Pont Reading Farm

As my friend Russ Stoddard mentioned yesterday, it's officially beanie season, and our journey with beanies continues. Our first beanie was a collaboration with Carolina Textile District, Fonta Flora Brewery, Material Return, LLC and InnovaKnits, LLC. We learned a lot from that project and are excited to soon launch our next-generation beanie, which continues our commitment to transparency and sustainability. Recognizing that most natural dye materials are imported, this year we’re growing marigolds right here at TS Designs. Our first beanie project used "deadstock" wool and contained 10% nylon. This time, we are sourcing 100% superwashed wool directly from our friend Jeanne Carver from Shaniko Wool Company, LLC, and partnering with Jason Wilkins at InnovaKnits to design and knit a product free of any synthetic fibers. Our new beanies will feature a new patch made from 100% cotton, sewn on with cotton thread. We remain committed to manufacturing the highest quality beanies, using the most transparent supply chain—zero plastics, no microplastics, and fully biodegradable. Who made your beanie, and where was it made? Help stop the madness of the broken aparrel industry and own your label! Follow us at Solid State Clothing, these beanies will be available soon! Emily Stasiak, Jesika Way, Ilsa Spaan, JERRY STIFELMAN, Croatan Institute, Fibershed, Textile Exchange, Know Your Clothing, Piedmont Agrarian Collaborative (PAC), Joshua Humphreys

The Piedmont Agrarian Collaborative (PAC) website has launched, https://www.pac.farm and this past Sunday was a beautiful day to plant a variety of fall vegetables. It was an all-hands-on-deck effort, with a major push to get our starts in the ground at Henry and Machaven farms. Shout out to Emily Stasiak for building the website, and to Edgar and JR from our farm team for their hard work. Piedmont Agrarian Collaborative will strengthen the connection between local farmers and the community in ways that farmers markets and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs alone cannot, all while maintaining full transparency about where the food comes from and who the farmers are. If you're local, we invite you to join the platform. For our friends from afar, we appreciate your support as we build out this online, local focused food hub. Joshua Humphreys, Pont Reading Farm, TS Designs, Alamance Chamber, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, Impact Alamance, The Harwood Institute, Eric Henry

Good day for building soil, We had all hands on deck this weekend as we approach our average frost date of 10/15. One of the major projects was moving the chickens back to the garden, where they now have access to the recently planted cover crop. Another advantage this year is having access to animal manure. We transported a couple of small truckloads to the compost bins near our hoop house. Piedmont Agrarian Collaborative, Joshua Humphreys, Emily Stasiak, #notill #pasturechickens #Regenerativeagriculture

Good day for building soil, We had all hands on deck this weekend as we approach our average frost date of 10/15. One of the major projects was moving the chickens back to the garden, where they now have access to the recently planted cover crop. Another advantage this year is having access to animal manure. We transported a couple of small truckloads to the compost bins near our hoop house. Piedmont Agrarian Collaborative, Joshua Humphreys, Emily Stasiak, #notill #pasturechickens #Regenerativeagriculture

At two of our farms, including our home farm and agroforestry nursery, known as Pont Reading Farm, we are making #compost along woodland margins, and taking advantage of our access to pastured animal waste like goat and poultry manures on site. This integrative approach -- rarely discussed in #agroforestry circles -- enhances carbon, nitrogen, and water cycling at the farms because the overstory trees help absorb the byproducts of biomass decomposition that leads ultimately to compost. Their leaves absorb both carbon dioxide and nitrogenous emissions, and microbial interactions along the bark have recently been shown to absorb methane, among other greenhouse gases. Also the trees' root systems benefit from the slow release of nutrients occurring in the adjacent soils. Composting animal manure buffers its potential negative impacts on the environment. We are also beginning to experiment with sowing multispecies cover crops, like oats, barley, brassicas, peas, and sunflowers, into compost bays as they cure and cool in order to support enhanced soil microbial life within the compost.

We are excited to release our first white paper, Black Walnut Project: Creating a Black Walnut Value Chain Originating from Natural Dye for Textiles. A team of Sustainable Innovation MBA students from the University of Vermont, Gibbs Eddy, MBA, Brian Lamoureux, Georgia Lambrakis, MBA teamed up with Know Your Clothing for their Practicum Project. They led independent research and interviews with potential collaborators to aid in developing a system to leverage black walnuts commercially in North Carolina. Read the white paper >> https://lnkd.in/eSKNFx4G Our founder Eric Henry worked closely with the team as they toured North Carolina to interview stakeholders which led to the developing of a shared vision, strategy, and key performance indicators for the collaboration of a black walnut collective. They presented their findings in September, and we are thrilled to finally unveil the finished product, beautifully designed by Eric Henry. Stay tuned for more updates and check out the white paper to dive into our groundbreaking work on improving the apparel industry! Follow. Subscribe. Donate. >> knowyourclothing.org #naturaldyes #blackwalnutcollective #blackwalnutproject #collaboration

Saturday Soil Day: Transitioning from Summer to Fall Crops We're excited to announce that our backdoor neighbor, Braeburn Farm, will soon be offering grass-fed beef through the Piedmont Agrarian Collaborative platform. Charlie of Braeburn Farm, one of the early adopters of grass-fed beef using the mob grazing method, has been a pioneer in sustainable farming. Mob grazing involves moving cattle frequently to fresh grass, preventing overgrazing and promoting healthier soil. Charlie, as we call “Doc,” often says, "Building better soil is the key to healthier, and happier cows." His cattle enjoy a great life with just one bad day, a stark contrast to those raised in industrial stockyards. Moreover, his methods are carbon-positive, sequestering more carbon in the soil than is released into the atmosphere. Thanks to my Piedmont Agrarian Collaborative partner, Joshua Humphreys we’ve successfully established our first compost system at Henry Farm. As we transition from summer crops to fall planting, we’re also sowing a mix of cover crop seeds to protect and enrich the beds that will remain fallow this winter. This effort is part of our ongoing journey to cultivate healthier, carbon-rich soil. Again for my local friends please join the Piedmont Agrarian Collaborative platform at https://lnkd.in/estKzCdJ Emily Stasiak, Alamance Chamber, TS Designs, Chad Sydnor, Saxapahaw General Store, Burlington Beer Works #regenerative #grassfed #local #soilhealth #mobgrazing