Growing Ecosystems and Community on Public Agricultural
Lands
Demonstration Areas
Conservation Plan Implementation
Regenerative Carbon Cycling
Community Learning Opportunities
Design of Pollinator and Bird Sanctuaries
Ecosystem Data Collection
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Our 2019 report is now available
click here to download the report (.pdf)
Find out more about our activities in each of the
demonstration
areas, and see what we are planning for
2020.
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Henry Laber Open Space Project
In 2020, Ollin Farms began
leasing an additional 135-acres of Boulder County Open Space.
We inherited the property in bad shape with irrigation ditches
needing repair, large amounts of weed pressure, and soils
showing signs of degradation.


Partnering with Boulder County, NRCS and community volunteers,
we have developed a plan to heal the soil and implement
conservation practices to bring health and vitality back to this
land.
Restoration practices can be expensive and the question arises
who should pay for these practices on our Open Space parcels?
The County? The tenant farmers?
We believe in order for more conservation practices to
be implemented on public lands, and for more regenerative models
to be demonstrated on Open Space agricultural lands, we need a
collaborative approach of skill and resource sharing between
farmers, citizens, and Boulder County. This 135-acre
property will allow us to eventually expand our food production
and also partner with young farmers in an incubator model to
manage fields for grazing or alternative crops.
Boulder County needs more young farmers and the intention of
Project 95 is to host a space for training and collaboration.
This is a new
strategy for how our agricultural lands are managed, and in
order for it to be successful we need your support, whether it's
participating in volunteer planting days or helping fund certain
conservation practices.
Phase 1 Funding: Seed Fund to
cover crop 100 acres
Lack of ground cover and high levels of weed seeds are
two immediate issues that need to be addressed on the
Henry Laber Open Space parcel. While the County's
traditional protocol for dealing with weeds is to spray
them, this economical approach isn't an option because
of our farm's strict no pesticide/herbicide policy.
The way to address weed pressure using natural farming
methods is to out-compete the weeds with another plant.
In this case, because the soil samples show a need to
build nutrient and carbon levels, we will plant a cover
crop.
A cover crop is a combination of plants grown densley to cover a field
that are eventually mowed or grazed
in order to return nutrients to the soil. An aggressive cover crop that can out-compete
the weeds has many other benefits:
Improves soil structure
Harvests solar energy/ sequesters carbon
Promotes diverse biological life in the soil
Provides nutrients for future crops
Provides pollinator forage |

Spring Cover Crop Planting
Budget:
We are asking for community
support to cost-share the seed purchase
4/12/20 Update: The
seed funding project is complete, fully funded and the
seeds are in the ground! Big thanks to all those
that donated to make this possible. |
Upcoming Volunteer Oppurtunities
We will be having multiple volunteer planting days this spring
as 10,000 perennial shrubs are planted and mulched on the Peck
Open Space property. To get added to our email list for
volunteer work days, please email us at info@ollinfarms.com
Citizen committees are being formed to guide the project's work
in 2020. Committees will begin meeting monthly in March
and include:
Pollinator Committee - design and oversight of pollinator
plantings
Compost and Fungi Committee - design and oversight of composting trials
and mycology lab
Data Collection Committee - design and testing of ecological
data collection protocols
If you have previous experience in one of these areas and would
like to participate in committee work please email us at
info@ollinfarms.com