Just for a little bit of "fun", it's choose your own adventure story time! (Or just skip to the bottom for Q&A time)
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You've saved up your nest egg, and are getting ready to
purchase that big beautiful bit of land to make the world a better place for you and your family, and for those who follow. You are so close to leaving the rat race, with your mind filled with knowledge after years of studying
permaculture and homesteading-related topics, practicing wherever you can. You and your loved one are about to sign that dotted line, when the seller's agent casually mentions in conversation:
"Oh by the way, there may have been another farmer using it. You'll have to contact the seller directly."
***
Many hours later, you and your best mate have just finished your first day of
camping on your newly purchased parcel having pitched your tents at the edge of a calm field of stubble with small weeds and
native grasses starting to pop through. You imagine how perhaps you'll purchase some poultry, electric netting and seed mix to turn it into a lush pasture or massive garden. The timing seems right. Or perhaps you'll do a small survey plan of the grounds and begin your food forest preparations. Regardless, "what a beautiful blank slate!" you say to yourself. You finish the evening having explored deeper into this piece of fallow land, along with its surrounding grasses, ponds, and forests. You both drift asleep,
filled with ideas and plans for the season and of course, tomorrow's activities.
You wake up early the next morning to the sound of a diesel engine. "Wow, that sounds really close..." you think as you toss in your sleeping bag and drift back to sleep. Later, you hear it again, way too close this time, and you are met with just a little bit of dread. "Yikes, sounds like we're going to get run over!" You egress your tents. Sure
enough, it's a big green
tractor driving up to your campsite. "I guess we need to buy a lock for that gate." You smile and shrug it off: "Well, I guess this is one way to meet your neighbor!"
After exchanging pleasantries and extended conversation, you learn from your new, rather eccentric neighbor that that yet
another neighbor had been on the land just a few days ago. They had their machines out here, too.
"Just great." You think to yourself, "Now I
definitely need to hunt down the prior owner to find out what the deal is."
***
Sure enough, the rural grapevine is both one step ahead of the game, and one step behind. While your friendly and eerily watchful neighbor knew about the recent land sale in progress -- now happily complete --
another local farmer had incorrectly heard word that your recently acquired parcel
wasn't being sold, that there were delays or difficulties getting it off the market. For that farmer, it was business as usual under the previous absentee owner, and that meant preparing the rent-free borrowed ground for...soy. Can't beat free land!
Your campout turns from a time to explore your land with your family and besty, to a time of phone tag, hunting down who has been working the land, and finding out what has been done to it so far under what agreements, if any. Hours and then days pass, and information trickles in. You learn that the neighboring farmer's colleagues had already purchased -- and it would seem, quickly applied -- seed, fertilizer, herbicide etc. to your newly acquired grounds the
day before you bought it.
Sure enough, days pass, and
the re-growing field you had just camped on becomes as desolate as a Mordor wasteland. Congratulations! You camped in a field of RoundUp!
Furthermore, you are now in the very awkward position where your organic
farmstead plans are set back, and you quite likely have
zero social capital at the local level as its newest member. You hate the idea of throwing a wrench into your (presumably) well-intentioned neighbor's colleague's larger agricultural business. But you also hate the idea of being set back a year, while gaining nothing for your field, all while still being stuck paying for its taxes.
So, what are you going to do?
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Actual questions:
1) How would you personally go about mitigating the effects of previous RoundUp applications when transitioning a large farm to
permaculture methods? Specifically, is there a length of time you
personally would wait before planting or using various crops?
2) How valuable do you personally place social capital compared to other forms, like your time, natural/living capital (aka growies and critters) or financial capital? As an example, do you let neighbors take and remove
hay without nutrient return as a gesture of good will (aka ++social capital) at the expense to your land's long term mineral health (--natural capital), defying the
permaculture law of returns?
3) How much do you value a sense of privacy and sovereignty of your land? Do you let your neighbors walk up onto your land any time? What about locals who have perhaps casually used your land for years for activities such as fishing,
firewood, golfing, or letting loose their dogs?
I'm really curious about where the
permie community is on the decision spectrum for such things. Answers only, no reciprocal questioning!
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