Why Lundale Farm matters

W AY
R
DS
TH
S
13.4 ACRES
RIG
R
O
A
(GRAZING LAND,
ORCHARD)
22 ACRES
D
F
HT-
I
E
L
OF-
D
(GRAZING LANDS,
ORCHARD)
7 ACRES
E
W
NE
O
G
(88
((8
88
8 ACRES
A
AC
ACRES)
CRES
CRES
RES))
R
5 ACRES
OLD RIDGE RD
S GN
SI
AND &
FFARM ST
UTE 23
RD / RO
RIDGE
-
R
29 ACRES
F
H
E
C
L
13
3.9 ACRES
13.9
F
L D S
I E
CH CR
CH
CREEK
EEK
E
ELEM
ELE
MENTAR
ENTAR
EN
TARY
Y
SC
S
SCH
CHO
OOL
OL
OL
BE
R
E
E
W
K
O
O
NCH
FRE
S
D
N O R
T H
L
ACRES
12.5
2.5
.5 ACR
CR
CRES
O
W
L A N
E F
IELDS
W
A
Y
D
O
O
-O
F
T
W
IG
H
4 ACRES
ACR
AC
ACRE
RES
64
DS
FI
EL
W
LOOK
OU
T
S O
U
T H
W
O
SOS O
UT U T
H
H
ST
C
W
NA OVE
IMPROVE ACCESS
O
NT
NT
ROAD TO LOOKOUT
O
RY
ME
D
FIELDS
TO
AL
S
W
TO
N
SH
W
NS
IP
HI
P
EA
((NUT
NU
UT TREES, BEES)
11 ACRES
O
D
S
S
NG
PRI
HO
US
25 POTTSTOWN
2501
PIKE ENTRANCE
2501 HOMESTEAD
BAKEHOUSE
A
55 ACRES
E
O
H
S
E
R
E
C
O
P
WELL WITH
CISTERN
L
.7
A
C..
AC.
SMALL
ANIMAL
PASTURE
4 AC.
HORSE BARN
DAIRY BARN
MACHINE SHOP
TRUE LEAF FARM
100
ROUTE
10 ACRES
P
ES
UR
ST
S
W
PA
H
R
U
D
O
3 AC
N
14 ACRES
SO
UT
H
4 ACRES
5 ACRES
S
R E
T U
S
P A
PK /
TOWN
POTTS
IC
RW
WA
D
PU
PUG
P
UG
U
GH
G
GHTO
HT
TO
OW
O
WN
WN
LUNDALE FARM EAST
290AC
S
7 ACRES
1 ACRE
38 ACRES
5 ACRES
5 ACRES
D
ER
AC
N
UR
KF
EK
CRE
OW
4.6 ACRES
S C H O O
100 SPACE
PARKING AREA
(STABILIZED TURF)
3.5 ACRES
AD
H
ME
C
E
N
IG
H
E
RUN
COVENTRYVILLE ROAD
MAIN ENTRANCE
R
FISHING ACCESS
R
F
FARM
ARM
RM WEST
WES
ST
P
EC
O
W
RD
T
14
ACRES
NDS
WETLA
ILLE
V
RY
W
DA
ISY
PO
IN
T
BEA
VER
7 ACRES
COVEN
T
COVENTRYVILLE RD
ETABLE FIELDS
VEG
3500 HOMESTEAD
WARWIC
WAR
RW
WIC
CK
COU
OUNTY
OU
UNTY
TY
Y
PARK
P
U
O
T
G
-O
S
W
ID
2.6 ACRES
D S
I E L
D F
A
R O
W
A
Y
W
W
3500 COVENTRYVILLE ROAD
ENTRANCE
PEC
D
I
R
O
N
(GRAZING LAND,
H
T
RR
RIDGE
IDGE
DGE
DG
D
GE ROAD
RO
OAD FARM
FAR
ARM
RM
CONSERVATION LA
RD
HIA
LP
DE
ILA
PH
GRACE RD
W
PRIZER ROAD
PARCEL
(1.2 ACRES)
LEGEND:
EXISTING AND PROPOSED FEATURES
AGRICULTURE USE AREAS
122 AC
EXISTING FARM BUILDING
EXISTING HOUSE
D
ER R
PRIZ
Why Lundale Farm matters
Lundale Farm brings together land conservation and sustainable land uses.
When Sam & Eleanor Morris purchased Lundale Farm in 1946, over 6 million
family farms covered the American landscape. The Morris family moved to
Lundale at a pivotal moment in land use. Farms were in gradual postwar
decline, rapid suburban development had not begun in earnest, and the “open
space” movement did not yet exist.
Tremendous land development destroyed rich farmland in the last half of the
20th century at a rate of “one acre per minute every minute of every day”
(American Farmland Trust). By 2011, when the Morris heirs fulfilled their
parents’ wishes by forming the nonprofit Lundale Farm, Inc., the USDA census
showed a greatly diminished number of US farms, shrunk to 2.1 million
operations.
In Pennsylvania, State Representative Sam Morris was the visionary behind
the Commonwealth's farmland preservation program. Sam and his wife
Eleanor established the French & Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust in
northern Chester County. Today, many such non-profits serve as stewards of
thousands of acres of conserved land across the state. While these tracts are
greatly valued for their habitat, environmental and scenic benefits, many are
unused, unvisited, and untapped as potential food sources of great value
(estimated at $258 million annually across the 5 county Philadelphia region,
Green Space Alliance, 2012 report). Much of this conserved land could be
used in more productive ways to benefit local communities, economies and
environments.
Recent studies and reports have identified accessing affordable land as the
primary challenge new farmers face. Pennsylvania, a relatively rural state
with a rich agricultural heritage and large areas of dense population, could be
a leader in local food production if we can support new farmers.
SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY
106.6 AC GRAZING LANDS
FARM ROADS / PROPOSED PEDESTRIAN TRAILS- 1.9 MILES
58 AC
HIGH VALUE GRAINS
FRENCH CREEK TRAIL (PLANNED)- 2.18 MILES
57 AC
ORGANIC FEED/FORAGE
HORSE-SHOE TRAIL- 1.71 MILES
13.9 AC ORCHARD
PROPOSED TRAIL- .5 MILE
12 AC
VEGETABLES
WATERBODIES
3.7 AC
GARDENS (CUT FLOWERS,
MEDICINAL, HERBS)
EXISTING FENCED AREAS
W
EXISTING WELL LOCATION
W
PROPOSED WELL LOCATION
0
250 500
1,000
Feet
F
Figuring out the details is demanding. Lundale Farm's diversity of land types:
wet meadows, shallow uplands, rolling fields, forested slopes, and
deep-soiled flats is well suited to serve as a demonstration farm since other
sites are likely to contain at least two of these land types. The limitations of
the land types along with restrictions imposed by conservation easements
make matching farm enterprises to location a challenge, but also an
opportunity to look for the perfect harmony of site and farming requirements.
As the detailed map depicts, Lundale’s land welcomes pastured livestock,
feed and forage crops, bee-keeping, organic fruit & vegetable production,
sustainable forestry management, and recreational opportunities.
To form this vibrant network of uses on its 441 preserved acres, Lundale
Farm offers unique long-term land leases to a new generation of sustainable
farmers. Not a farm incubator, Lundale aspires to create an enduring and
dynamic community of farmers living and working on this land. Lundale
hopes its community of farmers will offer working demonstrations to
landowners and land trusts by providing fresh, nutritious, locally grown foods
to their communities while enhancing the biodiversity and health of the land.
The master plan takes inventory of the existing site and recommends
broad-based parameters for how Lundale can re-imagine and recreate the
diversified family farm that has largely disappeared from the American
countryside. The plan offers guidance toward the realization of Lundale
Farm’s mission to be “a place of inspiration, innovation and opportunity for
new farmers, landowners, and others
committed to locally grown food”.