The Farm

Nature’s filtration system: seasonal ponds and marshes that purify water on its journey toward the sea.

Sitting at the edge of our largest pond, you witness a distinct ecosystem filled with trees, cattails, and moss. Freshwater is an essential habitat for resident and migratory birds, waterfowl, turtles, and amphibians on an island surrounded by salt water. While the wetlands occupy space where we cannot grow food or graze animals, they provide critical ecosystem services, including reducing flood and storm damage.

Last Stop For Water Filtration

Ocean Hour Farm features multiple drainage areas, wetlands and ponds onsite. Allowing these areas to remain as wetlands naturally filters runoff from the farm and surrounding area before it ends up in our coastal waters, including the Lower East Passage of Narragansett Bay and Newport Harbor. This filtration support improves water quality year-round.

Water Quality Testing

Ecosystems Manager Brad Cheever tests seven locations monthly to monitor water quality. This baseline data helps us understand our surrounding environment and will eventually help us understand whether changes in land management have an impact. We currently monitor alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, ammonia, total phosphate, nitrite, and nitrate as nitrogen, and total nitrogen.

A living buffer of native habitat creates a carbon sponge

Walking into our ledge woodlands, you see rocky outcroppings, wooded plants, and trees. We are working to restore native habitats for plants and wildlife by rewilding the area and allowing it to evolve naturally. This less disturbed area of the farm preserves water quality by encouraging groundwater to infiltrate the soil while sequestering carbon, protecting the soil, and increasing plant and fungal biodiversity. Having woodlands on a farm also provides shelter for animals, including predators that can help protect crops. Management of this area is minimal.

Retaining Runoff

In the early 1900s, portions of the rocky terrain on the property were blasted to create the village, then called Surprise Valley Farm. This created a bowl-like effect, and we estimate the village’s water catchment area at roughly 65 acres, much larger than the farm itself. During storm events, large amounts of water run onto our property, into our pond, and eventually into Brenton Cove. This essentially creates a mini watershed, putting us in a unique position to monitor water quality. We are gathering baseline data, and over the coming years, we will gain an understanding of how regenerative agriculture supports ocean health.

Top of the Woodlands

The view from the highest point on the farm allows us to study the water flow into Narragansett Bay.

A living filter for our coastal waters 

By using perennial plantings to capture and filter runoff, we’ve turned a muddy pasture into a wildlife habitat, while purifying water before it reaches the sea.

As you walk up to the habitat buffer, the gradual slope down makes you inclined to look for mud patches.  But as you walk up to the beautiful swatch of native grasses, milkweeds, and coneflowers, you realize the well-laid-out design, along with the combination of native plants and woodchips along contours, slows water flow and encourages it to sink into the ground, reducing flooding along the pasture and in the pond at the road’s edge.

Working with Nature

Once a saturated pasture where sheep couldn’t graze, and tractors often faltered, we chose to listen to the land rather than fight it. While assessing the land using the “Scale of Permanence,” we recognized that water finds its own path. Instead of forcing a change in flow, we changed our approach—transforming this wet slope into a thriving woodland. Today, these water-loving plants act as a living carbon sponge and a natural filter, protecting both our soil and the sea downstream.

Transformation

Intensive work to transform this land unit began in January 2022 with the installation of a fence to keep our herd away from the young plants. We laid out cardboard in March and covered it with wood chips to create a block light. We began planting in April and continued through November 2023.

People Care

Before converting the pasture to a habitat buffer, runoff would flow onto the road during large storms, potentially creating black ice in winter. With the conversion to a habitat buffer, the risk of overflow and black ice has reduced.

Perennial flowering grassland and forageable shrubs managed with grazing animals.

Walking through the pasture, our largest land unit, you realize we aren’t just growing food but building soil. Our herds of cows, pigs, poultry, and sheep, with their guardian llamas, manage the perennial pasture through rotational grazing, each bringing a different skill set as they fertilize and disturb plant roots.

Types of Pasture at Ocean Hour Farm

The perennial pasture comprises four distinct sub-units, each designed to work with the land’s features.

Disturbed Roots, Deeper Soil

Our flock builds soil by participating in what we fondly call the poop loop. They eat grass, poop as they walk, creating natural, well-distributed fertilizer for the grass, which in turn grows more grass for them to eat. The animals also create disturbance, enabling the grasses to grow deeper roots, improving water filtration and carbon sequestration. The animals are strategically rotated through tightly managed sections to ensure they do not over-graze or over-fertilize an area and deplete the pasture system.

Collecting Data

We are collecting data on grass recovery rates to understand flock capacity and animal health, to understand parasite issues in a warming climate, and to assess avian and insect biodiversity levels. We are also working with The Soil Inventory Project (TSIP) to benchmark carbon sequestration levels.

Food-producing trees integrated into rows of perennials and annual crops

Walking into the alley cropping area, you see piles of woodchips, small mounds and strips of soil, and tiny chestnut trees. But if you close your eyes, you can feel the cool shade of a mature chestnut tree, with the sun poking through the leaves to allow for perennials like asparagus to grow seasonally. When you open your eyes, you look to the left and see our small, refurbished greenhouse. Inside, our team is making soil blocks for seedlings to be planted in the three land units below.

Alley Cropping is a key tool in the agroforestry toolkit. It consists of trees or shrubs in rows, with alleys of crops or livestock foraging between them. Plants are placed at intervals across a field, designed perpendicular to the prevailing troublesome winds, at the same elevation, or based on the size of equipment that needs to get between rows.

The primary functions of alley cropping include:

• Produce wood or tree products in addition to traditional food crops or provide forage for animals.
• Improve crop or forage quality and quantity by enhancing microclimatic conditions.
• Make soil nutrients bioavailable for crop or forage use.
• Reduce excess subsurface water or control water table depths
• Provide a favorable habitat for species beneficial to crops or forage

Work With Time  

The critical component of design in the alley cropping land unit is time. The chestnut trees are an investment in a future product, but in the meantime, we can still use the land to grow perennial and annual crops. We are planting asparagus, cabbage, onions, leeks, shallots, and potatoes.

Pictured above: The design for our chestnut orchard allows us to continue farming in the alleys. Design: Sara Wuerstle, Illustration credit: Holly Fisher/ Spence Creative

Pictured above: Microplastics are a major concern for everything from soil health to ocean health. That’s why we’re exploring ways to reduce our reliance on single-use plastic. Soil blocking is a way of starting seeds that ditches plastic and is also better for the plant. The block allows the seed to establish more robust root systems, making transplanting easier.

Chestnut Trees in New England

In the late 1800s, more than a quarter of the trees on the East Coast were American chestnuts. The tree was a critical food source for wildlife and livestock. Chestnut wood is straight-grained, easy to work with, lightweight and rot-resistant.

First spotted in 1904, chestnut blight became one of the largest ecological disasters of the 20th century. By the 1940s, it had almost completely wiped out the trees.

Read more from eco RI news

A thriving edible forest where every layer, from canopy to root, grows something delicious

Imagine walking into a garden teeming with life. Walking along the curved, wood chip-covered paths, you realize every plant is edible. Better yet, each plant supports the other plants around it—onions protect fruit trees from deer, and nasturtiums distract insects from eating prized vegetables. 

A food forest, sometimes called a forest garden, is a diverse planting of edible perennial plants that attempts to mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in nature. Food forests are three-dimensional designs, with life growing in all directions—up, down, and out. We also utilize time. For now, our young food forest hosts many sun-loving annuals, and as our fruit trees grow, the shade will allow shade-seeking perennials to thrive.

Think Spatially

Generally, in a temperate climate, we recognize nine layers of a food forest:

1. Overstory (tall, leafy trees, such as a hickory nut tree)
2. Understory (shorter, often fruit-bearing trees, such as an apple tree)
3. Shrub layer (food producing busy such as a blueberry bush)
4. Herbaceous layer (culinary and medicinal herbs such as celery)
5. Groundcover layer (shade-tolerant plants that densely cover, such as strawberries)
6. Mycelial layer (interwoven matrix of fine fungal threads that connect plants and produce mushrooms)
7. Root layer (edible roots that grow into the ground, such as horseradish)
8. Vine layer (climbing plants that can utilize vertical space, such as a grapevine)
9. Aquatic layer (plants that grow in or at the water edge, such as. watercress)

Using these layers, we can fit many more plants in an area without causing failure due to competition and instead resulting in abundance due to mutualism and emergent benefits.

Small-scale farming with large yields: where fertile soil produces a healthy harvest

At first glance, you’re in a ‘normal annual veggie garden’ with lettuce, tomatoes, and radishes. But your eyes start to focus on small details. Is there wool in the soil? Why are the lettuce heads staggered instead of in a straight line–and how many marigolds do they plan to eat?

Start Small, Then Expand

The biointensive agriculture land unit may look conventional, as it is laid out in a more linear pattern and features many of the foods you find at the local farmers’ market. However, this area trials techniques that allow us to grow as much food as possible in the smallest space possible. We also try different methods to keep pests away, including companion planting and using excess farm products. These techniques are based on traditional ecological knowledge.

Design and Demonstration

At Ocean Hour Farm, we feature a wide range of systems to demonstrate various techniques that visitors might want to see and learn about. We also want to experiment with growing a whole diet, rather than producing for market sale.  Some of the different concepts we have featured in our biointensive agriculture area include:

• Double Dug Beds
• Jean-Martine Beds
• Intensively Close Spacing
• Multiple Irrigation Styles

Closing the loop—returning life to the soil

As you walk along the driveway to the long barn, the road gently turns, and you walk past the heart of our farm–our compost piles. Microbes are central to all life on Earth. In healthy soil, one teaspoon contains around 1 billion individual microscopic cells and 10,000 different species. Our compost piles enable us to cycle our waste streams, regenerate our soil, and grow healthier food. Better yet, we don’t send organic waste to landfills, reducing methane emissions, and we apply compost to the soil so it can store more carbon.

Why Compost?

Composting is central to regenerative agriculture. It allows us to build soil and grow healthier food in a smaller space. By making our compost onsite, we avoid bringing in offsite amendments, reducing our costs and footprint.

What is Compost?

Composting is the process of breaking down organic materials into an amendment that can enrich soil and plants. When done aerobically (with oxygen), food waste breaks down without releasing methane, as in a landfill.

Composting for the Ocean

Our farm is dedicated to ocean health; compost is critical to this mission. The benefits are twofold. First, by not sending food scraps and farm waste to landfills, we avoid the creation of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Methane is the result of when organic matter (food scraps, leaves, poop) decomposes without oxygen. Second, when compost is added to soil, it allows the soil to absorb more water, reducing runoff and sequestering more carbon.

Bridging human and ecological communities through systems education

Driving down the willow-lined driveway towards our historic stone buildings feels like you’re taking a step back in time, but our education program, the heart of what we do, prepares visitors to care for the regenerative food and fiber systems of the future.

Our educational programming uses the entire landscape as a living classroom, from the sheep pasture to the soil lab. Depending on the day, our education team can be found making compost lasagna with students, conducting a landscaping workshop on environmental best practices, or designing research studies with local farmers. This diverse programming shares a commitment to the care of our local communities—both human and ecological—and to highlight their interconnectedness.

Education is Our Mission

Education is at the core of Ocean Hour Farm’s mission to build the next generation of land stewards for ocean health. We engage young adults, farmers, landscapers, and community leaders in programming to strengthen connections to the land and inspire human-designed systems that compose with rather than impose upon earth systems.

Events at Ocean Hour Farm

Meet our honeybees

Long before you reach the bee yard, you can hear the buzzing. At first sight, you see the hives are laid out in a staggered circular shape rather than a straight line, which helps bees avoid mistakenly going to the wrong hive and spreading disease. The simple wooden boxes and idyllic viewscape obscure the complexity of the colonies, but make no mistake; there is an entire world inside each box.

Beeyard

Our on-site apiary is located between our village and the ledge woodlands, having been moved here from pasture after hives were lost to flooding. Bees have long been part of the farm’s production. The six hives produce an average of 250 pounds of honey each year.

Education Program

The beeyard is also an enormous asset to our educational program. Our staff shares lessons on bee behavior, proper care, and the essential role bees play in our ecosystems. Each student got to look at the observation bee frame and taste our honey.

Home to our egg layers, chick brooders, and deep litter compost

As you approach the hennery, the most significant features are what you don’t see or smell. There’s no pine dust emanating from the building, no smell of chicken poop, just tall grass and the occasional squash plant still growing from our first season’s temporary garden.

The beautiful building, with a steam-bent cedar shingle roof, copper gutters and downspouts, features 6 outdoor and 6 indoor chicken pens. In the future, these pens will connect to a silvopasture, where we will integrate trees and grazing on the same land.

Deep Litter Compost

Please, don’t tell our flock, but the deep litter compost is actually the star of the show!

One of the first changes made at the farm was to replace pine shavings with waste steam wood chips for bedding. The chicken’s high nitrogen poop, combined with their love for scratching at the ground, breaks down the wood chips producing beautiful, nutrient-rich compost. Rather than daily stall cleanings, the woodchips can break down over the course of a year. More wood chips are added as needed, and after approximately a year, once the compost is fully broken down, we harvest and apply it to the soil.

Wood chips create excellent bedding, even for young chicks.

The Poop Loop

Reducing our footprint, considering inputs, like food, that we need to bring into the farm, and outputs, like trash, that need to leave the farm, is an important data point we continue to evaluate. The end goal is to feed our animals with minimal outside sources and have no waste that needs to leave the farm. This goal may be a long way out, but we continue to strive for balance.

The first step in the poop loop is feeding the flock scraps from the garden; anything edible by a chicken gets sorted into a special compost bin for the hennery. By ensuring this ‘waste’ can be eaten, it’s still a high-value product that the chickens then poop out onto the deep litter compost. This ‘waste’ is applied to the soil, enriching the soil with the food scraps that the chickens will eventually eat. The poop loop is complete!

Thanks to Brock Dolman, Co-Founder and Program Director of OAEC, for sharing the poop loop term with the world!

Heritage Breeds

Our eclectic collection of chickens comes from a combination of livestock inherited from the previous farm and research on heritage breed birds that we anticipate will adapt to our future vision of rotational grazing and silvopasture dwelling.

The farm’s foundation: Home to our soil lab, worm-powered composting, and the winter quarters for our sheep and llama

Walking along the gravel road to the long barn, a red-tailed hawk vocalizes overhead, screaming kee-eeeee-arr, kee-eeeee-arr. Nyx, our guardian llama, lifts her head as you round the bend; she never misses a visitor. As the large wood barn comes into view, you can hear students giggling in delight as they reach into our vermicompost bin.

Stacking Functions

The long barn is our most versatile building on site. Staff workstations look over the animal pens, with a large, long worm bin between them. Up in the loft, hay sits next to wool, and just before the exit, a soil lab enables staff to study our soil one day and teach students about living soil the next.

Livestock in the Barn

In the cold of winter and the dark of night, the barn provides shelter for our flock.

Pestering Parasites

Like many flocks in humid climates, our sheep have battled barber’s pole worm (Haemonchus contortus). To understand the health of our flock and individual sheep’s ability to handle parasite loads, our team tracks the parasite’s fecal egg count in sheep manure. We compare this to the sheep’s health with the FAMACHA protocol to understand if treatment is needed.

Weather Station

Understanding our microclimate is a vital part of our research. As we trial different regenerative farming techniques, knowing precise information about our location’s temperature, rainfall, and wind will help farmers adapt our knowledge to their climate.

Sheep Shearing

Most of our flock are Lincoln Longwools, which produce wool with long, strong threads. Our sheep get sheared twice a year, and we are exploring how to contribute to the local fibershed and use this compostable material to replace plastic in different applications.

Flowering grassland that supports the smallest neighbors that sustain us

Our perennial pollinator meadow is a vibrant combination of local grasses and flowering plants. It is a vital habit for bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects, supporting these declining but critical populations. When we support pollinators by providing food and habitat with native meadow plants, we support surrounding ecosystems.

The pollinator meadow is located near our biointensive agriculture land unit and food forest, as increased pollinator presence will benefit the food we grow.

Sun Direction, Solar Hours, and Wind Direction

Toggle between seasons to see how these elements change.
For a farm, weather is much more than the temperature outside or the amount of precipitation. All the elements — and how they come together — are carefully considered.

Sun Direction

The sun’s direction impacts how much light the land receives, which is vital for photosynthesis. Understanding the direction provides insight into the amount of sunlight across seasons.

Solar Hours

Solar hours represent the amount of sunlight the land receives over time. As the planet rotates, solar hours change. In the Northeast, this means fewer solar hours in the winter and more in the summer. Understanding solar hours allows a farm to be more efficient in planting or plotting in areas with high or low exposure.

Wind Direction

Wind patterns are also crucial to understanding the whole system. Wind direction is a powerful factor, impacting evaporation, microclimates, and plant health. When you design with wind, it can be channeled to cool a farm, redirected to prevent wildfires, or obstructed to allow for plant growth. For our location in Newport, RI, the prevailing winds are southwesterly in the summer and northwesterly in winter. The windier part of the year lasts from late fall to early spring, with January being the windiest month on average.

Rain, Soil Moisture, Soil Temperature

Water quality directly reflects the health of our soil, biosphere, and planet. Examining whole systems requires considering how our water quality impacts others downstream. Ideally, a farm acts as a buffer, cleaning and purifying water before it spreads elsewhere, but a farm can also act as a polluter if there are excess nutrients and hard surfaces.  

Soil should not be too wet or dry for best plant growth; moisture content between 20% and 60% is best for most crops. Monitoring soil temperature, which is usually higher than air temperature, is especially important for seed germination. The optimal range for this is between 68 and 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tracking and interpreting rainfall data across months creates smarter water management.

As weather becomes more unpredictable and intense events become more common, tracking and adjusting strategies are more important. 

Precipitation is the primary source of water for Ocean Hour Farm. Understanding precipitation in our exact location enables us to share accurate data as we trial different regenerative practices. Additionally, we can track trends over time that allow for better planning, preparation, and efficient water management.

Stable water quality over time is not guaranteed, and changes in water management strategies and external factors make monitoring and adaptations important.

UNDERSTANDING SOIL HEALTH

The goal of regenerative farming is to build healthy, living soil to improve soil function and support biodiversity. To understand soil health, we look at the parent soil—the foundational material from which your soil develops, along with the chemistry and biology through soil tests. Balanced soil is essential for a healthy ecosystem and can be achieved by balancing plant growth, testing soils, and adjusting inputs to ensure nutrients are balanced.

What makes soil alive, and why don’t you call it dirt?

We are so glad you asked! Read all about it in our blog post: What Makes Soil Alive

UNDERSTANDING THE MAP KEY

Dark Blue = Well-Balanced Soil Food Web

A well-balanced soil food web consists of diverse organisms living in the soil. This means our soil sample analysis included a robust presence of beneficial nematodes, protozoa, and actinomycetes, a good bacteria-to-fungi ratio, and no pathogens.

Green = Balanced Soil Food Web

A balanced soil food web consists of diverse organisms living in the soil. Similar to well-balanced, this means our soil sample analysis might include beneficial nematodes, protozoa, and actinomycetes, a good bacteria-to-fungi ratio, and no pathogens, but the presence of these organisms hasn’t met the perfect ratios outlined above.

Yellow = Unbalanced Food Web

An unbalanced food web lacks beneficial nematodes, protozoa, and actinomycetes, and the bacteria-to-fungi ratio is off.  There may be root-feeding nematodes present. This is more likely to be seen in dry years.

Red = Pathogens Present 

This means that pathogens such as oomycetes and root-feeding nematodes are present. There is a high amount of bacteria and very low fungal presence. This is more likely to be seen in wet years.

WHAT IS COMPACTION?

Compaction occurs when soil particles press together. It occurs naturally from rainfall, but can also result from heavy machinery, over-tilling, and too many livestock trampling the ground. When compaction occurs, the soil becomes too dense, making it challenging to support growth and maintain soil health.

WHAT IS ORGANIC MATTER?

Organic matter refers to all plant and animal material — alive or decomposing — in the soil. This includes microorganisms, decaying plants and animals, fungi, and bacteria. Organic matter is essential to regenerative farming because it enhances soil health and the entire ecosystem.

From microscopic organisms to burrowing insects and animals to the roots that spiral their way deep into the ground, there’s a lot going on inside soil.

Illustration credit: Brenna Quinlan

HOW DOES THE WEATHER IMPACT SOIL HEALTH?

In our region, intense wet and dry cycles, which are becoming more extreme due to climate change, impact soil health. Droughts, or prolonged periods of abnormally dry weather, cause soil microbes to become dormant, thereby reducing nutrient cycling (the natural process of moving nutrients through the soil) and decomposition (the breakdown of organic matter in soil). On the other end of the spectrum, extreme rainfall increases the levels of disease-causing organisms in soil, particularly where water pools. Larger floods can cause erosion, and the washing away of nutrients impacts soil health and water quality downstream.

WHAT IS A FOOD WEB?

More complex than the food chain many of us learned in school, the food web is an interconnected network of organisms in the ecosystem, both above and below ground.

The interactions within a food web cycle nutrients and maintain soil health. Managed properly, it creates biodiversity and allows ecosystems to flourish. Primary producers, such as crops and plants, generate energy through photosynthesis, supplying organic matter to the soil that is then utilized by the microorganisms below. Primary consumers, such as insects and livestock, consume and decompose those nutrients.

This microbe food web pyramid demonstrates how these populations work together.

Image credit: Brenna Quinlan

This macro food web pyramid demonstrates how these populations work together.

Image credit: Brenna Quinlan

Toggle between drainage and testing sites to see how water flows on the landscape and the locations where we test water quality.

On-site Water Systems

Protecting and improving water quality is an essential component of our mission. We started by testing onsite ponds and streams for more than 100 chemicals to get a baseline understanding of water health. As we continue adding agricultural uses to the land, we monitor water quality with monthly testing. We selected seven testing sites on the eastern parcel based on where we have the most consistent water while considering drainage direction, proximity to bodies of water, waterlines, underground pipes, and catchments. 

Water quality is essential to any farm as it hydrates crops and livestock. Plants are incredibly absorbent; consumers want plants that have been soaking up clean, healthy water, not water loaded with chemicals and waste. The decisions we and our neighbors make directly impact Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay.

As the map notes, our farm has a historic pipe created to reduce on-site flooding. Like many surrounding properties, this ‘solution’ is no longer considered a best practice in stormwater management as it quickly floods water into the bay instead of sinking it into the soil. We test at multiple spots along this pipe, as it immediately connects to Newport Harbor.

Why is drainage important?

A watershed is nature’s drainage system. Rainfall and snowmelt are channeled through streams, rivers, and occasionally human-made features to larger bodies of water like lakes, bays, and oceans. They represent the natural drainage system for a region and demonstrate the importance of understanding whole systems; what happens upstream affects everything downstream.

As water flows through the watershed, it picks up particles from the land, including toxic chemicals, plastics, and waste. But the story doesn’t have to be a negative one. Water can also get cleaner as it moves through a watershed. Healthy soils and plants can act as a filtration system. Thoughtful landscaping or additions of rain gardens collect and filter water before it returns to the ocean.

Narragansett Bay

Ocean Hour Farm sits in the Narragansett Bay Watershed, which is fed by the Blackstone, Taunton, and Pawtuxet Rivers. What happens upstream can be felt in Newport Harbor, and actions taken in Newport impact the ocean. Read ‘What is a Watershed’ to learn more about this concept.

Testing Water Quality

We monitor on-site water quality by testing seven sites, which allows us to detect contaminants and chemicals that damage soil, affect plant growth, or harm marine life further downstream.

We test water quality as it enters the Farm and right before it exits. This baseline data helps us understand if water is cleaned as it passes through the Farm before it ends up in the ocean.

Chemical runoff can be detected for miles, but our land can offset chemical use outside our property lines. Any open landscapes will do this better than impervious buildings or parking lots. Still, we continue to refine our landscape to maximize the slowing and sinking of water, creating buffers and filters that will enhance our soil and benefit the bay.

Every month, we test in-house for:

This information paints a picture of the environment and signals whether we are having an overall beneficial impact on the nearby waterways. Water quality isn’t static, and test results will change over time. The results reflect management strategies and input from surrounding landscapes and demonstrate our ability to benefit water on our farm and beyond.

Ocean Hour Farm has five biodiversity superstars. The presence of these species is an excellent representation of biodiversity and a healthy ecosystem. When present in an ecosystem, they balance the food web, demonstrate that sensitive species can thrive, fulfill diverse niches, regulate pests, contribute to healthy soils, and limit disease.


These five species play roles that create a self-sustaining system that contributes to ecological health and to the core practices of regenerative farming.

THE 5 SUPERSTAR CRITTERS ON OUR FARM

Bats

We monitor for bats intermittently throughout the year using acoustic recordings analyzed through specialized software. Based on the characteristics of these recordings, we are confident we’ve identified both the Big Brown Bat and the Eastern Red Bat on site. As natural insectivores, these species play a supportive role in agricultural ecosystems by suppressing pests naturally.

Our recordings also suggest the presence of three less common species: the Northern Hoary Bat, Silver-Haired Bat, and Little Brown Bat.

Coyote

Coyotes are a keystone species, playing a critical role in maintaining ecological balance. In ecosystems without traditional apex predators, smaller mammals like voles, rats, and mice are not regulated, reducing the spread of diseases. By preying on herbivores like rabbits, coyotes also help prevent overgrazing, promoting the growth of native plants and supporting biodiversity.

Coyotes also contribute to the food web by providing resources for scavengers like birds and insects. Their adaptability and presence across diverse habitats symbolize the resilience and interconnectedness of ecosystems, making them important indicators of ecological health.

Vole

Voles are unsung heroes of the ecosystem, driving soil health through their constant digging and tunneling. This activity not only aerates the soil but also enhances water retention, creating ideal conditions for plant growth. By dispersing seeds and organic matter in their droppings, voles actively contribute to plant regeneration. When they become prey, voles transfer the energy they’ve stored from plants back into the food web, linking soil, vegetation, and predators in a seamless ecological cycle.

Wild Turkey

Wild turkeys play an important role in controlling tick populations by consuming ticks during daytime foraging. This natural pest control helps reduce the spread of Lyme disease, benefiting both humans and wildlife, including deer populations. By reducing tick prevalence, turkeys contribute to healthier ecosystems and reduce the risk of vector-borne diseases.

Opossum

Opossums are allies in pest control, known for their voracious appetite for ticks. As they forage and groom themselves, opossums consume thousands of ticks annually, significantly reducing tick populations and lowering the risk of Lyme disease for both humans and wildlife. Their role as nature’s cleanup crew extends beyond ticks; they also scavenge and recycle organic matter, contributing to overall ecosystem health.

The Importance of Biodiversity

Ocean Hour Farm relies on biodiversity to create self-sustaining systems. When protected or fostered, these species demonstrate how nature can often perform essential functions in a safer, cheaper, more effective method than human-made alternatives. Protecting these animals and others within the ecosystem reduces the need for pesticides and monocropping.

Their survival highlights the interdependence of species within an ecosystem and the importance of conserving natural habitats.

The land supports animals by maintaining a biodiverse, pesticide-free, balanced ecosystem that provides food and shelter. The animals support the land as each species contributes vital, often niche, functions such as aeration, disease management, and nutrient cycling, benefiting the land in return.

Rotational Grazing

Rotational grazing is a method in which livestock graze a portion of a pasture at a time, allowing the pasture to recover between grazing periods. This differs from traditional grazing, where animals have free access to the entire pasture. Rotational grazing enables animals to improve soil, plant, and animal health, while sequestering more carbon than traditional agriculture.

Read more about Rotational Grazing

Berkshire Pigs
Nature’s Plow

• Loosen compacted, degraded soil in preparation for planting cover crops.
• Disturb invasive thistle, a prickly plant, by digging and trampling it.
• Manage and prevent the spread of miscanthus, an invasive decorative grass. 
• Flood-prone land is being converted into a pig-dug pond to capture runoff from uphill areas and manage stormwater.

Cows
Cleanup Crew

• Can rotate with sheep to graze plants that sheep typically avoid.
• Cows and sheep have different parasite vulnerabilities that enable them to graze together.
• Boosts soil health, helps roots grow deeper, and improves water and carbon storage—without using fossil fuels. 
• Wildlife, such as butterflies, turtles, and birds, thrive alongside livestock.

Sheep
Wooly Weeders

• Animals are carefully rotated through small pasture sections, naturally fertilizing, mowing, and weeding as they go. 
• Boosts soil health, helps roots grow deeper, and improves water and carbon storage—without using fossil fuels. 
• Help spread seeds without tilling.
• Wildlife, such as butterflies, turtles, and birds, thrive alongside livestock.
• Can provide a light touch of fertilization during no-mow May in village areas.

Llama
Pasture Patrol

• Nyx rotates with our sheep and acts as a guardian protecting them from potential predators, with coyotes being the top concern in the region.

Poultry
Speedy Soil Support

• Rotated in poultry tractors to provide a burst of nitrogen to degraded soil.
• Provide nutrients for fast growth in areas with abundant shrubs and trees that provide animals with protection.

The Power of Poultry

We rotationally grazed poultry for meat production using a poultry tractor on depleted soil to demonstrate a low-staff-hours management system and to observe soil and grass health while considering economic viability for regional farmers.

Pigs for Progress

Pigs are disturbance machines that we plan to integrate into our systems for at least two years to prepare farm fields by controlling unwanted plant species and transforming food waste into soil fertility. Our goal is to harness the pigs’ natural rooting behavior for tillage rather than traditional farm machinery. Additionally, we are tracking our expenses, labor time, and yields to demonstrate the economic viability and difficulty of raising pigs on pasture.