Helping Affluent Home Owners and Communities Increase Property Values Through Ecologically Sound Solutions

Helping property owners and home services contractors apply permaculture ethics starting here in Martinsville, Virginia, across the Piedmont region.  Using regenerative solutions, clients move towards becoming stewards of the natural ecology.

Consulting includes land best management practices (BMP), agricultural/resort marketing, and back office support for home services contractors who want to grow their businesses.  Serving contractors who deliver Landscaping, Tree services, Excavation, Forestry, and Property management to affluent property owners.

The Prosperity Homestead center has demonstration gardens showing permaculture and no-dig gardening methods.  Exhibits on ecological erosion control, cover crops, and holistic land management.  Tours are by appointment only.

Martinsville, VA, is a unique example.  With mountainous terrain plus 41″ of rain each year, urban areas are burdened with erosion, nitrogen runoff, and an overrun of wildlife.  The once lush hardwood forests of Forest Park and Druid Hills were stripped by deer and washed clean of topsoil from rains.

Clients get reliable solutions through partnerships with strong-minded leaders who have the forethought to restore its natural beauty using methods available to them.  Emphasis is placed on modeling historical estates, skills building of contractors, and regional partnerships to deliver sustainable solutions.

Food Security and Healthy Food Choices are Two of Many Local Martinsville-Henry County Problem We Can Solve Together

Here are some of the problems Prosperity Homestead seeks to resolve through partner organizations, private businesses, and individual property owner education:

• Regional Food Deserts.  Without access to fresh quality food, problems are significantly increased, ranging from childhood obesity to cognitive development issues.  According to a 2016 report, “County Health Rankings,” by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 21% of the City of Martinsville faces food insecurity problems.
• Lack of Green Space.  While many regional parks are available, most are sterile artificial spaces lacking beneficial insects, undisturbed natural environments, and face limited support in resolving ongoing erosion issues.  Lake Lanier is one example; the costs to maintain this high-value resource are far beyond the reasonable membership rate.
• Biological Remediation.  While regional industry brings jobs, many left behind unproductive sites due to contamination, natural erosion conditions made worse with neglect, and irresponsible use of chemical fertilizers running off into waterways.  From coal ash to concentrations of urban run-off, biological remediation solutions are available.

The good news is that models for solutions are available; the gap is viable regional contractors to implement projects that serve homeowners, citizens, and local government.  Understanding such solutions improves public acceptance, demand, and use, moving a whole community forward.

Clients solve these problems by developing a significant profit motive for the consumer and the community.  Many solutions that have worked in other regions are self-funded or grow quickly from seed capital.  The problem is the solution and an opportunity across this region.

An Ecological Approach is a Systems Thinking Long Term Solutions That Requires Significant Change

Prosperity Homestead partners with regional and international solutions providers.  From adopting Virginia Stormwater BMP and Environmental Best Practices to consulting with universities specializing in sustainable solutions.  Here's an example of who fuels our team with insights, guidance, and talent:

• The University of North Carolina,
• Virginia Tech (Blacksburg)
• Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ),
• Virginia Water Resources Research Center,
• The Permaculture Research Institute,
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
• National Wildlife Federation,
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS),

These represent governmental and non-governmental organizations without a commercial interest in specific practices.  Historical land management practices include those which made Monticello, The Biltmore Estate, and Reynolda destination sites.

With the talent level available, our role is to organize, facilitate, and direct the commercial viability of sustainable land management best practices.  This includes consulting, site design, land management, and advisory services.

Prosperity Homestead is a “Certified Backyard Habitat” site, as well as participates in numerous studies, wildlife census, and land trust programs.  If you have questions about land management topics, including invasive weeds, native plants, pesticide reduction, stormwater management, and wildlife stewardship, you are in the right place.