A year ago this Earth Day I was still in the heady, blissful new stages of a budding new relationship. A year later, I have only just started admitting that I am in a serious and committed relationship, even if my partner is unwilling. My partner has been testing me for the last year, not trusting I was in it for the long haul and doubting my commitment to the vision we have together. Our relationship almost didn’t survive the stormy deluge of 2021, starting the day after Earth Day and not stopping until November. I slogged away many times, defeated, only to forgive once the sun came out again and revealed a gentle green patina I didn’t think possible from the dead, lifeless foundation with which we started.
This Earth Day is the first anniversary of my commitment to my little patch of dirt in Fayette County. I am more committed than ever because of the regenerative movement happening all around me. This time last year I had found the best Dirt Nerd in Fayette County, James Burke, who help lay out a plan for regrowing my soil. That resonated with my neighbors on Roy Road who could use an extra patch of land for rotationally grazing their own cattle and decided to offer me a few in the rotation. The Roy Road Project was born and I started studying everything I could about soil and, when healthy, its amazing ability to draw down CO2.
After seeing the Kiss the Ground documentary, I knew I had found a path to not only my ability to grow soil but to join others on Road Road to improve the soil sponge all over Fayette County. I took the Kiss the Ground Advocacy Course and deepened my knowledge of the soil sponge, the urgency to protect it, and how I can start actively regenerating my 6 acres of dirt into rich spongy water-retaining organic matter.
For the yearly update, there is embarrassingly not a lot to report as far as growing soil, yet some great things happened. Like finding out my well is deep and full of water! And that Goggle maps helped another neighbor find the Roy Road Project and now we have over 100 acres to regenerate! Then there were the setbacks, like the rain stalling the electricity pole installation because the trucks couldn’t get onto the property without sinking in the mud well into summer. Then the inevitable happened, and my builder buggered off for a better-paying job. Just when I finally got the well working, we had another setback when the pump fell down the well. I couldn’t make this stuff up.
Setbacks aside, I have learned more about myself through loving this land, and by committing to this relationship, I know that healing is happening every time I turn onto Roy Road. I hope one day to welcome everyone onto this healing and regenerative space to learn how they can make a commitment to our Earth in their own way.
