Neosubsistent Agriculture Model: Difference between revisions
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=Objectives= | =Objectives= | ||
*Full, year round diet for 12 people | *Self-sufficiency on 30 acres: | ||
*Non-food products (fiber, medicine, fuel) sufficient for 12 people | **Full, year round diet for 12 people | ||
*Facilitate regenerative cycles that sustain themselves | **Non-food agricultural products (fiber, medicine, fuel) sufficient for 12 people | ||
*Create a replicable, self-funded enterprise to sustain participants through transition towards complete self-sufficiency. | **Facilitate regenerative cycles that sustain themselves | ||
**Create a replicable, self-funded enterprise to sustain participants through transition towards complete self-sufficiency. | |||
==Conceptual Ideals== | ==Conceptual Ideals== | ||
Line 44: | Line 45: | ||
**Have things organized and clean to increase production efficiency | **Have things organized and clean to increase production efficiency | ||
**Use animals that require minimal housing effort (ideally free ranging) | **Use animals that require minimal housing effort (ideally free ranging) | ||
=Advisory Board= | |||
*Greg and Coco House, Coco Ranch, Davis CA - Organic and Ethnobotanical Consultants, Growers | |||
*Dr. Depeters, University of California, Davis - Dairy Sciences | |||
*Doug Gisi, University of California, Davis Dairy - Dairy Manager | |||
*Dr. Patrick Dragon, University of Massachusetts, Amherst - Grower, Mathematical Sciences Genius | |||
*Raoul Adamchak, Student Farm, University of California, Davis - Grower: 30 member organic CSA | |||
See also: | |||
*Factor e Farm Agriculture Resources (http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Agriculture_Resources) | |||
[[Category:Gabi]] | [[Category:Gabi]] |
Revision as of 23:42, 20 December 2012
Factor e Farm
Edit this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Al0OZR0jopGfdFVLZXF6dU44NEREZkcyTUEyMVdJOGc&output=html
Objectives
- Self-sufficiency on 30 acres:
- Full, year round diet for 12 people
- Non-food agricultural products (fiber, medicine, fuel) sufficient for 12 people
- Facilitate regenerative cycles that sustain themselves
- Create a replicable, self-funded enterprise to sustain participants through transition towards complete self-sufficiency.
Conceptual Ideals
- Closed loop systems
- Permaculture
- In alignment with OSE Specifications, Core Values, and
- Flexible enough to be replicable across multiple regional climate and geography
- Modular to promote scalability
- Works in parallel with current resources, population size, product demand
- Food swadeshi: growing food for your own self-sustenance, for your community or for a "grow food locally" business.
Seasonal Data Points:
Summer, 2012
- FeF produces its own dairy, berries, grapes, 3 pears, a few pounds of apples, edible weeds (purslane, lambsquarter), chicory, mustard seed
- Challenges:
- Extreme drought
- Began growing season late
- Lacking agricultural equipment
- Tractor isn't designed ideally for field work; breaks down frequently, isn't designed for hitching implements to back, poor weight distribution for dragging, skid steering is awkward with hitched implements, and tires compact the soil
- Foresight gained:
- Lifetrac 1 needs better wheels that provide traction and structural integrity, a new battery, a back hitch, and I think it will be much better suited for field work that the skid-steering version
- Mulch saves lives
Fall 2012
- Dairy continues, grew lettuces, mustard greens, choy, turnips, arugula, radishes, spinach, swiss chard. Harvested and processed rose hips, black walnuts, dandelion greens, wild arugula.
- Challenges:
- Drought continues, prevents pond digging
- Frost came 3 weeks early, preventing many vegetables and beans from being harvestable
- Production runs, infrastructure development, and construction distracts from agricultural priorities
- Rabbits difficult to house
- Foresight gained:
- Prioritization is key, as is manpower so that infrastructure development does not detract from agricultural operation
- Plan for unforeseen weather and have a Plan B being implemented concurrently with climate-dependent crops
- More use of the greenhouse
- Have things organized and clean to increase production efficiency
- Use animals that require minimal housing effort (ideally free ranging)
Advisory Board
- Greg and Coco House, Coco Ranch, Davis CA - Organic and Ethnobotanical Consultants, Growers
- Dr. Depeters, University of California, Davis - Dairy Sciences
- Doug Gisi, University of California, Davis Dairy - Dairy Manager
- Dr. Patrick Dragon, University of Massachusetts, Amherst - Grower, Mathematical Sciences Genius
- Raoul Adamchak, Student Farm, University of California, Davis - Grower: 30 member organic CSA
See also:
- Factor e Farm Agriculture Resources (http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Agriculture_Resources)