Leave It Better Than You Found It
“Leave it better than you found it'' is a mantra most of us have heard and one I’ve tried to carry with me throughout various situations in life. When I visit friends for the weekend, I tidy the room, fold the sheets and blankets, and leave a thank-you note before I return home. When my neighbor lets Adam borrow his tractor, Adam returns it only after gassing it up and giving it a good wipe down. When my kids and I walk through a public park, it’s a no-brainer to pick up trash as we go.
But what does it look like to leave soil that generously gave me flowers better than I found it? At Tramonto, it looks like consistent stewardship – not just taking but making sure to intentionally give something valuable back steadily over time. And this ethos of giving back is the guiding force for every decision we make on the farm. In this journal series, we’ll take a closer look at some of the practices we use at Tramonto to give back to the soil, responsible preparation of garden beds, prevention and management of weeds and insects, and cultivation of nurturing hearts for our family and community. For now, I’ll touch a little on “regenerative farming” and why we should all care about practicing it.
Many farming practices driven in modern agriculture are maximalist – produce as much as you can, take as much as you can, with no regard for what happens next year, next decade, or next generation. Regenerative farming practices are the opposite. At its core, regenerative agriculture is simply a holistic way to build and restore soil and ecosystem health. As a philosophy, it asks us to think about how we’re all connected through a web. As a practice, it’s a farming style that nourishes people and the earth that sustains the land year after year, generation after generation. So, let’s take a look at how regenerative principles are explored and practiced at Tramonto.
We foster and protect all relationships – between people, land, animals, wildlife, and even microbial life in soil. This means that we don’t just plant flowers for cutting. We intentionally invest in native plants and perennials that can feed the wildlife, pollinators, and our tiny humans running around. We pay attention to spaces and plan water sources for honey bees and resting places for birds.
We prioritize soil health. A lot of magic happens under our feet between the microbes, worms, and mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. As such, we want to limit soil disturbance and preserve life underground as much as possible. That means we practice a no-till method at Tramonto for preparing garden beds.
We abstain from using synthetic inputs like herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers. Synthetic inputs often stop one problem but create another. We’ve resolved to work with nature instead of against it by using natural weed preventatives, beneficial insects, and biodiversity to combat the annoyances farmers and gardeners often encounter.
We nurture our family and foster community through engagement and knowledge sharing. We highly value the impact of a healthy family and community. Just like a healthy soil, a healthy family and community is made up of many different components that work in harmony together. But also like the soil, family and community can be disrupted by certain external forces that impact the synergy that can take years to cultivate. At Tramonto, we believe all people are important, worthy of beauty, dignity, and hope. Leading by example, as well as hosting a myriad of workshops and classes, we aspire to educate, inspire, and community through flowers.
In the health and fitness world, you’ve likely heard that a healthy weight is “not just a diet, it’s a lifestyle.” And as cliche as that statement sounds, it’s true. I think of regenerative agriculture in much the same way. The next few posts will zoom in on each component that we practice. We’re far from farming perfectly, but I would like to think that we’re leaving this place better than we found it.
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