A small bit of history. Village Roots leases about 13 acres of pasture
from Orchard Hill on which we graze lambs, broiler chickens, turkeys,
ducks, rabbits, pigs (who also pasture in the woods) and our oxen, Boss
and Chez. We hay another 7 or 8 acres for winter forage. When I say
pasture, I mean cleared land that was once considered prime agricultural
soil, but has been over grazed, compacted with heavy machinery and
chemically fertilized until about 10 years ago. When Orchard Hill
bought the land, it was shocked when we pulled the chemical IV.
Pigs out to pasture
The oxen, Boss and Chez, out to pasture in the evening
Since 2006, we have been slowly building back
fertility by rotating grazing animals through the pasture, never
allowing them to overgraze. Grazing animals build pasture (think about
the relationship between bison and other herd animals and the great
plains with its once impressive depths of topsoil..now exploited by
monocultures and chemical warfare). We have seen great improvements,
but there is a long ways to go.
One of our biggest issues is a very high water
table, meaning that there is often water right at the surface of the
field in some locations, making these spots too wet to move animals
through in a way that would be healthy for them or for the land. One
of these locations we turned into two rice paddies, creating both food
and wildlife habitat. Another wet spot we turned into a duck pond last
fall and planted elderberries, cranberries, strawberries and
buttonbush around it.
Pigs working up a new rice paddy
Our goal now is to catch more water (and nutrients)
as it runs down our hillside pasture and to slow, spread and sink this
water before it creates more erosion. The NRCS (National Resource and
Conservation Service) has given us a generous grant for pasture
management which includes fencing, liming and reseeding the pasture. It
is our wish to first cut a shallow swale (a ditch and berm running on
contour) across the entire length of the field and transecting two
low/wet areas. This would serve the purpose of slowing water and
distributing it to drier areas. Along the ditch we would run a fence
and water line for animals. On the berm we would plant a hedgerow of
nut trees, such as chestnuts that once dominated the Northeast.
So what's the request? Well we can only do this
sort of project when the land is most dry (namely July), and it makes
sense to cut the swale before we lime and seed (this needs to be done
for the grant before September 1!) Cutting the swale requires a day with a bulldozer at $100/hr. This
is not what we budgeted for with Ellen due in August; however, it is
the logical sequence of events and the grant project needs to be
completed either way.
Any help with this project would be greatly
appreciated. If everyone who likes this page made a $5 donation, we
would just about cover our costs. The potential here is huge. The way
we see it, if we can double the forage that we grow on this pasture,
then we just doubled our acreage. This means more animal production,
more carbon sequestration, more fertility, more possibilities.
Thank
you all for reading.
In gratitude,
Marty and Ellen
Checks can be made to:
Village Roots
134 Old Settlers Road
Alstead, NH 03602
Marty grew his first potato when he was 12 year old on a worn out piece of ground behind his parents’ house. He’s been attracted to the idea of growing food ever since. He started growing seriously in 2001 with his wife Ellen’s guidance and has worked on several organic farms prior to moving to Orchard Hill. His passion is in integrating all aspects of the farm; the gardens, animals, buildings, water systems and so on. Marty has been raising heritage farm animals since 2003, and started training his young oxen Boss and Chez to do some of the farm work in the winter of 2012. Marty graduated from Antioch University New England with an MS in Environmental Studies and currently teaches Farmers & Foragers and summer camps at The Orchard School, as well as Permaculture Design Courses at Orchard Hill.
