banner
HOME PAGE




swash

BASIC INFO:

What We Try to Do & Why



Our Latest Newsletter


Contact Information


Our Home Farm's Web Page



tree frog      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 - Late 2011




Exciting Addition! Anna has now created her own page about the

Community Food Assessment project

Clermont Farmers' Market Dot Survey

she has been working on. Click here to visit this new realm.

***

Hawthorne Valley Farm Game Camera Review

bobcat
During at least November and December, we've scattered motion-sensitive wildlife cameras around the Farm.
Click here to see some of the latest shots.

***

Our Weather Page is updating again! After a snafu due to changing web infrastructure, updates are working again. I've also added links to reports for the past month and the year-to-date so that you can can a longer view of weather history in the Valley. There's also now a snow report from our intrepid, ruler-bearing weather station on legs.




***


Also, we have begun a Hawthorne Valley Nature blog intended to
help residents and visitors keep track of natural and agricultural goings on:
***

Finally, don't forget our weekly opendoor evening, any Thursday (except holidays, 5-8pm)

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).
See our contact info. for more complete directions.

Call us at (518) 672 7994 if you need information.




MOSAIC OF COLUMBIA COUNTY AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS CREATED. Thanks to the Columbia County Soil and Water Conservation District and volunteer Otis Denner, we have essentially finished our county-wide mosaic of 1940s aerial photographs. Check out a snap-shot of the mosaic and let us know if you'd like a copy of the 1940s aerial image of your property.

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

SIGN-UP FOR ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER. We've moved out of the Stone Age and at least into the Bronze Age: you can now subscribe to our electronic newsletter by simply following this link.




 field