A journalist asked me if the fires affect how I think of the future and continuing to farm.

Part of me feels daunted, and tired of fire and smoke.

But my main thought is that the farming that I do — rain-fed, no-till, animal powered — is ever more important and relevant [see blog post titledĀ NYFC Post #4]. And the farming of perennials, carbon, and soil organic matter done by more and more farmers is incredibly important. Let’s replenish the landscape with moist perennials and water with only the rain. Let’s farm and live in a way that we prevent fires and floods instead of throwing hundreds of billions of dollars into disasters. Let’s invest in our water, air, and soil instead of taking and wasting without replenishing.

I had the honor of celebrating the harvest moon at my friend Kristyn Leach’s farm. She’s moving this year, but sowed cereal rye for the birds and the earth. Before she cast the first seed, she reminded us that

We need to give back more than we took.