Growing Abilities, Rooted in Community

Welcome to our inaugural newsletter! You are receiving this newsletter because you have either expressed interest in the farm, been to one of our events or donated to our farm. We are grateful for you! This is our way of keeping in touch and letting you know about the latest happenings on the farm. 

Friendships are being made on the farm through our monthly potluck gatherings. These gatherings started out small and infrequent, with the founding family members meeting to foster community. Over time, this intentional community has grown. Many in our community are neurodiverse, non-speaking and spell to communicate. They have found their tribe and feel included and accepted. For the recent gathering in May, we had a drum circle which was open to any of the guests to participate. It's hard to feel sad when you are grooving to the beat with friends.

Spring is here! The warmer weather means that it is time for our annual shearing to take off our sheep's winter coats. In the previous three years, we hosted Farm Day events to celebrate sheep shearing. This year, because of ongoing renovations, we instead held a smaller Sheep Shearing Day in April. Our brilliant expert shearer, John Sanchez, was on hand again to do the shearing. The fiber harvested this year included delectable fleece from our Romney, Finn, Corriedale, Shetland and Shetland-Finn Cross sheep. The fiber has been dropped off at Valley Oak Wool Mill in Woodland, and will be processed into a general knitter's yarn, two-ply worsted weight. We are excited to see the dark blends that we will get from this year's fiber. We anticipate the yarn will be ready in September, just in time for fall and winter knitting projects. More information to come later about where our yarn will be available for purchase 🧶.

Thanks to Fibershed's 2023 Carbon Farm Seed Farm grant and generous donations from community members, we were able to install permanent fencing throughout our farm for rotational grazing. In the past, we have been using portable solar electric fencing to divide up our 5 acres of pasture, to rotate the sheep between grazing paddocks. The electric fencing was not ideal for our neurodiverse population, due to limitations with safety awareness and motor planning abilities needed to navigate the flimsy fencing. The permanent fencing now allows increased engagement by our community members with moving the animals and participation on the farm.

We have installed a swale to capture surface rainwater that will slowly sink and recharge our groundwater. Future plantings on the berm will also benefit from the moisture rich soil. We have seen an increase in wildlife since installation. Geese enjoy sunbathing on the berm and frogs in the water provide natural mosquito abatement.

Before the rains arrived this past winter, we implemented a Keyline design on the farm by doing on-contour plowing, otherwise known as Yeomans plowing. The origins of Keyline design is attributed to P.A. Yeomans, who developed a system in the 1950s to conserve water resources and address soil erosion on Australian rangeland. A Yeomans plow consists of a special chisel plow that cuts through the ground and loosens the sub-soil without inverting the soil, thus limiting soil disturbance. Small ridges on the soil surface are formed with this on-contour ripping, and when the rains come, the ridges facilitate the movement of water and direct the water across the land. This Keyline system essentially reduces top soil erosion by capturing rain water runoff, which would otherwise run off into city streets and drains, and stores it in the soil. When we first established Mustang Acres, the soil was compacted and depleted. The Yeomans plowing enabled this highly compacted soil to significantly increase water filtration, which contributes to groundwater recharge and improves the health of our well water and watershed. This on-contour ripping also aerates the soil, which allows organic matter to travel downwards and increases the land’s ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. These are the first steps we have taken to rehabilitate the soil. We have plans to reintroduce native trees, shrubs and grasses, which will benefit from the healthier soil. This is all part of our ongoing efforts to implement regenerative agriculture practices, utilize sustainable methods and be good stewards of the land.

Mustang Acres is now an official Certified Wildlife Habitat site with the National Wildlife Federation. Through our efforts of planting hedgerows, installing swales, rehabilitating the soil and never using herbicides, we have an abundance of local wildlife and pollinators. We are committed to maintaining the wellbeing of this ecosystem.

Meet our new sheep! She is a Dorper-Shropshire cross that came donated in May from a family in Penngrove. She was one of two sheep that the family raised since they were lambs, when they were acquired for a 4H project. The family decided to keep the sheep when the project was over and they were deeply loved. Sadly, her sheep friend crossed the rainbow bridge and she was in need of a flock. Our farm has organically become a sanctuary for sheep and we are thrilled to have her. She is getting on fabulously with the flock.

She has not yet been named and there are plans for a raffle to name her. More details to come.

We were recently at the Inclusion Festival in Petaluma and the Spellers Conference in Menlo Park. We hope you came by to say Hello! Mustang Acres, in conjunction with Mustang Court Commons , is actively building community engagement. Stay tuned for more developments as we take steps towards creating programming.

Mustang Acres has come a long way. In 2021, we started with a blank slate. We had 5 acres of compacted land, dilapidated and rusted old fencing (part of which was an old garage door from a junkyard), several large pine trees at the end of their lifespans and an overgrown tangle of eucalyptus trees. Since that time, we have continuously fundraised to put in new infrastructure, repairs and care: no-climb fencing, necessary arborist work, swales, hedgerows, tons of mulch and, last but not least, the feeding, shearing, vet costs and care of the animals.

Our new big project is to raise a barn!

Won't you please help us? No amount is too small and any amount helps.