My Visit to the Healing Ponds Farm - Please Forgive The Formatting!

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Today I visited the Healing Ponds Farm.  Located in the coast range of Western Oregon, it is a 38 acre operation with several ponds and a multitude of animals.  It is run by a charismatic man named Mark who is an animal enthusiast in every sense of the word.  

The farm has a store located in Beaverton, OR where they sell their products.  Included are several invertebrates and their supplies.  Everything one needs for mason bees, nematodes, ladybugs, and red wigglers can be found.  Call ahead at 503-646-6859 for availability.  Share programs for raw milk products and pastured meat are available.  They also sell soap, seed, feed, equipment, eggs, ferment starters, live animals, and much more.

I was greeted at the front gate by a very intimidating, but friendly and enthusastic akbash guardian dog.  This beautiful dog is bred to guard livestock and roams the property freely.  Mark says that he has no predator problems and the dog is essential.

The central thrust of the operation is its fowl.  Turkey, Chicken, Geese, Duck, and Muscovy are found in mixed flocks.  There are several movable forage coops for meat birds on pasture.  The stocking rate for the meat birds was very low and I was pleased to see almost complete ground cover in their paddock.

The laying ducks and geese are furnished with a large half-acre plus pond which is spring fed.  Located around the banks of the pond are small laying houses where the eggs can be easily collected.  The dam of this pond was not provided enough free board and the sides were too steep.  The overall thickness of the dam is not substantial enough and there is a great deal of leakage, requiring a great deal of attention.  Mark is aware of this and is currently working with a specialist to resolve his leakage issue.

Inside this pen below the pond and dam, the turkey and their roost are located close to the house.  Chicken layers are located in octagonal, open aired chicken runs with attached laying houses.

Closer still are the beehives.  Located on top of a hugelkultur bed, they have a prominent position, which gives them access to our infrequent winter sunlight.  Even in late winter, they can be seen coming and going.   These Warre hives are more square than the far more recognizable Langstroth hive.  Their advantages are that they provide a simple top bar with a triangular attachment.  The bees are allowed to build their own comb at the size they choose.  This helps them combat many of the common ailments they have such as tracheal mites and varroa mites.  The comb is not reused, which further helps the bees to keep their hive clean, healthy, and free of toxin build up.

The farm also has goats, sheep, pigs, and cattle for both milking and meat.  I had the pleasure of seeing two small goat kids just hours old.  Grass cover in some of the paddocks was patchy and drainage poor in our clay soils.  No doubt the situation will be drastically improved as summer comes.  A classic pig aerator very similar to that described by Joel Salatin was one of the first things that I saw as I walked in.  This pig is feeding on pungeant, fermenting bred buried within the compost.  Mmmmm yummie!

In this classic scenario, the goats have been put in a pen full of blackberry bramble.  While the other blackberry patches in Oregon still have leaves, these ones have been savaged and are nothing more than sticks.  Mark says that they do the job thoroughly and completely.  Goats are an underused resource in the battle against this highly invasive and destructive species.  Goats are notorious for eating just about anything.  Even the bark and the lower branches of these pine trees did not escape! 

Two connected geodesic greenhouse domes had aquaponics systems, which were unfortunately idle.   But the system was well designed for heat retention and thermal mass.  It was quite warm inside despite being in the 40’s.   The house was also designed for thermal mass and low energy consumption.  It was very comfortable. 

Windows allow sunlight in which easily heats the house.  Vents in the roof and side windows of the sun room take advantage of prevailing winds and thermal convection to remove excess summer heat.  Its one of the better designed systems I have seen.  The fireplace provides the needed thermal mass despite no sign of a fire going. 

If you are in the Portland/Beaverton are I encourage you to make the trip to the Healing Ponds Farm and Garden store.   Its hard to capture the essence of the entire place but I was pleased to see paddock rotation at work.  Its difficult to see what this land is capable of when grass growth is so slow during the winter.  But no doubt accelerated grass growth will help to mitigate drainage and compaction problems in the clay soil.  I hope to see this farm again when the paddock system is its its full summer glory.  

Mark has plans on expanding one of his paddocks into a large garden and move into produce production.  Diversification is a key factor in both business and ecology.  This will no doubt be a wise move for the farm.  Please take the time to visit the Healing Ponds Farm and Gardern Store website to see everything that they have to offer.