My dad and I went to visit two nearby farms for the 2011
Piedmont Farm Tour. We chose two small farms (both under ten acres), since we wanted to see what a successful farm like ours could look like.
The first was Four Leaf Farm. They only have about 1/4 acre planted with veggies and fruits, but their yields are amazing. They sell at markets, to restaurants, and to groceries. They had an amazing 16 year old kiwi plant! In the years with a late frost they get no harvest (what you would expect with a tropical plant!). A big part of their business is sales of seedlings and annual/perennial ornamentals.
There were two large greenhouses and several small ones, and the tomatoes and cantaloupe were growing up to take advantage of the little space.
I have never seen such neat and tidy rows of vegetables. The straw mulch also helps it look nice and neat... there wasn't a single weed in sight. and every single plant looked so healthy!
They were using three methods to grow mushrooms. The first is the familiar shiitake method of inoculating sweet gum logs and keeping them in the woods, soaking them now and then. The second and third methods were for oyster mushrooms. They colonized some mycelium between two tulip poplar logs and tied them up in black trash bags. They also inoculated some ground up straw and put it into buckets that had holes drilled into them (the mushrooms should sprout out of the holes).
They had a very interesting compost system. One of their main crops are pea shoots. No one eats the peas, you just eat the green little baby plants. We tasted some and could tell why they are so popular! They grow them in trays with soil they buy (30% compost, 70% pine mulch). They then harvest the shoots and throw the soil in the trays in a pile. After each pea shoot layer they add a layer of chicken poop from the coop. After about a month, that stack fills up, they mix it up, and they start another one. The piles eventually turn into amazing soil that is very high in nitrogen, and they use that in the beds that grow their annuals.
Next stop was
Ever Laughter Farm. This farm was started by two guys in their 20's, recent graduates from the CCCC Sustainable Agriculture Program. It's a full-on permaculture farm... for real. They had their master plan drawn up by Bountiful Backyards... just like we did! They have only just started in 2009 and are already selling at markets and doing very well. They have a washing machine outside which they use to wash their greens in. Amazing! If you look closely on the map of their ultimate plan, you can even see the most obscure permaculture lingo being used ("hugulkulture").
Here are their chickens, with their movable coops and movable electric fencing. Right now they are hanging out in an area cover cropped with clover. They are busy at work permaculture style: pooping, eating grass, and eating grubs. They move them often in the winter (once every couple weeks) and less often in the summer when there is more for them to eat (every 4-6 weeks).
The house came with an above ground pool with a capacity of 5,000 gallons. They are storing rainwater in it (see the gutter running off the roof?) and building up an ecosystem. Frogs have already helped themselves for a place to lay their eggs, and they hope to cultivate fish in there soon which will fertilize the crops with their poopy water. I think they also threw some algae in there to balance things out. I learned something about drip irrigation... you can't just let water be gravity fed through the pipes, it has to be under pressure.
They also had pigs as a part of their rotation, a few blackberry plants, and some pet rabbits. We had a great conversation with them about permaculture and about our own farm and about all the cool stuff they have going on. I'm so glad there is a place like this in my area... amazing inspiration for permaculture enthusiasts everywhere.
