I moved to the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve in order to live by my values: being close to and caring for nature, growing food ecologically to feed myself and family, and serving to“ repair the world” through action, connection, and community. Each year, we work hard on our farmstead to experiment and improve from the year before. Each year, we work steadily in updating our 1970s home to become a home for our future. 2025 marked a tremendous milestone in realizing our yearslong journey to a more climate friendly lifestyle: our farmstead is now powered by the sun. We installed solar panels on our rooftop that will provide enough electricity to meet our family’ s energy demand. We also installed a battery to store the solar-power for when the sun isn’ t shining or when the power on the grid goes out( and we still want to use our well-pump, for example). But, the solar panels were not our first step.
Half of our property at Bluebird Farmstead is wooded, where we spend a lot of time removing invasive species and making room for new saplings to grow.
Climate Action at Bluebird Farmstead:
On Our Way to Net-Zero
By Allison Tjaden n What is“ Net-Zero” and how to get started? In terms of climate action, net-zero refers to a balance between the climate pollution( or greenhouse gas emissions) released, mostly from burning fossil fuels, and the amount of that pollution removed from the atmosphere, mostly from natural processes. Both Montgomery County and the State of Maryland have strategic plans for climate action and track progress at a county and state level. It is possible and necessary to reach net-zero climate pollution. Montgomery County’ s Climate Smart Pledge allows each of us to pledge to take