Beyond Organic
Understanding How We Grow
Think of it this way:
Organic Certification is like a healthy diet for your body. It's about what you don't put into it – no junk food, no harmful chemicals.
It sets a foundation for health by avoiding the bad stuff.
Organic is a fantastic baseline, ensuring that produce is grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, GMOs, or chemical fertilizers.
We absolutely adhere to all those standards at Old Dog Farm.
Regenerative Agriculture, on the other hand, is like a holistic fitness plan. It's not just about avoiding bad foods; it's about eating nutrient-dense foods, exercising, building muscle, getting good sleep, connecting with others, and strengthening your whole system.
You're not just avoiding harm - you're building robust health and resilience.
Like our metaphor, regenerative agriculture is a proactive approach that focuses on not just avoiding harm, but actively improving the land by mimicking nature.
It's about rebuilding soil, enhancing biodiversity, improving water cycles, and capturing carbon from the atmosphere. For us, this means:
No-till farming: We don't disturb the soil, which keeps its structure intact and its beneficial microbes happy.
Cover cropping: Planting specific crops just to protect and nourish the soil.
Compost & diverse amendments: Feeding the soil with rich, organic matter so it can feed our plants with everything they need, naturally.
Integrating animals: Our pasture-raised chickens, ducks, goats, and sheep play a vital role in making compost and building soil health.
In short, while “organic" is about avoiding the bad stuff, "regenerative" is about building the good stuff – leaving the land better than we found it, for healthier soil, healthier plants, healthier animals, and healthier food for you.
