DIRT BEAST FARM
/// Productive \\\ /// Sustainable \\\ /// Urban Farming \\\
Farming practices
SOIL LIFE
It all starts with the soil...or dirt in our case. When we broke ground in 2018, these vacant lots were covered almost exclusively in noxious weeds and invasive plant species - plants that could only grow compacted heavy-clay, devoid of bioavailable nutrients...ie dirt. These lots had also been used as dumping grounds, not just by individuals, but also by the city, who dumped old sections of sidewalk concrete throughout the vacant land. It took a lot...and I mean a lot...of man hours, funds, and resources to build our dirt into something we can call soil, teaming with life and readily available nutrients. However, we kept "dirt" in our name to reflect how things started (and because we wanted to throw a little blasphemy into the all too often holier-than-thou sustainable ag space :).
Building Living Soil
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Approximately 400 cubic yards (160 tons) of organic compost applied from 2018-2024
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Farm-made biochar began being used in 2022, creating "biological hotels" for our soil microbial systems
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Our beds are maintained using a no-till system, broad forked at the beginning and end of each season to assist with drainage
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Organic matter is gradually incorporated, slowly and naturally, with the assistance of our beneficial bacterial friends
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1/4 of the farm is rotationally cover cropped each year for a minimum of 6 months
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT + CONSERVATION
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In 2024 we began installing small scale solar generation, decreasing our reliance on Missouri's primarily coal-burning power plants
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Our panels and batteries power our water pumps, irrigating our crops mostly with rainwater. They also power our fans in our tunnels, circulating air in our seedling tunnels and high tunnels, and our rechargeable batteries for our small motorized tools
Small farms, and especially urban farms, are in a uniquely advantageous position to install and manage targeted conservation practices that have an outsized benefit to our surrounding environments. Resources such as water, energy, and carbon can be monitored and measured much more easily on a small and hyper-productive farm than an agricultural operation spanning hundreds or thousands of acres.
On par with soil fertility, water is of paramount importance on any farm - after all, nothing would grow without water. And as time chugs along, and our species demand more of this precious resource, water conservation increasingly becomes more important. Such work involves things like rainwater catchment for use in irrigation, deep mulching and dry farming, and targeted irrigation technologies and measurement tools.
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At Dirt Beast Farm, we are constantly tweaking our methods of water conservation. Here are some of the ways we respect this valuable (and communal) natural resource:
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6000 gallons of rainwater storage, captured off of our seedling tunnels and 2 high tunnels
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Deep mulching with compost and repurposed residential tree leaves to hold water in the ground for longer, decreasing our overall irrigation needs
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Low pressure drip systems at the base of each plant, along with overhead sprinklers (when needed) that doesn't emit mist, thus decreasing the amount of water lost to evaporation before it hits the ground
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Native perennial plantings along the low side of the ridges of our farm, absorbing excess rainwater, creating habitat, and storing carbon.
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And currently in-the-works: a wildlife pond to capture overflow water during heavy rains, to store for our collective ecological benefit
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Solar Power Production
Installation In Progress
GREEN-SYSTEMS
In nature, there is no such thing as waste, and that is how we think of every material on the farm. This means harnessing every aspect of a practice or a process so that as many bi-products are used in a beneficial way. In this way, small farms are like living organisms, constantly recycling energy, reshaping components, and benefiting their neighbors. This was the original meaning behind the name "Dirt Beast Farm" - dirt transformed through an explosion of life, soil viewed as a individual force...a beast.