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Welcome to the Farmscape Ecology Program Home Page.

Thank you for stopping in. A Grey Wood Frog and a herd of cows & a tractor (at the bottom) keep you company on this page. A none-too-subtle reference to our program's goal of combining an understanding and appreciation of the natural world with a realistic approach to agriculture. Of course, we're idealists in our own way, but we hope that the information on these pages helps inform your interaction with the land, whether you're a farmer, a naturalist, or a just curious inhabitant of the County. These pages explain some of our work and motivation. For general information, please choose from the list at left; for more detailed information, use the menu on top.

What is farmscape ecology? In our books, 'farmscape ecology' refers to the patterning of life on our landscape. It is a landscape in which farming has played and does play a large role. We emphasize that role by calling our landscape a farmscape. Given that the vast majority of our land was once opened for agriculture, it is fair to say that agriculture's legacy, if not current imprint, has defined much of the human settlement pattern and native species ecology that we see around us today.

Farmscape ecology includes those aspects of human ecology that relate to our use of the land and the growing of food upon it. Thus, we look at studies of our local food system as one way of describing the nature of our landscape. Likewise, farmscape ecology also includes description of how other animals and how plants distribute themselves on the land - where do they find homes? how do they get nutrients? how do they move about? And, foremost perhaps, farmscape ecology includes looking at how the patterning of human and non-human ecologies interact, how does our activity, for example, determine where plants and animals can exist? How do those plants and animals, in turn, influence our existence? Where are there synergies, where are there disconnects between our own use and that of other organisms?

Our ultimate goal is to encourage the compassionate, holistic understanding of our landscape and the active consideration of how human and non-human ecology can best be configured on that landscape so as to provide healthy, economically feasible (for consumer and producer) human sustenance while also providing a livelihood for the other species that share this land with us. We're all in this together.

As you browse through the information available on these pages, please ask yourself - what does this tell me about who I am as an 'ecological agent' influencing the lives of other people and other organisms? What does this tell me about how those others likewise influence my life? And, how does this begin to help me envision the 'best' future shape of this County we all call home?

NEW INFORMATION - June '10

INTERESTED IN NATIVE PLANTS (& INSECTS)?
LIKE GARDENING?
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HOW TO GARDEN WITH NATIVE PLANTS WITHOUT SPENDING AN ARM & A LEG?

WE ARE OFFERING A WORKSHOP ENTITLED:

Gardening with native plants on a budget

A workshop at the Creekhouse on Hawthorne Valley Farm with Ruth Dufault (Bittersweet Gardens) in collaboration with Judy Sullivan (Project Native)

Friday, July 16^th, 7-9pm (Introduction)

Saturday, July 17^th, 9-12am (Planning the Garden)

Saturday, August 21^st, 9-12am (Implementation)

Saturday, September 18^th, 9-12am (Implementation)

Suggested donation $15/session, $50 for entire workshop

Please register with the Farmscape Ecology Program, fep@hawthornevalleyfarm.org or 518 672-7994

For more information, click here.

JOIN US ANY THURSDAY EVENING BETWEEN 5 - 8pm
for some simple food, a chance to read and talk about our land's human and natural history.

We're offering a stop by 'as-you-are', 'spur-of-the-moment' chance every Thrusday. No need to call
ahead, no need to bring anything. Just come by and we'll have a pot of soup, chili or some such waiting.
We're located at 1075 Harlemville Road in Ghent (on the NW corner of Hawthorne Valley Farm).

HARLEMVILLE WEATHER. A periodically updated page with recent Harlemville weather.

COLUMBIA COUNTY BUTTERFLIES. Our new season's field notes on butterflies is finally up, plenty of pictures.

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