Barley Fodder for Cover Crops
Fall comes and it’s our time in the vineyards. We start planting fall cover crops of barley. Cover crops yield the best path for water retention and provide protection against soil erosion. Erosion is a huge topic in Napa Country. As part of our vineyard partnerships we will lease lands between rows for Barley. Barley will then be used all year long to make Barley Fodder.
Black Soldier Fly Larvae Feed
Feeding everything on the farm with locally produced feed in Napa is achievable through innovative waste utilization. Utilizing waste land, food scraps, agricultural by-products, and pre-consumer waste from restaurants, hotels, retirement centers, coffee shops, and supermarkets, we aim to not only sustain our own animals and fish but also produce surplus feed for sale. Black soldier fly larvae represent a revolutionary solution for both animal feed and waste management. We are poised to demonstrate this sustainable practice to the world.
Sustainable Agriculture starts with a plan
In California, did you know 22% of California’s water is used for alfalfa and cattle pastures. We will show a way to change that. This is a significant amount considering that agriculture accounts for about 80% of the state’s total water usage. Alfalfa is a water-intensive crop and is primarily used outside the state to feed cattle on factory farms or for export outside the US.
To put this as simple as possible. Our 125+ Family labor staff will work to produce two main types of feed, #1 BSFL (Black Soldier Fly Larvae) and #2 Fodder. #1 BSFL will be fed and grown out on pre-consumer food waste, to feed all our poultry, pork and fish at less than 5% of the cost of commercial feed and less than 1% of the water input to
grow that same commercial feed. #2 Fodder will be grown with barley seed, on leased land, to produce 21 times the total green silage as we could grow per acre at less than 30% of the cost and less than 9% of the water use.
The feed will provide our animals 91% of the nutrients they need. The animals grown
processed on the farm will also provide manure, urine and process waste (bone, blood, feather, and compost).
All meat will be for our members and sold locally. All wastes will be processed into fertilizers without leaving the farm, to again be used and sold.
The fertilizers will provide nutrients in our fields for barley, fruits and vegetables. All process waste from the fruits and vegetables will then be fed to our BSFL to feed our animals.
Are you seeing a pattern here? Did you know 22% of California’s water is used for alfalfa and cattle pastures. We will show a way to change that.