It's the How, Not the Cow!

“Nature never tries to farm without animals.” - Sir. Albert Howard

You can find messages everywhere you look that say plant-based diets will solve the climate crisis, you can also find proponents of eating meat to save the planet, and you can find individuals from both parties that have waged a vendetta against the other. I believe that food choices are contentious because we are what we eat. To attack someone's diet is to attack their very existence. I try to read widely and avoid proselytizing, so consider this simply my story of navigating our complicated food system.

I have been considering the environmental impact of my diet ever since I decided to become a vegetarian in college. The horror of industrial meat - from its fossil fuel emissions to its animal cruelty - was too obvious for me to ignore if I was to consider myself a conscientious consumer and compassionate person. Then I spent some time as an intern on Moonstone Farm in Montevideo, MN where I first encountered the idea that livestock have an important role to play in healthy ecosystems. Richard and Audrey taught me that if managed correctly, cattle can help take carbon out of the atmosphere and put it in the soil (aka carbon sequestration.)

It turns out that this country’s once rich soils were created by the symbiotic relationship between bison and grasslands. These large ruminants once roamed across the landscape grazing, leaving nutrients behind in the form of manure and urine, and trampling the soil with their hoofs to help bury seeds and create small pockets in the soil to capture water. Their grazing stimulated robust plant growth, creating deep roots to help the grass bring carbon in through its leaves and down into the soil. Because of the pressure from predators to keep moving, the bison never overgrazed an area but sometimes spent an entire year before returning to the same patch of grassland.

When Euro-Westerners began to eye the Great Plains as part of the imperialist project, they identified two major obstacles to claiming the land: Indigenous peoples and the buffalo. They systematically killed millions of bison and thereby wiped out a primary food source for Indigenous people. They also ruptured those vital ecosystem relationships between buffalo and grasslands. Regenerative graziers now raise livestock to mimic this symbiotic system, using management techniques like moving the herd daily to new paddocks, giving pastures ample rest time, avoiding overgrazing, and growing diverse forages.

I decided to raise grass-fed beef because of my fears for the climate. In the last 150 years, we have lost nearly half of our productive soils. In the U.S., soil on cropland is eroding 10 times faster than we can replace it. Our agricultural system is fundamentally (and dare I say, intentionally) broken. I believe regenerative grazing is essential to repairing it.

There are so many more aspects of this issue that I hope to address in future newsletters (check out some more resources linked below). In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this — whether you eat meat or choose not to, I encourage you to think less about which foods you should eat and more about how your foods are grown. One cow can have a damaging impact or a regenerative impact, depending on how she's raised. A field of soybeans is the same way. It’s the how, not the cow!

MoSo Jewelry

MoSo Jewelry recently had a shop update! I’m working with some new woods and I’m excited to share earrings made from oak, walnut, and striped pine. I also have a few more elegant bone earrings. Step into spring with some style. Take a look!

Curious to learn more about regenerative grazing?

Here are some podcasts, videos, and articles I’ve been reading lately. The Allan Savory Ted Talk below is a classic primer. Check them out and let me know what you think. I’m always down for that food systems talk!

Video: Ted Talk - “How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change”

Podcast: Gastropod - “To Eat or Not to Eat Meat”

Podcast: The Doctor’s Farmacy - “Why Eliminating Meat from Our Diet Isn’t the Solution to Climate Change”

Article: Civil Eats - “A New Study on Regenerative Grazing Complicated Climate Optimism”

What I’m reading…

It’s spring, I started a second job, I’m buying more calves, my 1800 sq ft garden is calling, and I’m trying to teach my dog how to hunt for morels. All of this to say, I’m reading the same stuff as last month!

What I’m listening to…

Check out my March Spotify playlist for some spring feels that’ll make you want to plant some seeds and dance in the garden.