Organic Agriculture
Last edit: 7/8/24
This concept is more of a residential use inset into a farm rather than an agricultural theme situated around residential use (if that makes sense).
Growing, harvesting, preserving, & storing "healthy" food on the property as much as possible.
"Organic" and "Natural" as much as possible. (including concepts of new catch phrases like "regenerative" farming). But not about the labels as much as the principles.
Permaculture practices.
Pollinator habitat
Small ponds (with fish and frogs for mosquito control) to recapture topsoil from farming on sloping land. Larger ponds are not really an option on sloping land.
Significant soil building efforts (composting). Some top soil has been stockpiled and needs to be put into use. There is currently a stockpile of compost produced from vegetation from this property.
Importing plants, animals, soil, compost, manure, food: All have some risk of bringing in "unintentionals", like weed seeds of aggressive invasives, parasites, diseases, herbicides that pass through the digestive system of animals and kill vegetables... So, the more that can be done "in house" the better. This gets a little more tricky when "exporting" (selling) products that come from the nutrients created on the farm.
Mosquito control: Bat housing has been intended almost from the beginning. It was initially believed that bats would be instrumental in mosquito control, but researching bats we've learned that they actually do very little to control mosquitoes. Nor do purple martins, etc - they all eat mosquitoes, but its not their primary diet. Bats are still pretty cool and it would still be great to include them in the vision though. (Some folks are uncomfortable with bats). And birds, butterflies, bees... all included in the vision. Mosquito control seems to be primarily about management of standing water, and there are some mosquito traps that can help. There are other flying pests associated with farms which will likely need some attention to manage as well.
Agricultural structures built by an infrastructure and construction crew who actually have building skills? (Many farm structures get cobbled together by people who don't have construction skills and can become ongoing maintenance/ rebuilding issues. Potential structures: Greenhouses, cold frames, commercial kitchen, terracing, walk in coolers/ freezers, water systems, animal housing, fencing, animal processing facility...
"No Till" is an ever increasing in popularity concept. This does not mean going straight to "no till" farming practices without first building soil with some depth - with organic matter for the soil organisms to live off of.
Preserving food so its not necessary to incur labor costs of staffing a market or loosing the commodity to rot if it does not sell? Preserving food could be a separate job. (I'm not sure what value added products are possible for resale, or when the product can transfer to the community food prep crew as a CSA from the farm, and then for personal use by the community?) This concept would benefit from a commercial kitchen on site. There is potential for a communal dining option at some point.
Online inventory/ order management for pickup? - again, the thought is about how to minimize labor costs of staffing a market and having perishable product that must be sold or otherwise its a loss. (We have 12 dozen eggs available, 8 dozen, 16...) "Preserve" what is not moving fast enough, and alter long range planning to produce less or more of a product.
Livestock
Livestock is generally a part of homesteading, and its part of this vision.
Chickens are almost automatic. They can produce eggs and meat, and seem relatively profitable in the pasture raised meat market. They can also be legally processed on the farm. As an aside - it would be interesting to look into harvesting the feathers for insulation?
Healthy cows require a considerable amount of grass. So, although a favorite meat product, they are unlikely to be elements of this community. It would still be great to figure out a way to do it. Miniature cows? Imported Hay? (Known to not have hay field herbicides which go through the animal and the composted manure kills vegetables...) Healthy cows still need to be grass fed, and we'll have trees which are not conducive for grass fields. Fortunately, there are multiple farmers nearby doing a good job raising clean pasture raised beef. Beef is actually the only fully "pasture raised" meat being raised commercially near here (or just about anywhere else either), so maybe support them in what they are doing well. Other commercial livestock animals (even small scale farms) are grain fed (pigs & chickens), and grain is primarily where the health issue begins. Animals need to be eating the diet they would eat in nature, which is seldom grain. Store bought "grass fed" does not mean they were only fed grass - I think its something like 40% of the time they are grazing on grass - hardly the "grass fed" that is supportive of their health and therefore our health. The latest rage in healthy livestock is "regenerative". How long before big ag figures out a way to adulturate that concept as well? We need to know the farm and farmer or be raising the animals ourselves.
Goats seem like a likely candidate, particularly on land with invasive plants. Goats are "browsers" (broad leaf foragers - not really supposed to eat grasses), and browsing is appropriate under a canopy of trees. However, goats eat everything, and in an environment where landscaping plants are important for rental income, it would take a lot of effort to have goats eat only things you want them to eat... And, under a tree canopy, ground level plants don't recover very fast - so what do the goats eat once they've eaten everything that looked so overgrown when they started?
Deer? This seems like a likely candidate. (Sort of a wild goat...) They come and go at will, and their pasture is extensive. In no other situation is it okay to have your livestock graze on your neighbors land.
Killing animals is not an easy thing to support. It needs to be as humane as possible. Intention and gratitude (Native American style) can be a part of the life cycle process. Meanwhile, for those of us who eat meat, its seems to be more conscious to be a part of, or at least acknowledge the whole process and not just pretend that food appears in the freezer. And the animals need to be treated with respect, and be given the best life possible while they are here.
Other Agricultural Options
Fruit trees?
Nuts?
Herbs?
Value added agricultural products? (pickles, sun dried tomatoes, frozen food? processed meat?)
Mushrooms?
Vermicomposting?
Shade tolerant crops?
Forestry products (ginseng?)
Mycorrhizae fungi?
Plant starts?
Maybe some small scale breeding of heritage breeds?