Feb 24, 2020
Many of us doing pasture-based agriculture in the United
States are doing it because we love our craft. But at the core,
ideally we also have goals for our lives and land that match up
with the life, lifestyle, and realities of running a pasture-based
agricultural enterprise. And to run a truly sustainable farm, we
are going to have to work in alignment with our goals in a
long-term sustainable way. My goals are probably not that different
from many of the people listening to this podcast: To produce
nutrient-dense food for our community: yes. But more to the core of
my passions, it is to live and work alongside my family as we enjoy
the many good things that come from this land together: connection
to nature, the ability to learn to work and to live life well.
Pasture-based farming provides us a chance to raise our most
important crop: future adult humans -in a way that we think enables
a great childhood that we hope can, in turn, lead to a great
life.
Today's guest is someone who's farm produces many of the
things mine does -even with similar growing methods and at a
similar scale, all on pasture. But, while he has young children
like me -and probably can resonate with much of what I just said-
he has a set of goals, and a vision for his farm that both
challenge and excite me to look beyond the boundaries of my own
nuclear family and the boundaries of our farm:
Nick Stollberg of New Roots Haiti is a farmer, yes. But he's a
social entrepreneur and missionary working to bring about real
change in his community in Northern Haiti through gainful
employment in a regenerative profitable enterprise, providing
nutrient-dense food and enabling soil building where land has been
mined of nutrients by centuries of sugar cane planting, as well as
a market for small plot farmers to get a fair price for their
crops. Nick, with his wife Nikki and their team are doing all of
this in Northern Haiti as they build a supply chain that enriches
the stakeholders in their community, upstream down and sideways to
their neighbors.
I hope you'll enjoy this conversation with Nick Stollberg of
New Roots Haiti!
Well there it is. I want to thank Nick again for coming on the
podcast. He's a wonderful fellow. Last month I got to meet him and
his farm production manager, Jovenel Kenold. They are doing really
cool things in just three years of production, and I hope you'll
check them out: Newrootshaiti.org, or on facebook: New Roots
Haiti.
And as I said in the interview: I personally can't
endorse a project highly enough, when they are taking donated
dollars and using it to build a long-term sustainable socially
enriching enterprise that blesses so many in the community with the
possibility of employment and a better life.
And thanks for tuning in! I'd love to hear any feedback you've
got along the way. The theory behind this podcast is that I'm
probably not the only one interested in hearing the kind of farmers
I want to talk to, answering the kinds of questions I want to ask
of them. But whatever ideas for making it better that pop into my
brain don't have to be the only ideas. So as I'm working to
continue to make this podcast better and better, I would love to
hear any suggestions you might have along the way.