Little Song Farm

"While we're here, we've all got a little song to sing. This is my little song."

A contribution to the health, resiliency, and abundance of a small neighborhood in Western Massachusetts.

After eight years of working on farms up and down the East Coast, I'm giving a go at it...

Vision
A Neighborhood-supported, well-cared for, abundant and financially thriving farm on three acres of land in suburban North Amherst, MA.

After five years of working the land, the soil will be lush pasture, with vegetable gardens rotating in the field. Chickens, pigs, goats, and a cow, scratching, rooting, browsing, and grazing. The land will produce an abundance of food, which will be available for sale to the neighborhood and to friends and family of the farm. The farm will sustain itself financially and provide me with a very modest living.
To feed the soil, to include the community, and to keep it local, I'll bring in food scraps from the neighborhood, wood shavings from the mills, and ashes from the stoves. We'll have neighborhood kickball games in the summer and harvest feasts in the fall, on the soft pasture in the field.

The Farm Three acres next to my home in North Amherst. The soil needs help. My focus in the first year will be:

-Restoring the health of the soil
-Building a strong relationship with the neighborhood and the people who call it home
-Developing a stock of animals and systems to manage and care for them in a good way

How I will do this:

-Inviting neighbors to save their food scraps/compost. This "imported" fertility will create rich soil for the farm and provide food for the chickens and pigs. Neighbors can either drop off this compost themselves, or pay for weekly pickup.
-Two neighborhood gatherings: a fried chicken picnic in the summer, feasting on the first group of chickens that we've raised; apig Roast of one of the pigs at the end of the season in the fall.
-Rotational management of goats, chickens, and pigs. Goats mow, chickens scratch and clean, and pigs prepare the soil for seeding. All provide fertility and organic matter, building a soil rich in nutrients with a resilient, healthy soil structure.

Produce I'll be offering the following farm products in my first year growing:

Free range chicken
Free range eggs
Greens (salad, kale, chard, etc...)

All products will be fresh and grown above and beyond organic standards.
I will offer more products in the following years as the land and farm allow.

Where you come in I'm asking for a portion of the start-up costs for the first year. This will allow me to get started and produce income to maintain the farm. This ask includes the basic costs. Here's the breakdown:

Animals
   -2 goats @ $150 each= $300
   -2 piglets @ $120 each= $240
   -10 layers @ $15 each= $150
   -150 chicks = $250

Infrastructure
   -Shed $400
   -Brooder $200
   -Chicken "Tractors" 3 @ $150 each =$450
   -Chicken Coop $100
   -Eggmobile $500

Fencing
   -Solar Fence Energizer $215
   -Poultry Net $175
   -Goat Net $200
   -Pig Net $100

Water
   -275 gallon tote $150
   -55 gallon barrels 3 for $100

Feeder
   -Goat feeder $60
   -Goat waterer $40
   -Pig trough $40
   -Chicken waterer $25
   -Chicken feeder $25

Accessories
   -Heat Lamp $35
   -Solar light $45

Total=$3800

Indebted We can't do anything alone. Even the "independent" ones depend on the banks. I'm so so grateful that I don't have to go down that road, that I can look to my people, who trust my vision and the ways this project will pay back to all those it impacts. "Great great gratitude."

Mentors of the Farm: The Franklins, Farmer Matt Conver, Gustavo Gomez, Don Belisario, Farmer John Steyer, Mark Fraser, Al and Suzanne, my parents, grammy, Lawrence Quigley, Neill Bovaird, Glen Douglas, Jim and Ron Cross and all the rest of you!

Influenced by: Wendell Berry, Gene Logsdon, Gary Snyder, Wes Jackson, Masanobu Fukuoka, Newman Turner, Joel Salatin

bless you all
ryan