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The Soil Comes First in Farming
It is amazing to me how much I learn each year that I work in the farming business. Most recently I have come to look at my farm water, soil and animals in new ways. Part of this change comes from just being older and mellower, but the majority comes from stepping back and watching how nature and my animals work as a whole, not as mono-systems.

My father died at age 90 in early 1998, and overnight the farm became my responsibility. I found myself leaving my professional work in Richmond and moving to Mount Vernon, our family farm in Sperryville. I had been on the farm sporadically over the years and at times had taken an active role, but I quickly found that things change when you are handed the torch!

The last 10 years have been incredibly enjoyable and challenging, and I am humbled by how much I don’t know. We have made some dramatic changes at Mount Vernon Farm, and we will make more in the future. We learn from our mistakes as well as our good calls, and I have found that the important thing is to know the cause and effect of what happens on the farm and to move forward making changes for the better.

Here’re some significant things I have learned recently.
• My family’s 840-acre farm is an organic whole. In making decisions, we must understand the implications for each part of that whole — water, soil, domestic animals, people, wildlife, finances, customers, community.
• I must be willing to examine what I am doing and to change as appropriate.
• I do better when I seek help from smart people and listen to them.
• My family farm is part of a larger ecosystem. I must be aware of the impact of our decisions on other parts of the system, which includes my neighbors’ land downstream.
• Going forward I will pay more attention to the biology of the soil and less attention to the chemistry, especially when the chemistry negatively impacts the biology.
When I observe nature and use it to guide me, my job gets easier. For instance:
• In winter, we use the cows to harvest our abundant stockpiled fescue and fertilize the fields rather than use machinery and our labor to make, store and feed the hay in the winter and then put fertilizer down on the fields.
• Rather than worm the sheep and cattle, we multi-species graze and let them naturally worm one another.
• We take advantage of the “mob” instinct of the cows (and, to a certain extent, the sheep) to put a lot of animals on a small section of pasture for a very short time. Then we let the land rest for approximately 100 days. This process replicates what herd animals such as buffalo do in the wild. This causes all sorts of beneficial things to happen to the soil and grasses.

A good friend and wise young person includes the following quotes at the bottom of each e-mail she sends. I love to hear from her because I enjoy the quotes anew each time I read them.

“Study books and observe nature. When the two don’t agree, throw out the books.”
— William A. Albrecht

Cliff Miller, Owner, Mount Vernon Farm

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