Our little corner of the world

So I’m sitting here listening to Radio Paradise and William, the DJ, comes on sporadically to thank us for listening and for being there for community supported radio.

He says ”our deal basically comes down to you and us and the things that we can do in our little corner of the world.”

Now I’ve never met these folks in California who have this great streaming radio station, but we support the channel financially and it’s a diverse mix of music that is curated by humans not algorithms and we love to tune in as we’re cooking, as we’re baking, making pasta, etc…

Sharing is caring

Maybe I should share a few other things that we listen to in the Breadery, OK?

One podcast I am listening to quite intently is Beyond Organic Wine.This substack ties in really well to what we look forward to applying in our regenerative vineyard and it’s become a really good resource.

Adam Huss is very much against glyphosate, herbicides, pesticides, etc… in wines and a lot of the research he gathers points to the fact that cold hardy hybrid vines could very well be the grapes that meet the moment in regards to climate disruption.

Speaking of climate & agriculture

Recently I watched a recorded stream of Food Tank Climate Week in NYC on “Thriving Farms and Ranches.”

Along with American Farmland Trust and the whole host of other panelist, the portion I watched was about what the public can do to help farms, especially in the face of climate change.

John Piotti, the CEO of American Farmland Trust, put it succinctly in saying if we want farms to be able to address, adapt and continue producing food in a world with a climate disruption, then those farms have to be thriving in the first place.

You can’t expect a farm to deal with climate disruption and make changes to meet the moment if they’re not even making a profit, if they’re not even able to take a vacation, if they’re not able to pay themselves or their employees a livable wage, etc…

The fact that we’re also losing farms was a big topic of conversation as well.

Many of the panelists agreed that regenerative agriculture is one of the key solutions for adapting and attempting to restore a semblance of balance.

Our little corner

All of this got me thinking about the Adirondacks and Champlain Valley and how we’re so fortunate to have a dedicated public, a dedicated community of support in our small rural towns and villages.

I know of so many people (many of you of course) that go to the farmers market. They treat it like it’s their grocery store. They’re there every weekend supporting multiple farms and food producers and crafts people. And if they’re not at a farmers market, they’re frequenting a self-service store on a farm, or they are part of a CSA, or they’re buying a half a pig to fill their freezer from a nearby farmer.

They’re the ones who are keeping small farms in our communities viable in supporting these small family businesses.

On top of that we have some very generous, local non-profits that are keen on protecting, promoting and investing in regenerative farms. ANCA, ADK Action, Adirondack Council, and Adirondack Harvest to name a few.

These combined community efforts help farms get towards a livable wage, make improvements on the farm, especially ones that are going to help us adapt better to climate change.

So I hope you realize we have a lot of good things going on. This is not lost on us.

I probably repeat myself way too much, but we’re just so happy to be plugged into this moment.

The things I’m hearing leaders speak about in other regions and other areas of the world, we have so much of that here.

And it feels like we are definitely on the right path in our little corner of the world.