Local farmers see new era of self-reliance (NH)

[jpak]

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Local+farmers+see+new+era+of+self-reliance&articleId=ed8d7a5f-71af-4317-ad65-2741a8ea1d5d

CANTERBURY – The Shakers who once occupied the 900-acre North Family Farm here in the 19th and early 20th centuries were a famously self-reliant group, and they took full advantage of the resources of farm, field and woods to create a self-sufficient lifestyle.

Today, those same fields and woodlands are being used in the same manner and provide an example and inspiration to many other small and beginning farmers, several of whom gathered here yesterday morning for a workshop and tour of the alternative energy sources being used on the farm.

Tim Meeh said the farm has been in his family since 1950 and that he and his wife, Jill McCullough, have been farming the land since 1974, incorporating both new and old technology to meet the farm's energy needs. In the last 15 years, they have taken many steps to reduce the farm's energy footprint, and Meeh said that today the farm uses only 100 gallons of propane a year, a small amount of kerosene and a small amount of commercial fertilizer on its hay fields. He said the vast majority of the farm's energy needs are met by alternative resources.

The farm's electricity comes from two sources, a windmill that was erected in the early 1990s and a 1,000-watt photo voltaic cell array that produces an average of four kilowatt hours of electricity per day.

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[jojo54]

1. This is so cool.

Hub and I are going to go back to N.H. for a visit and do Xmas shopping. I was thinking about going to the shaker village and this article just proves that it's a must-see.