Farming Methods and Philosophy
We hope to be good stewards of the land and responsible livestock farmers as well. Through our farming methods we hope to provide cleaner, more humanely raised foods while also helping to make the world a slightly better place for future generations.
We will be employing an holistic, regenerative approach to our agriculture and livestock on our farm. All our animals will be humanely and pasture-raised. As it makes sense, we may take part in organic farming and organic livestock, but we will approach each of those choices based on the finances of the extra feed costs and what makes sense in the market. But all our animals will be grass, grain, and naturally fed with non-GMO feed and employing the least amount of antibiotics as necessary.
We hope to rebuild the soil and allow our soil to partake in carbon sequestration while building for the future of food generation on our land. Our livestock's foraging will be organized through managed intensive rotation grazing, to simulate the natural herd processes.
We will be trying to utilize a permaculture methodology and will be closely examining the back to eden style of gardening as well. Once we get the grounds and rows established for our veg business, we will be using a "no till" methodology to allow the soil to enrichen.
Self-sufficiency and lessening our negative impact is another long-term goal of ours. We are looking at solar and harnessing wind for electrical generation and mechanical uses. In addition, we hope to use rain catchment on several of the buildings we construct to lessen our dependence on wells for water. We also hope to build a grey water system to allow our (slightly) used water to be recycled for other uses on the farm, such as watering the orchard.
We won't get everything right the first season, or fifth, or even tenth, I'm sure. To quote Joel Salatin, 'Anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly first'.
Perennial Pasture
We also need to develop a perennial, regnerative pasture for our livestock. We will probably work with a specialist to develop a seed mixture for our pastures, once we stop having hay (bahia grass heavy) produced on our lower pasture. We will include perennial grasses, legumes, etc. Also we need to look at plants that develop at different times, like red clover, alfalfa, and white clover, as well as orchard grass and some bermuda grass, fescue, and rye grass. This poly-culture will allow us to jump-start our pastures for rotational grazing, while also fixing nitrogen and helping to build the soil.
Links
Soil and Regenerative Agriculture
- The Soil Story video, created by Kiss the Ground and narrated by Larry Kopald
- The Ground Beneath our Feet, NPR 1A show on soil
- How to reverse desertification and reverse climate change. TED talk with Allan Savory.
- Living Soils Symposium Montreal : Restore the Climate, Feeed the World
You Tube Homestead Videos - Regenerative Agriculture
- Pig Pasture Revitilization Success. Video by grass-fed homestead on using pigs to help revitalize pasture land.