NACF Farm: Land Type and Usage

Tillable cropland: 35.07 acres (HgB, SrB, Wa, MeB)

Non-Tillable cropland: 2.68 acres (1.46 acres Hu, house, barn, and woodland on North Pleasant Street frontage; plus 1.22 acres HgC, stream and wooded banks).

Frontage 0.74 acres (northern North Pleasant St. frontage running east along property line)

For the past 7 years, 14½ of the total 37.8 acres have been leased to a neighboring farmer. A rotation of butternut squash, acorn squash, gourds, and silage/corn have been farmed in the HgB soil at the east end of the farm. Yield has been between 200 and 300 bins of squash with a gross revenue of $100 per bin, and 50 bins of gourds with a gross revenue of $50 per bin. Eight metric tons of silage were sold at $12 a ton.

Until 2004, fields were managed conventionally utilizing integrated pest management. Leaf mulch was applied annually for the past several years. In 2005, only cover crops were grown and no pesticide or fertilizer was used. Rye was seeded in fall 2005.

The owner/operator of the farm planted tomatoes, legumes, rhubarb, chard and sweet corn on 2 acres at the northwest corner of the farm, directly north of the farmhouse and attached barn. One acre midway up the field to the east at the south boarder, pumpkins and strawberries were grown. These crops have not produced any significant revenue in the past several years.

For at least 10 years, until the spring of 2004, 15 Scottish Highland cattle grazed within a fence that bordered the western half of the SrB soil, to the southern property line, and west to the barns on the 5-C 22 parcel. The remaining SrB soil on 5-C 22 just east of the fence produced various types of hay crops. Other hay fields include approximately 1½ acres along the eastern boundary of parcel 5-C 48, approximately 1 acre east of the stream in the HgC soil, and approximately 4 acres along the eastern half of the HgB soil on 5-C 22.