Emerging Patterns and Goals for On The Road Again Farm

Assignment #1 for Backyard Homesteading Stocksch 197A

Nancy Buddington

My homestead space is located on a 63 acre parcel at 288 Main Street, Wilbraham ,

Massachusetts

I will be using approximately 30 acres of this property in my

design

The site includes a large farmhouse, a garage, a barn, a toolshed, three livestock shelters and a chicken coop.

Two hoop house greenhouses are also present on the property.

The farm is also home to thirty Oberhasli and Alpine dairy goats, fifty chickens, three geese and one 25 year old llama.

• Thirty acres of this site are wooded, the remaining 30 acres are made up of marsh, pond, pastures and meadows.

• The process of choosing the elements to be included in this homestead design began with a list of possible elements.

• Each element was written on a separate index card.

• The cards were arranged on a large kitchen table.

• Related cards were pulled and placed into smaller groupings.

• Groupings that emerged led to more specific goals for the homestead.

• The grouping of elements are interconnected because as Peter Bane points out in his book, The Permaculture Handbook, “no ecosystem is isolated and separate.”• Having goats on this property impacts

the farm on the invertebrate level altering the types and load of various worms and continuing to the level of browse on trees and saplings.

• A larger goal that emerged from my analysis was the importance of instituting silvopasture for our goat herd and determining carrying capacity for the site. We have had goats on this site for 3 years and the affect of browse can be seen especially in the old pasture nearest to the barn.

Pasture

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• Silvopasture elements identified include fodder trees, pasture, rotational grazing and fencing. With 20 acres of old pasture with pioneer vegetation already available this will be an important goal to pursue for the benefit of the entire ecosystem.

• The process of milk collection and the proper distribution of surplus milk (from raw milk to soap) is a very important element in our design. Grey water and surplus milk can also be used to enhance soil

fertility.

• Elements that seemed out of place in the design included incorporating pigs at the site and exploring tapping the maple trees for syrup. Pigs might be another consumer of whey and ultimately a source of food but not at this point in time.