First Annual Homestead Tour - August 8, 2020
Over the past 8 years Ammy Martinez and Mark Krawczyk have built their 52 acre homestead from the ground up. We’ve installed key infrastructure including access, water, grid power, and wastewater systems; built several healthy, low-cost, high performance buildings using green and local materials; installed more than 4000 fruit, fiber, nut and fodder producing trees and shrubs; created 2 small and growing farm enterprises; and been managing and maintaining home scale veggie gardens; domestic livestock including ducks, chickens, and sheep; and a 40 acre woodlot for fuelwood, mushroom logs, and building materials.
We’ve learned a lot during these past 8 years and have much to share including what’s worked well for us and what key mistakes to avoid. And we’re happy to be clear and transparent about development costs so that you have a better idea as to what to expect when it comes to installing your designs. Our working small farm and homestead have hosted dozens of student groups over the years, but this will be our first annual daylong dedicated homestead tour.
During the day you’ll see
- A 20x48 pole barn with workshop, carport, deck and 200 ft2 super-insulated ‘cabin’/office space, a 20x30 twelve hundred square foot passive solar, high performance owner-built home, a 30x96’ high tunnel greenhouse, and a half dozen outbuildings including compost toilets, a sheep shelter lean-to, tool shed, chicken coop, duck pen, etc.
- Numerous examples of diverse permaculture-style plantings including -
- a 1000’ by 25’ hedgerow/shelterbelt with more than 50 species of trees and shrubs
- several thousand linear feet of alley cropping silvopasture that includes over 10 types of berries, young fruit and nut trees, flowering, medicinal and fertility-enhancing herbaceous perennials, all managed as part of a sheep silvopasture
- a 1/2 acre stand of black locust coppice with standards (bur oak, butternut, hardy pecan)
- earthworks including pocket ponds, off contour swales, and a gravity fed water system
- homestead scale livestock systems including intensive rotational sheep grazing and small flocks of chickens and ducks
- discussions on establishment strategies. We’ve tried a number of approaches over the years and can share what’s worked and what hasn't
- ecological woodlot management including selection harvest of polewood and sawlogs and a 1 acre NRCS grant funded patch cut
- an overview of our infrastructure decision making and layout
- a brief window into our farm business enterprise flows
This year’s tour runs from 10am to 3:30pm and will be held rain or shine. $25 suggested donation. Limited work trade available. Space is limited so register early
We’ve learned a lot during these past 8 years and have much to share including what’s worked well for us and what key mistakes to avoid. And we’re happy to be clear and transparent about development costs so that you have a better idea as to what to expect when it comes to installing your designs. Our working small farm and homestead have hosted dozens of student groups over the years, but this will be our first annual daylong dedicated homestead tour.
During the day you’ll see
- A 20x48 pole barn with workshop, carport, deck and 200 ft2 super-insulated ‘cabin’/office space, a 20x30 twelve hundred square foot passive solar, high performance owner-built home, a 30x96’ high tunnel greenhouse, and a half dozen outbuildings including compost toilets, a sheep shelter lean-to, tool shed, chicken coop, duck pen, etc.
- Numerous examples of diverse permaculture-style plantings including -
- a 1000’ by 25’ hedgerow/shelterbelt with more than 50 species of trees and shrubs
- several thousand linear feet of alley cropping silvopasture that includes over 10 types of berries, young fruit and nut trees, flowering, medicinal and fertility-enhancing herbaceous perennials, all managed as part of a sheep silvopasture
- a 1/2 acre stand of black locust coppice with standards (bur oak, butternut, hardy pecan)
- earthworks including pocket ponds, off contour swales, and a gravity fed water system
- homestead scale livestock systems including intensive rotational sheep grazing and small flocks of chickens and ducks
- discussions on establishment strategies. We’ve tried a number of approaches over the years and can share what’s worked and what hasn't
- ecological woodlot management including selection harvest of polewood and sawlogs and a 1 acre NRCS grant funded patch cut
- an overview of our infrastructure decision making and layout
- a brief window into our farm business enterprise flows
This year’s tour runs from 10am to 3:30pm and will be held rain or shine. $25 suggested donation. Limited work trade available. Space is limited so register early