It was a warm and humid Monday morning, and the Farm Crew pulled themselves out of bed and loaded into a van complete with a tool cache, coffee, and enough food for a couple of days. We made our way up north and after a couple of wrong turns and long stares at the gazetteer, found ourselves in Highgate where we would be working on a stream restoration project.
We tumbled out of our vehicle and were greeted first by the black flies, and then by the folks who would be guiding and assisting us with our project at the Haberstroh property, Stacy and Brian. Stacy, a river scientist, explained that the stream on the property had been channelized for a long time and basically ran straight through haying fields. This posed a problem as streams prefer to meander, creating areas of “diversity and complexity” (as Stacey so succinctly described it) for the life forms that might make their homes in this stream and its floodplain. Our task? To make a beautiful hodgepodge of sticks and logs in the vernal pools surrounding the stream and in the stream itself!
Sticks and logs added to create a more diverse habitat.
Log jam built in stream to help it meander
Angie, Melissa and Kelly creating a log jam
Stacy wanted to know what our background and interest in stream restoration was, and after a bit of awkward silence, I mentioned that I majored in political science. After a hearty laugh, I offered that I was a fly fisherwoman. I would venture to guess that I have a stronger affection for aquatic insects than your average Joe or Jane! Anyways, we finally confessed that we were a group of farmers, and proceeded to commence hauling and hacking sticks and logs that Brian had cut down with his chainsaw. After throwing some sticks into the depressions in the floodplain, I noticed that there were some frogs procreating on one of the sticks I had put in. Needless to say, I was ELATED.
We ended up getting REALLY wet on that first day. The rain came down with force in thick sheets, and we were good and soaked through when we took our lunch. By the late afternoon, the sun came back out and helped warm us up a bit, but it was a relief to put on some dry clothes when we were done for the day!
I didn’t realize until the end of the first day that there were actually some animals living in the barn that we parked in front of. There were a bunch of dry dairy cows chained up inside this barn, looking dirty and miserable. This was a good reminder of the different camps of agriculture in this small state. The vigor of the localvore and organic movement is an easy distraction from the lingering industrial system– GMO corn, sad cows, and improper land and water management still abound in our little state. Our work is far from done!
We ended up finishing our project a day early, which worked out well because we were all excited to get back to our farm activities! We have been busy building a new chicken tractor for our broilers who are still growing at an incredible rate. The other BIG NEWS: our laying hens are finally out on pasture! They have been slowly exploring their new grassy surroundings, and developing a taste for some of the finer things in life like dandelion and burdock leaves…mmm!
Laying hen enjoying the spring dandelions
We’ve also been seeding up a storm, think squash, watermelon, pumpkins, cabbage and basil. I had visions of pesto, sauerkraut, and curried squash soup dancing in my head. And speaking of storms, keep your fingers crossed that the rains/snows let up a bit, we could all use a bit of drying out.
Summer Squash in the greenhouse
Arugula coming up in the field
Thats all for now!
Kelly
