Introduction

Nestled on the north slope of Streeter Mountain is

a farm known as D Acres. The farm sits on the cusp
of New Hampshires White Mountains overlooking
the Baker River Valley. The forest and granite of
the mountains dominate the landscape. The air is
fresh and crisp; sparkling water flows down from
the mountainside above. The four seasons are
dramatic and intense, the white of winter briefly
conceding to the lush green of summer and brilliant autumn color.
Upon arrival it is clear this is not your typical
conventional farm. There are neither feedlots nor
endless rows of monocrops. While there are farm
animals and food crops, these systems are strategically woven into the landscape in a form that
resembles nature. Instead of a farmhouse designed
for an extended family, the central building is more
like the hub of a village. This community multiplex
both offers space for public events and serves the
needs of the residential participants. In addition
to farm gate sales, visitors venture to D Acres for
community food events, workshops, and overnight
accommodations, as well as to tour the forest and
gardens. The multiplex is indicative of a design that
is responsive to change and integrated into the landscape, climate, and resources of this rocky hillside.
The farm design recognizes adaptation and evolution while maintaining the goals of nurturing the
people and the soil. This unconventional approach
to farming has evolved as a response to the dilemmas humanity faces.
Once when I was distributing flyers for D
Acres workshops and events in the affluent town
of Hanover, I approached the manager of the

CSPF-finalpages.indd 9

downtown bookstore to seek a proper location for

posting. As I was explaining the hands-on gardening
and land stewardship offerings we were advertising,
she interrupted me to say that everyone employed
at the store knew about sustainabilitythey had
backyard gardens, and some even had chickens.
While I did not stay that day to question her
definition of sustainability, I think its important to
define what a sustainable future would truly look
like. Consumerist culture continues to offer greener
alternatives to the global market, but I am seeking
contentment closer to home. To devise a sustainable
future, we must construct a localized economy that
provides more than seasonal produce and a handful
of eggs, microfarms, and green appliances. Fossil
fuels have provided a faade of permanence to the
wealth and prosperity evidenced by affluent society.
Evolution will require a more profound shift in how
we meet our needs.
We must localize our energy, transportation, and
resource consumption while creating a community
that provides education and medicine for our future.
To find this path we must serve as explorers seeking
alternatives. To transition from the conventional
paradigms, we need experiments with subsequent
successes and failures. The community of people,
local ecology, and mission-driven agenda of D Acres
weave together to represent my attempt to undertake this challenge.

Everyone has his or her own definition of community. Is it something as glib as the people you would

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The Communit y-Sc ale Permaculture Farm

split your last beer or smoke with? Is community

the bar where everyone knows your name? Is it
your immediate friends and family, or is there a
geographical basis to community, such as a city
block, neighborhood, or township? Is it all of the
above? There are multiple layers to community,
which require depth of vision to perceive.
During college I spent leisurely time with friends
drinking beer and discussing the future. Often the
conversation centered on the dream of living in
community. We imagined starting a farm where we
would enjoy the fresh air, vegetables, and all the
freedoms of the good life together. After over twenty
years in pursuit of this vision, I remain undeterred.
My initial narrow perspective of both the challenges and benefits of community, however, has
been tempered by experience. The word community has changed for me over time. I see D Acres
community as an evolving process and as a natural
system affected by its locality as well as its personnel. Communities transition as members age. There
are new arrivals and births as well as departures
and deaths to consider.
Community implies trust and mutual support.
To my mind, we derive community by sharing a
common identity. When we share at that level, it
becomes instinctual to feel empathy and compassion for others and collaborate for the common
good. In this sense, community is limited only by
the confines and restraints of our imaginations.
To me it is important to extrapolate our feeling of
community in global solidarity. By recognizing the
shared, finite resources on this planet, we may begin
the work of perpetuating on this planet.
After twenty years I am still grappling with
how best to explain a vision of communityboth
the rewards and imperfections of an evolving and
adaptable system. My intention in writing this book
is not to supply any definitive answer but rather to
present a methodology of designed adaptation. In
these evolving times we must respond to the environmental factors that not only shape our culture
but also serve to dictate our success as a species.

CSPF-finalpages.indd 10

My hope is that this book serves as kindling to

you for the abundance of opportunity in the landbased service movement. While the book may be
valuable to most anyone, my purpose in writing
was to offer a compilation of information that I wish
was available when I began farming. By providing
a basis of understanding of the farm system, I hope
that readers can use this model as a platform for
their own innovation and creative living.
The Community-Scale Permaculture Farm is not
a volume of statistics and scientific research heavy
in academic citations. This text is designed to lay
out an overall framework of a system and dissect
its various constituent parts. Through this assessment I hope to convey an understanding of how the
elements are integrated into a living organism.
While this book provides a wide spectrum of
practical information on the physical systems
designed into a community-scale homestead, it
also reviews the economics and organizational
particulars that we have experimented with here
at D Acres. Overall, the contemporary, socioeconomic dynamic and human reluctance to change
could prove to be more challenging than any other
hurdle. To overcome the inertia of convention, the
catalyst must be personal motivation. This motivation cannot be fear, but rather an acceptance of our
role as conscientious members of the ecosystem. To
reach a sustainable social dynamic we must shift
our cultural philosophy from a self-serving one to
that of an altruistic people with a holistic paradigm.
The justification for pursuing this path is both altruistic and compassionate, providing service to others
as well as inner peace.
Whatever terminology we choose, humanitys
fate will be determined by our ability to sustain
ourselves within nature. By systematically addressing the circumstance and designing a conscious path
forward, we can face our challenges.
As a founder of the D Acres organization, I have
attempted to find personal fulfillment based on
scientific, philosophical, and ethical inquiry. My
decision to seek this path in response to the crises

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 Introduction xi

Mission
The mission of D Acres is to serve as an educational
center that researches, applies, and teaches skills of
sustainable living and small-scale organic farming.
The center functions as a demonstration farm,
offering multiple exemplars of healthy living and
striving to improve the human relationship to the
environment. Sharing a communal living situation,
individuals come to respect and share values of
interdependence and love of nature. In addition,
the organization supports educational activities
directed toward improving the quality of life of
residents and the larger community. Our intentions
are to develop a farm system that is sustainable
and suitable to this climate, and therefore acts as
a demonstration and experimental model; increase

of our era has yielded, for me, mental and physical well-being through an active lifestyle, spiritual
contentment, engagement with community, and
connection to nature. With this book I hope to share

CSPF-finalpages.indd 11

consciousness about peoples impact on the environment by limiting our consumption of fossil fuels
and other resources; reduce, reuse, and recycle,
as well as emphasize local and on-site production
and consumption; develop skills as a group to
solve problems, organize, and pursue an agreedupon agenda; interact with and contribute to the
community at large by providing goods, services,
and educational opportunities while representing
the vision of the organization; provide a training
center for the development of skills related to
organic farming, forestry, landscaping, eco-friendly
construction, and cottage crafts; and develop
personal and group skills to improve economic
viability through cottage style industry.

the sacrifices and immense rewards of pursuing

positive practical alternatives to the destructive
culture of today, so that it might inspire you to take
positive action, now!

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LOWERGARD

UPPERGARDEN
SUGARSHACK
REDBARN
EDITHSHOUSE
PASTURE
BLACKSMITH

EDITHSGARDEN

COM
BU

PLAYGROUND
FIREPIT

OPEN-SIDEDBLDG
POTTINGSHED/
BIGCOLDFRAME

COMPOSTFACILITY
STORAGEZONE

D Acres of New Hampshire. llustration by Marylena Sevigney.

CSPF-finalpages.indd 12

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LOWERGARDEN

AQUATICZONE

RSHACK
REDBARN
EDITHSHOUSE

OUTDOORKITCHEN

AQUATICZONE

BLACKSMITH

COMMUNITY
BUILDING

GANIMAL
RESOURCEPILE
OXHOVEL

OPEN-SIDEDBLDG
POTTINGSHED/
BIGCOLDFRAME

PIGTRANSITION
ZONE

PIGS

PIGS

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