RANCH HIGHLIGHT: STEMPLE CREEK
Stemple Creek Ranch has been in the Poncia family for over a century. Now run by Loren and Lisa Poncia, they hope to pass the ranch, as well as their knowledge, along to their daughters to one day run the ranch as fifth generation regenerative ranchers. Loren Poncia will proudly tell you that his family’s ranch has been environmentally progressive from the start. They’ve been practicing regenerative agriculture for many years, before the term regenerative was actually used to describe their work, he describes his work as “standing on his fathers shoulders, moving the progress along.”
Over the last 30 years, Stemple Creek has protected over five miles of riparian streambank and planted over 10,000 trees. In more recent years, in partnership with the Marin Carbon Proeject, Stemple Creek became one of the first carbon farm plans in the country. This project places carbon at the center of agricultural conservation, by increasing the farm or ranches capacity to capture and store carbon. Through the Marin Carbon Project, Stemple Creek has increased their capacity to sequester about 3-5 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year!
In the coming years, Stemple Creek is looking forward to continuing to produce nutrient dense, high quality proteins that feed up and coming generations, while at the same time, repairing the soil and building biodiversity both above and below ground. Loren Poncia said it best himself, “mother nature is very resilient and if you just give her enough rest, she will repair a lot of damage in a short amount of time.” It’s a learning curve every year, but the Stemple Creek team is committed and excited for the new experiences that come when dancing with mother nature.
Photos in this blog are from www.stemplecreek.com
