Ithaca, NY, Tompkins County
Acres Available
Open Tillable Acres
Wooded (or other) Acres
Condition & Current Use
Property is a former horse farm being converted to nut/fruit orchards with alley-cropping/silvopasture potential. Pastures have electric fencing that is deriorated and hay fields have been mown within the past few years. I am planting orchard trees, but remediation/maintenance work is needed to remove dead/dying ash and other trees from wooded areas for use as lumber&firewood on the farm, as well as to control erosion on a DEC-listed stream that's being fed excessive runoff from recently re-worked local road ditches.
Soil Types
Farm History & Past Use
Land was previously used for subsistance pasturage of large animals going back to the 1920s or earlier, yet includes a woodlot and stream with trees (sugar maple, black walnut, oak, shagbark & bitternut hickory) that were mature and visible in early aerial images from the 1930s. In the early 2000s some fields may have been in corn but mostly were no-till, hay or pasture.
Tenure Options
I'm looking for a cooperating farmer/grower to work with me on restoring and maintaining the land using regenerative and sustainable no-till or minimally-invasive practices to grow predominantly perennial crops.
Are you willing to mentor a new or beginning farmer?
Do you require a farmer who qualifies for agricultural assessment?
Production Preferences
Livestock / Crops Description
My primary farming activity involves use and adaptation of nut trees for NY growing, with emphasis on assisted migration of pecans and almonds now that the climate has warmed sufficiently that the Finger Lakes is within the northern temperature limits. I'm also interested in interplanting smaller perennial plants including fruit/nut shrubs, herbs, and possibly annuals such as grains or beans if grown using soil-regenerating practices, . I plan to start keeping bees, and would consider allowing small numbers of dairy goats/sheep or chickens -- or possibly rhea for eggs, if anyone is interested in that. Other things I've done or considered include making cider and preserves from my fruit; growing forest products such as mushrooms or ginseng; pressing nut oil from my mature hickory trees; and tapping my sugar maples at small scale. Several of the fields host large dogsbane populations that could be used for fiber, and other foraging is possible.
Crops Permitted
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Vegetables
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Fruits
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Flowers or Ornamentals
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Grains
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Maple
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Other Crops
Livestock Permitted
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Goats/Sheep
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Poultry
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Bees
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Other Livestock
Preferred Farming Method
Farm Infrastructure
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Barns - Equipment Storage
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Barns - Livestock
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Electrical access
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Equipment
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Fencing
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Water access
Equipment
The farm came with a functioning JD 4210 tractor plus front-loader, brush-hog, chipper/shredder, chain harrow, and other attachments; as well as multiple smaller machines including rototillers and lawn tractors in various states of disrepair.
Fencing
Four 2-4 acre horse pastures have fencing with two lines of high-tension wire and two lines of multistrand electric fence cord on wooden posts. A number of the posts are rotted or down so the fence wires have fallen, but they're still in place and could be recovered.
Water Access
A DEC-listed stream runs through the property from which water could be taken, that needs restoration to improve water retention and control erosion caused by increased runoff from drainage ditches the town recently altered to flow into the stream above the property. There's also an old bermed impoundment pond in the uppermost field that could be restored to provide additional gravity-fed irrigation water to most of the lower fields.
Additional Property Information
No use of agricultural chemicals is allowed on this property, and import of off-site amendments is discouraged to avoid introduction of invasives such as wild parsnip or jumping worms. Soil disruption must be minimized using no-till practices to the greatest extent feasible, and any animal pens must be moved regularly and before the ground gets degraded. No destructive foraging of wild products with small populations or slow-growing habits (e.g., ramps) is allowed.
Is the Property Conserved
Current Land Zoning
Is the property located in a NY Agricultural District?
Can the public be on the property as a part of the farm business?
Additional Information About This Property
This property is located near White Hawk Ecovillage, where housing for cooperating farmers might become available.
