Just saying HI!

Hello all!
New to the web site but been reading about Permaculture for sometime now.
Bought a 100+ acre farm last fall in central NY. It has been neglected for 30+ years by the previous owner, but was a working farm prior to that.
First year is going to be centered on self-sustainment farming. Later expand into organic CSA, beef, dairy products, chickens maybe goats, sheep and pigs.
Also looking to incorporate some of Mark Shepards ideas of Restoration Agriculture.

Thanks for reading!

-D

Hi, Brian and welcome to Permies. We will be looking forward to hearing about your progress on your farm...thirty years of neglect could be a good thing after conventional farming! Sounds as though you've got a great plan.

Judith Browning wrote: Hi, Brian and welcome to Permies. We will be looking forward to hearing about your progress on your farm...thirty years of neglect could be a good thing after conventional farming! Sounds as though you've got a great plan.

Thank you Judith!

I am expecting it to take me 3-5years before the farm looks like a farm and is truly productive.
Year one is to use goats, chickens, turkeys and rabbits to clear (mostly the goats job) the over growth (I am considering pigs though) by using mobile electric fencing and portable shelters. As they clear a section, follow up with planting weed suppression/cover crops like clover, mustard, buckwheat etc. Also use some Restoration Agriculture practices by planting perennial woody fruit and nut producing trees and shrubs, in rows to establish alleys along the lands contours. I have some water management to do too! I have the raised beds going now, although a late frost I think killed most of the more tender transplants, even with the Tufflite covering.
The follow on years I will expand in numbers and add cattle (Dexters), possibly sheep.
I am sure The Plan will have many changes based off lessons learned, and readings here, and from other publications.

Thank you again!

Sounds like great fun Brian! I think I'll be raising chicken, pigs, miniature donkeys, and supporting native wildlife here. Mostly vegetarian, but chickens, pigs and the occasional woodland critter can be mighty tasty treats!