If gardens could talk what would they say? For New Zealander Jodi Roebuck, a bio intensive farmer and mentor with immense knowledge of the land, gardens would ask about weather just like the rest of us. They would also call for more carbon. Seemingly a dirty word, “carbon farming” is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gases by using grazing and growing techniques to capture the heat-trapping gas in the soil and make things grow intensely! Simple right?

Jodi spent a couple of weeks with Caley Morrison, our farm manager, visiting California’s farming and grazing visionaries like bio-intensive pioneer John Jevons in Willits and shepherd Leland Falk in Sea Ranch. Jodi, a smiling man and a powerhouse of enthusiasm, says that combining “mob” grazing techniques with the animals and using living ground cover with deep soil preparation will use less water, less amendments and produce more food and fodder than the usual conventional and even organic farming. These techniques have arrived at Bloomfield in a real way and as we farm forward we will go beyond organic and incorporate Jodi’s ways into our growing future. Grazing, gardening and bringing it to the kitchen couldn’t be a more perfect triumuferate in Bloomfield’s holistic approach.