week 13: farmer stuff

this week on the little dream farm

Hello April and Hello Spring!

This week the buds are swelling on the trees, the rhubarb is budding in the ground, the peonies are sending up eyes, the daffodils are just about ready to burst, and there are hints of green in the golden winter grass. There’s something new to see every day!

This time of year requires presence so that you don’t miss the magic happening all around!

We kicked off this past week with a site visit here on the farm with two women from our county’s Soil and Water Conservation District office.

Last spring I had to stop at their office to pick up some soil maps for our farm exemption application. Every March we submit a re-application with a copy of the new lease with the farmer who raises the LDF cows on our land, which gives us a partial exemption on our property taxes each year for having the land in agricultural use. It’s not much in terms of savings, but every little bit helps with farm expenses!

While I was there last year I was talking to some of their experts about some water issues we were noticing on the farm during the winter. They sent this wonderful woman out to take a look and she and I spent hours walking around the farm last spring talking about soil health, pasture management, rotational grazing of ruminant animals, weeds and invasive species, water management, the topography of the farm, and so many things about life in the country and living on a farm. I learned a ton from her that day and made a new friend and someone I can call on for help or advice—something worth its weight in gold in the country!

That initial site visit yielded two awesome things: the Soil & Water office came back out to do some farm-wide soil testing for us (which was paid for by a state-funded program available to landowners and thus free for us); and the offer to consider participating in their Agricultural Environment Management program. AEM is a five-tier system intended to help address conservation concerns on farms with solutions-based evaluations, recommendations, and in some cases state grant funding to cost share conservation efforts.

We immediately said yes to the Tier 1 portion of the program—there’s no cost or obligation at any point in the program, and there are so many wonderful resources and options to consider from everything the program encompasses.

Tier 1 takes an inventory of your current activities, interests, and potential environmental concerns on your land. It was a big long questionnaire and we learned some new things and it also gave us a lot to think about!

Once that part was complete and after we had a chance to sit down and review our soil testing results the wheels started turning a bit…

Our big hay field has perfect loamy soil for growing something like peonies, which really piqued my interest, as you can imagine! We also have the right kind of topography and southern-facing hills for orcharding—think apples, peaches, grapes, etc. We have several low-lying areas that could make for great elderberry production. And of course, given how hilly our farm is, it’ll always make for good grazing land for ruminant animals.

When the dream of a farm started rumbling around in our heads back in 2018, we were not thinking about any of these things. And even when we found this farm, we didn’t necessarily move here to start farming, as odd as that may sound.

Really, we knew we wanted a farm for more land and more space for more animals…initially thinking it’d give us more space to do more rescue work. So to be thinking about orcharding and peony production and actually farming this land and working with more heritage and endangered livestock breeds—well it’s way beyond our dreams, and it’s all really exciting stuff, too!

To be fair, I’ve spent the better part of the past three years learning about regenerative agriculture, permaculture, food forestry, and organic farming as a personal passion and hobby, reading as many books as I can get my hands on, watching hours upon hours of documentaries and YouTube channels, and reading blogs and listening to podcasts on these topics. What began as our passion for working with animals and my obsession with regenerative agriculture sort of morphed into this beautiful place where I have lots of the awareness and knowledge and now we have the land and the opportunity to potentially put some of these things into practice.

We’ve made no definitive decisions or plans in terms of what route we may or may not pursue here on the farm. And thank heavens Chris and I both have our full-time incomes, because we’re sort of doing this farming thing backwards. I mean that to say that first we picked the farm…and we’re slowly considering what we may do with it. Rather than, for example, knowing what type of farming we wanted to pursue and then going out in search of the right farm to do it.

And that’s why the AEM program is such a wonderful fit for us—it allows us to learn so much about our farm and what’s possible so that we can make smart decisions about how we’ll steward it going forward.

The Tier 2 portion of the program was what we accomplished this week. That involved documenting current environmental stewardship (such as: do we use organic farming practices, what do we do with hazardous waste/materials, do we have predator, pest, or livestock security issues on the farm, etc.) and assessing and prioritizing areas of concern—things like water conservation, soil health, pasture management, grazing management, etc.

These women have such a huge knowledge base about land and farming and have so many great resources at their fingertips! This process has been really cool for us to learn so much about our land.

The two women and I again took a big lap around the farm and talked about all of the above. From this assessment and these discussions, we move into Tier 3 where they develop a recommended conservation plan that addresses concerns and opportunities tailored to our farm goals.

Some examples of things we have to consider on our farm is conserving the pond as a critical natural resource for water, especially in order to graze animals and ensure we have adequate water to meet their needs. Another potential concern is permanent fencing around the perimeter of our farm that ensures the safety of livestock not escaping farm borders, and also allows for more deliberate rotational grazing in order to maintain soil and pasture health of the farm.

Once the team comes back with their recommendations and the order of priority (the things that are the greatest conservation concerns get ranked with highest priority) we then have the option to pursue some, all, or none of what they recommend. We also have the ability to have our own input and to shape the way the recommendations are executed.

Tiers 4 and 5 are implementing the plan(s) with educational, technical, and financial assistance from the Soil & Water office. This includes potential grants that can help to cost-share putting some of these recommendations into practice. As an example, let’s use the pond as our highest priority conservation concern. If we decided to pursue that recommendation for conservation, the Soil & Water office can apply on our behalf for state grant funding to pay upwards of 75 percent of the cost of the project (this is even higher for veterans, which applies for us). Essentially we front the money to get the project done, and the majority of it gets reimbursed back to us through the grant. Then in Tier 5, the team comes out to evaluate how the conservation efforts are working in practice.

Conservation of the pond would include excavation work to make sure it’s dug out to its fullest capacity to collect water and that it overflows into some of the federal wetland we have on our farm. Additionally, a fence would be put around it to keep the cows from wading into the pond, since their manure makes more organic matter grow in the water which makes the pond essentially fill in from the outside in.

Now, if you ask farmers (and we have!) what they think of these types of programs (the USDA has similar offerings with federal funding, as does the Natural Resource Conservation Service, also with federal funding) you get a mixed bag.

Some farmers just don’t want the government telling them what to do on their farm in any way, shape, or form, grant or no grant. Some farmers feel that the program doesn’t yield recommendations that are viable or realistic for their operation, and some think the process just takes far too long. It can take anywhere from one to three years to get a grant approved, a contract awarded, the work completed, and the grant paid. For some farms, the cost of waiting is too high.

But for us, we’re playing the long game, and there’s nothing pressing us to have to make these decisions or pursue these projects quickly. And if the end result is that we can put better conservation practices in place that will ultimately benefit the farm and is in line with our values and goals…then we’re all for it!

As we get farther along in the AEM process we’ll be sure to keep you filled in on how it’s going and what, if anything, we decide to pursue from the recommendations and possible grants we could be competitive for.

In terms of what direction we take the farm…well, friends…you’re going to have to hang on tight down this bumpy farm dirt road to wait and see! Spoiler alert: we don’t actually know!

For the first time in my life, though, that’s not scary at all to admit…the whole not knowing bit. It’s actually kind of become the fun part in it all! Up until this point I haven’t shared much about some of the options we’re considering because we’re knee deep in learning what’s even possible. You can be certain, though, that as we’re learning it and getting our wits about us enough to be able to talk about it, like I am in this very Farm Note, that we’ll continue to share it all with you too so that you’re right alongside us for the ride!

I’ll always and forever be holding on to the advice David gave me out in the garden: listen, and the answers will come to you.

We’re all ears…and with open hearts and open minds, we’re fully trusting that the more closely we listen, the louder the answer will be.