"Here we are. Apricot Lane Farms!"
My wife Molly and I set out to create a farm with a biological system capable of regenerating
itself... Unlike how it was treated in the past
The chemical sprays had killed most all of its
biodiversity. No birds, bees, or butterflies... The soil was rock hard and dead
Our hope was to rebuild
this farm without the use of conventional pesticides and antibiotics. And most farmers called our mission
naive. Except Alan, a farmer who would become our mentor
"Our goal is the highest level of biodiversity possible.
So, biodiversity was our mission. Sheep,
cows... we started stocking the farm with every animal you would see in a children's book. Baby ducks
and a pig we would name Emma.
We planted hundreds of varieties of orchard trees and vegetables. We
even restored wildlife habitats. It was insane... but exciting
The trees were starting to grow, the animals
were having babies. Our progress was impressive.
But our idealistic vision was about to be tested.
Alan became seriously ill and could no longer be our mentor, our new mama pig got sick, lambs
struggled, snails attacked our trees. There were still no ladybugs to protect our crops from aphids. A
drought threatened our water supply. We were in over our heads. You could feel the skeptics gloating.
We began to wonder whether our standards were unreasonable.
(THUNDER AND RAIN)
The rains did eventually come
(BELLS RING, BIRDS CHIRP)
As the soils got healthier, the birds and the insects showed up. The engine of the farm's ecosystem had
been restarted. But that wasn't what turned it around for us.
It was in those moments we felt
embarrassed and defeated where we knew we couldn't just stop because an idle position would not
have provided us with answers
So instead we focused on the cadence of a walk.
And then we arrived at
a place far greater than we had imagined. So our answers were found in the rhythm and flow of nature's
forward motion.
-It's a girl! -Yay! CLAPS
MUSIC