Meet Paul
Paul was born in Door County, Wisconsin. His grandfather raised grass-fed dairy cows, farmed with horses, and had 8 kids during the Depression. Paul moved to Benzie County, Michigan with his family when he was in third grade. His dad started to captain boats on the Great Lakes; at the time he was the youngest man with a Master’s license. Paul’s mother raised 4 kids. His parents divorced in the 70’s and his dad moved to Alaska. In his teens, Paul joined his father and spent a decade involved in competitive sled dog racing. Paul’s dad won the Iditarod race in 1980 with Paul’s lead dogs.
Returning to Benzie County in 1994, Paul bought the home next door to where he grew up, which had been a farm. Shortly after his son Avery was born, he started keeping goats and chickens on the property on Adams Road. His wife Sharron had a salon in the home and with her customer base and their social network, demand for clean food raised locally quickly grew. Paul leased a pasture nearby to expand his operation.
Returning to Benzie County in 1994, Paul bought the home next door to where he grew up, which had been a farm. Shortly after his son Avery was born, he started keeping goats and chickens on the property on Adams Road. His wife Sharron had a salon in the home and with her customer base and their social network, demand for clean food raised locally quickly grew. Paul leased a pasture nearby to expand his operation.
“I’m trying to have a positive impact on global warming and I have a fire going.”
After reading about the work of Alan Savory, founder of the Savory Institute, who developed a system to use animals to improve rather than degrade pasture, Paul adopted the practice of using animals on the landscape to build soils through management-intensive grazing. This type of grazing mimics natural systems involving intense impact followed by long recovery periods, such as migrating herds of buffalo on the Great Plains. Rather than simply surrounding a pasture with one fence, Paul has made many small paddocks and moves the animals at least once per day in tightly controlled access to the pasture allowing as much recovery as possible for yesterday’s paddock; thus stimulating recovery.
Until he read Albert Bates’ book “The Biochar Solution” Paul believed that rotational grazing of cattle was the most effective way to pull carbon out of the atmosphere and put it in the soil. He still believes in it, but now sees that it is the second best way to put carbon in the soil. Clearly, the best way to put carbon in our soil is with biochar.
His experimentation with biochar began in 2015 when he started a fire in a cone pit in his backyard. It was a rainy summer and he couldn’t make it work, but he didn’t give up.
That fall he made his first 2-3 cubic feet of char. The next year or two in 10-15 burns, he mostly sat by himself watching a fire and trying to understand how this could be an answer to global warming. The contradiction is apparent. “I’m trying to have a positive impact on global warming and I have a fire going.” The irony of the situation took a while to think through. The writings of Albert Bates and his book “Burn” that better explains the physics of the process helped Paul come to a better understanding of the potential of biochar.
Until he read Albert Bates’ book “The Biochar Solution” Paul believed that rotational grazing of cattle was the most effective way to pull carbon out of the atmosphere and put it in the soil. He still believes in it, but now sees that it is the second best way to put carbon in the soil. Clearly, the best way to put carbon in our soil is with biochar.
His experimentation with biochar began in 2015 when he started a fire in a cone pit in his backyard. It was a rainy summer and he couldn’t make it work, but he didn’t give up.
That fall he made his first 2-3 cubic feet of char. The next year or two in 10-15 burns, he mostly sat by himself watching a fire and trying to understand how this could be an answer to global warming. The contradiction is apparent. “I’m trying to have a positive impact on global warming and I have a fire going.” The irony of the situation took a while to think through. The writings of Albert Bates and his book “Burn” that better explains the physics of the process helped Paul come to a better understanding of the potential of biochar.