sustainable farm

The barn was part of the original farm that the Valle Crucis Conference Center now leases to the Sustainable Development Program. The barn houses tools, farm implements (including a biodiesel powered tractor), a composting toilet, chickens and our barn cat Belatrix.

The chickens provide the farm with fresh eggs and the chicken litter is used as a fertilizer on the farm.

Permaculture is a system of consciously designing landscapes which mimic patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fiber and energy for the provision of local needs. One of the key tenets of permaculture is that every farm component (plant, animal, infrastructure, human) serves multiple functions, and that each function is served by multiple components so that, just as in nature, there is a certain level of redundancy leading to more resilient and sustainable operations. The permaculture garden at the farm was created to look like a natural ecosystem with multiple annual crops, berries, flowers, and herbs.

Bio-intensive gardening combines the methods of French intensive gardening (deep beds) with Biodynamic agriculture methods (composting, using the BD preparations, and planting by the lunar and planetary cycles) to increase production of food and fiber per unit area. It achieves this through deep-tilled soils (18-24 inches) that are properly managed and fertilized, planting at a relatively high density (often mixing different crops together in the same bed) to obtain higher yields per square foot (or acre). The system uses mostly plant-based composts (preferably produced on the farm). To make this possible, one should put about 20% of one's land in 'compost' crops (green manures such as winter wheat, rye, vetches, clovers) to feed the soil and keep it in good health.
 

Cold frames are a way to extend the season. They can be of various sizes and materials; we have built ours from recycled wood and windows. Unlike the greenhouse, the cold frames have no thermal mass to collect heat during the day and radiate it out at night. The soil does act as a solar collector, though. We have successfully grown lettuces and other greens without frost bite on the leaves. Draping a layer of Remay over the plants inside the cold frame on very cold nights (< 150 F) gives some extra protection and traps some of the soil warmth to keep the plants comfortable.

The modified passive solar greenhouse is a conventional hoop-style greenhouse that we have changed a bit to better capture the winter sunlight for heating the structure. The main (long) axis is East-West, so that more sun can reach into the structure during the winter. The North side is insulated with Tekfoil (bubble-wrap coated with aluminium foil on both sides). There are 20 50-gallon drums filled with water serving as thermal mass; they soak up sunlight as heat during the day, and radiate the stored heat at night to warm the interior. Even on a very cold night, the interior stays 200 F warmer than the ambient outdoor temperature without any backup heat source. It does dip below freezing on very cold nights, but this is not a problem when growing cold-hardy crops such as lettuces, arugula, chard and onion starts. And nothing taste better than an organic locally grown salad during the winter!!

The farm uses a variety of materials and methods to build the soil and feed the creatures living in her. Our main material is the food waste compost prepared at the ASU physical plant (a mix of pre- and post-consumer food wastes composted in a wood chip basis). We also compost our own crop wastes and byproducts on the farm, and include chicken litter and horse turts when available. All beds not having overwintering food crops are planted with cover crops (winter wheat, seed rye, clovers, alfalfa and hairy vetch) during the winter, while about 20% of the beds are planted with buckwheat, Sudan grass, clover, millet, cowpeas or soybeans during the summer months. In addition to protecting the soil and trapping end-of-season leftover nutrients, cover crops add fertility to the soil when they are plowed under. We also use some cover crops as living mulches (white clover) or as 'dead' mulches (rye/vetch or wheat/crimson clover) to provide a ground cover for crops such as tomatoes, peppers and squashes. Mulches keep the soil cool and moist, and diminish 'soil splash' of fungal spores that can cause crop diseases (eg. late and early blights).

The pastures are home to two Suffolk draft horses owned by Ian Snider, owner of Mountain Works Sustainable Development, Inc. Ian consults on sustainable forest management practices with local land owners and uses his draft horses for low-impact logging.

The apple trees are grafted onto semi-dwarf root stalks. Crops of raspberries, asparagus, and rhubarb are grown in between the apple tree rows.

The medicinal herb garden was started by Diana Donovan in order to make a formal garden out of the plants she uses daily as medicines, the ones she often points out on "weed walks", and the ones people often want to learn to recognize so they can incorporate them into their home garden, food, and pharmacy. The herb garden includes about 60 species that either grow wild here in Watauga County or are "implants" from European medicine gardens. All are traditionally used for medicine by the Native Americans and/or the "mountain" people in the forms of teas, infusions, oils, tinctures, steams, or homeopathics. She hopes that having a central location in which these "teacher" plants can thrive in an organic landscape will help spread the word about these magnificent plants, and provide an easily assessable classroom to teach from.

Some of the plants in the medicinal garden were transplanted from large populations existing wild in Watauga County. Others were donated from the ASU greenhouse, Niche Gardens in Chapel Hill, Gardens of the Blue Ridge in Pineola, or the Mustard Seed Market in Blowing Rock. In addition, there are a large number of useful plants growing wild in and around the garden such as burdock, poke, yellow dock, queen anne's lace, yarrow, lamb's quarters, and chickweed.
 

The bulk production rows allow crops to be grown on a larger scale for sale at local markets.

The bulk production rows allow crops to be grown on a larger scale for sale at local markets.

The dye garden was started in the summer of 2005 by Alyssa Rudolph as her project for the Agroecology Practicum course at ASU. The garden was incorporated into her senior project, a hand-dyed quilt, which was dyed using dried flowers from the garden. Plants in the garden include coreopsis, black-eyed susan, hollyhocks, yarrow, madder, volunteer red coreopsis, dahlias, tansy, cosmos, and marigolds.

Agroforestry is the intentional planting of trees with crops and/or livestock to integrate productivity and profitability with environmental stewardship. It makes use of the vertical space both below and above ground, capturing resources that otherwise would not be used or lost from the system. Trees are a more permanent part of the farmscape providing habitat for birds, insects and other critters. Trees can compete for light, water and nutrients with crops or pasture, but through proper choice of species, spacings and management, such negative interactions can be minimized. Our findings to date show that the shade of the trees cools the environment and the soils, and dew dripping from the leaves during the summer and fall seasons help provide needed moisture for the crops (important in dry years). The agroforestry system you see is an example of alley cropping; trees (hybrid poplar, hybrid willow, hazelnut, willow oak and persimmon) are planted in widely spaced rows in which crops are planted.

The wetlands project was a collaboration between the Valle Crucis Conference Center, NC State Extension Office, Appalachian State University and others.  The wetlands house over 5000 native plants such as great lobelia, black-eyed susan, New England aster, high bush blueberry, royal fern, New York iron weed, cardinal mayflower, and swamp milkweed.  The wetlands help control flooding as well as helping to control the mosquito population in the area by providing habitats for mosquito predators such as frogs, birds, and dragonflies.

The pigs serve a three-fold purpose on the farm. Using a solar-powered fence enclosure, the pigs are moved to various plots to root up the soil and eat grubs and other insects. As they till the soil, they also provide some free organic fertilizer. Lastly, they will provide meat for sale.