Why The Name Change?

Technically everything is build on top of roots, as well, as theoretically. Roots are one of the keys that sustain our earth and everything on earth. Plants are considered the core bases for life on earth. Plants make up 80% of what the population eats and they produce 98% of the oxygen we breath. We all know without roots we wouldn’t have plant life, without the plants we wouldn’t have life.

I could simple say the farm is changing and evolving and that's why we're changing our name. But actually we have had a few changes. We changed from CN Waterfowl as we never trademarked it and a company in the states started using C&N Waterfowl. Now with Greenwalls Mini Farm, both 'Greenwall' and 'Mini Farm' are trademarked on their own. We do not want to be stepping on other companies toes, we have learnt our lesson on this issue and we will be trademarking our new name. We picked Built On Roots for many reasons, the name is actually very layered for us. As most of our followers already know we are moving this year! We are moving back to family land, back to my roots. Back to a property that was first homesteaded on by my Great Grandparents. The wonder and connection that I will feel to my great-parents as we work that same land they did so many years ago is greatly anticipated by me. My husband Nolan and our children are also Metis, in a way we are honouring their heritage with our permaculture, sustainable, holistic ways. Even our rotational grazing mimics the flow of the wild buffalo that their ancestors lives were so deeply connected too. Everything we grow, animals included, rely on the roots beneath us. Through regenerative agricultural practices we plan on building up the soil quality and the top soil quantity. Some experts say that within as little as 60 years earth will no longer have usable top soil. Without the soil we have no foundation for our roots, literally. Plants cannot grow on an earth that has been stripped of its nutrient rich soil, plants cannot grow in dead soil.

The soil under us is it’s own world totally, it’s inhabitants are minerals, organic materials, air, water, and living organisms. All of these components are important for soil health. As little as 0.1% of pesticides/insecticides applied are actually interacting with the targeted weed or pest. The rest is all going into our precious soil, air, and water sources this is creating contamination issues. But it is also harmful to all those microorganisms in the soil. A decline in the microorganisms leads to dead soil, soil that cannot support a root system of a plant. Pesticides can linger in the soil for years, continuing to kill the microorganisms and fungi that help create healthy soil for us. Neonicotinoids are a commonly used insecticide, this insecticide is actually absorbed by the plant and is then present in the plants pollen and nectar if a bee, or other pollinating insect, visits that plant it’s lethal to them. Humans rely heavily on pollinators for our food production, humans would not actually die along with the bees as lots of people like to claim. But our food sources would diminish greatly and then we would be in a position where farmers wouldn’t be able to supply the world with enough food. So in a theoretical way our lives are dependent on their survival.

-Photo credit to Ecological Landscape Alliance

How can we as a community, country, nation begin to change the future that is coming? Regenerative Agriculture I personally feel will be a huge player. Regenerative Agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming. It focuses on regeneration of the topsoil which increases biodiversity, improves the water cycle, enhances the ecosystem, supports bio sequestration and builds resiliency to climate change all through strengthening the soil. Keeping the soil healthy, breathing vitality back into our earth... back into our foundation for the roots. At the center, or root, of Regen Ag it is all about working with nature not against nature, being in harmony with our surroundings and our earth. Animals are a huge player in regenerative agriculture, to say it simply we need their crap! I don’t mean their crap about not wanting to move to a new paddock or to get locked up into their coop at night. I literally mean we need their manure, it’s a little funny to think that humanity is at a point in time where we are relying on animal crap for our survival! For those of us who care about our earth and the future human generations, we know all too well what is needed of us in this life. We know it is not about making money, although money does make things easier to accomplish. We know in order to be good stewards of the earth, we need to get spreading crap. Now, this doesn’t have to be a dirty job this can be accomplished by rotational grazing, working with the animals and allowing the animals to do what they were created to do. Pigs roots and disturb the soil, this brings up the ancient seed bed that has been laying dormant waiting to be brought closer to the surface so it can sprout. Or you can use pigs to totally destroy an area and then replant what you want behind them. Ruminant animals graze in such a way that their tongues tug at the grasses root system, this sparks the grass to create stronger roots! If you have hilly property that is not effectively grazed by cattle then get a few sheep for those steeper spots, them grazing the hill sides will help to create stronger, deeper root systems which will help with issues of erosion. The hooves of animals are also very useful in helping to loosen up the top soil, aerate it, and create cuts and crevices for the rainfall to sit in. Nature has the answers, we cannot hear what she is saying but if we stop and observe her as a whole we will see her answers to our current problems.

For myself, we are healing my internal roots through food. When you hear people talking about sickness and disease you will often here them say “the root cause was ___” . My root cause for a lot of the issues I’ve had over the years has been due to the types of food I was consuming, and I don’t mean knowingly unhealthy foods. I mean going to the store and buying a pack of peppers or a vine of tomatoes and having GI upset and skin issues from them, among other serious problems. Which lead me down a rabbit hole and here we ended, with trying to grow the majority of our own food. We live off of one secure seasonal income, the farm business has help some in that regard over the past few years. But there have been many struggles over the years and for us it was not just as simple as buying organic veg, if we wanted organic we had to grow them ourselves. Frankly, there have been times we couldn’t even afford to buy organic veg starts in the spring, so we had to learn how to start our own seeds years ago. Which lead to a fascination of mine- seed saving. My internal roots are still in a healing phase, I still struggle with health problems at times, but they are becoming less and less as we grow more and more of our own food. Food that I know the story of from seed to harvest, or hatch to harvest. I know every single thing that went into that plant or animal, I know their whole story from start to finish. It’s a wonderful and powerful thing to experience! Look to nature, mimic her, become partners with the earth and animals to build up the soil and your life. We are all Built On Roots, we are in a time where those of us who are able too need to be fostering the new age of agriculture. We need to be the stewards of the earth we were created to be, we need to put ourselves out there teach our children, help our communities, spread awareness and knowledge in any way we can to help build a better future for our children and grandchildren. We need to start the change, we are the change! 60 years is not that far off my friends, so build on the roots you already have. Everyone can start where they are, you might not be building soil but if you have a balcony you can still start an urban homestead. You can still work towards growing your own food, feeding your internal root system with nutrient dense garden veg! We all have to start somewhere and we have to start based off of what we do have. That will vary between people of course, but every single one of us can do something. If you absolutely cannot grow anything in your location, then knowledge would be the power for you. Learn about the crisis that our world is truly in where soil and fresh water are concerned. Then start learning about how we can be changing that future outcome, take the next step and start spreading the word. Share videos and blogs of other people who are trying to change the future for the better. As Justin Rhodes would say change your mind set from I Can't, to How Can I. We are intelligent creatures if we chose to stand together and learn we can change the path for the future generations. We are working on creating a beautiful logo for our farm and we hope to have that done soon. I have my blog tab back and it's up again on our website, I look forward to getting back into writing and sharing our journey over the coming years. We hope to help inspire people through our blogs and YouTube channel. This next year is going to be very challenging for us and we plan to share the good, the bad, and the out right ugly of building our home and farm. We will have to get a little creative with certain things like the gardens, keeping them off the ground as this was a conventionally farmed crop field for years. It will be a wonderful learning experience for us and our followers, so come along and learn with us.