This will be a short diary, as it is somewhat difficult for me to write. For those who are tuning in late, yesterday I started detailing the slow dissolution of our dreams in the new "healthy" economy of today. Today's effort is a quick look at what our dream was, and what might have been. All caveats and apologies from yesterday appy today.
The current No Snivilin Farm was restarted in our current location in western MA about 5 years ago this coming August, with a bridge loan against our old home in groton MA courtesy of an agricultural lender.
The farm in Groton was 15 acres of very damp land, with a condemned house (which we rebuilt ourselves). We moved to our current location in the foothills of the bershires with 100 goats, 12 sheep, 100 chickens, 2 dogs, and 1 llama. When we moved we were both employed, terri as a researcher for a drug company, myself as a systems engineer for a small start-up.
We had found the house and property of our dreams, 110 acres of hill farm, with a unrenovated house dating from 1790 (the last update was central heat during the 1960's), and all on a dead end road. Farmerterri left her job to put the farm together full time, and I kept working, as I could telecommute 3 days per week. During this period we designed and constructed (without any contractors or hired help):
- A 36'x72' 3 story hand mortised post and beam barn, 30' tall
- A 16'x72' Earth banked Dairy and Creamery
http://i96.photobucket.com/...
- An Integrated Heating/Hot Water system, built around a central boiler 7260 wood furnace (servicing the house, dairy, and chicken coop)
Around this time, I was laid off, and found out that prospects for a 40 year old, self taught systems engineer were not what they used to be. Hoping to capitalize on the work we had already done, we outfitted the dairy and creamery, mostly with junk equipment that we rebuilt, and re-certified.
In retrospect, not having all the work done by contractors was probably a mistake, as it earned us the enmity of the local inspectors...the fact that we couldn't afford the contractors seems to be irrelevant to them. This time was the turning point for us, for having built our base facilities, it was time to start operating, but having no financial reserves left, we were never able to get far enough ahead to buy materials to perform maintenance and repairs, much less go into production...so in accordance with the purpose of this diary, we enter the dreamtime.
Since we started farming, or at least realized that our keeping a few animals was turning into a full time job, we have pursuing a goal of sustainability. We didn't use that word to refer to it, generally calling it organic integration, or the more traditional "small farm". Our goal for our present farm was just to produce food, with no waste, every output, or byproduct being utilized.
Thus we built the dairy with an eye to adding a second (earth banked) parlor to milk the cows we would eventually get. waste whey from the creamery (already pasteurized) would be mixed with corn and fed to the pigs and chickens. Waste from all the animals would be used to produce power, and fertilize the fields to produce the plants to feed ourselves, the animals, and others.
Harvesting dead wood from our woodlot would heat our buildings, pasteurize the milk, and wash the eggs. We could be a model of sustainable techniques for others. We would take 1/3 of our bottom field, (the best soil on the farm) and devote it to permaculture, raising day lillies (as a vegetable), asparagus, and perrenial herbs, with the geese and chickens working to keep the weeds in check, while fertilizing the field for us. within a year or two, we would have enough sheep to start milking them, and then we could add the delicious sheep milk cheeses to our repetoire. Within a couple years we would be producing enough extra electric power from ag waste to start selling it back to the grid, but that is a subject for the next diary, concerning the over the rainbow sustainable energy biz...
Instead, I will spend this week the same way I spent last week...looking for a job flipping burgers or something, and spending 30+ hours negotiating with mortgage and credit card companies....trying (somewhat futily I fear) to save the foundation of a dream, rather than building the dream itself.