Excerpt from:

  • Lopez Island 2025: Sustainable Transformations for Resilience(PDF, 7 MB). May2012. Knuckles, James, Amanda Bensel, Heather Bessette, Jessica Brandish, Robby Cheriton, Alexis Gabriel, Katherine Gordon, Alexis Gabriel, Katherine Gordon, Neil Heckman, Anna Lui, Deepak Shrestha, Patrick Young, Chris Greacen and Chom Greacen. A class product of the Islands and Sustainability class at Monterey Institute for International Studies

VIGNETTE:
S& S Homestead Farm
S&S Homestead Farm is an amazing example of the sustainable productivity potential of land on Lopez Island. Based on estimations of output-to-land rations, if all farms were all well managed as this one, Lopez Island would not only be self-sufficient but they would have a perfectly healthy and diversified diet of grains, fruits, vegetables, and high quality organic meat. Its owners, Henning Sehmsdorf and Elizabeth Simpson, use an intensely integrated form of biodynamic farming to achieve maximum yields with zero artificial inputs. In fact, all inputs come from the farm itself. To explain biodynamic farming, one could get into the philosophies and technicalities behind living in a closed looped integrated system, but to sum it up simply, Henning’s idea is to essentially “feed” the soil organic compost so that the soil itself is a living thing, full of micro-organisms that excrete essential nutrients plants need to grow. This is similar to organic agriculture, of course, in that it uses natural cycles instead of chemically manufactured inputs. Their biodynamic farm takes the concept of natural cycles to the limit, however. Whereas officially certified organic crops can still use inputs and fertilizers classified organic, their farm is considered a closed-loop system that utilizes a no-till, integrated pest management system that requires almost comically little labor for weeding. They produce everything from meat, vegetables, dairy, and hay. Anything that remains in surplus is sold or pickled for year-long personal consumption and the grasses are used to feed the livestock. They do not buy hay, but rely only on what he farm can produce. Henning’s philosophy is that in order to remain in balance and sustainable, only the number of animals that the land can support on its own should be farmed in any one place. If the land can only support x number of animals, then Henning will only maintain x animals. This is an example of a balanced system, and balance means resilience.
For their own subsistence, Henning and Elizabeth grow a variety of fruits, vegetables, and grains. Chickens provide eggs and dairy cows provide milk and cream, which is subsequently churned to make butter. They grind rye and wheat into flour to make bread. Barley and oats are fed to the animals.
Besides being intimately in tune with its natural surroundings, S&S Homestead Farm also has some very technical aspects to it which help reduce energy and water use. Henning planned in advance when he originally bought the land and started to build on it by facing all large roof surfaces directly to the south so as to take advantage of the continually developing solar technology at the time. Once the price for panels dropped and their efficiency increased to levels that would make it worthwhile, he made the investment and had them installed. Years later, the panels are “paying for themselves”.
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