We embrace and are on a journey of applying the principles of regenerative agriculture. Excess carbon in our atmosphere is changing weather and climate patterns. Fox Haven is using regenerative practices to sequester carbon while gaining other benefits for soil and crop health.

• The farm partners with Ron and Adam Holter of Holterholm Dairy Farm who engage in rotational grazing of cows. The cows spread their manure over the ground becoming a natural source of organic fertilizer, which attracts beneficial fungi and microbes that sequester carbon and diversify all the microscopic organisms living in the soil.  This then enriches the pasture grasses. Sequestered carbon improves the water cycle and more water soaks into the soil, nourishing plants, instead of the water running off fields causing muddy streams. The nutrients absorbed by the plants ultimately contribute to the health of the cows and the quality of the milk we drink, which is distributed by Organic Valley through Holterholm Farm. As soil microbe activity increases so does the mineral cycle. Water infiltration improves overall manure management.  This is one of Fox Haven’s ways of participating in watershed protection and building biodiversity on the farm.  We are opposed to Confined Animal Feed Operations (CAFO) as these factory farms overwhelm systems.  As animal excrement builds up in feedlots it fouls the air with ammonia, pollutes the soil with excess nutrients, and ultimately leaches nitrogen and phosphorus into the groundwater, streams, and rivers, resulting in pollution and dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay.  Confined animals are fed unhealthy diets, become sickly, causing overuse of antibiotics, which result in antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogens, that cause the rise in untreatable diseases for humans.
• We practice crop rotation and cover cropping all year long, never leaving the ground bare, which protects topsoil, rebuilds nutrients, and diversifies microscopic organisms in the soil.
• Healthy, rich, biologically diverse soil is also amended with compost from the farmhouse kitchens.
• We preserve the important fungal network that feeds plants and sequesters carbon, the soil biota, by using low or no-till practices that minimize disturbance to these critical living communities in the soil.
• We are minimizing use of fossil fuels by having only one tractor for the entire farm. And we are also minimizing our footprint on the land by not building any new buildings. All the buildings we use were on the land and have been renovated by a local artisan, including five farmhouses, two spring houses, two big bank barns with loafing sheds, the corn crib and the Dairy Parlor.

Fox Haven partners with non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and its volunteer community to advance a variety of formal research and citizen science research projects. Projects often continue year after year, contributing data into a body of results that researchers, teachers, thought leaders, and practitioners use, and we share with visitors in various ways.

• The Learning Center partners with Hood College graduate programs and Dr. April Boulton on research related to stream health, pollinator health and habitat, and organic pest management, including several pollinator strips and hillsides planted in native flowers in support of the research on native bees and honeybees. Beehives are kept in the orchard to support the growth of the apple trees and herbs, and to build biodiversity.
• Our Internships enrich research projects, formalize learning outcomes with hands-on experiences at Fox Haven, in partnership with institutions including Hood College, JMU, and the University of Maryland Applied Agriculture Program.
• We offer between 5-10 herb farm internships each year. Interns plant, tend, harvest, study and create at-home products with the herbs and also assist in educating during the CSA classes.
• Over 80 bluebird boxes abound on Fox Haven’s bluebird trail and we have partnered with bird researchers and birding clubs, as well as multiple students over the years, who gather data that is shared with the Cornell Ornithology labs.
• In 2016, the Learning Center installed a solar array on the roof of the big red barn. Visiting students can use the online monitoring site in their classroom science projects. As of June 2019, this solar array has saved over 164,000 lbs. of CO2 emissions, equivalent to planting over 4,200 trees.
• Educational signs along our walking trails and in our facilities promote our monarch butterfly sanctuary, pollinator habitats, riparian buffer zones, American Chestnut research, composting and soil health, biodiversity, pesticide-free gardening/farming, etc., making it possible for everyone that visits to learn something before they go. This includes the local and regional businesses, non-profits, and NGOs that hold retreats here.
• Special projects on the property are often created by scouts and students, as part of their community service for scout gold and eagle rewards

“The world of life, of spontaneity, the world of dawn and sunset and starlight, the world of soil and sunshine, of meadow and woodland, of hickory and oak and maple and hemlock and pineland forests, of wildlife dwelling around us, of the river and its wellbeing—all of this is the integral community in which we live.”

– Father Thomas Berry

Fox Haven offers a place to explore and learn, for conversations about bigger questions and more sustainable ways to live. Be part of this enlightening conversation—register for an event or class, schedule a visit or retreat.