What's the project?

As both an ecologist and a person interested in the long term survival of humans and other species I find the idea of permaculture very appealing, practical, and pertinent. So when I saw a flier for an internship aimed at implementing permaculture principles on a local alpaca ranch I decided to take a look. It turned out that a local alpaca ranch in the small town of Moscow, Idaho wanted to start practicing permaculture principles on the ranch.

Deborah Berman and Suvia Judd started the Lazy M Suris ranch in 1995. They started out raising alpacas for breeding, show, and resale, with the intention of progressing to dependence on alpaca fiber and other products produced on the ranch. After learning more about possible practices in the alpaca industry they decided to make this transition sooner rather than later. Since then the two have tried to incorporate permaculture practices where feasible on the ranch. In 2006 they decided to use permaculture principles as the guiding management paradigm for the ranch. To assist with this transition they applied for and received a small grant from the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program (SARE) in order to fund a permaculture intern, who’s duties would include researching, designing, and implementing long-term permaculture strategies on the ranch.

The ranch is home to 4 llamas and 37 alpacas. They are kept on 2 fenced-in acres of the 6-acre property. Most of the remaining 4 acres are open, un-grazed pasture, providing excellent pheasant habitat as well as open scenery for the adjacent park. There is also a small orchard on the property, producing apples and pears. The alpacas are sheared each year and the fiber sent to Becky Weed at Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool Company for processing.

The long term goal is to turn the alpaca ranch into a self-sustaining ranch, producing alpaca fleece, fruit, mushrooms, vegetables, beauty, and environmental integrity. The internship is the first major step towards that goal. The major focus of the permaculture internship will be to create hedgerow and browse islands in and along the pasture. The browse islands will provide shelter from some winds as well as shade from the sun during the hottest portions of the year. They will also extend the forage season for the alpacas by providing an alternative food source that supplements their diet of grass and alfalfa.

The browse islands and hedgerows will be composed of a variety of tree and possibly shrub species, increasing habitat and biodiversity while also providing a varied food source for the alpacas. Depending on the tree species selected they may also produce a variety of fruit, nuts, and wood products that can be sold to diversify and expand the ranches business and economic stability. If some of the trees are coppiced the woodcuttings can be used as a substrate to grow gourmet mushrooms to further this goal.

The internship is by no means limited to hedgerows and browse islands, and can expand to try create or hone permaculture with any part of the ranch or its operations provided there are time and resources to do so.