Livestock farmer stories, tips, and resources for success.
Feb. 7, 2024

Jon Turner Helps to Heal

Jon Turner Helps to Heal

There is a legacy throughout my family of having at least one member who served in all major conflicts back to the Revolutionary War. The other side of that coin is they were all farmers, homesteaders and innovators of their time from Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky. 

 

In 2009, my wife and I kept grew our first garden in a community growing space in northern Vermont.  There was a moment of clarity and renewed sense of purpose after being recently discharged from the Marine Corps with multiple combat deployments, that encouraged further exploration into food production.  Over a decade later, we now manage 10 acres of land and implemented practices deeply rooted in agroforestry, agroecology and whole systems thinking.


Wild Roots Community Farm is a diversified operation dedicated to community resilience through food systems education, wilderness survival, and self-rescue.


We are a part of the fabric which molds and shapes our landscape, and if we take moments to observe how natural systems function- their patterns, existing wildlife, how weather moves and reacts to topography and micro-climates, etc., we can make decisions that increase our ability to adapt to the internal and external forces of a food system.  

  On the farm we raise pigs, goats and chickens, grow annual vegetables and various tree crops in our pasture that is managed by rotating species. Through service-learning projects with community partners, we have built dedicated wildlife corridors to support native pollinators and songbird habitat. Wild Roots Community Farm is also the host site for a nature based early education program, Wrens Nest Forest Preschool.  


Wild Roots Farm email

Wild Roots Community Farm website

Wild Roots Farm Instagram

Fieldcraft Farmer Instagram

 

Accipiter Fieldcraft email


Yestermorrow Design School

 

Heroes and Horses program

 

Future Farmers of America (FFA)

 

Farmer Veteran Coalition

 

Guardian Revival

 

Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports

 

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Association

 

Five-minute meditation link


Intro to Breathwork video

 

New England Grazing Network web site

 

Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site

 

Whole Human web site

 

Choosing to Farm Patreon link

 

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The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success.  Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show!

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