Article by Christy Heitger-Ewing
Originally Published in the Holistic Living Magazine
Regenerative farming is practiced in harmony with nature and the natural order of things. Unlike industrial agricultural farming, which is more focused on yields and individual crops like corn or soybeans, regenerative farming focuses on soil health and biodiversity of ecosystems.
Regenerative farming is about putting more back in than what you take away. It’s taking care of the land instead of just taking away from the land. It’s not so much a specific practice, but rather implementing a variety of sustainable techniques such as doing more no-till farming to decrease soil erosion, and not covering everything with chemicals and killing everything off to grow the next crop. “It’s recycling, in general,” says Amy McKamey, a registered veterinary tech who owns Heritage Meadows Farm in Clayton, Indiana. “For instance, we plant things to promote the use of beneficial insects for the natural way, instead of spraying chemicals to get rid of bugs.”
Regenerative farming is nothing new; it’s just a new term. “It’s how my family has always done farming,” says McKamey. Farming in her family dates back to 1340! The primary mission on McKamey’s farm is to raise and protect the rare and endangered genetics of heritage livestock and poultry breeds that are on the verge of extinction.
They raise large black hogs, Katahdin sheep, and lots of poultry, including ducks, geese and chickens. “We do all our own breeding and sell breeding stock, including shipping and hatching eggs,” says McKamey, who notes that they never lock up their birds. “Our birds free-range all over the farm to the point where chickens sleep in trees.” They also harvest and sell the seed. Her most recent passion involves training livestock guardian dogs. “We pull dogs from shelters, retrain them and place them in new homes to protect the animals,” she says. “Taking a dog someone has thrown away and changing the life for that animal makes my heart feel good. Saving rare genetics – both animals and plants – goes along with that too.”
Andy and Tammy Orem both come from a farming and education background. Located on a farm just outside of Shelbyville, Indiana, Tammy teaches fourth grade and Andy is a guidance counselor. They also raise cattle, pigs and chickens. Tammy’s parents both came from small farms, and Andy’s father was a first generation farmer.
“Regenerative farming is all about rebirth, the cycle of life and helping life along,” says Andy, who became intrigued by regenerative farming when he visited Polyface Farm in Virginia, a farm that embraced environmentally friendly farming practices. As for Tammy, she was eager to learn more about the healing nature of food.
The pair doesn’t use any herbicides or pesticides on Orem Family Farm. As a result, they’ve seen many monarch butterflies, frogs and snakes on the property, as well as flourishing grasses. “It’s fun seeing things come to life,” says Tammy, who notes that a lot of the grass- fed products in America are imported from other countries. The Orems’ cattle are fed purely grass, so they get the rich Omega-3 fatty acids that are healthy and important for our diet. In addition, did you know that pasture-raised birds have three times the amount of Omega-3s, 50% more vitamin A, D and E, and 21% less saturated fat?
Duane Freed is the owner of The Freed Farm, a pasture-raised, 50-acre poultry farm outside of Greensburg, Indiana. Although he’s a first-generation farmer, he’s been interested in the industry since his youth when he was asked by a dairy farmer in Pennsylvania to help him
milk cows in the afternoon.
“I made $7 a day, but would have done it for free because I love being close to nature, working with the animals and working with my hands,” says Freed. As a teenager he read “Pastured Poultry Profits” by Joel Salatin, a guidebook on how to profit by raising chickens on pasture. In his 30s Freed was CEO of Moyer’s Chicks, a hatchery that ships commercial-quality, day-old chicks throughout the U.S. and eastern Canada. The job gave him an inside look at the poultry industry, and it reinvigorated his love for the backyard pasture poultry model. Around this same time, he and his wife started raising 50 to 100 chickens on his acre-and-a-half farm in Pennsylvania. In April 2023 they moved to Greensburg, eager to live a slower-paced life and connect daily with nature.
“Something feels simple, right and human about being close to the land,” he says. “This year it felt like forever for winter to turn into spring, and I think it’s because I’m so much more aware of what’s happening with the earth. It used to be more of a glance as I’m rushing off to work, and now I’m in sync with the rhythms of nature.” McKamey feels that these days, more people are showing an interest in growing their own food and having a few animals like chickens in their backyard.
“Even though there are a lot of advances in the field, regenerative farming is also about people who are coming back around and doing it the old way,” she says. Freed notes that there are small steps everyone can take to make a difference, whether it’s buying products from a local farmer, planting a small garden on your property or putting a tomato plant in a pot on your deck.
“There’s value in working in harmony with nature,” Freed says. “In doing so, we help ourselves, the environment and the world that we live in.”
