Land Management Services
Planning and Development
Today's small to medium size Midwestern farms are improving their land stewardship through integrated land management. Although these farms' history may include crop rotation and erosion control, most planning and utilization of land resources has been based primarily upon immediate economic need.
In addition, land ownership is shifting from traditional farming families to individuals with suburban backgrounds and lifestyles. Responsible care and good land stewardship presents formidable challenges for these new land owners.
Effective land management begins with assessment of individual and family goals. These include economic, educational, recreational, and retirement needs. In some cases, landowner resource needs are purely recreational and may require only cosmetic changes; others may require more in-depth wildlife and aquatic resource management. Other owners may want to augment income with agricultural land uses while preserving the overall health and ecology of their land and wildlife.
Alternatively, farmers and gardeners may want to introduce more intensive practices such as permaculture and certified organic crop production. In the past decade, these practices have become the basis of new agricultural ventures such as community supported agriculture (CSA) and farm-to-market produce marketing. Other applications have included conservation programs for riparian, prairie and woodland restoration.
Vajra Land Management offers a range of services from estate planning to contract land development and management:
Farmstead Estate Planning:
- Personal goal assessment, short term and long term goals, economic need and retirement planning, establishing land trusts.
Land Resource Assessment:
- Land resource assessment: vegetation, topographical and soil mapping; geology; water resource and watershed analysis; soil testing and amendment; solar access, wind and hydroelectric energy potential. Ecological assessment, analysis of species composition and wildlife habitat.
Assessment of Agriculture Potential and Economic Development:
- Woodland management: timber resources, woodlots and firewood, orchards, beehives, ginseng and other woodland herbs.
- Prairie restoration: site analysis for grass and for seeding, rotational burning and mowing management.
- Wildlife habitat: planning for management and establishment of wildlife habitat, access corridors and natural food sources.
- Permaculture system design: alternative agriculture ventures, soil, water and energy conservation, grassland and woodland restoration. Cultivation of medicinal herbs, fruit and nut tree crops and edible food forests.
Contract Services:
- Permaculture: landscape planning and design, land tours and workshops.
- Prairie restoration: planning, seed acquisition, preparation and planting, burning/ mowing management.
- Woodland management: assessment, development, and timber management.
- Earthworks: construction of swales, ponds and lagoons.
- Feng Shui landscaping.