I have been learning a lot about
permaculture during the last couple years, and lurking here taking in all the information I can. I have really started to realize the value of having animals in the system. Here is my problem. I am trying to figure out how to automate having animals as I am not living on site. We live in the
city but have a jointly owned property a couple hours away that we spend our weekends at. We just got this property last fall.
Background on property:
If is about 160 acres with about 60 acres of forest (Mainly Poplar, and spruce with some pine, birch and lots of bushes in certain areas.) The other 90 acres are old
hay fields and pasture for
cattle. Currently we have someone renting some
land to run cattle on it. The soil has a high clay content, especially in the pasture areas. These are the areas I would most like to help heal. I really don't have the resources for large scale escavation but I do have a 50 hp compact
tractor with loader. (can also get access to tiller if needed) I hope to create some swales and would love to try to collect
water for a
pond but currently havce not as most of my time so far has just been cleaning up the junk on the land. We are in zone 2b in Central Alberta in Canada. I think the annual rainfall is around 20 inches but we get a lot of snow in the winter. The
local farmers do not need irrigation because of the annual fall.
I guess my question for anyone is: How do you have animals (ie.
chickens) when your not on site for about 5 of every 7 days. I see animal like
chickens to be very important in help transforming land and balancing the eco-system. We have a lot of wild animals such as
deer, Moose, coyote, etc. Would you recommend something like pigs as I think they can better fend for themselves with predators. I have been thinking that I could use a deer feeder for timed
spray of
feed to supplement the natural diet. My concern is mainly the safety of the animals. Also anyone with good examples of
permaculture systems in a climate like this I would love to see links.
The examples of systems created by
Sepp Holtzer and
Geoff Lawton really inspire me to want to try and create something great. It would be great to have a system that mostly takes care of itself. With my current situation and all the land I have to work with excites me to so many possibilities. I hope that after a few years of helping to build a system on our land I can help others. Forums like this really bring like minds together and I hope to soon be more of giver and less take share my successes and failures.
** I did get an opportunity to tour the project that Paul, Sepp and so many others worked on in Dayton, MT. It was great, a very young system and it was great to talk to the people there about what they have already had to learn and adjust in the first few months. It is a very young system and I could already see how it was not only going to mature but change over time. That system is currently only 5-7 acres so it scared me a bit with how much work I have ahead of me. I guess I need to start small and expand, but I do think animals would help speed up the healing and changing on the land.