Welcome to:Laird Woodland Farm
On the far eastern stretch of the high plains lies a farm tucked between the red hills and the lowlands of the Little Arkansas River Basin. Here, the meadows are pockmarked with old buffalo wallows, which continue to hydrate and house other creatures long after the buffalo have gone. This land, once covered in tall grass prairie and dotted with occasional giant cottonwood trees, is now dominated by black walnut, eastern red cedar, and hedge.These 120 acres have been in this family for over a hundred years. City folks that we are, we came to make our home here, drawn by deepening affection for this land and an inkling that there might be more at hand than we could see.
Our first year at the farm, we took daily walks, tracing the many tributaries of the creek. We observed the seasonal succession of plants, fungi, and habits of wildlife. We found food here: wild oyster mushrooms, mild green lamb's quarters, sand plums, black walnut sap that we gathered from our favorite trees and boiled down into a rich, caramel syrup. “Being with” this land has attached our hearts in affection to this place.
Now, we still do a lot of walking and observing. We also grow we grow high-quality culinary and medicinal herbs using the best of organic and regenerative practices, and we make herbal tea and products in small hand-crafted batches. Currently, our main product is a quarterly Herbal CSA.
Who we are
-
Kristen Davidson
Kristen’s background is in culinary arts, nutrition, ceramics and creative writing. Her delight in food, particularly good ingredients, and the desire for a more just food system lured her into farming. Here she fell in love with herbs, beneficial bacteria, fungi, and the breathtaking complexity of the natural world.
-
Together
Beau and Kristen serve on the Leadership Team for Estuaries, a ministry seeking to incite a cultural ecology that fosters spiritually holistic, emotionally healthy, and intellectually rich believers who are capable of engaging meaningfully with culture.
-
Beau Davidson
Beau is a permaculturist, natural builder, lo-tech mycologist, herb farmer, acoustical and audio engineer, homesteader, tradesman, artist, husband, and dad. Prior to homesteading and permaculture, his experience included a career in the Nashville music industry, a painters and fine finishers apprenticeship in Melbourne, Australia, and an analog recording studio in the urban core of Kansas City. He holds a B.S. in Recording Industry Management: Production & Technology, with minors in Mass Communications and Film.
