Cumberworth's Can't be Done Corner is a 41acre diversified farm, all that remains of the 300 acre family farm begun in the early 1900s. It is currently owned and operated by the grandson of the original owner with the assistance of his young family, mother and siblings. Twelve acres are in alfalfa, six alternately in cover crops or corn, eight in pasture and the remainder in potato plots and vegetable gardens, two barns (one for pigs and one for hay, cows and chickens) and four home sites. The family engages in subscription farming, selling 1-2 cows, 2-3 pigs and 600 chickens, potatoes and squash throughout the growing season. While full-time off-farm employment provides the bulk of the household income, farming "pays the taxes" and keeps the family on the land.
The family is drawn to sustainable farming practices as a way to produce healthy food for themselves and others. They also see it as the only responsible way to treat the land and leave something of value for their children.
They see the on-farm integration of plants and animals as a logical aspect of sustainable agriculture, enabling production diversity and the recycling of nutrients. They have experimented with the use of domestic birds, Barred Rock chickens predominantly, as a way to reduce their labor requirements. They use the birds in their potatoes to reduce weeds and Colorado potato beetle predation and find that the birds significantly cut down on the labor time needed to manage these pests, making it possible to grow and sell potatoes locally. Unfortunately, they have kept no labor or yield records, while 1996 was heir to an unusually cold and wet spring making bird use and potato production extremely difficult.