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Welcome ...
The Shepherd's Fold is a polyculture farm, where many
mutually beneficial species happily co-exist. Our bees
collect pollen from our corn and nectar from the hayfields.
They are not harmed, because we do not use pesticides. The
corn and hay are fed to our sheep, goats and cattle, who
turn it into healthy meat, milk and nutrient-rich manure. In
the summer they fertilize our pastures for us. In the
winter, when they spend most of their time inside, lounging
in the barn, we bed them with wood chips (fallen limbs from
our woods) which will go back onto the garden and the fields
in the spring.
Our chickens also fertilize as they go… in the summer you
can always tell where the chickens have been, because the
grass is greener there. Honey from the bees will bless
our table and the vegetables in the garden are more abundant
because of our live-in pollinators. Each of our endeavors
sustains the farm as a whole, using the God ordained
biodiversity of the earth as its model.
What Is Sustainable Agriculture?
Sustainable agriculture is, in essence, the practice of
giving back to the land.
In contrast, 85% of America’s food supply is
produced by only 8% of the farms. Government subsidized
monoculture (single species) farming has replaced the family
farms that throughout history fed our country. These
mega farms have specialized in bringing a consistent and
cost efficient product to the American consumer, but the
incredible expense in the toll they have taken on American
farms and farmland is just starting to be recognized.
Their farming practices rob the soil of nutrients,
necessitating the heavy use of chemical laden fertilizers
and weed killers. Heavy pesticide use kills “bad”
insects, but also wreaks havoc with the beneficial soil
organisms and pollinators. Overcrowded conditions, and
mass production of single species “meat” production
necessitate the widespread use of antibiotics and hormones
which in turn have had detrimental effects on a generation
of children… finding no use for the vast quantities of
manure produced by hundreds of animals packed in small
spaces, these farms end up disposing of it as “toxic waste”.
Genetically modified plants and hybrid varieties that do not
reproduce true to form are wreaking havoc with the very
essential building blocks of life itself. Not to mention the
crisis in
American farming, as small family farms are forced off the
land. This is a picture of non-sustainable
agriculture.
Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look
well to thy herds. For riches are not for ever: and doth the
crown endure to every generation? The hay appeareth, and the
tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are
gathered. The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are
the price of the field. And thou shalt have goats' milk
enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for
the maintenance for thy maidens.
Proverbs 27:23-27
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