Regenerative Agriculture

Our Story...

In 2021, we purchased our property on the Blackland Prairie of Leonard, Texas, founded in the 1840s, where we’re located 3 miles west of historic downtown Leonard. Our town was originally known for its outstanding cotton market. The principal crops were cotton, corn, wheat and grain sorghum. In 1989 ranching had replaced some of the farming.






Occasionally we see a cotton plant growing in our pastures, a remnant of the once fertile dark clay soils of the Blackland Prairies which were some of the richest soils in the world. Today, this region is almost entirely under the plow, with only 5000 of the original 12 million acres remaining in true prairie condition.

Our first question was how to take this gift of land, from God, and regenerate it to produce healthier and more nutritious food for our family?

We took soil samples, met with our local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agent on our vision and the recommendations were to treat the whole property with a herbicide, strip the land bare, add synthetic fertilizers, seed and apply periodic pesticide treatments as needed. When I asked about permaculture or regenerative agriculture, I was told that “Hey, we’ve been doing it this way for over 200 years and we know what works”. I looked around at my sad property and the neighboring properties, smiled and told him that I thanked him for his time and ended that meeting.

We couldn’t reconcile how adding a bunch of chemicals to kill plants and micro-organisms equates to a nutrient rich food source. It was obvious to us that the once famed soils of the Blackland Prairie was doomed once the first plow sunk into it.
We knew one thing, our vision, our mission, wasn’t going to happen here unless some extreme changes took place in an environment of extreme heat and draughts. The answer was to try to build the soil by trying to mimic a natural eco-system. That was when we committed ourselves to Permaculture and Regenerative Agriculture.

Permaculture (The term was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who formulated the concept) is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; the concept of utilizing land, resources, people and the environment in a manner that doesn't produce any waste by using the closed loop systems seen in nature; referring to the ideal where nothing should be wasted. Looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.
Regenerative agriculture is the process of working with nature rather than against it by restoring degraded soils to make it healthier than its current state. Using practices based on ecological principles; rotational grazing methods, no-till planting, reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizer.

We decided to enlist the help of Wayne Weiseman from The Permaculture Project where we teamed up to create a ten year plan with adding more water retention strategies to see us through those hot, drought filled summer months. Planning for orchards of fruit and nut trees, pastures of native grasses and flowers, a Celtic vegetable / herb garden, geo-thermal greenhouse and future farm stand.

Wayne provided a Keyline design using the natural ridges and contours of a property's topography to slow, spread, and sink rainwater. Doing so allows rainfall to spread more evenly throughout the property, resulting in less runoff, more drought tolerance, and improved soil fertility. Devising a strategy for the use of multi-species cover crops, livestock and bees to increase biodiversity and keyline subsoiling methods periodically through the year to break up hardpan and clay, while pushing moisture into the soil.

As the plan developed, we knew we were really on to something special and wanted to prepare to accommodate small tours to walk people through our farm from time to time. We worked in a pavilion, a permaculture swimming pool, RV slots for a few overnight guests.





Now that our plan is complete, we’ve been implementing it by spending the last 3 years working on the soil. Follow us as we journey through our regenerative farming and permaculture practices to a more sustainable and eco-friendly environment.