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Final Design Project

BEN STAMATS

+ Goals Articulation

I hope to achieve self-reliance by means of a healthy homestead. I would like my site to be self-sustaining. I plan to have multiple varieties of vegetables that can provide food to my family and animals that live on and within the homesteads process. I hope these plants can benefit one another in a symbiotic way to produce higher yields and a healthier soil pH. I would like to have ducks involved in the self-sustaining system so they can eat bugs and veggie scraps. This will provide an at home manure source. I plan to have a waste free irrigation system, both swales and rain barrels included. By reducing waste, I hope to increase yields so I can provide food as well as insight and knowledge to a less environmentally harmful way of life to my local community.

+ Site Analysis-Strengths

Potential for swales along the west boarder of the garden. The water flows through my garden from the southwest towards the north east. I believe an L-shaped swale on the SW corner would benefit the garden immensely and decrease use of plastic irrigation tape.

Thin tree coverage from the north, northwest. This helps protect the garden from cold winter winds that blow in during October and November. The trees also act as a pesticide drift barrier. I can also put my bee hive close to these trees to protect the bees the same way the plants will be protected. This increases length of season for some plants and chances of survival for the bees.

+ Strengths Continued

Plenty of space. I will have enough room to grow the yearly amount of food needed for my household. I will also have enough room to plant a cover crop of rye or oats. This I can have rotate from year to year. This helps with soil health. The oats/rye can be grown out and mowed down to use as mulch in the garden adding additional nitrogen to the topsoil.

Our soil is as healthy as ever and has a pH level of 6.7. This is the strongest aspect of my garden. The soil is named Dinsdale soil. We have a good 6 feet of top soil and it is nearly 50 feet to the bedrock. The soil is beautiful and health as ever.

+ Site Analysis-Challenges

Integrating ducks into the site will be difficult because of the area. The farm is 21 acres and I am using 1/8 of one acre to garden. Keeping the ducks in my area could be difficult since I don’t want them in the garden at all times. The land parcel is so big that 2-3 ducks could easily visit my garden only once every other week. A movable fence system or a portable duck house may be in the works for future projects.

Irrigating during the dry part of the season is a challenge. I’m worried that swales alone will not be enough to provide the correct moisture to plants. I will have only one rain barrel to start with because I rotate my field and moving the rain barrel system can be extra work when starting the season. Deciding where to place this barrel along with the swale will have to be done precisely so the garden gets full coverage.

+ Challenges Continued

I do not have the most frost pockets or shade areas. This seems like it is a strength but I see it as more of a challenge. In Iowa, we are surrounded by corn farmers who use many chemicals to help their corn grow. We grow non-spray veggies and when the wind blows, the chemicals blow. There are not many trees around except for the fruit trees. Year upon year we have seen spots on the fruit and leaves. Pesticides drift and do cause harm to the vegetables and fruit. The challenge will be keeping plants and bees safe from this during the course of the growing season. Trees provide this protection but the downfall is they also cast shade onto plants and reduce sun exposure.

+ Make No Waste

Everything growing in the garden will be eaten, provide ground cover, balance soil acidity, provide bee forage, create a cover crop, and even be sold to the public. I hope to create companion plant plantings in order to increase soil fertility and vegetable yields. An example would be to plant black eyed peas within tomato plants in order to bring nitrogen levels up, provide shade to anything growing below 2 feet. This stunts weed growth and will reduce the amount of weeding needed. Lastly, they can be harvested and eaten.

Extra veggies that don’t make it to market or food scraps from the kitchen will be composted. Compost will be used to mix in with soil. Food scraps can be given to the livestock such as chickens and ducks.

+ Catch & Store Energy

Rain barrels will be placed in the walking path area that I have marked. This splits the garden into fourths. One barrel in the center since I only own one.

Swales will be dug in the SW corner of my plot. They will extend along the west edge about halfway down. The south swale will extend the entire length of the garden.

+ Multiple Functions

Rye and oats will be tilled in to serve as a cover crop. The cover crop has two main functions. Limiting or even preventing weed growth if seed is planted close enough. Two, creating a nitrogen storage so it can be tilled in for the next years vegetables.

Wild flowers will serve multiple purposes as well. To prevent weed growth as well as provide nectar for bees.

Pinto beans will be planted between rows of veggies. This will keep weeds down and bring nitrogen up to other vegetables. Pinto beans will be harvested, mainly to save the seed for the next season. Some will be eaten.

+ Crop Choices

The majority of my crops will be vegetables. I grow vegetables so I can eat them as well as sell them at farmers market. About 25 of the vegetable types grown will be eaten or sold. I will grow rye for as cover crop and soil fertility. Wild flowers will be grown along the edges to feed the bees. Legumes will be planted between the vegetable rows to keep weeds down and bring nutrients to top soil. This year it will be pinto beans collected from last season.

Bees will provide a honey crop as well as pollinate the garden area. There will be plenty of clover and wild flowers for them to collect pollen from on the surrounding farm.

Once I incorporate ducks into the homestead, I will be able to harvest the eggs. Ducks will also fertilize the cover crop.

+ Nutrient Cycling

I hope to grow enough ground cover between vegetable rows to keep the soil fertility balanced. The extra plants will be tilled back into the soil every year to keep nutrients local. The road ditches up stream rarely get mowed and are often flush with milkweed and a few species of wild flower. This is convenient if nutrients in garden flow out too quickly for plants to absorb. Swales between the road ditch and garden area will also help capture these nutrients at the top of the garden.

A rotated cover crop is another way I plan to keep the nutrients abundant year after year. Rye and oats mix grows along side the vegetables then gets tilled in. Vegetables are then grown where the rye was.

If needed, I can buy nitrogen in the form of urea, from a local supplier. I’d rather not resort to this but it can help in desperate times.

+ Integration & Connection

Every plant growing in my garden will serve a purpose. Whether it is grow to eat, sell, trade, provide cover crop, or help soil fertility. If these elements are not balanced, I could see signs of struggle within the homestead. If the beans in between the veggies do not grow well, weeds could grow and cause them to smother the veggies. If the bees hive collapses, there may be a decline in pollination and inevitably yields.

Rain barrels and swales are also equally important as they will be integrated into the design and layout of the garden.

My biggest social connection is with my boss. It is his farm that I am allowed to use for my own garden. Without this, I would not be able to grow the amount of veggies I am used to. I am able to use his tractor, tools, fertilizers, even extra plants he has germinated. He has all the resources I need to make connections and to have this garden function. I have made many connections in the local community which is wonderful because it allows me to sell my produce as well as teach people the processes of the homestead garden.