Juicy Berry Farm

Juicy Berry Farm is a 12-acre permacultural farm and residence. Currently in the making, the farm will feature multiple outbuildings in addition to the modern home, including a pump house for water treatment, goat barn, four-season greenhouse, and an observatory built into a pre-existing silo.

The residence is built into the highest point of a bluff, overlooking a gentle slope leading down to Boulder Creek. Intended as an extension of the landscape, the design of the home emphasizes simplicity and fluidity, and offers an evocation of earth elements. A series of thin indoor/outdoor walls segment the home to orient specific views of the land, channeling flow to the outdoors.

Inspired by the principles of permaculture, the farm has been developed to be self-sustaining.

• The residence achieved net zero energy status. Its structure and systems include super insulated walls and windows, geothermal heating, and a 10-kilowatt photovoltaic array providing electricity for the property.
• The pump house contains a reverse osmosis water treatment system, which purifies water from a well on-site. The system provides ample potable water for the residence and 5 acres of agricultural land.
• A series of constructed wetlands will provide purification for the waste water of the reverse osmosis system. Natural plantlife will filter out concentrated salts and total dissolved solids, before the seeping back into ground water.

The farm will feature terraced berry bushes descending the slope, an orchard of fruit trees, and fields of hemp. The homeowner is also committed to rehabilitating the landscape through the reintroduction of native plant species, focusing on the area surrounding the creek. This process will improve the habitat for migrating birds. A nature trail will lead from the house through the wetland area of the creek.