So'Journey Farm | Sustainability and a little farm history

So'Journey Farm, which was for many years a sheep farm and part of the phenomenal wool producing industry centered in SW Pennsylvania in the last century, is gradually being brought back as a working farm. The methods, however, have substantially changed — or have they?

In the 1800's there were no chemical fertilizers, earthworm-burning herbicides or cows being fed other animals (they're herbivores). There was grass — or what is better described as pasture, since it consists of far more plants than just grasses — and the farmer sensitive to his stewardship of the land would have grazed this pasture carefully. He had to — the land was his source of income and livelihood, and there was always another season ahead to prepare for.

Current models of farming are relying more and more on this "old fashioned" way of raising livestock, and the result is healthier animals, better meat and a healthier pasture — one that is constantly renewed by the perspicacious moving of animals frequently. Cows are followed by pastured poultry, which breaks the pathogen cycle and allows the chickens to eat fly larvae and bugs and also shorten the grass a bit more while leaving their own high-nitrogen manure behind. Then the pasture is allowed to rest and regenerate before both animals graze it again. It's a model that follows nature (bovines herding through an area followed by birds), and is part of the ethic of sustainability that prevails here at So'Journey Farm. Since animal manure is the necessary ingredient to healthy soil, the cycle of intensive grazing allows a spiraling upward of soil fertility, instead of the spiraling downward caused by chemical fertilizers and herbicides.

Grass-fed beef and pastured, free-range poultry — including a French variety from Canada, is raised to sell locally only. These premium meats are available to people in the region who believe that animals should be raised humanely, and should not be fed antibiotics, hormones or other animal parts. These meats are also be available to customers visiting the farm to pick up orders or staying here in the B&B.

Sustainability

What does it mean to live sustainably? And to farm sustainably?

It means recognizing that all things are interconnected, and that the choices we make — from fenceposts to chicken housing, from seed suppliers to what goes into the compost pile — have a direct effect on the land. Optimum, not maximum use of the land is the goal. Fortuitously, many of these decisions are aesthetic as well, as in the case of fencing for the Scottish Highlander cows that was recently installed. Instead of pressure-treated (read: chemically treated) posts, we found split locust posts an hour away and are using them to hold the 3-wire high tensile system. Eventually, they will rot, but in a way that adds to the richness of the soil, not leaving behind a chemical mess to be disposed of in someone else's landfill. But they won't rot in our lifetime, and that makes them a very sustainable choice for the land.

A beautiful stream, House Run, divides the property from the neighbor's hill on the south side of the property and I've watched this lovely stream ebb and flow for almost two years and realize what a precious resource water is to sustainable farming. It always has water, little minnows and once in a while a blue heron. Rather than let the cows meander in and out of this stream, ruining the clarity, leaving unwanted droppings (better it should stay on the land) and destroying the embankment where birds like to live, we are putting the fence up away from the stream in order to leave some riparian space. Although it means less pasture for the cows, it means more habitat for the birds and they will continue to eat the flies and mosquitoes that would otherwise be a larger problem.

The pond was built by the previous owner and holds major domo catfish — some at least 20 inches long. The plan is to continue harvesting and growing these fish, so that visitors to the farm might enjoy a catfish breakfast, while birds, ducks and geese in the region also enjoy a place to visit. It is possible to live care-fully on the land, and to be marvelously sustained by it.