Story PHOTOS: WIB MIDDLETON
for their wine and
ambience. As we
wait our turn at
the sweet one
lane bridge, the
creek ambling
below eases us.
Montevideo is
one of 99 roads
designated by
Montgomery County
as Rustic Roadways,
through a program aimed
at protecting the historic character
of these byways. We are both
struck by a long vista dotted in
scarlet set in deep green. Crimson
Clover is being planted as a “cover
crop” to help transition farm acreage
to more soil healthy practices,
known as regenerative agriculture.
A growing number of the Reserve’s
farms are employing these practices
to better boost crop yields
and increase moisture retention,
among other benefits.
I recall one of my favorite
tours with agricultural advocate
Saahthi Revathi, visiting with
her son from India. She is widely
celebrated for bringing back
her country’s
farmland from
devastating
saltwater intrusion
after
the major
tsunami in
2009. My
plan to provide
schooling
about our good
farming practices
was thankfully upended
by her extraordinary
insights as to how we can and
must work with nature rather than
struggle with it, providing a pivotal
moment in my understanding the
importance of maintaining the
delicate balance of life in soil.
After together helping, very
gingerly, a large cantankerous
snapping turtle across Hunting
Quarter Road, we make our way
past fields of winter wheat, newly
planted corn, grazing horses and
alpacas to St. Paul Community
Church, the heart of the Sugarland
Forest community. Sugarland
is one of more than ten of the
Reserve’s historic African Ameri-
future hold. I love these outings.
They are never the same and are
always enriching as I learn what
matters to others who are not
steeped, as I am, in this place. We
talk as we drive about the imperative
for bolstered local food
production and better stewardship
for forests, habitat, and water resources,
agreeing that the Reserve
will help to meet these goals in the
years to come.
Catching the breathtaking
view of Rocklands Farm as we roll
along Montevideo Road, you vow
to return with friends and family
Opposite: Field cover of crimson clover; top: Seneca Store; above, one-lane bridge at
Rocklands Farm Winery.
plenty I summer growing 2020 5