Wheelock Farm Design


Design Details

Wind Field
Three to five windmill towers with net metering system. Grapes trellised between towers. Includes space for welcome sign.

Parking Lot
Approximately 30 spaces, 20 maximum for community members, 8 for visitors, and two spots for the community vans. Parking shed for the two community golf carts that are used to shuttle groceries, etc. from the parking lot to the community. Constructed wetland at lower edge for handling rain run-off.

Barn (see detail drawing)
Animal lodging for two oxen and a herd of small livestock, probably goats. Plug flow biodigester produces methane for cooking and gas lights. Outflow from digester is shuttled to the pig composting system. Hay storage provides insulation, animals and greenhouse primary producers of heat. Any additional heat required provided by small woodstove.
Greenhouse also acts as an air filter to handle air quality issues raised by proximity to animals and hay. Bottom floor human area includes library and educational center. Upstairs classroom has large windows looking out on Lake Champlain and Adirondacks. Also hosts community dances. Rainwater from roof flows to cistern which provides gravity-fed irrigation
for vegetable operation.

Community Garden
Encouraged to remain as is as an excellent form of community interaction and outreach.

Goat Pasture and Playing Field
Open field for soccer, Frisbee, stargazing, etc. Also the primary pasture for the goat herd. All lawn maintenance in community to be performed by small livestock.

Orchard
Mixed orchard of fruit and nut trees—English walnut, chestnut, apple, mulberry, pear, etc. Once trees are big enough, goats will maintain the understory with help from the chickens.

Vegetable Production
4.5 acres of raised beds divided into 12 zones. Each year, 1/3 will be maintained in cover crops leaving 2/3 for production. Each zone is hedged with access from the chicken run. Chickens are used to remove cover crops, weed growth, and insects. Also provide fertilization. Half of vegetables produced will be for community use with the other half to be sold to the broader community.

Pig Composting System (see detail)
Two pigs will be employed to aerate our compost piles. All food and vegetable scraps and outflow from digester will go into pig pen. Come fall, compost gets spread by oxen and pigs become central feature of annual butchering festival (assuming such an event is in live with community values.)

Food Processing Station
Washing station and preliminary storage area for field harvest. Also pressing area for cider. Conveniently located next to pig composter.

Individual Growing Spaces
Individually managed garden plots for people to do their own thing.

Housing Units (See floor plans.)
All feature composting toilets, rooftop passive solar hot water, southern facing glazing, rainwater catchment, and modest kitchen space. All units are two story. Students units have 1650 sq. ft. foot print. Quadplexes have 2400 sq. ft. foot print, 600 per unit. 4 families per quadplex, 16 students per student unit. All have front porches with glass roofs that are covered in summer.

Common Building (see detail)
Contains community dining space and kitchen, playroom for children, library/music room, computer and laundry facilities, root cellar and workshop. Also, Food Processing Center as part of kitchen with canning and processing equipment, food dehydrator, walk-in freezer, and ample work space.

Pasture, Hay, and Field Crops
Fields divided and rotated. Hedging used for division to provide wind breaks, habitat, diversity, and food source. Fields to be used for pasture, hay production, grains, dried beans, and field crops not suitable for bed production such as melons, squashes, and corn.
Fields to be tilled, cultivated, and harvested by oxen.

Forest
Approximately half of forest to be unmanaged as wild life reserve. Other half to be used for agroforestry, firewood, and summer lodging. Oxen to be involved in logging.