923 Loop Road, Northfield, VT
(802) 505-9840
eatstayfarm.com
Art by LMNOPI
Green Mountain Girls Farm
Northfield, VT
Closing the carbon loop
Global livestock production is estimated to be responsible for 11-19% of human-related climate emissions. But animals are also a key source of year-round local nutrition in a northern climate like ours.
Mari Omland and Laura Olsen of Green Mountain Girls Farm are raising their livestock to “Our primary identity is as relationship farmers, keenly attending to interrelationships and thinking in terms of systems,” Mari said. One system they care deeply about is the carbon cycle.
Their sheep are helping to rebalance the carbon cycle by simply living their lives. Carbon is pulled out of the atmosphere and into the plants, namely the grass, that the sheep consume. “They march themselves around and find their food,” Mari explained.“It’s incredibly efficient both for us and forthe environment.” And because what goes in must come out, they poop.
“Ruminants [plant-eating mammals, in this case sheep] on a pasture in a good system, a deliberate system, make some of the best food you can eat for having a positive impact on cycling carbon.”
The sheep break down carbon and nutrients and return them back to the soil. And then they stay there. This creates soil that is alive and resilient because it is taken care of.Mari reflected, “With our feet standing herein this place, and looking at these microbes, we farm in a way that tries to make our farm more successful at growing food into the future. And in farming to feed our neighbors healthy food, we’re making ourselves healthier. This is regeneration.” If this isn’t one way to eat our way out of the climate crisis, she doesn’t know what is.