Ep. 32 The Future of Farming: Ecological Farming and Regenerative Practices w/ Drake Larsen of Three Ridges and Co-host Dr. Richard Vuksinic

My Wild and Wonderful guest today is Drake Larsen of Three Ridges Ecological Farm. We are also joined with long time friend and contributor to the show Dr. Richard Vuksinic ND. In this episode, we take a laid-back and informal approach to a complex topic; the ever evolving world of Ecological Farming. This was a […]

My Wild and Wonderful guest today is Drake Larsen of Three Ridges Ecological Farm. We are also joined with long time friend and contributor to the show Dr. Richard Vuksinic ND. In this episode, we take a laid-back and informal approach to a complex topic; the ever evolving world of Ecological Farming. This was a great episode to kick off a topic I believe has the power to not only feed humanity but heal the Earth and all living beings in the process.

We hope to have Drake back to dive deeper into some of the topics we discuss and plenty of others as Drake has a wealth of knowledge and experience in all things rewilding and living in connection with the Earth.

In short, we cover Drake’s fascinating biography and how nature immersion from a young age and shooting a banded goose lead way to a life of travel and adventure, conservation and regeneration, and most notably re-connection.

Through reconnection, Drake has been afforded the opportunity to meet his wife Sara and create the best ecological farm in Canada, but also cultivate a greater sense of self and purpose in the process.

Drake shares his knowledge on topics from carbon cycling, Silvopasture, the dark side of aspects of the vegan life way, views on carbon taxes, and how to raise animals to live their full biological expectation. Not to mention we discuss in depth how the lamb raised on his farm lived to make them taste so good. We close with Drakes’s wildest dream for the Earth which centers around his “3R’s” – Reconnection, Resilience, and Regeneration.

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Topics Discussed:

Full moon Halloween lamb roast; Biological expectation of sheep and ecological farming; Drake’s story returning to the land; cultivating oneself through working with animals and the local landscape; Drake’s work into soil health advocacy in Iowa; Why ecological farming and regenerating soil is needed to feed the world in the future; Sustainable agriculture Drake’s childhood nature experiencing lead to his research work in conservation and running a hunting outfitting business in Iowa; shooting a banded Goose and working with the Hudson Bay Project; Missing the boat on conservation agriculture and regenerating local ecosystem; How animal husbandry and raising livestock can be part of restoring microbial diversity; Silvopasture as a regenerative practice; Building ecosystems and food productivity in ecological farming; Resilience for productivity and benefit to future generations as a guidepost for an ecological farmer; monoculture, modern-day meat-eating and downfalls of the vegan narrative; Enhancing the carbon cycling via soil and native grass growth via ruminant animal grazing; Microbial diversity from ecological farms cycle carbon better than monoculture farms; Healthy soil aggregates for roots and creating habitat; Capturing water via Elemental Ecosystems; Changing farming and land management practices to move carbon into the ground via slow pools over taxing human made carbon emissions; Soil growth as solution to climate change; Barriers to transitioning or creating an ecological farm, cost, change of productivity mindset and going with the flow; Drake’s wildest dream for the Earth is one of his Three R’s – Reconnection, Resilience, and Regeneration.

Resources:

Book: Folks, This Ain’t Normal By Joel Salatin

Book: Game Management By Aldo Leopold

Conservation Organization: Ducks Unlimited

Conservation Organization: The Hudson Bay Project

Silvopasture Resource: Article

Scientific Paper: Carbon Cycling by William Horwath

Water Retention via Elemental Ecosystems Zach Weiss

Connect with Drake:

Three Ridges Ecological Farm: threeridges.farm

Instagram: @threeridgesfarm

Facebook: /threeridgesfarm 

Connect with Dr. Richard Vuksinic ND

Village ND Website: villagenaturopaths.com

Village ND Social Media: Facebook

Enriched Roots Instagram: @enrichedroots

Connect with Shawn

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Twitter: @shawnslade

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LinkedIn: @shawnslade

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ReWild My Bio is produced by host Shawn Slade. If you have a product or service that aligns with the show’s values and want to sponsor an episode please contact Shawn via email at [email protected].