05/28/2026
Sowing Resilience in our Green Hills
Growing up in a farming family in the Midwest in the 1960s, I remember the time of optimism. New conservation techniques born out of the Dust Bowl-era brought about the Green Revolution, and with it, the belief and the drive that U.S. agriculture could feed the world. This came at a cost—soil erosion, nitrate runoff, and the devastation of insect, bird, and bee populations due to chemical usage. Today there is a different kind of revolution: regenerative agriculture. This approach uses a variety of different methods including reduced tillage, cover crops, precision farming, buffer strips, and integrated crop-livestock systems to restore environmental inputs. I was curious to see initiatives in our area, so I visited with several Cornwall farmers to find out what new methods are being implemented.
The mother-daughter duo, Samantha and Nikola Lendl, acquired Cobble Hill Farm in 2023. The farm dates back to 1864, but in 2024 the Lendls introduced regenerative agriculture. They don’t seed the fields, feed grain, or utilize chemicals. While they initially purchased chickens, then cattle, they plan to slowly introduce additional types of livestock. Currently a rational grazing system is utilized by first pasturing cattle in a field until the grass is fully grazed. Once the cattle are moved to a second field, chickens are introduced to churn up the soil for three days to encourage an increase in larvae, which facilitates new grass growth. This cycle allows for the fields to naturally regenerate and protects the integrity of the soil. In other fields they grow hay for winter feeding.
New to farming, Nikola credits many in the community who have helped them with the learning curve. Currently Cobble Hill Farm sells eggs to the public. Their long-term goals include naturally expanding the herd to eventually sell beef and acquiring additional sheep to sell wool.
If anyone is looking to plant white oak trees, we have a local source. Charles (Duke) Besozzi owns New England Naval Timber, which mills timber for use in shipbuilding. The specifications for shipbuilding require large white oaks. Duke uses about 150 trees a year, and although he sources some from our region, currently he is sourcing many from Virginia and Maryland. Unfortunately, white oak trees have been devastated by spongy moth disease and drought over the last two years, and though Duke is able to utilize trees that were felled by disease, he also needs to source living oaks.
To replenish the white oak supply, Duke has begun propagating new trees using an entirely natural process. It’s likely you’ve seen his sign “Wood Chips Needed” on Route 4. Duke collects acorns from a variety of trees in the area, including ancient trees in Hartford, around Lake Wononscopomuc in Lakeville (white oak trees at the Grove were tended hundreds of years ago by local First Nations people who used white oak acorns for flour), and our own village pond. Last year he gathered over 20,000 acorns! He cultivates the acorns in those wood chips using an intricate system he devised to protect the acorns from rodents. If you’re looking to plant some white oak, Duke should be your source!
Coltsfoot Cottage Farm is in its sixth season under the industrious efforts of Jed and Angus Gracey. In 2026 they are focusing on organic produce, which they sell at their stand in the village and at the village farmers’ market. Sales at the farmstand have been growing significantly. Their closed system is regenerative in utilizing their own compost, matured in a three-year cycle, and employing small-scale crop rotation and meticulous manual tilling.
These are just a few examples of efforts made by our community farmers. Seeing these changes in our small corner of the world reminded me that we are moving away from the “mining” mentality—where we simply extract value from the earth—towards a “stewardship” mentality. It’s slow healing. And it is a challenging undertaking for those farmers who launch these new approaches. We are so lucky to live in a community that supports such stewardship initiatives! —Robin Gray
📸: Duke Besozzi in front of the replica of Thoreau’s cabin in the woods that he has built.
