The Experimental Farm
Photo by Varun Genius
For All New Updates on the Farm, please visit This Link
I have been offered a plot of land for the summer, outside of Ottawa, to use to grow crops to support the Alternate Economy.
Ian Walker of Mariposa Farms, has currently offered our community an amazing opportunity. He has 86 acres of farmland, much of which is in use, but much of which stands fallow as well. Assuming that we maintain the land and the crops and provide the seed, we are free to use the land as we wish.
What a spectacular offer! I am still trying to figure out how this benefits Ian, but sometimes Generosity is simply that. His land is unused. We need land.
To start, since I have little experience as a farmer, we will begin with a small 1/2 acre plot and a greenhouse.
Here is how I see this working. I would like to grow some simple crops throughout the summer, organically, and split the harvest in three ways. One half of the harvest will go to market, to raise funds for the Alternate Economy, so that we may purchase land of our own. One quarter of the harvest will go to Ian, for his generosity in using his land. One quarter will be donated to the local Shepherd’s of Good Hope soup kitchen.
For All New Updates on the Farm, please visit This Link
In many ways, I envy your new garden. I grew up with fresh vegetables and fruit. It has been a few years since I got my hands dirty and miss the whole process, from start to finish…Reading this, I may just have to relive my younger years…thanks for the motivation…
I am happy to motivate others to garden as well! It is amazing how much one tomato plant produces.
I live in an apartment now and I miss gardening too! The produce from gardens taste so good, makes the supermarket food seem tasteless in comparison 🙂
As i lived in Ottawa until recently, there is already an “Experimental Farm”… but what you are doing is extremely generous!
lol… yeah, I know, but mine is better.
What a beautiful plan — generosity on the part of all involved!
Awesome! Fantastic! Can’t wait for pictures!
Good idea. I will upload some tonight and put them on the experimental farm blog
EXCELLENT plan!
‘I am still trying to figure out how this benefits Ian . . .’ It appears Ian knows the old adage, ‘Those who give shall always receive what they need’, as well as the Law Of Increasing Returns (whatever you ‘put out there’, or give away, comes back to you ten fold — or more).
We were all falsely programmed to believe in ‘limitation’, you see, and that one should only be generous when there is an obvious ‘guarantee’ of a ‘return on the investment’. This is a lie, an illusion, an intentional falsehood created to prevent us from discovering the REAL keys to abundance. An enlightened soul understands two things: a) That to give something of value (material or non-material), one must ALREADY HAVE that thing to give, and so the act of giving it reinforces your posession of it in abundance; and b) the Universe immediately sees and recognizes that underlying assumption, and so joyfully moves into action to give you MORE or what you supposedly gave away. It creates an upward spiral of abundance, you see. The opposite, the assumption of scarcity and lack and limited resources that we were all inculcated to ‘believe in’ from birth, ALSO works this way: If one hoards ‘things’, and refuses to share the abundance, one becomes deprived of things of true value, and it creates a downward spiral, reinforcing THAT mentality. The Universe simply acts to reinforce one’s deepest beliefs and philosophies is all. It is thoroughly objective and detached in this matter, respecting each individual’s sovereignty and free will.
Once again, it is demonstrated that it is ALL a matter of personal preference, personal CHOICE. Ian has chosen wisely, and shall be ‘rewarded’ appropriately. It simply cannot be any other way.
very beautifully stated. Just because I am yet to see what he gets from this project, does not mean he will not receive everything he wished for.
This is awesome! I cannot wait to get more updates about this project!
Great post and concept, thanks. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my blog 🙂
Ian benefits from Tristan and other gardeners who work the fields for many reasons, most of which are difficult to identify and explain. Other reasons Ian might benefit are easier to describe
Easy to describe benefits: Tristan’s garden is in the orchard, which is full of invasive, stabby-rooted quack grass. Tristan is removing and cutting back some of this grass He also gets rid of some other “weeds” before they go to seed. The other fields therefore have fewer weed seeds available to get blown onto them. The orchard may produce healthier trees and more fruit if the grass is kept lower.
Mariposa is a biodynamically managed farm. One description of biodynamic agriculture is available here: http://biodynamics.on.ca/about/ (no idea whether or not Mariposa is involved with that organization). I think that most of the hard to identify benefits are involved with the biodynamic ways in which the land and plants and animals (including humans) live, grow and work together.
I’ve been gardening at Mariposa since 2010 now (not long, but I’m starting to get to know the place and people!), and I am pleased to see more people are gardening there. Also, Trisan has brought bees! Bees are very nice and will really help all the plants that need fertilizing by insects.
Thanks Emily,
I never thought of it that way. This is why Ian is such a cool person! I am glad to see you found my blog… it discusses a lot of the things we talked about in the car, but with more style. Sorry I have been so incommunicado. This week has been crazy busy…