About the Farm

Our farm is a small portion of a farm that once covered nearly all the ridge. The older house in view of ours was the home for the hired help on the larger farm. The original farmhouse actually straddled our present property line. We purchased our portion of the farm from Ken Marsh who purchased half of the farm previously inherited by his cousin Dorsey Weaver.

Our household water comes from two sources:

1. 1.the spring well, located on the west side of the large pond way down in the fields nestled in the edge of the woods; and
   

2. 2.from water collected from the roof of the garage and the cistern.
   

The cistern is a holding tank lined with plastic. The water from the cistern flows by gravity to the basement of the house where a pump pumps it to the bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry room.

We developed our farm on the principles of sustainable agriculture and life-style. These principles are simple: reuse, recycle, cooperate with natural cycles, and live within God's economy of nature. (See essay).

A simple example is water. Once we shower, wash dishes, wash our hands, wash clothes, or cook, that water flows to a septic tank that is in the ground just below our house in the yard. The water from that tank filters through the lawn and pasture on a regular basis. In times of low rainfall or drought, we pump the water from the septic tank to our garden and lawn. (Note: the toilet water runs to another septic location).

Our pasture is subdivided into ten paddocks. This division enables us to move the animals around the pasture and confines their eating to an area that will be eaten down in one to two days depending on the season. This process is referred to as rotational or intensive grazing.

Rotational grazing accomplishes several purposes.

1. •First, it manages the pasture so that some of it gets grazed and some of it does not. Animals are like humans and have favorite spots that become overgrazed if their behavior is not modified. Rotation assures quality pasture for a much longer time than open grazing.
   

1. •Second, rotational grazing assures that the animal manure is spread more evenly around the pasture providing several benefits.
   

2. -  The first benefit is more even fertilization. We already have evidence of this benefit as the pasture grows greener and more vital by the year.
   

3. -  Second, the distribution of the manure assures that beneficial bugs, insects, worms, birds, frogs, snakes, and the like begin to thrive. Pests, like flies and internal parasites, are also discouraged or minimized. Since the animals manure is the place where these pests find nurture, it is important to find ways to discourage the pests.
   

1. -So, third, birds are encouraged to the pasture when the pasture is evenly eaten and the birds break up the manure by eating the insect eggs and larvae and worms attracted by the manure. The activity of the bird reduces the manure quickly to small pieces, which make its nutrients more quickly available to the soil.
   

4. -Fourth, since internal parasites cannot survive outside the animal's body longer than 10 days, the rotation causes the parasites to die before the animal returns to the paddock so that the pasture becomes nearly parasite free which means less pharmaceutical worming.
   

5. •Third, rotational grazing greatly improves the pasture quality by maintaining the growth, regularly eating back the grasses and legumes, which increases the organic matter in the soil.
   

6. •
   

Why does the organic mater increase and why is it important? Organic mater increases because when grasses and legumes grow above the surface, their root systems grow to the approximate length of the plant height above ground. When the grass is mowed (as on your lawn) or eaten as in our pasture, the roots die back to the length necessary to support the plant. As the plant grows, it grows new roots. The result is more organic mater. More organic mater means greater moisture retention and shedding capacity for the soil.

Through rotational grazing we build the soil on the farm making it a wealthier environment which is good for the farmer and good for many aspects of nature. What's good for nature is also good for the farm.

But organic matter reduces erosion of the soil by holding the soil together and helping to shed excess water during torrential rains like we often have. Soil erosion is a major problem in agriculture today because dependence on chemical fertilizers has resulted in a decrease in soil organic mater.

Another dimension of our farming is pasturing broiler chickens on the farm. This practice includes portable pens that can be easily moved each day. Each pen houses 100 chickens who receive about 80% of their nutrition from the ground and grass. In turn they spread high nitrogen fertilizer on the ground increasing soil fertility. Of course, they also end up on our table as tasty, organic meat, which is lower in cholesterol and saturated fats than the chicken which, is raised in large industrial chicken houses. The eight weeks the chickens live are also healthier and happier because they receive lots of fresh air, sunshine, and a wonderful diet of what all birds like: live worms, grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, flies, etc. Another advantage of moving the chickens around on the pasture is that they will decimate manure piles thus keeping the pasture cleaner and flies to a minimum which will make the cows, horses, and sheep a lot happier.