Toronto couple teaches regenerative farming | News, sports, work

FARMERS – Shawn and Beth Dougherty, who have farmed in Jefferson County for nearly three decades, have been living in their barn in Toronto for the winter. — Contributed

TORONTO – Sean and Beth Dougherty believe that successful farming means working with existing systems rather than pushing nature beyond its limits. According to Dougherty, nature has a predetermined pattern that must be followed in order to produce its benefits.

“We call it God's pattern,” Sean Dougherty said: “And God has made it possible for us to receive this wonderful abundance for free, if we manage our pastures and orchards well, by following his example and not being greedy and forcing the farm to do what it cannot do. patience and working with nature”.

The Doughertys have been farming in Jefferson County for nearly three decades, owning a 17-acre property in Toronto on a hillside down Church Road, and partnering with the Franciscan Sisters TOR, which allows the Doughertys to raise dairy cows and sheep at the monastery. 35 acres across the road.

Along with four others, the Doughertys are the founding directors of Healing Land, an Ohio-based nonprofit that focuses on education and mentoring related to regenerative farming and homesteading. Founded in 2021, the nonprofit organization hosts conferences, talks and farm workshops in Jefferson County to share skills and get more people involved in farming or homesteading.

One act of Healing Country was a four-part speaker series “Real Food and Real Community” His next episode will be on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in the third floor ballroom of Leonardo Cafe. That night, he sees the Doughertys speak “How to Build a Real Community” and the suggested importance of local ties to food sources.

Healing Land's work is a local extension of the couple's educational mission, which has brought them throughout the East Coast and California to speak to growing groups or individuals who want to practice agriculture. .

“Independent Farm” According to Sean Dougherty, this is the title of Doughertys book “Interest quadrupled” over the past four years — despite being published in 2016 — due to the large number of people who want to return to the country and seek advice.

Although they may be seen as mentors, the Doughertys didn't begin their farming journey with everything figured out.

Sean Dougherty was born in Texas and raised mostly in Oklahoma, while Beth Dougherty grew up in the Houston area. Both were the children of medical professionals whose parents ran non-irrigated farms during the Great Depression. They had the same upbringing as their two fathers, who sought job security in medicine, choosing to manage the farms where Sean and Beth Dougherty grew up.

The two met in college and formed a strong bond over their mutual interest in the lifestyle and passion for the farm.

“We both knew we wanted to do farming in the future and now we've met someone who is committed to making it a part of our lives.” said Beth Dougherty.

The family moved to suburban Steubenville in 1989 so Sean Dougherty could teach theater at Franciscan University of Steubenville, which allowed him to work on the farm during the summers. Six years passed before the family was able to secure their own piece of property, a plot of land along Church Road.

Difficulties arose from the start, Doughertys prevented the insects from attacking the potato crop. They realized that crops were not getting enough nutrients in the soil because the soil was cut off from a source of nutrients – plant matter such as leaves and grass being broken down by microorganisms that provide what other plants need to grow.

The discovery set the Doughertys on a path of research, learning more about regenerative farming practices and trying them out on their farm. Regenerative farming is, in essence, tapping into the natural cycle of plants that capture solar energy and feed on animals, which in turn fertilizes the soil for better plant growth.

For the Doughertys, that means mulching the soil to restore nutrients, getting a dairy cow to provide the family with an abundant supply of milk and fat, and keeping the waste and excess waste as pigs. Another important aspect of the chain is the fertilization of the soil, which Dougherty does. “Common Pasture”, it is the movement of animals to pastures, imitating natural herd migration.

Animals such as cattle and sheep are ruminants, which means that the bacteria in their stomachs cannot digest food such as grass from other animals, which provides them with nutrients. Naturally, herds stick together to eat, and then slowly move to another, new place, where they digest the food. Holistic pastures—where farmers constantly direct where their animals graze—are designed to mimic this natural behavior, resulting in pastures that are more evenly consumed and fertilized, leading to improved pasture health.

Regenerative farming is controversial “Big Agriculture”, It's about getting the most out of the crop to feed the supply chain at the expense of the soil, said Shawn Dougherty, Beth Daugherty, who says unhealthy soil means a bad crop — so their potatoes stopped being vulnerable to insects once they started mulching. .

In fact, Sean Dougherty said, farming does not provide “money trees”, but he provides for the survival of the family.

“On a farm, a lot of things come from the farm, so you can feed the animals, yourself, warm yourself, increase the fertility of the soil. … God will give all this through the farm, if you are patient.”

The key is to work with nature, said Sean Dougherty, noting that even mountainous areas like Jefferson County are considered unsuitable for large-scale agriculture, but are viable for small-scale farming because of pockets of microclimates.

According to Sean Dougherty, by researching these and other topics, the Doughertys have grown about 90 or 95 percent of the crops and animals they eat — all nutrient-dense. Inspired by this model, about 70 local farms have sprung up in Jefferson County and are on the Healing Land mailing list for people who want to learn more and embrace the farming lifestyle.

“We really think this lifestyle is great for families, and the more small farms we have in our country, the better off we'll be.” Shawn Dougherty said he and his wife can be reached at [email protected] if people trying to farm have questions.

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