https://simplecast.com The Nature Stack The Nature Stack explores what it takes to make nature investable, productive, and resilient at scale. Through conversations with farmers, scientists, investors, entrepreneurs, conservationists, and infrastructure leaders, we unpack how land, capital, ecology, and markets can work together to build landscapes that deliver more—clean water, food and energy, carbon storage, biodiversity, economic value, and resilience. From working lands to watersheds, every episode asks a bigger question: what would it look like to invest in nature as essential infrastructure? Land Steward Partners 2026 en Mon, 5 Oct 2026 19:52:25 +0000 Mon, 5 Oct 2026 19:52:36 +0000 https://the-nature-stack.simplecast.com The Nature Stack https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/c65f5310-9615-4515-9c7d-1a282e622fa4/007f61a4-3cd8-4770-b2d1-e9c9763193df/3000x3000/cropped-1790696023619.jpg?aid=rss_feed https://the-nature-stack.simplecast.com episodic The Nature Stack explores what it takes to make nature investable, productive, and resilient at scale. Through conversations with farmers, scientists, investors, entrepreneurs, conservationists, and infrastructure leaders, we unpack how land, capital, ecology, and markets can work together to build landscapes that deliver more—clean water, food and energy, carbon storage, biodiversity, economic value, and resilience. From working lands to watersheds, every episode asks a bigger question: what would it look like to invest in nature as essential infrastructure? Land Steward Partners, Erin Delawalla false https://feeds.simplecast.com/rhvFuB2b agriculture,bison,conservation,environment,farming,farmland,grazing,healthy food,investing,land,local food,nature,ranching,regenerative agriculture,renewable energy,stewardship,water Erin Delawalla erin@landstewardpartners.com dc71c944-f16e-47c3-a2dc-3f014ea88731 Episode 1 - Solar Grazing with Brooke Watson Connect with Land Steward Partners: https://www.landstewardpartners.com/

Connect with Brooke at Illinois Solar Grazing: https://www.illinoissolargrazing.com/

American Solar Grazing Association: https://solargrazing.org/

]]> Mon, 5 Oct 2026 19:52:25 +0000 erin@landstewardpartners.com (Erin Delawalla, Brooke Watson) https://the-nature-stack.simplecast.com/episodes/episode-1-solar-grazing-with-brooke-watson-8Umde3Jx Connect with Land Steward Partners: https://www.landstewardpartners.com/

Connect with Brooke at Illinois Solar Grazing: https://www.illinoissolargrazing.com/

American Solar Grazing Association: https://solargrazing.org/

]]> Episode 1 - Solar Grazing with Brooke Watson Erin Delawalla, Brooke Watson 00:59:12 Solar farms can produce energy while supporting livestock, local food systems, and healthier landscapes. But making that combination work takes much more than putting sheep behind a fence. In this episode of The Nature Stack, host Erin Delawalla, founder of Land Steward Partners, sits down with Brooke Watson of Illinois Solar Grazing. Brooke shares her unexpected path from college athletics to farming, the conservation values she inherited from her grandmother, and how she and her husband, Chauncey, built solar grazing into their family’s diversified farm business. At the time of the conversation, their operation was grazing more than 500 acres across 16 solar sites in eight Illinois counties. Brooke explains the daily logistics behind that work—from travel and water monitoring to animal care—and why solar grazing should be treated as a paid professional service rather than an exchange for free feed. Erin and Brooke also explore what developers can do to make sites easier to graze, why native seed mixes need to fit the realities of solar infrastructure, and how cover crops and thoughtful grazing can support the transition from row crops to perennial vegetation. They discuss opportunities for beginning farmers, the importance of mentorship, and the challenges of balancing farm work, an off-farm career, and motherhood. This conversation brings The Nature Stack’s central idea to life: land can create several forms of value at once, and good stewardship helps connect food, energy, ecology, farm livelihoods, and healthy people. When we align incentives appropriately, the land can produce cash flows while also providing habitat for wildlife, resilience for neighboring communities through water management, and keep people working in rural communities. Solar farms can produce energy while supporting livestock, local food systems, and healthier landscapes. But making that combination work takes much more than putting sheep behind a fence. In this episode of The Nature Stack, host Erin Delawalla, founder of Land Steward Partners, sits down with Brooke Watson of Illinois Solar Grazing. Brooke shares her unexpected path from college athletics to farming, the conservation values she inherited from her grandmother, and how she and her husband, Chauncey, built solar grazing into their family’s diversified farm business. At the time of the conversation, their operation was grazing more than 500 acres across 16 solar sites in eight Illinois counties. Brooke explains the daily logistics behind that work—from travel and water monitoring to animal care—and why solar grazing should be treated as a paid professional service rather than an exchange for free feed. Erin and Brooke also explore what developers can do to make sites easier to graze, why native seed mixes need to fit the realities of solar infrastructure, and how cover crops and thoughtful grazing can support the transition from row crops to perennial vegetation. They discuss opportunities for beginning farmers, the importance of mentorship, and the challenges of balancing farm work, an off-farm career, and motherhood. This conversation brings The Nature Stack’s central idea to life: land can create several forms of value at once, and good stewardship helps connect food, energy, ecology, farm livelihoods, and healthy people. When we align incentives appropriately, the land can produce cash flows while also providing habitat for wildlife, resilience for neighboring communities through water management, and keep people working in rural communities. stewardship, local food, nature, grazing, water, bison, healthy food, environment, ranching, conservation, agriculture, farming, land, farmland, investing, renewable energy, regenerative agriculture false full 1