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WILD MEADOWS FARM
Biointensive ~ Permaculture ~ Education
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Farm Newsletter
| Issue No. 2
February 2011
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Our Mission:
Wild Meadows Farm engages strategies to promote and accelerate the transition to a sustainable human culture. We grow and sell farm products using biointensive and permaculture techniques, offer ecological design and implementation services, and organize experiential learning events. Through partnering with like-minded organizations and individuals we magnify our impact and co-create strong networks of resilient communities. Our core values of mutual aid and cooperation guide our decisions and actions.
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Greetings!
Joel and I just returned from the 20th annual
Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) conference and found it inspiring, intellectually stimulating, and diverse in age, content, and booth exhibits. This year 's theme was: "Strength From Our Roots: Claiming Our Food-System Future". The keynote speaker was Wes Jackson from the Land Institute, who opened his address stressing the need for restraint in population and economic growth in order for generations beyond our lifetime to thrive. Throughout his speech, he wove an historical narrative of our species past and where we are today in relation to our connection to land and community. The transformation of agriculture from an extracting to a renewable system is where he lead us to, challenging us to ask the questions needed to put us on this path. He proposed the vision and idea of a 50 year farm bill using the 5-year mark as milestones for a long range land management common vision. The possibility resides in people power and perennial polycultures!
 | | Wes Jackon displying the roots of perennial grains |
Thanks and gratitude to Kristen & Joel Blunk, who provided warm hospitality, stimulating conversation, and hot cups of tea during our overnight stay in State College.
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Join us at the farm 10 am Saturday, February 19th for some hands-on black walnut tapping and other winter farm activities.
Did you know it is possible to tap black walnut trees and produce a sugary, nutty flavored syrup? We didn't either but a little poking around on the internet got us excited to give this a try as we have quite a few mature and healthy black walnut trees here on the farm. RSVP for this event by calling (814-839-4962) or email us at info@wildmeadowsfarm.com. Come prepared for spending time outdoors in the cold and please bring a dish to share for lunch. Overnight stays are also possible if you are coming from far away.
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We still have spots available for this April event:
Edible Ecosystems Emerging: Food Forestry for the 21st Century 
A Nine-Day Forest Garden Design Intensive with Dave Jacke and Friends!
April 15-24, 2011
Forest ecosystems exhibit many beneficial properties we humans would be wise to emulate in our culture, agriculture and horticulture: they maintain, renew, fertilize and propagate themselves without human inputs; they build, store, and conserve clean air, clean water, nutrients, soil quality, and biodiversity; and they exhibit stability, resilience, and adaptability. These qualities emerge from the dynamics of the forest as a whole system, not from any one or more of the elements that comprise the forest alone. To design productive edible ecosystems that express these same qualities, we must understand forest structures, functions, patterns, and processes and use this knowledge wisely. Read on...& Register
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Tiny House Construction :
We need intern housing for the coming farm season and have been researching various tiny house options. Some of the ideas that have crossed our drawing board include a portable yurt, a strawbale cabin, and a storage container cottage. There is a tiny house movement here in the U.S.A. that has been gathering steam for a while and we are excited to see this movement grow and help chip away at the "more is always better" meme. For some inspiration, I recommend the tiny house blog.
When we moved to the farm in the winter of 2008 the first thing we did was renovate a 300 square foot structure that was the summer kitchen of the original homestead into a habitable cottage. For some photos of the process click here. Since then we have continued to research green building science and have been inspired by trends such as the passive house and net zero-energy building. Currently we plan to build a trailer mounted tiny house in March that will serve as intern housing for the 2011 season. If you are interested in this project or have ideas you would like to share please get in touch!
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We look forward to your feedback, visits, and emails here at Wild Meadows Farm! Please let us know what you think about our various endeavors.
Sustaining love for earth and community!
Joel Cahalan & Kim Walsh
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