It Starts With The Soil: Regenerative Farming At Iron Root Pastures

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

For Ernie and Janet Mathes, investing in their family’s health starts with investing in the health of Iron Root Pastures’ soil. The family’s Rising Fawn farm uses regenerative practices that focus on building healthy soil, plants, animals, and humans.

Regenerative farming focuses on restoring/preventing degraded soil by building it up with biodiversity and a number of other practices that prevent excess water runoff and erosion. The practices are intended to produce healthier plants, animals, and also healthier food for humans. The name “Iron Root Pastures” draws inspiration from regenerative farming: With roots as strong as iron, everything else becomes stronger.

According to Noble Research Institute, a nonprofit agricultural research organization based in Oklahoma, regenerative farms and ranches use some of the following methods:

• Using no-till planting methods in order to minimize soil disturbance
• Planting cover crops and diverse forage species along monoculture crops and perennial grasses
• Avoiding/limiting fertilizers and pesticides
• Rotating pastured animals through small sections at a time, allowing regrowth

In her words, Janet explained, “What we’re trying to do is create a healthy soil using the animals to provide natural fertilization and planting a variety of crops. We’re trying to create healthy food and healthy farming for a future generation because I don’t think our industrial farming system will last forever. 100 years from now, what is that dirt going to look like? It’ll be desert. Think about the dust bowl. Are we doing that again with industrial farming?”

The family previously lived in Kennesaw, Ga. After learning that Ernie had a wheat intolerance, they eliminated wheat from their diet and began reading all food labels. Genetically modified wheat was the cause of Ernie’s reaction, so they switched to Einkorn (an ancient grain that has never been modified). Mathes explained that humans have spent years cross-breeding wheat with a variety of grasses, which changed the gluten structure.

Raymond Cooper’s 2015 study titled “Re-discovering ancient wheat varieties as functional foods” (published by the “Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine” and accessed online via the National Library of Medicine) explains the difference: “Einkorn wheat does contain gluten but is different from most wheat in that it contains only 14 chromosomes as opposed to 28 in emmer or 42 in modern wheat. This alters the gluten structure which may be why it does not affect those with gluten intolerance as much as other wheat.”

Through the journey of finding out what was in their food, where it came from, and how it was raised, the Mathes learned that for eggs and chicken to be labeled “free range” the chickens must have a door to the outdoors. However, depending on the farm, many chickens could still be crowded in the coop with the ones in the back unlikely to access the outdoors. This is when the Mathes learned about pasture-raised chickens, meaning the chickens have small, airy coops and spend most of their days outside.

The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service website explains that free range chickens must have “continuous access to the outdoors during their laying cycle. The outdoor area may be fenced and/or covered with netting-like material. Housing systems vary from farm-to-farm, and can include multi-tier aviaries.” The Mathes found that even these standards do not ensure the environment they’d like chickens to have.

Also according to the USDA, free range environments “must allow hens to exhibit natural behaviors and include enrichments such as scratch areas, perches and nests.” With pasture raised settings, these natural behaviors come from the chickens spending their time outside. Mathes said, “It’s about them being outside and letting them express their natural behaviors. They say chickens are vegetarian fed, but chickens aren’t vegetarians. They need those proteins, they need those bugs that they’re naturally wired to peck around for.”

The Mathes also looked into pasture-raised eggs’ nutritional makeup as compared to today’s typical mass-produced eggs. They learned about the negative impact of soy-heavy diets on animals’ biological functions. (A number of studies on this topic are available on the National Library of Medicine’s website.) They read studies that show that grass-fed beef has balanced omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, while grain-fed has low omega-3 levels. (One study on the matter is “Fatty Acid Composition of Grain- and Grass-Fed Beef and Their Nutritional Value and Health Implication,” published in “Food Science of Animal Resources” journal in January 2022.)

As the Mathes learned more about what food products they specifically wanted, their options narrowed. She explained, “We went on this journey to find healthy food, but we started caring about the soil health and not just the animal. There were only a few places we could consistently find this specific product: White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Ga. and Dutch Meadows Farm in Pennsylvania. There are regenerative farms out there, but there aren’t enough.”

With their garden and chickens quickly outgrowing their yard in Kennesaw, they decided to buy a farm. Ernie continued his career as owner of a cell tower company, and they traveled the country living in an RV for several years while searching for the perfect location. They found that perfect spot here in Rising Fawn.

The previous owners cleared the land and built the ponds, helping set the Mathes up for success. Mathes said, “They did a lot of work here. We’re trying to keep it going and improve it and bring back a whole bunch of animals in here.”

One regenerative practice that the Mathes employee is moving the cows each day. Mathes explained, “They munch down all the grass. A couple days later, the chickens are behind them pecking the maggots out of the patties. That spot where the cows were has time to grow and the natural fertilizer be absorbed. Everything grows back.”

Eventually they will plant legumes and different grasses in the pastures to create biodiversity. She said, “Soil absorbs water better when there’s always something green and growing. This prevents water runoff issues and we’ll be giving the cows a much more nutrient-dense diet.”

The Mathes never use synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. Instead, they work to balance native plants, bugs, and animals, rather than marking some undesirable and spraying to get rid of them.

The farm has heritage breeds as part of the livestock. Their current hog breeds are Berkshire, Mangalica (also called Mangalitsa, known as a high-quality breed), and Red Wattles (a heritage breed that’s considered threatened because of its rarity). Along with their Jersey dairy cows, the farm is testing Belted Galloways (a heritage breed from Scotland) to see if this land and climate works for the breed.

The farm ships to out-of-state customers and uses drop locations at Max Living Groups. Here in Trenton, Dr. Chad McDill’s chiropractic office (as part of Max Living Group) is one of the drops.

Eventually, the Mathes would like to open the farm up for tours and to teach others about regenerative farming.

The farm currently sells raw pet milk (not for human consumption), chicken, and eggs. They will soon have pork available and will be adding beef. However, the prices are much higher than standard grocery store prices. The Sentinel asked Mathes about this. She explained that small farms lack much of the capital and infrastructure that large, industrial farms have.

While large farms often have inspectors onsite, small farms do not. Currently, the Mathes must drive to Walling, Tenn. to have their chickens processed, and USDA inspection fees add to the expense.

Additionally, organic feed is more expensive and regenerative farming requires more land and time. The Mathes currently drive to Kentucky to get the organic feed they use. As they wait for their hogs to grow and begin to expand their beef herd, they are currently in an investment phase with profits going back into feed costs. Mathes said, “We’re growing out pigs for a long time. That cycle hasn’t hit yet of bringing profits back in.”

Explaining that Iron Root Pastures’ focus on quality is more expensive all around, Mathes said, “We’ve diverted from quality to quantity on a national scale. What we’re producing is going to a certain customer. If there’s a way to keep the cost down so we can bring healthier products to our community, we’d love to do that.”

The Mathes recognize that moving away from our industrialized farming practices is a complex problem, made more difficult by the financial difficulties small farms face. Mathes said, “I don’t know how to fix all of it, but I think we can start by learning where our food is coming from. Then, if we have the land, try to raise our own food as much as we can. You see all these little farms going out because nobody wants to farm. It’s a labor of love.”

Mathes concluded, “I’m very glad there are more people trying to make a difference and not wait on the government to come in and change it. It has to start with us.”

Visit the farm’s website at ironrootpastures.com or find them on Facebook or Instagram.