Factor e Farm

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.

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.

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
- Small 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/minimal fencing requirements)

Greg and Jennifer 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
Dan Schellenberg - Grower, Permaculturist