hendall loeffler

I might be working with a non profit next year. The NP is in an old movie theatre with a huge parking lot that they own outright. They would like to turn it into a community garden space. I'm wondering about the best way to deal with the dirt. Right now the plan is to cut up the asphalt 20,000 feet a year for the next five years. Ideally I'd like to just cover crop the space for the whole year to work on rejuvenating the soil and aerating it a little bit but I think they might be more eager than that to have a functioning garden next year.

I guess I'm wondering if anyone has turned over parking lots and outside of major compaction what the big dangers are.
Also can I bet on the soil being totally toxic from the asphalt? I'll get a test? I have access to free wood are raised beds the way to go?
Also I'm going to be cutting up the asphalt in a grid with a walk behind diamond saw. Are their good ways to reuse big square slabs of asphalt?
I was thinking of building compost insulation out of them but figured it would be a bad idea with the contaminates in the asphalt. Any thoughts?

What about just cover cropping in between the raised beds?

They want to get a 50,000 gallon cistern and feed it with rainwater. How much is something like that?

Thanks Permies,

Hendall

Hi Yall,

I just started a new farm in Ashland OR. I'm an avid permies.com forum reader and enthusiast.
I'm mostly hoping to just plug our fundraising effort on permies.

We have a semi permanent lease on a dreamy farm here
for real cheap but are running into walls with our budget.

Anyhow if your interested in food and small scale farming
feel free to check out our page


http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lace-hill-farm-fundraiser/x/6182349

And of course if you've got extra bing bongs around feel free to toss em our way.

Hendall Loeffler
Lace Hill Farm

Hi Yall,

I just started a new farm in Ashland OR. I'm an avid permies.com forum reader and enthusiast.
I'm mostly hoping to just plug our fundraising effort on permies.

We have a semi permanent lease on a dreamy farm here
for real cheap but are running into walls with our budget.

Anyhow if your interested in food and small scale farming
feel free to check out our page


http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lace-hill-farm-fundraiser/x/6182349

And of course if you've got extra bing bongs around feel free to toss em our way.

Hendall Loeffler
Lace Hill Farm

Hi Yall,

I just started a new farm in Ashland OR. I'm an avid permies.com forum reader and enthusiast.
I'm mostly hoping to just plug our fundraising effort on permies.

We have a semi permanent lease on a dreamy farm here
for real cheap but are running into walls with our budget.

Anyhow if your interested in food and small scale farming
feel free to check out our page


http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lace-hill-farm-fundraiser/x/6182349

And of course if you've got extra bing bongs around feel free to toss em our way.

Hendall Loeffler
Lace Hill Farm

Hi Yall,

I just started a new farm in Ashland OR. I'm an avid permies.com forum reader and enthusiast.
I'm mostly hoping to just plug our fundraising effort on permies.

We have a semi permanent lease on a dreamy farm here
for real cheap but are running into walls with our budget.

Anyhow if your interested in food and small scale farming
feel free to check out our page


http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lace-hill-farm-fundraiser/x/6182349

And of course if you've got extra bing bongs around feel free to toss em our way.

Hendall Loeffler
Lace Hill Farm

Hi Permies!

So, I"m a farmer from Rhode Island that is used to being able to work the soil in March Generally.
I just got a really great piece of land in Ashland OR which has a much more clay/loam like soil
and much more water retention than RI. Despite relatively similar temperatures it seems like the soil doesn't really dry out here
until May.

I have several questions about this.

The farm is on a Southwest facing slope of about 30 degrees. Will this drastically change the time it takes for the soil to dry out enough or should I just plan on everything happening in May?
is there anyway to plant with out wreaking havoc to the soil?

Secondly does anyone know where to get free compost in Oregon or cheap compost?


Thanks a ton!

Hendall Loeffler

I really just have a few years experience working on farms
and about five years experience working with herbalists.

My field plan is pretty extensive but you can imagine probably;
herbs, potatoes, turnips, brusselsprouts, edamame, sun flowers, melons, greens, cucumbers, nasturtiums, other flowers, leeks, and a lot of medicinal herbs.
If your really interested I could send you my field plan.

Thanks for the lead.

Hendall

Hi again. So ideally depending on the resources available I'm hoping to farm one acre next year with the possibility of renting two the next. I'm hoping to pay between 400-800 an acre a year provided theirs water and the land meets some basic needs. Thanks for your intrigue.

Hi,

I'm Hendall Loeffler a current resident of Providence, RI which I love. Unfortunately it seems relatively hard to find leasable land for the next coming season so i'm entertaining the possibility of finding the perfect situation somewhere else.
I would love to talk to folks about working their land for 2014.

I'm interested in a three to five year lease.
Ideally their would be water, a greenhouse/i could build one, well draining soil, and relatively flat.

If you know of anything feel free to email me at hendall.loeffler@gmail.com