Visitors provide a reason to slow down, enjoy the farm

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“Taste this,” said one 19-year old to the next.

“OK,” replied the other, popping the persimmon into his mouth.

I was shocked for two reasons: Fresh persimmons make my mouth pucker, and before that day, the 19-year-olds had never heard of or seen persimmons.

I love that a whole group of students tried the persimmons.

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They were visiting as part of a class studying climate change solutions. They had read that small, diverse farms can help fight climate change. They wanted to see this for themselves, so we showed them around our farm.

We visited the animals and talked about how good grazing builds up the health of the soil. Healthy soil includes “organic matter” (manure, dead leaves, roots, etc.) and stores carbon in the soil. We showed them how our pigs, sheep and poultry are helping, in our small way, to fight climate change by improving the soil.

We talked most about the heavy rains that we’ve been getting because of climate change. The students liked these real-world examples of a big problem.

As we walked around the pasture, we explained that as our pasture gets healthier (from good grazing), we have fewer problems from heavy rains. The same is true during the extreme heat caused by climate change. Ninety-degree days in October aren’t normal, but healthier soils can hold onto moisture even in heat and drought.

Last but not least, they asked questions about how we sell our food. Food from nearby uses less fuel than things shipped in from California or other countries. Less fuel means fewer carbon emissions, and so local food helps fight climate change. They were reading about this, but they seemed to really enjoy talking with us and seeing it with their own eyes.

After the tour and good conversation, they wanted to get their hands dirty, which we love. Normally, “putting the garden to bed” takes us a half day or so. We pull tomato cages and stakes and store them in the barn, put away the cucumber trellises, harvest the last basil and peppers, prep the garlic bed and broadcast cover crop.

But with the 20 students, that all took about 40 minutes. Many hands do make light work.

They finished up by gathering persimmons for the pigs and then needed to try a few.

The students clearly enjoyed being out of the classroom and on the farm.

Visitors are a good excuse to slow down and enjoy the farm. One of the most important “returns” on our farm is the lifestyle. During the busy grazing season, we don’t always stop to smell the proverbial roses. Fall’s arrival means that we can slow down, and these visitors reminded us to shift down.

In the last weeks, we’ve paused to enjoy the changing leaves. We’ve dug our sweet potatoes and marveled at their size and odd shapes. We’ve spread fall cover crop (mostly rye) on our new fields, watched a few movies (a guilty pleasure of ours) and slept in a smidge.

And although we don’t want extreme weather events caused by climate change (no one wants 3 inches of rain in less than two days), we also try to appreciate doing chores in a downpour.

We feel lucky that we get to be in the world while sycamores blow and sway, a storm approaching. We don’t hate coming in from that wet and cold, but like our visitors, we want to say “yes” to tasting all our farm gives us as we transition into fall.

Liz and Nate Brownlee operate Nightfall Farm in Crothersville. Send comments to [email protected].

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