Where is Farmville Gardens?
Farmville Gardens is 15.43 acre property located in Southwest Missouri in Barry County, about a mile south of downtown Pierce City (population 1,261).
Monett Airport is nearby, and under major construction to increase local air traffic for the benefit of Monett (population 9,684).
Centrally located between Joplin, Springfield, and Branson, Missouri and Bentonville, Arkansas.
Our Vision
The homeowners will share amenities including a forest, gardens, pond, orchards, and other improvements, including shared gardens.
The active rooms of the homes, including front porches, face the commons rather than turning their back to neighbors. There is a layering of public to private space, and careful placement of windows to ensure some privacy for each dwelling.
We call this a “Perma-Pocket Homestead”. It is the hybrid of a permaculture homestead and a pocket neighborhood. We seek to demonstrate all the principles of permaculture and seek others who share this vision.
“The objective is to design livable systems for people and planet that support and mimic nature’s own ability to create real abundance, with little work on our part.” – Bill Wilson, Midwest Permaculture
The Challenges We Face
Supply Chain Uncertainty
In a post-pandemic world we have all witnessed the fragility of our supply chains that depend upon hostile regimes to supply goods and materials that we have outsourced in the past.
Inflationary Pressure
With inflation continuing to increase to record levels, it’s important to invest your hard earned income into regenerative assets. Each day value is stolen from your savings through inflation. The cost of everything that is transported increases due to energy price inflation.
Social and Moral Decay
We are witnessing massive increases in mental illness, crime, addiction, suicide and homelessness. These are the symptoms of a sick society that has lost its moral footing. Living in cities and suburbs has become dangerous and so many risk the loss of their lives and property.
Disruption of the Family
There are forces engaged with the purpose of destroying the idea of family forever. They want to replace the family with the state, and cause as much death and chaos as possible until their goal is achieved. Many states are hostile to fatherhood, and seek to destroy masculinity because it is a threat to their agenda. Families are destroyed by overzealous agents of the state.
How to Face the Challenges
Cooperative homesteading in a pocket neighborhood integrates design principles from Ross Chapin, ideals of Christopher Alexander (A Pattern Language) and Bill Mollison (Permaculture) into a place that fosters a life of abundance.
Regardless of the state of the world, Farmville Gardens is fortified with sincere people who support each other in service to Truth, Beauty and Goodness.
Cooperative Regenerative Homesteading
Multiple households cooperatively work together in the common goal of growing food in a way that improves productivity of the land over time.
Resilient Lifestyle
When you’re able to cooperatively weather the changes in the world and still live abundantly. By producing our own food we become less dependent on global supply chains to survive.
Better and Cheaper Food
The food is more nutritious and fresh as it’s not being shipped across the world to get to your plate. By growing in a known environment that you control you lower the risk of getting sick from global contaminants (Fukushima & East Palestine). Reduce the total cost of nutrition by eliminating the need to burn fossil fuels for transportation and lowering dependence upon petroleum markets.
Fulfilling Fellowship
The design of our community fosters the development of lifelong friendships and adamant bonds of trust.
Wholesome Family Development
We celebrate and support Fatherhood, Motherhood, Childhood, Brotherhood and Sisterhood.
Topographic Contours
This shows the slope of the land in increments of 1 foot per line, with red being the highest elevation, and blue being the lowest with a total elevation change of 40 feet from the east up to the west.
Climate Study
Water Behavior Study
This report is based on topographical maps and close observation of valleys of erosion on the land. The water flows from the high area in the western wooded three acres.
Water pools in the low area until reaching a critical depth before draining into the ditch running north along Farm Road 1040.
The western border declines from the high points of the western slope. Water flows to the low point, west into the neighboring property.
Pond, Well and Driveway Site Selection
In 2022 we installed the pond and feeder swale that reduced water runoff by 99.9%. Since May of 2022 we captured nearly all the rainfall on the land and began the process of recharging the water table.
The driveway entrance was selected to engage with the neighbors across the street, and to create access from the main road to the tree line at the top of the hill.
The well (represented by the yellow dot east of the driveway) location was selected high on the land with nearby driveway access.
Zones
Zone 0 & 1
This represents the private and exclusive use areas that resident members will enjoy building their homes and private outdoor spaces. Each private lot is about 7,000 square feet.
Zone 2
Slightly over 2 acres of common area focused on social engagement at the Common House, food production with tranquil sculpture and vegetable gardens, high tunnel, chickens and rabbits.
Zone 3
Gentle slopes that feed a one acre pond with fertile pasture below, Zone 3 is designated for agricultural and recreational pursuits including the perennial food forest, fruit and nut orchards, annual crop farming, pasture for small livestock with space for meditation and prayer at the pond peninsula.
Zone 4
The forest at the top of the hill is reserved for wildlife habitat with some food production with mushrooms, herbs and fruiting vines. We maintain the forest as a sustainable source of wood and composting nutrients for our gardens.
