Fuller farm, north of Emporia, KS

Design goals:

• Operate a community-supported farm offering vegetables, fruits, eggs, and possibly meat to local consumer/members
• Fix up the house for comfort and utility
• Remain primarily a one-man operation

Recommended strategies and order of implementation

1. Continue observing -- don’t rush into big decisions
   1. Get the soil and water tested ASAP.
   2. Survey contour lines on the west part of the property using an A-frame, hose, or laser level.
   3. Reserve the wild forested area northeast of the house as “zone 5” wilderness for observation and pest control.
   4. Consider a home energy audit (just $100 with Westar Energy subsidy) to learn which home improvements are most cost-effective.
2. Conserve energy -- don’t spread yourself too thin
   1. Put the chickens to work!  Construct a “chicken tractor” and use it to prepare beds for annuals (and to protect poultry).
   2. Control weeds and pests with mulch and companion planting: aromatic herbs such as dill, fennel, parsley, cilantro, tansy, nasturtium, etc. will attract beneficial bugs.
   3. Compost all weeds and other waste organic matter by feeding to chickens and/or sheet mulching.
   4. Suppress grass around borders with bulbs (daffodil), rhizomes (iris), and dense foliage (comfrey).
   5. Use a zone design to conserve your energy: keep annual crops closest to the house (zone 1), low-maintenance broad-bed annuals (potatoes, squash, melons) farther (zone 2), perennials such as grapes and berries farther (zone 3) and orchard trees primarily at the west end (zone 4).
   6. Plant the west part of the property strictly on contour to encourage water infiltration -- try to undo the existing valley’s potential for erosion.  A swale (ditch and berm on contour) along the north and northwest borders would also help to reduce non-organic runoff from neighboring fields.
   7. Install a large above-ground catchment tank at the north end of the straw shed to water the west crops, and smaller rain barrels on the south side of the house to water the annual beds.  Soaker hoses work best with gravity-fed catchment water.
   8. Insulate and air-seal the house, and replace the furnace (with a ductless mini-split heat pump) and water heater.
3. Generate energy -- bring additional energy on site
   1. Fertilize the asparagus and other nitrogen-hungry perennials with coop sweepings and other manure.
   2. Improve soil fertility of annual beds with manuring (chicken tractor), composting (sheet mulching), and cover crops (esp. New Zealand white clover).
   3. Boost tree and perennial productivity by “guilding” with nitrogen fixing plants (beans, clover, collards, peas, groundnut), nutrient accumulators (comfrey, mullein, mustards, yarrow), insectary plants noted above, and grass-suppressing bulbs (iris, daffodil).
   4. Borrow goats to clear out the paddock.
   5. Host “work parties” where friends work a few hours before dinner.
   6. Encourage CSA members to work for part or all of their share.
   7. Invite WWOOFers and other seasonal interns.
   8. Consider solar water heating on the southwest house roof and/or photovoltaics on the garage or chicken coop roof.
4. Build from success -- enlarge the scope of the project
   1. Consider livestock (cattle, sheep, goats, alpacas, emus) for the paddock.
   2. Consider building a greenhouse for starting seedlings and extending the growing season.  Consider joining it to the chicken coop to make use of chickens’ waste heat and CO2.
   3. Plant vine crops (esp. hardy kiwi) under the established trees.

This design was not implemented because the homeowner moved. View a PDF with more photos of the design.