Brookside Energy Farm, January 2007

This month, the Brookside Energy Farm received an outpouring of community support. Five new Founding Members have joined the farm family, bringing the total to seven members. In addition, Sparetime Supply donated over $500 dollars worth of garden equipment, while Mendo Mill pledged $200 for lumber and hardware, and a local non-profit granted a renewable energy system to the farm. These donations are a sign that the community understands the value of this project and is serious about addressing local food security by investing in reliable, consistent food and energy production.

The Renewable Energy Development Institute (REDI), based in Willits, California, has donated a photovoltaic tracking rack and panels. The system will provide approximately 2KW of electricity and will be integrated into the farm’s irrigation system. REDI is looking for a matching donation of $7500-$10,000 to finalize the installation as we currently lack a battery bank, inverter, and AC and DC breaker box sets.

We have had very little rain this month and are hoping that February and March bring healthy doses of precipitation. In the meantime, we took advantage of the January sun and built a toolbox from scrap materials and donated plywood. After we had a place to store our tools, we began to overturn small areas of sod to test different methods of bed preparation. Our aim is to prepare the land without relying on tractors that could compact the soil and be difficult to maneuver within the confines of the fence.

Check out the newly updated Brookside Energy Farm Photo Gallery to get a view of the farm site and various farm projects.

--Christoffer Hansen, Post Carbon’s energy farm development specialist

Vancouver Energy Farm, January 2007

Mark Bomford, the manager of Post Carbon’s energy farm on the UBC campus, reports that extreme dampness this winter has given him more time to plan for 2007 and talk with other members in the growing energy farms network. Mark and his interns are experimenting with a number of new potential crops, and learning what happens to biogas digesters when the temperatures drop too far.

Mark writes:

We have a number of new potential crops to experiment with for 2007, including industrial hemp (for fibre and seed production, licensing pending), some low-input polycultures, a small short-rotation woody planting, and cool-climate adapted sweet potatoes. The crops planted in 2006, notably canola, flax, and importantly, miscanthus, will still be a part of the energy farm, alongside a variety of grains and smaller plots of plants such as sorghum, kenaf, and soy. The latter group of plants includes species not well adapted to this climate, but which have important demonstration value.

The overwinter grain production currently underway has opened up an opportunity to take advantage of the relatively warm winters on the coast and keep to a 12-month growing calendar. Variety selection and availability is important, as fungal diseases can wreak havoc with many plant varieties during our coastal winters. Much of the work currently underway involves identifying suppliers of appropriate varieties of the species we have identified as priority crops. The planting design underway aims to maximise diversity - in terms of structural diversity, species richness, and species diversity - while maintaining a controlled planting which can provide useful data to share.

With the recent addition of some more interns, field activities are slowly starting up again on the site. One of our students has prepared plot signs for the different overwinter treatments, and is setting out to assess weed growth amidst the different planting densities we established in the fall. A group of students in AGRO 402 (sustainable soil management) have conducted soil tests on the site, and will be providing recommendations as to how best to ensure fertility in the coming year. It remains to be seen how effective the legumes will be at providing additional nitrogen. The lack of above-ground biomass (from geese damage) and the resulting exposed soil areas may mean we will need compost created from off-site livestock manure to ensure satisfactory plant growth in 2007.

The farm's anaerobic digesters did not fare well in the abnormal winter conditions, which resulted in sustained subzero temperatures inside the greenhouse. However, this delay in gas production provides time to improve our data collection techniques, incorporating sensors to measure pH and gas flow alongside the existing temperature sensors. In limited tests, we have achieved clear data transmission from our distant aerobic compost piles, which we will investigate as a potential heat source for the aneorbic system in the future.

We hope to link the energy farm activities closely with the larger farm activities this year, which include the incorporation of 3 new free-range poultry flocks, wide-scale testing of an innovative biologically active fertilizer, and an expanded community supported agriculture (CSA) program.