“One of the most important things about permaculture is that it is founded on a series of principles that can be applied to any circumstance—agriculture, urban design, or the art of living. The core of the principles is the working relationships and connections between all things.”
Our relocation the “North Fork” Valley is about community, as much as anything else. Without the support of our chosen relations over here, the move would have been prohibitively difficult. One aspect of this is the hospitality shown to us by Jake and Meghan of Cedar Springs Farm (@cedarspringsfarm on Instagram). Not only are they boarding our cows, for the winter, but they are boarding me, as well. They have provided a space for me to park the RV, and have opened their home to us. I have even had the opportunity to help them with some projects, and earn some money for our build.
This farm is a stunning example permaculture in action. For context, it is 40 acres at around 6,000 feet above sea level, situated on a mesa where the Utah desert gives way to the Rocky Mountains. When weather systems rise over the peaks, they dump snow in the high country, along the continental divide. Here, at lower elevations, precipitation rates are much lower. Annual precipitation is about 13 inches. That makes this a dessert. The reason this has become such a vibrant agricultural area is that water catchment from the surrounding peaks, and Grand Mesa, supply a system of irrigation ditches. The climate is also favorable to fruit production, as the extremes are less severe than in other parts of the state. The valley floor, and the lower mesas surrounding the river, are rich with orchards and vineyards. Peaches, cherries, apples, plums, grapes, and more pour out of the valley during the growing season.
Up against the mountains, at a higher elevation, Cedar Springs is not in that prime fruit growing zone. It also has no ditch irrigation. Everything that is growing here can only do so because of earthworks. Those familiar with permaculture design know that our aim is to slow the pace of water across our systems. This particular site has numerous natural springs which are fed from the snow pack higher up. Jake has designed a system that takes the existing realities of the site into consideration, and uses the resources to manifest a profusion of life in what was previously an over grazed dry land pasture. Now, there are over 10,000 new trees planted, and a rotational grazing system feeding the soil. The system is young, but the pictures below already display what is happening, over here.
Here is how Jake describes his farm:
The swale and pond system seen from the mesa above Cedar Springs Farm.
Cedar Springs Farm utilizes earthworks to maximize our water usage efficiency in the high desert environment. The two main types of earthworks we use are swales and ponds. There are a number of natural springs on the property which we have used as sights for ponds. These ponds are stocked with trout and are home to wildlife such as eagles, herons, spotted leopard frogs and bats. The ponds create a riparian zone surrounding them, inhabited by willows, cottonwoods, cattails and watercress. The rest of the system has been topographically engineered based on the elevations of these ponds. To make the movement of water effortless we depend on gravity to draw water from these ponds into the system of swales below. The swales originate at these spring-fed ponds, spreading across the land at a one percent grade. This minimal grade forces the water to move slowly, soaking into the landscape and not causing erosion. As the water drains through our soil, it charges our water table, causing noticeable sub-irrigation downhill from the swale. Greener grass, faster plant growth and moisture appear at ground level, indicating the possibility of springs appearing in new locations.
In an irrigated system, swales serve the purpose of capturing runoff to be stored or reused. Because we don’t have ditch irrigation, overhead or gated pipe, our swales become the main delivery source of water to dry areas of the farm. The swales are planted densely with food bearing trees, shrubs and legumous ground cover. The pastures in between the swales are sub-irrigated by the slowly moving water, and produce an abundance of graze for our cattle and hogs. Each swale drains into its own small pond on the driest ridge of the farm. This is where moisture is most absent, and the only plants that could survive these areas were hardy desert species such as knapweed, sage, rabbit brush and juniper. With the introduction of these earthworks, we have been able to sustain much more life on these dry ridges. Some species that now thrive in these locations are apple trees, mulberry trees, service berries, Nanking cherry, Siberian pea shrub, honey locust, walnut, hazelnut, pine nut and raspberries along with lush grasses and clovers. When these ponds fill with water they irrigate the entire ridge, creating the potential for food production and rotational grazing.
We don’t usually have enough spring water to regularly flood the system. During these times we rely on precipitation alone to fill the swales with water. Even a small rain or snow melt is enough to flood these swales. This is because they capture the runoff from all the area uphill and concentrate the moisture on the trees and shrubs, where it can soak in and irrigate. This concentrating effect causes the swales to run with water, even with minimal precipitation.
Swales create an opportunity to create an environment suitable for your own needs. Grafted fruit trees can be planted alongside cultivar berry bushes and table grapes, producing viable crops for farmers market or “you pick” scenarios. Alternatively swales can be planted in seedling fruit and nut trees, creating unpredictable crops suitable for foraging livestock. We find that in our high elevation environment, raising pastured pork and grass fed beef is less work and more profitable than commercial fruit crops. Therefore we have planted our entire system with hardy varieties of perennial crops, catered toward our livestock operation. We don’t have to worry about late freezes, pests and fertilizers because our hogs will never complain about the quality of the fruits and nuts dropping on the ground. They quickly convert the forage into high value protein, targeting a customer base that seeks pastured pork, raised on fruits and nuts with no grain present in their diet. This is one example of how we decrease our workload and minimize expensive inputs while increasing our product quality and profit!
The hogs have proven to be useful in many ways, but recently I discovered a new way in which they benefit our system. As I mentioned earlier, the pigs graze in the alleys between the swales. During fruit season, in our valley, there is an enormous amount of culled peaches, plums and apples that I can pickup for free at the local fruit sorting shed. Because of the abundance, I can easily end up dumping cull fruit into the pig pastures at a rate of tons per day. That’s a lot of fruit for the pigs to sort through, so they end up wallowing in the cool fruit during the heat of the day, and eating it constantly. In the process, the seeds and pits get passed through the digestive systems of the pigs and spread around the entire alley. Over the course of several weeks, they unintentionally push the seeds deeper into the mud. The seeds, buried in layers of manure and mud, will spend the winter going through a natural process of stratification. When the warmer days and spring rains begin, the pits have finished stratifying and begin germination. In observing the alleys where pigs were grazed and fed abundantly during fruit season, I have found thousands of healthy, young fruit trees growing among the grasses and clovers. These alleys, grazed by pigs, will some day be mature food forests, planted by pigs.
An exciting aspect of installing a water management system is that you are bound to occasionally be surprised by natural forces completely out of your control. In our case it was prairie dogs that altered our system so dramatically that we could never possibly reproduce the results that they have caused here. As you may know, prairie dogs are a burrowing rodent native to North America. They create vast expanses of interconnected, underground tunnels. Prairie dogs are attracted to make their homes on sights that are dry with very little vegetation. Having an unobstructed view from their raised burrow hole is essential for them to spot and evade predatory birds and coyotes. For many years Cedar Springs Farm was a perfect sight to build a prairie dog village, until I showed up. By installing earthworks that deliver water to the dry ridges, I raised the water table and flooded their burrows. Every time the swales run with water, all the prairie dog holes in the near vicinity also overflow. This creates an exponentially more complicated water management system than I ever could have engineered. The underground plumbing, installed by these native rodents, transports huge amounts of water under the fields, gushing out in the most unexpected places! Most of the time this is beneficial, and there’s always a swale to catch this extra runoff, but I’ve also had to adapt to this alteration in the system in an effort to keep certain areas from becoming too muddy. The increase in lush ground vegetation combined with the frequent flooding of their burrows has pushed the prairie dog population across the fence to my neighbors field. Their earthworks remain.
Every farm will have a unique relationship with swales and ponds. Some pieces of land are very dry, with steep slopes and require serious earthworks to capture and utilize water from precipitation and runoff. Other farms will require minimal adjustments to achieve the desired effect on the landscape. The first step in either case is to step back and observe your farm. Learn where the water is already naturally wanting to move, and get familiar with the topography of your land. This way you can make beneficial adjustments to the already existing system, instead of fighting against it.
In order to make a living off of this land, Jake focuses on protein production. Belted Galloway beef cattle are raised and finished on grass. Jersey dairy cows are hand milked for raw milk and butter production. Pastured pigs provide pork. The forest systems largely support forage for these animals. A variety of birds also work the barn yard, providing eggs and meat. Though the power of this system may not be obvious yet, to the untrained observer, time will make the brilliance of it undeniable. If you want to watch it progress, follow Jake on Instagram, and pester him to write a book about it. If you are interested in the amazing food that comes off this farm, contact Jake at Jaketakiff@gmail.com.
This is but one of the amazing farms here, in the valley. I will spotlight the work of other brilliant people, in the future!
If you would like to learn more about Permaculture, here are some links to books on the subject. These are Amazon affiliate links which pay me a small commission, at no additional cost to you!
