0:00 Hey, welcome to today's episode of the high with this podcast. I'm your host Daniel Martinez. Today we have a returning special guests Mr. Wayne Ebersol. If you did not hear the other episode, please go check it out. We talked about regenerative farming and how it affects the world and how you can make a difference nationwide and globally. Please go check it out. Wayne, what's your cool today we're covering deal breaking on Clark. Cool, interesting stories. Wayne, what are the cool interesting stories you have for us today? 0:28 Well, the one story I like to tell is I'm like I said, for the last 10 years, I've had the privilege of working with farmers all over the country. And the one that I really enjoyed working with was a gentleman out of western Colorado. He traditionally had been a fire chief in the Lake Tahoe region, and he did a lot of work and cleaning up the forest around Lake Tahoe. I think he was a fire chief there for 15 years maybe. And he did an amazing job of cleaning that forest that they had no forest fires of any significance during his tenure as fire chief in Lake Tahoe region. And so that was very interesting. But when he retired, he bought this ranch in western Colorado. And this ranch when he bought it was had an organic matter of less than 1% I think it was average about a half a percent. It was overgrown with Canadian thistles and brush and it was basically unusable. And so he started learning all he could on how to turn this ranch around. And today about 20 years later, that ranch I think has on average between seven and 8% organic matter. His neighbor still has all the Canadian thistles and everything there. And he he has turned that ran is actually a productive ground, it's ground. That is He grows hay on it. And his nutrient density of that hay is so high it's like 30% higher than any other hay grown in the region. And he can charge you know a third more for that hay. Because every farmer that buys his hay ends up feeding a third less of that hay. So basically, what he did is he looked at the plants that were growing there, he had a couple friends that were in research, but he also had this book that told him about like, for instance, Canadian thistles thrive in a low magnesium environment. So he's like, Well, I have all these thistle seeds blown across from my neighbor's property growing on my farm, how do I get these to stop growing and he realized he has to raise the magnesium levels of his of his land. So he farmed with regenerative he farmed his hay ground with regenerative agricultural practices, no tillage, wide diversity of plants that summer annuals summer perennials. And we're using irrigation and putting his nutrients and supplements in his water as he irrigated his how he raised it up. And today, these thistle seeds still blow across his land. But he barely gets maybe at the most through two or three thistles growing each year. And instead of growing six foot high, they only grow maybe 24 inches tall. And he goes out there with his little sprayer on the back of his four wheeler with 20% vinegar in it and he hits those thistles and they burn up and die. And that's the power of regenerative agriculture, the nutrient density of his hay has gone up so high that the farmers that buy it and all he has to do to sell his hay, he publishes his forage sample in the local paper. That's all he does. He doesn't that's the only marketing he does. And he will sell out of hay in no time at all. Because every farmer knows that they're going to feed 1/3 Less hay, which is less labor less manure being produced, cattle are happier and healthier. I mean, his soil was so healthy at this point. He has micronutrients like zinc, and iron and those kind of things showing up in his haste of forage samples, which you know, tells you that the might once the micronutrients show up, you're doing something really what right there. So that's the power to me of regenerative agriculture. And when we do improve our soil health, now our food becomes medicine, a lot of the diseases that we struggle with in North America as humans, here's becomes comes from deficiencies. And so when you get the soil health up, the nutrient density of your food goes up, your food now becomes your medicine. So let's take the pharmaceutical chemical money, and let's put it into our food and make ourselves healthier. So that's kind of the story that's the power of regenerative agriculture. In an in a story form as your food you are what you eat, and your food density is directly related to their soil health. 4:51 That is amazing. That's crazy. So wherever wherever this is a key point too is whatever is growing in your property. Figure out what it what it needs. And once you raise that level, they won't, they won't be thriving there anymore. Because there'll be a deficit there. 5:09 If you got thorns and thistles most likely, you have a deficient, some type of nutrient deficiency in your soil because they thrive in nutrient deficient, but it's mother nature's way of keeping that soil covered, and building that organic, that soil health back up again, to the point where other things will start to grow. So you know, it happens, there's, you know, the soil will regenerate itself, it takes a very long time. Whereas we as humans, we're supposed to be managers of that. If we can manage it and manage it. Well, we can do it much faster than Mother Nature will do it. 5:45 That's cool. That's a cool story. I'm really curious. Do you know, did he tell you why? How was he? How was he able to keep forest fires out of his district? 5:54 Yeah. So basically, it goes back to Mother Nature again, right? Yeah. So if you like, in Florida, I know in California, a lot of your force had been let go. They've not they've stopped forest management per se, at least at a any significant level. So what happens is, go ahead, 6:12 a lot of ground cover. Yeah. 6:14 So what happens is, forests grow, things die, they decay, they, you know, they fall down, and all that stuff accumulates on the forest floor. And so yeah, all that accumulation becomes tender for forest fire. So the more accumulates, the more Tinder is there. So mother nature's way of taking care of that as far as her right. And that also brings other benefits to it as well, well, nature does it in extremes, she lets it go as long as she can, until finally it just goes. When it goes it goes big. And then it starts over the process takes a long period of time. Well, he basically what he did, is he went in there, he did an initial cleanup of the forest, so cleaned out a lot of that tender. And basically what they did is they hired people guys to come in there and they cleaned it and put it on big piles. Then they helicoptered it out or burned in place in a controlled burn environment. And then once that initial cleanup was done, they just did had a regular maintenance clean up year after year where they went through and just cleaned up a little bit, they left a lot that if some of it there. I mean, there's certain amount of it that you need to leave there to keep the soil covered and things like that. But they kept it at a very minimal amount. And so when a fire did start, it would burn a small area, but it was soon peter out or they it was very easily controlled. Because they had the had reduced the amount of fuel that was available to it. And, and that's the way he maintained it and the initial cleanup costs and pretty much, but then the ongoing maintenance. So everything was meant to be maintained. That's That's what humans were designed to do to, to maintain to dress and keep the the earth they were given dominion over to dress and keep it. And so doing that on a little by little basis a little bit every year, or letting Mother Nature clean it up. I mean, you have your choice. And we've seen we know what the devastating effects are when, when nature takes care of it. So hey, let's take care of a little by little and maintain it, then it's much easier. It's less less of a problem. That's my theory. So I like 8:23 I like that year you kind of tickets a biblical thing, really, we have dominion over it and be kept. That's That's cool, man. That's such a cool story. I hope somebody is listening out there and make some changes. Because it's such it's such a huge problem out here. And I think me and Brett me and like mild maintenance, just like gone too far. And mild maintenance can do wonders for those. 8:49 But even if you think about even, you know, like in California, where it's been left go, you've had regions where you've had major fires that have done it, just take over those regions now and just maintain them going forward. Yeah, you know that that becomes if you don't want to, if you don't have the money to do the initial cleanup or the big cleanup, and then start maintaining the areas that have been cleaned up by mother nature and becomes eventually you'll be in control most of it. You'll keep that from getting out of hand going forward. Thank you. 9:23 Where can people find you online? 9:25 Yeah, we have an investment fun investment company called Big Sky Capital Group. And you can find us at Big Sky capital group.com on the agriculture consulting side, and if you're looking to transition to regenerative agriculture, we have a company called future generation AG. So you can find us at future Gen ag.com. 9:42 Efficient genetics.com And when I appreciate you coming on, man, this has been like a habit once it was an hour school lesson. 9:52 I love talking about this stuff. I'm passionate about it because I see the benefits of it. And when you think about you know, our friend from western Colorado and What he's doing just in his little space with his little ranch, you know, if everybody did what he did and worked with that, you know, there'll be a lot of huge change going on right now, 10:09 which is what we need. I think it's it takes individuals, it takes a small group of individuals to create a movement. And I think that's it. 10:16 Well, the awareness has come in there, and I'm happy to facilitate in any way I can. So 10:21 there you go. We appreciate your time, man, Wayne. Thanks for coming on. 10:24 Thank you, Daniel, for having me. I really appreciate you having 10:27 unique podcast today for sure. So for everybody here, but like, share, subscribe. Hopefully you learn something today and you can take that knowledge with you in the future. But check, go check out Wayne's companies. We'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks, guys.