10-25 acres
About
Message- Opportunity available:
- Business partnership
- Lease
- Available facilities and equipment:
- Irrigation capacity
- Preferred arrangement model:
- Lease
- Licence
- Partnership
- Available acreage:
- 10-25 acres
- Soil type on farm:
- Loam
- Sandy loam
- Current farming practices:
- Ecological production, but not certified
- Biodynamic
- Current land use:
- Livestock
- Hay or pasture
- Woodlot
- Fruit/berries/grapes
- Preferred farming experience for farmer:
- No preference
- Desired farming practices by a new farmer:
- Certified organic
- Ecological production but not certified
- Biodynamic
- Agricultural products I am interested being cultivated on my property:
- Livestock
- Vegetables
- Flowers
- Years experience of new farmer:
- No preference
Farm description
The land is largely south-east facing slope. About 25 acres cleared (maybe 10 being worked currently - cut for hay), and about 10 acres mixed bush woodlot in mid-succession. The fallow pastures will need some aggressive grazing, but have excellent savanna potential. It hasn't been sprayed in 26 years, possibly ever, and we will keep it that way. We'll be putting at least part of the woodlot into forest management. One edge of the property has an old fence, but the rest is unfenced. There are two spring-fed streams running nearly the whole length of the property, both of which are protected by conservation laws. Our well is a spring, and gravity fed. Water lines can be run to locations on pasture, and they too would be gravity fed. There's a man-made pond in the low ground which is not spring-fed. Soil is mostly silty loam, very well drained, and very few rocks. We just took possession in summer of 2019. Over the next several years we will be doing projects to increase water retention and fertility - earthworks such as swales on contour, planting tree belts and forage crops, and possibly keypoint reservoirs.
Farm opportunity
We're looking to work with regenerative farmers to create a fully integrated farm on permaculture principles. The starting point, in our minds, is rotational grazing herbivores (meat or dairy) and market gardening. These need not be the same farmers. The animal rotations will hopefully integrate with silvopasture and forage planting, and with the fertility cycle for the market garden. We have a relationship with a beekeeper already. Much of our own cropping will be perennials - orchard fruit, nuts, native forage crops - with a focus on rare or hard to find. We run a small flock of laying hens which we plan to expand, and a small number of poultry for meat, which we plan to expand up to the chicken cartel's limits. We have some farm gate sales, and are working actively to build a local food infrastructure for regenerative farmers in the area. We're open to barter. We'd also like to learn by doing by chipping in on some of the work.