{mosimage}Our land is mostly wooded and rocky with some fields. We have a total of 1045 acres which includes 190 leased acres of adjacent land from the government. Our property is about two miles west of Norfork Lake. Lick Creek flows around the property before draining into the lake. Our water source is our well, which taps a deep aquifer and is capable of serving the needs of a village size population. Our buildings are scattered on a ridge that runs from north to south. The south end of the ridge overlooks a beautiful valley, our fields, the tree line of the creek, and the densely wooded hills beyond.

Our bylaws commit us to creating an ecologically sound lifestyle. Sharing resources, and living and working in the same place means less pollution and trash, and we compost our natural waste. Some of our heating needs are met with wood and solar energy, but most of the energy we now use comes from conventional sources. We continue to purchase significant amounts of our food, although much of it is from organic and cooperative sources. Over the years we have moderately engaged in agricultural activity, keeping beef cattle, raising chickens, growing hay, planting an orchard, growing herbs, harvesting vegetables and canning them for kitchen use.

East Wind has several different agricultural/land use areas. The main ones are described below. One may work in several different areas (or not -- it's fine to work in just one area). Each area has its own manager(s).

The Gardens

{mosimage}The size and quality of our gardens change with the population. Though in the past the gardens have thrived, providing as much as 60% of our produce, they are currently suffering from high member turnover, and are at very low production. An influx of new members with interest in gardening may mean a brighter future for the gardens.

A modest fall garden is now being planted, and a lot of work is being done to till fields and get weeded over areas into cover crops, so they will be ready for planting next season. Many different philosophies are at play in the garden now, with some gardeners focusing on biodynamic/permaculture-type ideas, and others focusing on hand-tilling and hand-work, methods often exist side by side with contrary ones (i.e., hand-tilling next to rototilling, row planting next to patchworks.

The Herb Garden

We have a large herb garden (1/8 acre), with more than 70 different medicinal and culinary herbs. Besides drying herbs, we make more than 50 different kinds of tinctures from our herb garden and from wild crafted herbs.

The Orchard 

We have 1.5 acres of orchard. The Ozarks are a challenging climate for orchards (thanks to summer heat and a goodly number of pests); we're specializing more and more in crops that grow especially well here (berries and grapes), but we also grow the more challenging apples, pears, peaches, and cherries

The Ranch

East Wind's Ranch, which comprises 40 acres in pasture and roughly 100 acres for haying, raises beef cattle, chickens (both for eggs and meat), plus some pigs. We're not currently milking our cows -- we want to build a new dairy barn first before we resume milking.

The Ozark Forest

We have ~850 acres of oak-hickory forest and have established a sustainable forestry program based on individual tree selection and "low-grading." We harvest for our own use only. We've purchased a sawmill, with the intention of minimizing our impact on distant forests, minimizing fuel use, etc. We are continually monitoring our effects on the forest.