ARE YOU WORKING TOO MUCH?
ARE YOU WORKING TOO MUCH?
Synergies and their utilisation are the backbones of regenerative and sustainable Land Management.
Synergy is defined as two or more organisms producing a greater result combined than each would achieve individually.
Detecting possible synergies and utilising them can save us a lot of work and can have fantastic regenerative effects on our soils.
Chickens love eating fly larvae in manure. While doing so they spread the manure and help reduce the number of flies around the property and at the same time fertilise the soil and strengthen its Microbiome. Why not move chickens through pasture together with or after other livestock? Diversifying production, producing high-quality eggs, while solving a parasite problem at the same time; Synergy at its best.
Another form of synergy is utilising the topography of our properties. In steep areas, for example, we can spread natural fertilisers or even seeds on top of a hill.They are making their way down eventually, helping significantly in areas with difficult access.
There are plenty of synergies on each farm waiting to get identified and utilised.
WEEDS ARE NOT THE ENEMY.
Another major force we can utilise on our farms is Nature’s pull back into Homeostasis. Nature always wants to repair itself. One of her tools to do that with is weeds.
Weeds are not the enemy but rather a symptom of soil’s underlying problems.
We can use Nature’s language, to repair the underlying cause rather than fighting the symptoms. Once the underlying cause is corrected, the symptom – the weeds – will disappear.
Flatweeds, for example, grow predominantly on soils which have lost their groundcover to protect the soil from sunshine. Sunshine with its antibacterial properties destroys the so much needed microorganisms. Flatweeds are the quickest groundcover Nature can come up with to protect the soils and avoid further loss of its Microbiome. Once the original ground cover is restored, the amount of flatweeds will decrease.
Once our focus turns on how to best align our Land Managing activities to what Nature has worked out for us, we keep identifying more and more opportunities to achieve great regenerative results and reduce the workload on our farms.