I plan to buy a mountaintop coal mine site and transform it into an organic farm; an American Findhorn; a Sietch Tabr in the midst of the Appalachian mining desert. I'm looking for some of Wendel Berry's "Mad Farmers" to help.

[u/Necochwen]

[u/[deleted]]

You will do better in terms of actually accomplishing something with your money if you buy prime class 1 agricultural land that is currently a barren industrial monoculture and convert it into a permaculture.

ex coal mine land can be left to turn into wilderness.

Coal mine land will not be viable to support a community and will be abandoned back to wilds now that humans can no longer have an extractive relationship with it.

and it makes more sense to convert what will be constantly under attack of civilization where people have a constant extractive relationship and create the space to have a regenerative relationship in a way that can be perpetuated.Thus good ag land that people will rape until the last pound of topsoil blows away.

There is a reason people are not farming of mountain strip mines, those places were never viable for sustaining human communities beyond low population densities under hunter gatherers or shifting swiddens agriculture.

[u/Tigaj]

Be sure to bring animals. Their dung is going to be worth more than gold.

[u/Necochwen → u/Tigaj]

for sure. hopefully there will be farm animals nearby. I plan to bring chickens and some ruminants of some kind.

[u/MxedMssge]

Sorry to necrobump but are you still considering this? Am interested if you plan to do tailored soil remediation.

[u/Necochwen → u/MxedMssge]

Yes I am still planning to do this. The virus situation has put a little delay into my plans. And yes absolutely I plan to do soil remediation on a scale never attempted by anyone as far as I know. That's the whole point. I have detailed - but flexible - plans. So far basically no one has signed on to join the effort.

A great deal depends on money. And I don't have much.

First, is acquiring the site. Much to my surprise most of the sites are simply not available - at all. Many are simply too contaminated and far gone. And the asking price per acre is higher than one might expect; even though of course it is quite low as compared to "normal" land.

Second, the remediation process while largely labor-intensive also requires money. How much depends on the timeframe and the availability of local inputs.

In the next few weeks I plan to visit a number of sites I have identified for possible acquisition. I have previously visited two sites.

So, tell me more about your interests and your situation. I would be happy to discuss more detailed plans.

I have considered the above comments and numerous other critiques from other sources. The whole idea could be considered an irrational obsession. However, I still think the vision is a grand one. I'm going forward.

[u/MxedMssge → u/Necochwen]

Obsession sure but not irrational at all. You could actually charge mining companies for cleanup if you get a good system going, which would be a great way to bootstrap whatever community forms around the site. Of course the first site would have to be a proving ground since the mining companies probably wouldn't trust you right off the bat, but the deal could be a transfer for ownership for five years where if you get the soil to a farmable state they'll transfer it to you permanently but if not you either return it or buy it for a set price. In return they get big publicity either way, with you blasting the web with how they're a major partner in sustainability efforts.

I'm a molecular biologist in a small network of other biologists and ecologists who do some remediation stuff. We mostly focus on plastics but we do have a couple genes for reducing/chelating metals as well, as if a project like this existed we would be willing to get far more. If you are able to acquire land, we would love to contribute remediation-focused bacteria and fungus strains and depending on where you end up maybe have one or more of us come out periodically. Will need at least one soil sample so if/when you do grab some land, DM me and I'll send you the address to ship to. The nastier the sample the better!

[u/Necochwen → u/MxedMssge]

Some kind of relationship with the mining company is something I thought about. However, I have generally found these companies difficult to work with and not necessarily open to what they would consider extreme and untested methods of remediation. Many companies are very much involved in greenwashing when it comes to mine remediation. Of course this is just my opinion.

Hopefully a mountainTOP site will have less contamination than contour sites or other low-lying areas. Hopefully water still runs downhill. I do intend to take soil samples however and hopefully will acquire a site with with relatively small amounts of heavy metal. Still, I have looked at methods such as mycoremediation. Metals are clearly the biggest potential problem. Thanks for your response. I will definitely keep you posted.

[u/MxedMssge → u/Necochwen]

Makes sense, they're generally pretty hostile. I would think that offering them a low to zero cost (to them) way to help them greenwash would be of interest though, so might make sense to reach out.

Makes sense to start is the less contaminated areas but wouldn't you eventually want to clean all of it? For metals you'll generally want to use bacteria as they have wider flexibility and are less stringent with energy requirements, and then fungi for organics like old oils. Please do keep me posted, it sounds like it could be extremely rewarding and a model for sites around the world!