A recent 3 day workshop at the Grange Farm School featured an interesting combinati
on of presenters and topics. One was Mark Shepard of New Forest Farm, Restorative Agriculture Development Inc, and author of Restoration Agriculture representing a variety of techniques aimed at optimization of solar energy and water for food production. The other was Spencer Smith of the Jefferson Hub of Holistic Management representing the details of an integral part of Restoration Agriculture: holistic planning both for finances and land management.
The combination of topics inspired workshop attendees to think outside their boxes and explore new ways of seeing the landscape. My landscape vision was bolstered with an understanding of hydrology on the watershed scale, to the point where I now see keypoints, contours, and erosion and think to myself: how could we engineer a sequestration system that would help capture the free resources that fall from the sky and sink them into the land?
A few visits to our campus hillside helped us all to see that nature is fractal and understanding the patterns is the first step before implementing strategies. The hillsides that surround the school are generally covered in oak savannah, with slopes and vegetation that are mirrored on our 4 acre knoll. Management strategies identified for the Grange Farm School could be scaled up to the surrounding environment in a way that would capture the 51 inches of average rainfall and grow greener grass longer into the summer, perennial crops, or trees.
We identified a keypoint (P A Yeomans inspired) and used a laser level to flag our contour lines and parallels. The group began to see where water could be stored and how gravity would take part in the passive irrigation system. Next we learned about alleycropping and silvopasture- both concepts that will be experimented with on campus.
The weekend wrapped up with financial planning concepts that helped transform dreams into realities. In order for these restoration agriculture practices to succeed, they have to pay, and only then can we expect large scale food production to shift.
The more we are able to think in terms of patterns and contexts, the more successful we will be at converting this planets’ resources into food sustainably.
Interested in learning more? The Practicum Student Program features lessons and tutorials on Holistic Management for land planning and finances, as well as hands on demonstrations of restoration agriculture.
ng if magic is the right word to describe my time spent at the Grange Farm School. It’s the only word I know that can accurately sum up the overwhelmingly beautiful, educational, and improbable experiences that I had there. I’ll start by freely admitting that I had no notion of what I was getting myself into when I found GFS through a lucky google search. I had never farmed before. I had never lived in the country before. I had never been west of the Rockies before. What I knew was that I needed an internship credit for my horticulture degree and I wanted to see what agriculture was like. So, what better way to learn about farming than working to help start a farm school?
with the clay loam, by hand and satellite imaging. 
feel like a farmer-detective investigating the farmicopia of 21st century food. I want to know the truth of a life dedicated toward food production and I’ll work for cheap. It just so happens that food has been around for quite a while and that those in charge of its production models and distribution have power over those that don’t. Attempting to farm now has its difficulties and they mirror those that existed way before organic was an issue. Food is the heart of a civilization, and we live in an age of feed and fix, the heart is in cardiac arrest. It’s the food and pharmaceutical 21st century. It also turns out that before it becomes food, its alive and survives in a complex ecological and social relationship just like us. To understand this is the job of the modern farmer. Being a farmer-detective, my job at the Grange Farm School is to follow the leads provided by a team of fellow detectives.
o the Aromas Grange and the Sebastopol Grange who joined Little Lake and Anderson Valley Granges by donating funds to our scholarship program. These Granges are actively empowering the next generation of food producers! We owe so much to our surrounding community and Granges for being the support and motivation needed to launch this school into its’ first few years.
proximately an acre of land in Willits California, a small town filled with aged homesteaders, more recent urban expatriates, political dissidents, and passionate supporters of the next generation of food producers. Our farm is on a historic ranch where an alternative lifestyle was forged during the era of conscientious objectors and Vietman. The alternative and conscientious continues amidst the spirit of John Jevon’s Golden Rule Garden run by Ecology Action and the fledgling force of the Grange Farm School. There is a fervent feeling amongst all members of the community that we’re doing the good work that needs to be done. With this history in my tail-wind I’m starboard forward into the sea of farming and activism.
Grange Farm School 