A few years ago, I inherited farmland and – 133 years after my ancestor purchased it – I let it go. All that my ancestors taught me lives in me and not in that particular patch of the Earth.

I have always known that I wanted to continue our family farming legacy. Life on our diverse, intergenerational farm profoundly shaped who I am, my values, and my understanding of the interconnectedness of life.

I grew up on a farm in the prairie pothole region of Northwestern Iowa. Dad bought 240 acres in 1955 and by the time I left for college, he had close to 600 acres. The farm had heavier clay soils, two creeks, and railroad tracks running through it. When I was little, we had beef cattle, a dairy cow, pigs, and chickens. The farm had pastures, alfalfa that we baled for hay, corn, soybeans, and small grains. My dad loved wildlife and kept 100-foot buffers along the creek, woodland along the railroad tracks, and avoided chemicals until the 1980s when all the kids left the farm.

I don’t believe in farm dynasties. Perhaps there are instances where people of wealth who own land can enable farmers who use sustainable practices and don’t have as much wealth to stay on the land. And certainly, in a country that honors freedom and capitalism, anyone who has enough money and desire can buy land, when it is available.

My story of farm ownership began 20 years ago at the 2004 North American Prairie Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, where I met Dan Specht. We were on a field trip to a hill prairie above the Wisconsin River, and Dan made the comment, “This looks like my farm in Iowa.” I said, “In Iowa?” I was surprised, because I didn’t think of Iowa as having steep bluffs with so much natural vegetation.

Part 2 of 2. Climate Land Leaders’ Indigenous Advisor Teresa Peterson (Utuhu Cistinna Win) recently sat down with Executive Director Teresa Opheim to offer insights from a Native American perspective (printed here in bold). Utuhu Cistinna Win is author of the award-winning Perennial Ceremony: Lessons and Gifts from Dakota Garden. She is Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota…

Part One of Two Teresa Peterson (Utuhu Cistinna Win) is author of the award-winning Perennial Ceremony: Lessons and Gifts from a Dakota Garden. She is Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and a citizen of the Upper Sioux Community, located in what is now Minnesota. Teresa recently began serving as an Indigenous Advisor to the Climate Land Leaders…

New Climate Land Leader Deborah Jacobi stewards amazingly diverse land in the Driftless Area of Northeast Iowa. We asked Deborah to tell us more about the landscape and her stewardship. What are some distinctive features about the land you steward? Distinctive features at Middle Bear Bluffs Farm include the range of terrain from former cropland,…

The original version of this piece was published on My Wisconsin Woods. Thank you to author Steve Swenson, Program Director at My Wisconsin Woods, for permission to share the story here.