North Dakota

Stuck in ND for a while for work and while I'm here I want to make the most of it. We bought an old farmhouse with 15 acres last year and boy do we have plans! I'd love to connect with like minded folks in the area.

What we have now:
30 Plymouth Barred Rock laying hens
12 ish acres of rested pasture

2013 goals:
Pond/cattle pond
Rain catchment system (our soft water artesian well seems to kill plants)
750 sq ft of hugelkultur beds with veggie polyculture
Bees
Winter coop construction with rocket mass heater
Solar dehydrator

What part of ND are you at?

Yes please send me a message with what area you're in. I'm also in ND for work.

SE South Dakota here. I make hives if you need any.
40 Leghorns
2 Large White Pigs
5 Bee Colonies
18 acres of non certified organic land

Hello!
I am also interested in seeing who else is out there. I know we are surounded by chemical farmers. Not a whole lot of people, that i have met, in part of the state interested in Permaculture.

We are right on the border of SW North Dakota and NW South Dakota (Lemmon, SD).

Sadly, here in the Dakotas there aren't very many good examples to point to of people doing awesome permaculture stuff (although there are a few!). Down in SW South Dakota there are a couple people in the early stages of developing some permaculture projects (specifically on the Pine Ridge Reservation). Also over in eastern South Dakota there is the Glacial Lakes Permaculture site http://glaciallakespermaculture.org/home.

The best example of sustainable agriculture in the Dakotas definitely has to go to Gabe Brown by Bismarck, ND. Here is an AWESOME video of Gabe talking about what they do at his farm/ranch. IMO, it is the best video to convince a conventional farmer/rancher to consider adopting some better techniques.

Hey everyone! I'm in Grand Forks right now. Unfortunately I live downtown. I don't even have a balcony

Hey Wyatt. I grew up about 50 miles north of Grand Forks.
I live in Florida now but my parents still live up in the Grafton area.
My family and I are planning on a visit in a few months and we are sure to be spending some time in GF.

Hey David! There is like a 1% chance I may end up in Florida myself in the next year. The idea seems pretty romantic after growing up in this tundra lol

That's funny. We are planning on moving back to ND this summer because of family health issues. However my wife is a little hesitant since she is a native Floridian...Ha haha...

Hi Wyatt.
You could find a spot along the Red River to grow plants, see who "owns" that land first. I would see if you can find a spot down there and use some Seed Balls along the bank of the Red. Being that you are downtown you are not that far away from the river. Maybe it will catch on with other people.