A no non-sense look into regenerative agriculture, sustainable farming and modern life on the prairies. From plant health, soil ecosystems, and microbes to fertilizer and micro-nutrients; the Prairie Serf is here to investigate what regenerative farming has to offer.
This is an article about regenerative agriculture; not climate change. It’s an article about opportunities created by climate change and the opportunities/money is real regardless of one’s personal views on global warming. The goal, as always, is to promote regenerative agriculture practices and financial incentives are a great way to get more farmers on board. …
Continue reading “Regenerative Farming: Green Money and Government Grants”
Regenerative agriculture is in everyone’s best interest. This is true for the producer, who reap a variety of benefits from fully regenerated soil. The general idea being healthy soil is more resistant to environmental stresses; ranging from drought to disease, and will therefore produce healthier plants. This is true for consumers, who stand to gain …
Over the last few years we’ve been hearing great things about vermicast (i.e. worm manure). And when farmers are talking up one kind of shit over all the other types of shit they have access to, we’ll it’s time to listen up — cause farmers know their shit. What makes worm castings so special — …
Continue reading “How to Build a Vermicompost Bin: Cheap and Easy Worm Castings”
if one can consistently feed the worms the exact same food then the castings produced should be of a consistent quality and thus consistently bestow the same benefits upon the crop
Farming has always been a multidisciplinary vocation. Few other professions require individuals to have such a diverse skill set. Ranging from general heavy machinery maintenance and repair to understanding the basics of botany, from accounting to marketing, business management to animal husbandry and everything in between. Farmers are never short of options when it comes …
Continue reading “On the Science of Regenerative Agriculture and Those Who Don’t Give a $#!&”
For farmers on the Canadian prairies, water is precious as gold. With an average precipitation of 300 mm (12 inches) water resources are tight on a normal year. But weather is rarely normal and recent years at Prairie Son Acres have been on the dry side of the scale, leaving us searching for ways to …
Change is hard. Uncertainty can be stifling. And there is always risk in the unknown. So when we at Prairie Son Acres, a 4th generation family farm in central Saskatchewan, Canada, decided to transition from a conventional farm to a regenerative one it felt like a big deal. Prairie Son Acres (https://www.prairiesonacres.com) is an 11,000 …
Every once in a while, the forces that be select a term from relative obscurity and elevate it to the forefront of the public consciousness. These terms, known commonly as buzz words, come to be associated with a specific cultural movement or feeling and help to define the flavor of the current social climate. Over …
Continue reading “Sustainability: A Regenerative Farmer’s Perspective”
A hundred years ago, Canadian pioneers could break a fresh plot of land and grow a healthy, high yielding wheat crop just by putting seed in the ground. Fifty years ago, second and third generation Canadian farmers began to realize that the land just wasn’t producing like it used to. Lucky, synthetic fertilizer was now …
Continue reading “Regenerative Farming: Why the Focus on Soil Health?”
“Do you know that most of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until the depleted soils from which our foods come are brought into proper mineral balance?” These words were spoken by Rex Breach, a gentleman farmer from the state of Florida, in his 1936 address to the …
Continue reading “Pioneers of Regenerative Farming: The Miraculous Dr. Northen”
The Prairie Serf 