For our company, it begins and ends with the soil, as it does in life. One of the tenants of the great agrarian society that Jefferson envisioned was rooted in the belief that the cultivation of the soil provides direct contact with nature. It is in this re-connection where we see hope for the future. It is here where we are reacquainted with the notion that we are part of the natural system and not removed from it; where we seek to learn from nature, rather than find ways to extract from it. This reconnection provides an understanding that in nature, there is no waste.

Where we stray from Jefferson’s Agrarian Ideal, is in the separation of urban and rural lifestyles. It is this intentional separation, that has created the design of a city that seeks to conquer, pave over, or eradicate nature at all costs. The reintegration of the urban and rural environment is critical for building a sustainable future. The inhabitants of the city and those of the so-called “rural environment”, all share the common occupation of “farmer”. When the waste of one system becomes the food for another, we all share a role in the cultivation of a restorative economy. It starts in this room, with the waste produced today. As stewards of the soil, we sow the seeds of a future where the impact of human development and industry restores the world around, and reject the idea that pollution and environmental degradation are inevitable by-products of human progress.

Thank you to each of our clients for working with us. Thank you to the community for your unending support, and thank you to the Chamber for all they do to cultivate local business and for this honor. We leave with this quote from Daniel Webster, “Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts will follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization.”