Emerging patterns and goals for on the road again farm

1. Emerging Patterns and Goals for
On The Road Again Farm
Assignment #1 for Backyard
Homesteading Stocksch 197A
Nancy Buddington

2. 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

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

4. Two hoop house greenhouses are also
present on the property.

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

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

7. • 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.

8. • The cards were arranged on a large
kitchen table.

9. • Related cards were pulled and placed
into smaller groupings.

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

11. • 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.

12. • 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.

13. Pasture
Browse line

14. • 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.

15. • 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.

16. • 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.