Campfire Farms
An Oregon farming couple supplies a ZFP member while using their land to fight climate change with support from Zero Foodprint’s Restore grant.
Good Food Comes From Good Farming
Zach and Christina Menchini came to farming through their love of good food. Having spent years in the New York food scene, they realized that truly good food isn’t made by good cooking alone - it comes from good farming as well. This discovery took them to work on vineyards and farms in New Zealand and Spain, and finally on their own thirty-acre farm in Oregon in 2014. They now pasture-raise pigs, chickens, and ducks with their two young sons.
“Every day offers new challenges. That's one thing that drew me toward livestock,” says Zach.
“Part of our mission is to feed our community. Standing at that farmer's market table and talking to people about what they're making for their families for dinner that night with our products is very rewarding,” he explains.
“The program [helped us] to do it the right way. It’s paying for our time to do it as well.”
Building on Success
The farm has become carbon neutral, and Zach and Christina hope to build on that progress by expanding the land’s ability to absorb more carbon than the farm operation emits. To do this, the Menchinis want to adopt practices like hedgerow and biomass planting, which pull down more carbon. The unfortunate catch is that these practices take time and labor, and they aren’t exactly profitable.
“We're not talking about cash crops here. These aren't things that are going to make us money. They're the right thing to do. But there's no return on investment for a hedge planting project, unfortunately,” says Zach.
It Takes a Village
That’s where Zero Foodprint’s Restore grant came in. “The [application] process was clear and straightforward. We weren't writing essays. We were presenting the information that was obvious to us.”
Once they were approved, funding from ZFP’s Restore grant gave the Menchinis the time and guidance to properly plant their hedgerows. “The program [helped us] to do it the right way. It's paying for our time to do it as well.”
The project has brought the Menchinis closer to their goal of reaching the full carbon-absorbing potential of their land. “That makes [carbon-capturing] projects like this all the more important,” Zach says. “It’s a very powerful tool in a farmer's toolbox to fight climate change.”
About Campfire Farms
Our mission is to reduce livestock stress and produce the highest quality, best tasting product possible for you and your family.
Our approach to farming is much different than how most pigs are raised. Our methods are a combination of the “old-fashioned” way that honors animals’ instincts and a forward looking consideration for our environment.
Our animals are "pasture raised," which means that they spend their entire lives outside and in an environment as close to their natural habitat as possible. Expression of their natural instincts leads to a healthier, happier animal, and a more nutritious and higher quality product than animals confined in modern meat factories.
We care for our soil and water, and seek to improve it every year through quick rotation of animals, which spreads out their manure and improves growth of forage and cover crops that we seed continuously. At most livestock farms, manure is a liability; here, it's an asset.
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Zero Foodprint awards grants for projects that take carbon out of the atmosphere and put it back where it belongs: in the earth, creating healthy soil and better food. To do this, we focus on regenerative farming practices like composting, cover cropping, and managed grazing that can restore life to our soil while removing carbon from the atmosphere. Together, we have the power to grow more nutritious food, heal natural water cycles, and create habitat for biodiversity to thrive. Explore previously funded projects to see what this might look like on your farm.
For more information, read through other Restore Grant FAQs.oes here
Zero Foodprint (ZFP) is a nonprofit organization restoring the climate, one acre at a time. We believe that by regenerating soil, local food economies can play a critical role in reversing the global climate crisis. We work with food and beverage businesses, philanthropy, and government to bring the next dollar to implement the next regenerative practice on the next acre. This regenerative economy benefits every person who grows food, every person who sells food, and every person on this planet who eats food.
