More Than Just a Farm
🐄 Regenerative farming at Crossing Creeks · Nashville in the Super Bowl · Firefighter suit · · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Hit the wrong publish button on today's featured article. Here's the whole newsletter.
A handful of players from Vandy and MTSU took the field during last night’s one-sided Super Bowl. Most notable was the Eagle’s starting safety Reed Blankenship, who journeyed up the road from Lester, Alabama (population 111) to play college ball at MTSU where he became the school's all-time leader in tackles during his stint.
The Eagles signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2022 and a year later, he’d won the starting spot at free safety. Blankenship credits hauling hay with the boys in 90-degree heat during high school with toughening him up. He earned it.
Off the field, Hendersonville native and JPII graduate Josef Newgarden played an action hero with the “greatest jawline in sports” in a Fox Sports ad promoting IndyCar coverage on the network. And Old Hickory native Nate Bargatze starred in an ad for DoorDash.
There could’ve been others. Probably some country stars, but I tuned out fairly early.
Onward.
Elizabeth Stuart has always been passionate about agriculture. After four years of “learning how not to farm” getting her degree in Agricultural Business, she spent ten more relearning as she and her husband built Crossing Creeks Farm in Shelbyville. While blessed in the process of getting the farm off the ground, reaching a stable point took years and financial strain. That’s why they’ve recently started a non-profit organization, The Bridge at Crossing Creek, to lend a helping hand to other small farmers getting started.
Around 2008, Stuart and her husband began working with cattle when her parents “went on their crusade” to produce grass-fed beef. Both had experience with large animals from working with horses in their youth, so they began leasing from a family friend to further develop their skills, specifically with cattle. Luckily, that family friend also functioned as a mentor. Stuart and her husband wanted to take on regenerative farming. “We wanted to know all of the inputs of the animal to the finished product,” says Stuart, who adds that eventually, this desire was what led them to breed from their herd.
Regenerative farming is “less hands-on with the cattle,” explains Stuart. “It’s more about letting them be cattle.” When the pair started Crossing Creeks in 2012, they took on intensive adaptive rotational farming. That means every day, the cattle are moved to a new patch of grass—beyond that, they are largely left alone. Over time, the couple's “eye for [their] animals” became even more honed. “We’re so many generations away from true animal husbandry,” Stuart states, “and we’ve lost a lot of that instinct that was there for centuries.”
Their connection with their animals is as important as their connection with the land. Stuart outlines this philosophy beautifully: “We’re utilizing the grasses to feed the animals, so the healthier our soils are, the healthier our animals are. Everything we do benefits the ground under our feet that you can’t see.” Regenerative farming practices are at the core of Crossing Creeks because they go hand in hand with raising grass-fed beef. “You can’t do [grass-fed] without knowing about your soil health,” declares Stuart.
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🚨 The Jokes Write Themselves The Metro Council won a stupid prize over the weekend after a federal jury awarded firefighter Tracy Turner $1.8 million in damages for a demotion following social media posts he made in 2020. Back in the halcyon Summer of Floyd, amid the pandemic, Turner took to Facebook to call protestors across the country “thugs” and “animals.” The comments were interpreted as racist, and Turner got demoted, spurring a lawsuit.
Four years later, in March of 2024, the council had the opportunity to accept a settlement offer between the city and Turner for $105,000. Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz warned the council that refusing to accept the offer could cost the city three to four times the settlement amount. "We took our arguments to the courts. We lost. There's very little that would change before the trial and the final verdict in this case," Dietz said at the time. "Statistically, the reversal rate is very low, so we're fighting uphill there." Nevertheless, the council voted 31-0 against, setting the stage for Friday’s entirely predictable news.
The council has repeatedly revealed that they are willing to treat people differently based on their perceived beliefs or identity. The refusal to accept a settlement with Turner provides a clear example of this as, two years prior, the Council had voted in favor of a settlement agreement between firefighter Joshua Lipscomb and the city for $450 thousand after Lipscomb was suspended for sixteen days for calling the Nashville council “white supremacists” after they voted to approve a license plate reader pilot program. Lipscomb took the money and ran, quitting the department as soon as the check hit his bank account.
According to those opposed to giving Turner the settlement, the difference between the two cases was that Lipscomb commented under an alias on social media, while Tracy posted his comments on Facebook under his real name. Whatever the case, it didn’t matter. The council was told that refusing to accept Turner’s settlement would cost the city more money and they did it anyway. As for Turner, if I were in his shoes, I’d buy a boat.
DEVELOPMENT
- Events space entity pays $21.12M for two properties (Post)
- Berry Hill commercial property listed for sale (Post)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 Anderson East @ The Basement, 8p, Info
🎸 Gouge Away @ DRKMTTR, 8p, $18, Info
🪕 Bronwyn Keith-Hynes @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $10, Info
🎸 Timbo & Lonesome Country @ Jane's Hideaway, 8p, Info
+ modern take on classic country, bluegrass & hillbilly Jazz
🪕 Val Storey, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle & New Monday @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 7p, Free, Info
🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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