and his family. While Monte was in meetings I made some time to take them to the pasture and share our mission with them. Chef Lewis is a wonderful advocate for Grateful Graze and we appreciate him and all of our customers who promote what we do here.

FRIDAY:

With the academy completed I was hoping to sleep in just a bit but Monte woke me with a phrase he knows will get me right out of bed..."Honey you have to see this sun rise." If you know me at all, that means grab the camera because something beautiful is about to happen. So much for sleep! The cows and their calves were playing a little game of Marco Polo in the pasture right behind our house. The fog was so thick they couldn't see each other. But as the sun pushed through the fog we could make out the shape of cattle and it made for a pretty nice photo.

Friday was catch up day for a lot of other things that were put on hold through the week and to prepare for farmer's market. Of course while all the activities of the week were going on, the chores were being done, orders were being processed, shipped and delivered and all the daily activities were carried out by our awesome team.

SATURDAY:

We finished the week with QC Farmer's Market. Monte, Treyten and I all three were there to see some of our favorite people. We received a nice rain early morning so that made Monte available and we spent a nice day together topping it off at a family birthday party.

While we were away from the farm the guys brought Ivan the bull and four of our young bulls over to become friendly with the cows. We still use bulls for breeding because artificial insemination would require the cows to have a hormone injection and we prefer to keep it natural. I love in the video how big Ivan "strolls" up to the cows in true bull fashion and then right behind him come the young boys running in like a bunch of frat boys late to the party! All in all a great week spent with some forward thinking farmers, a great team and our awesome animals.

From the Farm,

Robyn

Digging Deeper

Digging Deeper! I’ll be honest, I haven’t told you everything about us and our farm. Now is the time for the rest of the story. I hope to educate and inspire you to choose healthy food from healthy soil, answer nagging questions, and debunk myths or half truths that you hear. But first, let’s play a little “Did you know?” followed by so what and who cares! Did you know that we grow crops in addition to raising cattle, chickens, and pigs? We farm 2500 acres of Non-GMO Corn, Non-GMO Soybeans, Winter Wheat, Triticale, Winter Barley, Summer Forage Cover Crops, and Winter Cover Crops. ½ of our corn is milled and sent to Italy to make Barilla brand products and ½ of our corn is exported (mostly to Japan) for livestock feed or human consumption. 80% of our Soybeans are exported and 20% are high protein and used for food products. Winter Wheat goes to make bread, triticale and winter barley is for seed production for cover crop seed. Our summer forages feed our cattle herd and the winter cover crops protect our soil from erosion, hold nutrients in the field, help prevent weeds, and improve soil health. https://www.bottens.com/ Did you know most of our farm is dedicated to practice and product based research? Almost every field is comparing a planting technique, products and rate trials, crop rotation and many other experiments. We used large acreage, replicated tests to validate the best practices so we can share our results with other farmers. Did you know I’m a crop consultant and I started California Ag Solutions to help farmers adopt minimum tillage and better nutrient management? Here are some of the crops I have worked with: Cotton (upland, hybrid, Pima), Tomatoes (processing, market), Corn (Silage, Sweet, Yellow, White), Wheat (Forage, Durum, Spring), Triticale Alfalfa, Onion (dehydrated, fresh), Garlic (dehydrated), Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Garbanzos, Wine Grapes, Almonds and several species of cover crops. I also developed or was a key part of several farming innovations including preserved bed cotton, min till and strip till tomatoes, cover crops for tomatoes, Strip till and no till planting equipment for forages, equipment and cover crops for Almonds, Pistachios and Walnuts. Many of which have become standard production practices today. https://www.calagsolutions.com/ Did you know I developed biological based products to improve soil and crops while reducing fertilizer inputs? Our crop nutrition approach focuses on soil health and is based upon using the most efficient nutrient at exactly the right time and place. We focus on optimization, not ease or cost. This leads to maximum profitability while minimizing negative impacts. I get to work with a team of amazing chemists, biologists, and formulators to develop products to fit farmers’ needs. Did you know I started Ag Solutions Network to allow farmers across the country to utilize our products and techniques? We currently work with farmers from Indiana to California helping them adopt the soil health principles within their own farming context. I have visited several farms and worked with their local consultants in CA, AZ, MT, CO, NE, KS, MO, IA, IL, IN, and MI. https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/ Did you know that I started the AgEmerge podcast and conference as a way to merge Ag Technology Startups and the Regenerative Ag Movement together to create the farming of the future? I have been blessed to get to know many thought leaders, innovative farmers, researchers and downright interesting people involved in food. Now I get to have them speak at our conferences or be on our podcast. While the podcast is aimed at helping farmers think and farm differently, you might enjoy listening to the podcast. These amazing connections have certainly expanded my thinking. https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcast Did you know that I am an angel investor in AgTech startups and provide advisor services to many AgTech Startups? While I’m not Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank, I do invest in companies that can make a promising impact for regenerative agriculture. One that you are most familiar with is www.NoFence.no which makes a virtual fencing solution which we are piloting in the North American Market. I am a part of Ag Startup Engine in Ames, IA and I am constantly advocating for technologies that support regenerative agriculture. https://www.agstartupengine.com/ Some additional investments that I have been involved with include: https://terzopower.com/ https://www.herddogg.com/ https://grassrootscarbon.com/pasture-map/ https://ravenind.com/products/autonomy/raven-cart-automation https://www.pheronym.com/ Did you know we started Grateful Graze as a way to improve soil health? We were practicing 4 of the 5 soil health principles (minimizing disturbance, keep the soil covered, always have a living root, plant diversity) but we had not implemented #5, integrate livestock. So we began raising cattle which then we decided to sell the beef directly to consumers which led to chicken, then eggs, then pork. We have found that integrating livestock is the most amazing thing that we have done to improve soil health. https://gratefulgraze.com/ Bottom line is I’m like a Farmers Insurance commercial, I know a thing or two because I’ve seen a thing or two. So what and who cares? Everything I do revolves around our mission: We believe in doing the right thing, always. No matter how hard, inconvenient, costly, or different it might be. I have first hand experience with many things revolving around farming and food production and I can spot BS, greenwashing, and potential for unintended consequences. I am hyper vigilant to make sure we are always doing the right thing. Now is the time to dig deeper now that you know your digger a little gooder! I look forward to addressing and providing the truth behind several topics. From conventional farming greenwashing industrial ag to food experts simply regurgitating the latest trendy topic for clicks, I will dig deep and provide you with the knowledge you need to be fully informed. Got a great question? Something you’re confused or worried about? Ask it, if it is something I can speak to with experience or authority, I will. If I can’t, I might be able to point you in the right direction. Simply email me: monte@gratefulgraze.com As always, thank you for being a customer and making our regenerative farm possible. We simply could not do it without you. Let’s go deeper! Monte Future Blogs Piggy soy questions Comment was deleted but it was about the unintended consequences of GMO/editing.

It's All A Blur

More from the blog

Digging Deeper

SEASONS

Dazed and Confused

Grateful Graze