On Krofting

Welcome to Erda Kroft

Erda Kroft is a small diversified farm located at 3,850’ in elevation in the subtropical mountains of southern Arizona.  The weather patterns and elevation combine to make this particular area too high and wet to be desert, while the southern latitude and proximity to the gulf of California make winters too warm to make the climate truly temperate.  This is the only area in the continental U.S. where palm trees safely grow at 4,000’ in elevation.  The result is an ecosystem well suited for wildcrafting native herbs and foods and careful free ranging of appropriate livestock.

Our farming philosophy is also our life philosophy and can be summed up in one word – sustainability.  This would not be the sustainability that is loosely bandied about by the media and popular “alternative press”.  No, when we look at statistics pointing out that the U.S. represents 4% of the world’s population and consumes 40% of the world’s resources, we believe that doing “feel good green things” like recycling and driving hybrid cars does little to create change.  Or when one realizes that housing the world’s population in the average U.S. home would require 3 more planet earths to supply the needed resources, we feel we cannot continue to house ourselves in a way that usurps resources from others. At Erda Kroft all farm buildings are made of cob, bamboo, local wood resources and recycled materials.

Although the term has fallen out of usage somewhat, historically crofts (with a c) refers to smaller parcels of land that were often part of larger estates owned by the upper class in Great Briton.  The peasant class acted as caretakers (crofters) for the croft by employing the art of crofting.  Much skill was needed for crofters to manage their crofts in a way that maintained the health of the ecosystem upon which they depended for their food and fiber (wool) needs.  Tracing the origins of the word back further, crofting appears to have its roots in Anglo-Saxon history (possibly originating on continental Europe) relating to a practice of sustainable native ecosystem management for food and fiber (native foods, meat, eggs, wool).  Although the word has European origins, native peoples around the world have practiced various forms of crofting for millennia. The word ‘erda’ also has Anglo-Saxon roots (old high German) and is the root for the word earth.  Today the Scottish Crofters Guild probably represents the most eminent sense of crofting.  Although it has gone through several iterations through the years, it remains the mainstay of crofting in the U.K.

Historically, farming entails some form of tilling of the soil, which is antithetical to its fertility because critical soil born flora and fauna are destroyed by tillage.  In particular, mycelium – which is becoming recognized as a critical component of soil fertility – takes many years to recover after tillage.  This means that soil that is constantly under tillage is being slowly degraded, even under the most favorable organic farming systems.  At Erda Kroft the approach is to avoid this downward spiraling system by utilizing the natural ecosystem of the region.  Fertility is increased by incorporating livestock in rotations thus allowing for more diverse farming opportunities.  Intact ecosystems also provide habitat for native wildlife which play key roles in nutrient cycling. When potential building materials, native and carefully chosen introduced food, fiber and herb plants are encouraged in this ecosystem, sustainable productivity for humans is greatly enahanced.  These are the beginnings of Krofting.

Krofting (with a K) represents an expansion of the ancient British crofting system by allowing it to encompass all aspects of sustainable living: producing food and fiber crops; building with natural resources; wildcrafting native foods and herbs; utilizing livestock for food, fiber, fertility and transportation; and doing all of this on local intact native ecosystems.  A side benefit will be an improved ecosystem for game species. In short Krofting is the practice of managing small parcels of intact native ecosystems to the benefit of both the ecosystem and humans.  Krofting is a method of sustainable living whose time has come once again. Erda Kroft is who we are and what we do.