The Wolffstead is a small regenerative homestead that incorporates annual and perennial gardens, fruit and nut trees, and a handful of farm animals in a food forest matrix that attempts to utilize the best holistic and integrated agricultural practices done on a small scale. We partner with neighboring homesteads to provide our families with an abundance of diverse, nutrient-dense, year-round better-than-organic produce and meat as well as supporting our local and family economies in other ways. Our focus on 'localism' has enabled our family together with our partners to ween ourselves from the large corporations that sell mass produced “foods” that are highly processed and genetically engineered with perhaps no nutritious value grown with an abundance of dangerous chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Since all of our staple foods are grown locally by us and others attempting to be good stewards of our families and the land we work, we are not vulnerable to national or global food chain disruptions.
Or at least that is the vision.
Wolffstead Rising
We met with a contractor on Saturday, May 24 ('25), and by mid-week the driveway and parking pad were done. We passed an excavator on the road to the property and the contractor said that it was his buddy's. He borrowed it and started the work the next day. I was shocked at his promptness...and on Memorial Day weekend no less. My plan was simply to get a short distance away from the access road and be able to park on a pad. The location we picked I believe was the best place to put it in due to the fact that the property slope was the most gentle from the road. Looking forward to seeing it when we go back to camp on it.
After the completion of the short drive and parking pad I set my mind to what is next for our land. I will probably sit out this fall and winter and in late spring of '26 have helical piers (piles) set as a foundation for a cabin. In doing research I settled on the piers – which usually resemble augurs – that are screwed into the ground below frost level to a depth determined suitable for strength and stability as determined by torque pressure. At least that is the professional way. There are DIY versions that one can install by themselves and watching YouTube videos of guys going around in circles using 2'x4's to screw their cheap home improvement versions is entertaining and horrifying: entertaining because you know it is not going to work well and horrifying because these guys really think (at least initially) that their efforts will support a cabin and are going to be out a lot of money if they get far into the process. It is not beneath me to experiment doing my own DIY version for a shed down the road, but for now I'm wanting a foundation for a family cabin and I want it to last indefinitely so am not willing to cut corners. I was planning on doing a post & pad structure, but since I am not building on the parking pad and have no intention of extending the driveway that means there is no access road to where I want to build up the hill. I thought that meant, in turn, that I would need to do all the work in getting equipment and supplies to the building location to do all the labor myself. Then I discovered helical piers. According to their literature, local professionals who drive the metal piles should have no problem in getting to my building area(s), whether they are driving them using traditional equipment or – especially - their own specialty rig for the job. I like this idea for several reasons. If done correctly (that's always the key isn't it?) these piers should provide a stable and long-lasting foundation for any structure. By not extending my drive up the hill (costing me $15-20k?) there will not be any scaring of the property to create runoff and erosion concerns. The same applies to cutting into my hillside to level a spot for a building pad. The downside is that I will still need to get supplies up the hill with or without a road once the piers are installed and what kind of scaring will be done to the land by that? I suppose a lot of that depends on timing and intensity. The companies that drive the piers say they can do it year-round, but my intention is to immediately build my foundation on the piers once they are installed (which would take a few hours) and for that I want the ground to be dry.
Regen Ag
Regenerative Agriculture
My pet peeve with suppliments...
To heck with the organic concept...
“We need to develop a concentrated program of nutritional balance in agriculture. To heck with the organic concept because the only thing it ensures is freedom from chemicals – maybe..."
Degen Ag
Degenerative Agriculture
