The Future of Chert Hollow Farm
We are working to develop this land into a diversified farm, integrating livestock, produce, poultry, and fruit. Over the next five years, we hope to move toward the possible land-use plan shown below.

Key to land use plans: Produce areas: 1) Current market garden (.25 acres) 2) Main vegetable field (1.2 acres) 3) Secondary vegetable area (.25 acres) Pasture/range areas: 4) Initial pasture (1.5 acres) 5) Secondary pasture (1.75 acres) 6) Future pasture (1.25 acres), used through agreement with neighbors 7) Future pasture (1.5 acres) 8) Future pasture or poultry area Orchard/fruit areas: 9) Orchard, brambles, and strawberries Poultry areas: 10) Permanent poultry range; birds will also be ranged on other pastures seasonally.

As the underlying aerial photo shows, much of the land is currently overgrown in cedar and brush, as it has not been actively farmed or used for decades. We are slowly working to clear this brush and restore the pastures to a mix of native prairie and good forage, with the aim of establishing a rotation of goats, sheep, and poultry to further improve the soils and forage. Our vegetable production will focus on areas 1 and 3 in 2008, expanding out to area 2 in 2009.

Progress clearing cedars from the orchard (area 9), as viewed in paired photographs from the south:

December 26, 2007

February 2, 2008

We chip most of the green material for mulch, burn the dead material, keep the smaller logs for fenceposts, and save the larger logs for milling into lumber. Doing it this way is slower, but allows us to make use of most of the material we're clearing, rather than wasting it, and saves us a quite a bit of money, especially when the value of the mulch and lumber is figured in.