The
motto of Post Carbon Institute is “Reduce Consumption: Produce Locally”. We are
demonstrating that motto at the Willits Energy Farm located at Brookside
Elementary in a number of ways. For example, a mini-farm is being established
that can operate with intermediate
tools that do not consume petroleum. As a Community Supported Agriculture
project, the food is intended for local distribution within the community. Additionally,
rotations of compost
crops are being grown to cycle nutrients back to the soil in the form of aerobic
compost. Through this practice, we generate a form of fertilizer that is used
on-site (local production) and is capable of maintaining the long term
viability of the farm by securing healthy soil (reduced consumption).

The
plan for this summer is to grow a small area of biofuel crops at Brookside. The fuel can be used to cover our on-farm use.
However, since we do not rely heavily on petrol, we can potentially distribute
the ethanol to another local farm that intends to grow food for the town hospital.
I will speak more about the ethanol project as we near the time to plant the Dale Sorghum in
mid May. If you are interested in learning about how sorghum can be used for
ethanol and food check out the following links:

A Sweet Idea
Converting Sweet Sorghum into Ethanol

Sweet Sorghum
Culture and Syrup Production