Prairie Song Farms

Mission: The Holistic Goal - Vision and Mission revised and updated Spring 2013
The holistic goal contains four primary sections: Statement of Purpose, Quality of Life, Forms of Production, and Future Resource Base. Each section builds on the next, and descriptions of each section are given briefly next to each heading title.

Statement of Purpose - The overarching mission
To build a resilient community that provides opportunities for people to learn how to live in harmony with each other and the cosmos.

“Quality of Life, forms of production, and future resource base goals have to be combined into one comprehensive, holistic goal. Otherwise decisions could be made in support of one aspect, while damaging another.” from Holistic Management

Quality of Life - A description of how we want our life to be, in the context of the farm, based on what we most value
Life at the farm is latent with an underlying peace and fosters harmony in diversity. We live together honestly, passionately, and creatively in community. Our work is inspired by our individual passions, yet contributes toward a shared purpose.

We want to develop an infrastructure and landscape that generates long-term food self-sufficiency, energy and water independence, and economic abundance; this involves commitment to necessary systems of organization to maintain what is developed, revising systems as needed to respond to changing conditions and new information. We want to share the lessons and opportunities from the farm to the community of Fairfield and beyond. And we want to help build a place where future generations can grow up naturally, comfortably and without fear.

Forms of Production - What we have to produce to fulfill the purpose of Prairie Song Farms and create the qualities of life that we desire
Community celebrations and activities that foster community spirit
An environment that is open to art, music, dancing, social gatherings, and other aspects of life that generally promote richness, creativity and fun
Comfortable, functional, and energy efficient dwellings
Renewable energy for electrical needs, and load calculations for existing structures
Plants for food and medicine, and care taking guidelines to support their growth and use
Food processing and storage space
Systems of organization that support orderliness and maintenance of community spaces and equipment
Community kitchen use
Living room and porch use
Tools use
Trash and recycling protocol
Greenhouse use
Methods of communication to help us harmonize our activities, including systems of accountability for project planning/implementation/maintenance

From www.ic.org/directory/prairie-song-farms/:

Where We Started

The idea of Prairie Song Farms is that Sustainable Living Students from the University can come to apply on site “hands-on” knowledge that they learn in the classroom, while at the same time establishing a perennial, self supporting system of energy, infrastructure, polyculture, education, and community.

When we first began in 2009 we planted a garden, and began making the old farm home liveable. That spring and summer consisted of painting, re-flooring, putting in a septic system, installing a sump-pump in the floor of the basement in the farmhouse, planting trees, sealing the roof of the farmhouse, fixing the gutters, cleaning out the attic and sealing off the front porch to make the place livable, along with getting to know the land with everything we did.

In the Fall of 2010 we had an incredible momentum returning to Prairie Song Farm from California in a ‘69 International school bus with seven college students. We kept the momentum going by the building of a StrawBale cottage inspired and funded by our newest member of the team, Jeremiah. We built the cottage in a month, and simultaneously started on the renovation of the south barn/storage shed which is now a home with attached greenhouse and water catchment unit.

The 2012-2013 year saw a changing scene at the farm, with the 2010 crew graduating and leaving the farm, and a new group gradually emerging. Some of the babies left, some new babies moved in. In the spring of 2013 a permaculture design plan was made by James for his senior project, and Rick Valley -an experienced permaculturist from Oregon- came for a 2 days to consult the farm on its permaculture design and long-term vision. The farm also got a partial grant to build a greenhouse. The greenhouse is now up - completed over the summer 2013, and more activity will ensue based on the people at the farm from here on out. The permaculture design plan is in a binder at the farm in hard copy, as well as online shared with the group on google drive.

In December 2013 we experienced a fire in the top floor of the farmhouse.Quick thinking by Victor Orne and help from all members (we were having a farm meeting downstairs when the fire started) plus quick response from the Fairfield Fire Department saved the building. The fire was the impetus to do the long-considered renovations to the old place.

The entire top story was removed and replaced with a Victor Orne designed and implemented simpler and taller roof. The building’s electrical system was upgraded, heating vents were reconfigured and improved, and the outside foundation was insulated. As of 2015, a new metal roof is in place, the South steps have been rebuilt, foam insulation has been added, the West porch is now a heated bedroom, the East deck has been re-roofed, drywall and painting are done. It’s a much more expansive interior on both floors.

In October 2013 Jeffrey & Linda began building their future home out in the Northwest hay field. Fall, 2017 the house is now complete.

June 2014. Several PSF members graduated and launched themselves into the world. We miss them dearly and look forward to their return visits.natives to meet our water, food, shelter, and energy needs. Ultimately propelling the shift of the paradigm of scarcity into one of absolute abundance.”

A service of the Data Commons Co-op. The project has been supported by Equal Exchange, the Cooperative Charitable Trust, the USDA, and many others - thank you! Tech volunteers over the years include: Benjamin Bradley with support from GAIA Host. Ben Mauer with support from Quilted. Paul Fitzpatrick. Ronin Tech Collective, Brattleboro Tech Collective, Sligo Computer Services. Jason Lemieux. Default map tiles courtesy of MapQuest. Default map data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA.