Permaculture Farming

Archive for September, 2009

2. Build a Permaculture vegetable enclosure designed by Chris Francis.. Part 2 of 8

Question: women’s life on farm?

Im 23, my boyfriend and I are thinking about getting some land and farming. I am wondering about experiences as women working on a farm, compared to those of men. Women-are you expected to do the same work as your man, or does he handle as much as he can and you help? We will be doing Permaculture/sustainable agriculture type farming to be able to feed ourselves and sell any additional for side income. We wont be tilling or using any machines to work the land. I was raised in the suburbs and am ok with getting my hands dirty and stuff, I am just wondering how hard it is day-to-day, labor wise. I was thinking that I would be more in charge of animal care, household stuff, etc, but am considering the amount of labor that will be required of this lifestyle. Whats daily life like for you? The more details, the better. Thanks!

Answer: The answer is it really depends on what type of farming you do, and how involved you become.

I’m a Permaculture farmer on a small farm (40 acres). I’ve been doing this for over 20 years.

As for “the same work,” it depends on what you mean by that. I’m 5’2″, my husband is 6’3″. I’m strong for a woman. I’m even stronger than many guys. There is no way I can do a lot of what my husband is physically capable of.

We also compliment each other in our strengths and weaknesses.

I have the animal and gardening knowledge. I also have the food storage knowledge. My husband is a mechanical genious and keeps everything running. He builds the fences, and the outbuildings. We are even going to build our own home.

Are you sure you’re going to have a Permaculture Farm, and not a “no till farm?”

Permaculture is where everything flows into everything else. You try to live and run the farm as much as possible as nature would. Example, the chickens live in the orchard. Chickens eat all the bugs, so the orchard never needs chemicals for bug control. The rabbit hutches are in the orchard. The chickens eat the food the rabbits drop, and spread the manure the rabbits make around the orchard, as well as adding their own. A worm bin under one rabbit hutch is fed by the manure that rabbit makes. The worm castings and the rabbit manure are added to our vegtable and herb garden. The garden is grown close to the orchard, so rotten vegtables, and insects can just be tossed over the fence and fed to the chickens.

Before that area became a garden, nursing does (goats) and their kids were housed and fed there (over the winter). All the manure, urine, straw, and rotted alfalfa that collected over the winter stayed there to make an incredibly rich, and well fertilized garden patch.

Next year the goats will be moved to a new pen for the winter, next to the other one. When the garden is done, oats, or rye seed will be covered over the garden spot as a green cover over the winter. Chickens will have the run of the area over the winter, to clean up any left over vegtables, and insects.

Goats will be turned back in the spring, to do a quick graze down, adding their fresh manure. The new garden will be started where in the new garden spot next to it though. Two weanling pigs will be put into the old garden patch.

From then on, two pigs will spend time until slaughter age in the alternating garden spot each year. This will prevent insects from building up, and the pigs will live happy, healthy lives rooting about in a large spot filled with healthy vegitation for them to each.

Goats, horses, and sheep are intensively grazed on a pasture, and then moved to a new pasture, giving it time to rest. Everything flows on our farm, and one thing feeds the other thing. That’s the way nature is.

Sometimes with farming you have virtually nothing to do. Other times, you have no time to sleep. During winter kidding season, I can be up every two hours, to check for new kids for weeks on end. I am completely exsausted by the end.

You state you want to grow your own food. Any idea how much work that involves? I don’t mean tending the garden….that’s the easy part! I’m talking about all the work preserving your food, so you have food to eat for the entire year! I know, because I do it. Have you ever canned? Dehydrated? Butchered your own livestock? Properly frozen foods? Grinding your own flour? How about baking your own bread daily? You need to know how to do all those things, if you want to be able to feed yourselves. You also need to know how to maintain a LARGE pantry.

When you grow your own food, that mean preserving it, until the next harvest. I have about two years food storage in my pantry, for three adults.

As for not using any machines, that’s just silly. Even the Amish use machines. How will you spread the manure over your entire pasture/crop area without a tractor, and manure flicker? Or will you just harvest, and never spread manure back to the soil, robbing the soil of it’s precious nutrients?

Women in charge of animal care can be a bad idea. It’s because women tend to be very soft hearted, and want to keep, care for, and love each and every animal. Especially the runt, the one that was injured, or the poor low ranking one that isn’t growing well. Those animals need to be culled. That means killed, and served up on the dinner table.

Have you ever shot an animal? How about a goat that you bottled raised and thinks you are its mama…but the neighbor dog came over and tore it’s anus out, and the goat is suffering horribly? Could you shoot the neighbor dog too, even though you’ve pet the dog, and actually like it, or at least did before it did that to your goat?

Ever have to fish a dead, bloated, stinking sheep out of a ditch on a 90 degree day? Perhaps you want a tractor…would make that job easier! I didn’t have a tractor at the time.

I’ve wanted this lifestyle since I was a six year old girl. No, I’m not kidding. At six years old, I knew I would live such a life. What did you want to do at six years old? What was your life’s dream for when you grew up?

If you don’t desire the lifestyle with every fiber of your being, then you would be better off not getting into it. You will not be happy.

~Garnet
Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years
P.S. Want to learn more, look over questions I have previously answered. I do not keep my questions or answers private. I want people to learn, and I want to share my knowledge.

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