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Revision as of 09:29, 27 October 2015
Jacob Springs Farm is a beyond organic, "everything farm" (description) located near Boulder, Colorado on the southeast corner of Arapahoe road and 75th street.
Contents
Purpose
(mission and vision)
Ethics>Principles>Strategies>Techniques
History
Jacob Springs Farm was founded by André and Vanee Houssney in the summer of 2010 when they bought the Condon/Debaker property close to Boulder. Prior to the purchase, the farm, located at Jacob's Corner, had been named Cottonwood Farm after a row of giant cottonwood trees which had been planted along Arapahoe Road (originally called Valley Road) in the 1860's. Since the cottonwoods were now gone, having been cut down in 2005 when Arapahoe Road was widened, and since the Condon Family had chosen to continue using the name "Cottonwood Farm" on land they lease from the Jacobs family to the West of 75th street.
Goals
- Education of young farmers through WWOOF and internships
- Demonstration of a model of profitability in regenerative family farming
- Production of high quality products that are healthy and nutrient dense
- Wholesale ecological restoration of our property as well as adjacent and leased land
- Achievement of a high level of animal well-being through reproducible animal husbandry practices
- Refinement of our target market through CSA, direct sales, and other means
- People care including health and safety, work satisfaction, spiritual well-being, team dynamics and morale
- Demonstration of the Kingdom of God through Christian community, love and service
Daily Schedule
The farm schedule begins each day Monday through Saturday at dawn (see Jacob Springs dawn start times calendar) with a 15-20 minute meeting prior to chores. Volunteers, wwoofers, and farm team members are expected to attend. Chores follow the meeting. Workers are invited to join in a (typically) wonderful breakfast following chores. Over breakfast, we typically engage in an informal discussion topic. After breakfast, special projects continue until 11 or noon.
see also
Philosophy
Farming God's Way
We believe that the solutions for the problems in agriculture; from problems with profitability and production to problems with pollution and waste, are fundamentally ecological and not technological, but technological solutions, such as those developed in our farm maker-space can assist us in applying ecological solutions to local and global problems. We therefore look to solutions in nature, supported by technology. Natural systems are productive and balanced. As we observe the patterns in nature and seek to emulate them, we believe that we are learning to think the thoughts of the creator. This is what we mean by farming God's way. This principle prompts us to seek out solutions in farming principles such as Permaculture, Holistic Range Management, and others.
Labor
- Dull work is not just for dull people. Many of the worlds best ideas came to people working dull jobs, lots of our labor is boring, it's true, ut this frees our kids to contemplate deeper things for many more hours a week than the typical worker within an information economy. We strive to take pleasure in the routine and boring aspects of farming, just as in the exciting and stimulating ones.
- Labor and rest - We believe that hard work is good. Work is a necessity, not only for survival but for people to reach their highest potential. At the same time we believe that rest is essential for humans to thrive (main article:Sabbath). The fourth commandment of the law of Moses, as recorded in the Bible reads "Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath." In farming, there is always more work to be done, it can therefore be easy for work to consume all your time. Although this may seem to be productive, there comes a point where constant work degrades the effectiveness of the worker and the discipline of rest must be observed to keep the worker sharp. More commonly perhaps, people are inclined to be unproductive, excessive rest or recreation is dulling to the senses and reduces the productive output of a life. We acknowledge the ancient wisdom of "Six days you shall labor" and "Remember the sabbath"
- How to make a mistake is one of our guiding principles for how to work together.
Current people
- André Houssney - lead farmer and visionary
- Vanee Houssney - communication and administration
- Daniel Rankin - technology and farm hackerspace director
- Kierstyn Bristol - herdsman
- Ashley Urban- dairy commissioner and value-added products wizard
- Lauren Hoos- chef extraordinaire and people care
Farm programs
As a diversified farm, Jacob Springs organizes it's production into various farm programs; a list of current and past programs follows:
Meat
- Beef program (locker beef, breeding stock and Meat CSA)
- Pork program (locker pork, Colorado Mutle breeding stock and Meat CSA)
- Lamb program (locker lamb, and Meat CSA)
- Broiler chicken program (live sales, and Meat CSA)
- Meat Duck program (live sales and breeding stock)
- Goat program (pack goats) and locker trade
- Thanksgiving turkey
- Christmas goose
- Rabbit program
Other livestock
- Raw Milk Shares (Jersey breeding stock and Beef program)
- Chicken eggs
- Duck eggs
- Honey (topbar hive production of comb honey)
- Package bees program
- Incubation
Perennials
Annual crops
Mushrooms
Animal Feed
Carpentry
Value-added farm projects
- Value added farm products CSA (concept stage - not currently offered)
Pricing
The Jacob Springs price list is a reference for what things should cost in our market. Note that the list is not intended to be a list of what we sell or have in stock, is subject to change without notice and it does not constitute an offer but it is for reference only.
Infrastructure
See main article: Infrastructure