Brookside farmers point the way to post-oil world

Both Jason Bradford and Christoffer Hansen, who are working full-time at Brookside Farm, are firm believers in an apparently rapidly approaching phenomenon known as Peak Oil which they and other believe will mean the end of cheap fossil fuel energy. Consequently they believe that people will have to localize, that is, create the essentials of life locally, using affordable energy sources. They also acknowledge that one of the most basic of the essentials of life is food.

These ideas have put unusual constraints on how farming is done at Brookside Farm.


For example, most of the cultivation is done by hand, using hand held tools. First the grass and weed-covered ground is run over with a wheel hoe, to remove the sod, which is composted. Then the bare ground is loosened to a depth of ten inches with a broad fork (also known as a U-Bar.) Then the wheel hoe is brought back a second time, with a different attachment on the end, to loosen up the ground a second time to a depth of five inches.

This is done to preserve soil structure. “What we’re looking to do is to create a living soil, a soil that is full of species and organisms that are inter-acting,” Bradford said. “Retaining soil structure allows these organisms earthworms, insects, and micro-organisms, to know their place and to establish relationships. This allows them to stay productive. Our main strategy on maintaining long-term soil fertility is getting the biology right.

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