Preface: You may be expecting Concierge related content. This blog will soon get a facelift and will become a sustainable agriculture and urban farming blog. However, these are included in the realm of Concierge Services.
Our St. Louis County Parks are at risk of closing. I hear on the news Charles Dooley says we need budget cuts.
I have a solution for keeping the parks open. I would say it’s a little outside of the box but actually it’s completely outside of the box. However, it is more economical, ecologically and sustainable.
We should turn over management all parks to farmers. Now why would I say that? Well bare with me. As I said it’s outside of the box.
A farmer is a steward of the land. What better person to take care of our park lands than a farmer?
Now looking into the solution and how it will save our parks. We need to better manage the land and create revenue generating streams instead of it being only a money suck. Here are the streams that I recommend and other methods that will save money.
Allow the farmer to graze livestock on the land. Cattle, sheep and goats could be used on grass lands that typically need mowing. This can be done in limited proportions when there is herbivorous wildlife in the park such as Lone Elk.
Pigs can be used to forage the forest areas. They will root and clean up acorns and other forest floor vegetation.
Harvest old dead trees. These trees are draining the healthy trees of vital nutrients. The wood harvested can be either sold for profit or donated to those who can’t afford to pay their heating bills.
By grazing animals there is a saving on petroleum fuel to run the tractor and mower as well as the man hours for someone to drive the tractor. Herbivores are mobbing, movers and mowers by nature. They are nature’s perfect “lawnmower”. If you have an acre of land that you have trouble keeping mowed. Buy a couple of goat or sheep. They will keep it neatly mowed and fertilized.
We control the animal grazing using portable electric fencing to specific concentrated areas (known as paddocks). When the grass is short enough in the first paddock we setup a new paddock next door to the first and let the animals move over to the fresh grass.
Chickens and other bird wild life with forage behind the animals for worms, bugs and other high protein organisms. Many may think this is strange but what do birds like most? Worms of course.
All livestock with be harvested for either sale to area restaurants, donated to food kitchens for the homeless or schools or possibly even prisons. But my suspicion is that once we realize the nutrient level of these animals they will be the premium in the market place. The factory (aka CFOS) beef, chicken and pork will then be used only for the homeless and prisoners.
Oh and that brings up another point. Do you remember the chain gangs back in the railroad building days? We should employ that same system with our park farms and gardens. Have our prisons earn their keep and learn valuable skills for their reform and rehabilitation. It will be a reward to work in parks not a punishment I guarantee you.
If you agree with my recommendations please leave a comment or suggestion. I hope Charles Dooley learns of my suggestions and employees these natural and sustainable ideas.
While I agree that this idea has some merit, I think it may be overly simplistic.
First, allowing free roaming livestock on public lands could create a liability issue for the state and for the farmers. Moreover, there would need to be oversight on the use of such lands to ensure waste material and/or chemicals are not improperly disposed of. More oversight can increase costs to the parks and the taxpayer. There may also be a legal issue by regulating who can and cannot use the lands – they are “public” after all.
Second, it is my understanding that animals such as sheep can harm the pastures. I believe these animals pull up the entire plant (root and all), making replanting of pasture necessary and thereby requiring more resources (fuel, labor, etc.)
Third, in forested lands, dead, fallen trees actually ADD nutrients back into the soil and provide needed shelter for smaller wildlife. Removing these items will do more harm to the environment.
I love that people are thinking about innovative solutions to our budget issues and ways to safeguard the land. Let us not, however, forget that there are many issues related to all challenges and the solutions must be thought through.
Hi Chef,
Thanks for your comments. They are very much appreciated. These are very simplistic ideas and are meant to get us thinking about the possibilities. There will be obstacles of course but that makes the journey fun.
Unfortunately, there will continue to be a requirement for government involvement to oversee the farmer application process. Hopefully this can be done efficiently and effectively. This is a point of discussion to determine the best use of the property.
Mismanagement of any animal grazing can lead to a depletion of the pasture. If managed with the correct grazing time per paddock the grass will have time to recover before the next grazing. Here is an excellent article from Purdue University on rational grazing sheep. http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/forages/publications/ID-153.htm
Yes, when the trees are healthy the fallen trees can add nutrients to the soil and provide cover for animals. However, with healthy trees the leaf, nut (acorns) and normal branch droppings provide sufficient ground cover nutrients. The fallen trees are many times diseased or insect infested and are better removed and used for biofuel for heating. Removing these trees will prevent others becoming disease infested and allow the healthy trees to grow better.
These ideas are outside the box but that doesn’t me they wont work. I want to bring the right people together to work through the issues and save the parks.
Lots of practical wisdom here. As a farm girl who had goats growing up I can testify that a goat grazed lawn is as pretty as any mower could make it. And with so many folks discovering allergies to cow milk, goat milk products are in high demand. This could even be expanded to the water spaces – think of the demand for duck and delicacies like duck eggs. Growing spaces could be used for vegetable plots or even flowers. Now the parks have income streams AND become educational as well as recreational.
Oh – and if you’re thinking “OMG – prisoners in the park with my kiddies” then just think about having ONE DAY a month when the park is closed for upkeep. The prisoner crews come in while the park is closed and it’s closed one day instead of FOREVER! Not a bad compromise – right?
Now think of the COST OF CLOSING the parks.Right, there are still costs. It’s closed, but we have to pay officials to make sure people stay out, right? Either that or instead of prisoners working in the park you have criminals meeting in the closed park. Probably you’ll have both the cost of patrols to keep people out AND you’ll have people using the wide open and now deserted spaces for purposes you’d rather not think about instead of using that same space to produce (literally PRODUCE) value.
The more I think about this the more I see viable, sustainable, and universally beneficial business models.
Who else sees this vision?
Our visions are in line. As I said before. The possibilities are virtually endless.
This can be very sustainable if done properly. Many hurdles and obstacles to overcome but if we work together as community we can make it happen.
Follow my other Twitter account for more related conversation. @bruceclithero
In my experience ALL great ideas start as “overly simplistic” because they start with a focus on the link between problem and solution, the creation of value.Once we have answered that first question of “will it serve?” then we can either say “yes, but it will create some other challenges so let’s just forget it” or we can say “it will serve in a great enough way to be worth overcoming some other challenges.” Because ALL great ideas also create challenges in their journey to create value.