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Mule Barn Farms & Bakery
Regenerative Agriculture Gardening
Mule Barn Farms was established in 2017 with hopes of exploring regenerative agriculture practices. Â Using these principles, we hope to become a key player in Southwest Missouri's local food supply. Â We invite you to follow us on our journey throughout the years.
Mule Barn Farms
An Interest Ignited
It all began when owner Austin Livingston was a summer intern for wildlife biologist Dr. Grant Woods in 2017. Â Dr. Woods, an advocate for regenerative agriculture, was a wealth of knowledge and provided Austin with hands-on experience to better understand this agricultural model. Â Gabe Brown, a North Dakota farmer, has also been a great influence to explore regenerative agriculture. Â Coming from a family that enjoyed gardening for years, Austin couldn't help but wonder if he could apply the agricultural principles he was learning about to a garden setting. Â In 2018, Mule Barn Farms conducted its first experimental season exploring different seed mixes and planting methods. Â Through information found by this project, we are excited to implement these findings to start our journey in vegetable production.
How we are doing our part to regenerate our lands and provide fresh, nutrient-dense food.
What We Do
Intensive Cover Crop Management
Cover crops are the key to regenerative agriculture. Â Cover crops enable us to do many things with our soil. Â Many think of cover crops as a fall crops to help cover the soil, but in reality, they can be beneficial any time of the year. Â Fall cover crops do a wonderful job with creating a mulch layer on the soil to help the summer crop conserve moisture and suppress weeds. Â Once the cover crop is terminated, it is not tilled in, but it acts as a slow-release fertilizer from the soil surface to give nutrients to plants as well as feed microbiology in the soil. Â Summer cover crops are also utilized to mine other nutrients out of the soil and to act as additional "panels" to catch solar energy. Â Cover crops are a great example of how plants help other plants year after year.
