I have introduced a Features section to this blog whereby I will be highlighting various people or businesses that are moving the needle toward food sovereignty or freedom in our local area. I’m calling this Features section “Rooted in the Present” because in this current cultural environment I think it’s important that we “think globally, but act locally.”
In other words, while it’s important to be aware of what’s happening in the global sphere, the only sphere we can directly influence is what is happening in our local sphere. To do that, we must be taking action at the local level.
In this section, I intend to highlight people who are purposefully doing that with intentionality across all kinds of spectrums. So just know that every time you see this “Rooted in the Present” logo pop up, there will be a feature story about someone doing something, no matter how big or small, that is making a difference behind it.
In this blog post, I’m focusing on the essential work of Kevin and Mikki Krause of Liberty Trace Farm in educating and equipping growers on how to start converting their dirt into soil while energizing production of nutrient-dense food toward optimal health for themselves and their families. A rising grass roots movement of people learning and adopting the principles of regenerative agriculture has the potential to change the world. Literally, one farm, one garden, one family, one bite at a time.
Hundreds of people took refuge from the searing June sun under a large open air tent at the Annual 2024 Homestead Festival at Hardison Mill in Columbia, Tennessee, to listen to Kevin Krause’s impassioned exposition on the links between soil, foods, human health and nutrition. Kevin is a soil consultant with the Soil Food Web, is certified in Permaculture Design, and has been trained by Chris Trump to practice and teach the Korean Natural Farming method.
He and his lovely wife, Mikki, moved to Hampshire, Tennessee in 2015 and started a farm modeled after Joel Salatin’s methods from his Polyface Farm in Staunton, Virginia. Their farm, Liberty Trace Farm, produces delicious beef, pork, turkey, chicken, eggs, and honey with a particular focus on soil health, microbiome, and permaculture practice.
Kevin’s talk and demonstrations that day at the Homestead Festival were electrifying, filled with common sense application that completely resonated with me and many others like me.
A simplified nutshell summary would look something like this:
*Soil is a reservoir of nutrients.
*Soil is home to a complex microbial community.
*This complex microbial community, in association with plants, liberates nutritional elements to find their way into the foods we eat.
*Food quality is a reflection of the mineralization of the soil.
*Human health is an expression of food quality.
*The role of people, as stewards of God’s creation, is to make sure soil is properly mineralized for optimal nutrition.
The following month, on a very humid July day, Keith and I took a farm tour of Liberty Trace Farm in Hampshire, Tennessee. Hosted by Kevin and Mikki, we were immersed into regenerative agriculture on a working farm practicing the principles. Kevin was able to expound upon the theories he presented and to show the practical hands-on application behind it.
Intrigued, the following month, I signed up for the last of two “Living Soil Workshops” that Kevin was teaching for the summer at the Homestead Manor, on August 24th. The layering of theory and knowledge with practical instruction and application made the idea of an all-day, hands-on practicum where the class would actually work together to produce a microbial-rich compost pile appealing.
The stated objectives of the workshop were simple: 1) that the class would understand soil microbiology, 2) that the class would obtain the skills for how to actually grow it, and 3) that the class would obtain the skills to reintroduce soil microbiology to the soil.
All of these objectives were successfully met in this class and I left the class confident that I could go home and produce a microbial-rich compost pile for myself. Since then, I have been gathering the materials that I need to follow the recipe with the goal to complete a compost pile in October of this year. An update on the progress will follow soon.
