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Our Latest Newsletter:
The
Fritillary
& Bluestem.
An
Occasional Newsletter of Program
Activities
Winter
greetings. We are burrowing into our winter work, and wanted to
take this
opportunity to reflect with you on a full and eventful year; express
our
gratitude for all the support, participation and enthusiasm that has
marked
2009; and share some of our thoughts for the year ahead. We wish
you a
peaceful and fulfilling New Year with many opportunities to explore the
world
around you.
A
Little More
About Our Mission (and how you can support it)
The Farmscape
Ecology Program at Hawthorne Valley Farm works towards informing and
stimulating
a deeper understanding and appreciation of the many dimensions of our
landscape
in Columbia County. Our participatory research is designed to build a
more
complete knowledge of the natural resources in our farmscape and to
better
understand the historical and current interactions between people and
the land.
Specifically, we seek to document actual and potential synergies
between
agricultural production and native species. Our outreach helps people
of
different ages, backgrounds, and preferred modes of learning to build a
deeper
connection to the land in Columbia County. Hopefully, these connections
will,
little by little, translate into a more conscious land stewardship and
a more
ecologically, economically and culturally sustainable landscape.
If you feel you
have personally benefited from our work or you are just glad that
somebody is
doing it, please consider supporting us with a tax-deductible
donation.
You may donate on-line
or send a check to the Farmscape Ecology Program,
Hawthorne Valley Farm, 327 Route 21C, Ghent NY 12075.
We are offering
some exciting new opportunities to participate in our research and for
hands-on
learning about Columbia County. They are listed at the end of this
newsletter.
In the following,
we offer a detailed report of last year’s happenings, share our plans
for the
next year, and offer several opportunities to come out with us and get
to know
your place.
A
New Home and
Many Helping Hands
As many of you
know, the Hawthorne Valley Association received generous foundation
support
towards the purchase of the former “Hawthorn Clinic” as the future home
of the
Farmscape Ecology Program. In May we took up temporary residence in the
building that is now called the “Creek House”. Into our improvised
offices, lab
space and guest rooms, we welcomed three summer interns, Margaret Bell,
Meryl
Corsun, and Rebecca Kranz, and a visiting researcher, Graham Hawks. In
June we
were joined by social anthropologist Anna Duhon who serves as our
third
full-time member of the program coordinator team. Long-term helpers
Martin
Holdrege, Otis Denner, Leo Proechel-Bensman, and Danika Padilla
continued their
commitment to the program. Mike Pewtherer facilitated the mammal group
of the
participatory natural history survey. In autumn we welcomed our newest
volunteer, bug-sorter and cook extraordinaire, Gianni Lovato.
In
Memoriam:
Rogers McVaugh, Columbia County Botanist
Rogers McVaugh,
whom we owe the first in-depth botanical exploration of Columbia County
in the
1930s and the wonderful book “Flora of the Columbia County Area, New
York”
(1958), passed away this fall, three months after he celebrated his
100th
birthday. The research he conducted as a young man provided the
foundation of
much of our own work. His gentle spirit and keen botanical knowledge
will be
missed by friends and colleagues.
Research
The field season
was dedicated to a variety of research projects:
* A Cow-Calf
Study at Hawthorne Valley Farm was initiated to quantify some of the
costs and
benefits of raising calves with their mothers in a grazing dairy herd.
* The Monthly
Mapping of Insect Populations in and around the Market Garden at
Hawthorne
Valley Farm provided base-line information for future experimental work
to
enhance the synergies between native insect populations and
agricultural
production.
* A third
study
at Hawthorne Valley Farm tested in-house methods to assess soil health
as a
measure for grassland sustainability.
* A Regional
Floodplain Forest Study begun two years ago extended into the current
season.
Last year, we dedicated most of the field season to exploring the plant
and
animal communities of long-term forested floodplains in our county (see
report
and the three-part article "The Dancer's Hem" published in
the “Columbia
Paper” earlier this year). The field research was completed this summer
with
comparative work in recently reforested floodplain sites in Columbia
County
and, in collaboration with Hudsonia, in Dutchess County.
* As an
offering
of the Know Your Place Project (KYPP), we launched the
Participatory Natural
History Survey of Columbia County Special Places, which brought
together a
group of 15 dedicated volunteers who met bi-weekly to improve their
skills in
identifying mammal signs, butterflies and plants, and to inventory
these
organisms in some of Columbia County’s public natural areas.
* We wrote an
Ecological Description of the Round Ball Public Conservation Area in
Ancram for
the Columbia Land Conservancy. After “The Kingdom” (2006) and the
“Schor Conservation
Area” (2008), this was the third ecological description commissioned by
CLC.
* We began
planning a Community Food Assessment for Columbia County, a long-term
participatory research project that will look at both the production
and
consumption side of our local food system.
* We launched an
Oral History Project, with the help of visiting researcher Graham
Hawks, to
unearth the stories of farmers and other long-time residents who have
worked
closely with the land.
Outreach
Parallel to the
field research, we shared our insights with diverse audiences in a
variety of
face-to-face outreach events, printed materials, and a video.
* We offered
weekly Springflower Walks in diverse Floodplain Forests over a
four-week period
in April/May and monthly Farmscape Ecology Walks at Hawthorne Valley
Farm
during the summer/fall. These popular walks, with an average of 20
participants, were co-sponsored by the Columbia Land Conservancy.
* We presented
interactive info-tables at the Governor’s Mansion, the “Sowing Seeds”
event in
Philmont, and at the Harvest Festivals at the Martin Van Buren
Historical Site
in Kinderhook, the Roeliff-Jansen Park in Copake/Hillsdale, and
Hawthorne
Valley Farm.
* We gave
presentations at the Hudson River Environmental History Conference and
two
landowner workshops organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension, hosted
a field
trip of the Columbia Greene Community College ecology class, taught a
session
in the Farm
Beginnings Program and led field-based activities for high-school
and lower school students at Hawthorne Valley School,
the Farm & Arts
Program, and the Summer Camp at Hawthorne Valley Farm.
* We also
continue to facilitate the Farmer’s Research Circle, an informal group
of
Columbia County farmers who meet during the off-season to discuss and
investigate issues relevant for the sustainability of farming in our
region.
* After our
well-received series of articles about floodplain forests published in
the
“Columbia Paper” earlier this year, we are now beginning to contribute
a
monthly column “Perspectives on Place”. The first column was published
on
November 24th. Look for our columns every third Thursday of
the month.
* A 12 minute
documentary on Hawthorne Valley Farm and the Farmscape Ecology Program
was
produced by Jamie Herring of the Cornell Ecoagriculture Working Group.
The draft version of this video is
now accessible for preview.
Our
plans for the
coming year
An important step
will be the remodeling of the “Creek House” to adequately accommodate
office
and lab space for three full-time staff, three summer interns and
year-round
volunteers, intern housing, staff housing, and a reading room, which we
envision as a community space for reflection and creativity around the
theme of
sustainability. We have just vacated the building and moved to a
temporary
office, graciously provided by Hawthorne Valley School, to facilitate
the first
steps of the renovation. Your donation at this time will help to
complete the
renovation. We hope to welcome you all to a house-warming party at the
“Creek
House” in early summer.
* While the
construction crew is at work on our future home base, we will spend the
winter
months with data analysis and report writing for the research projects
conducted during last summer, work on the web-site to make it more
user-friendly and accessible, and preparations for the next field
season.
* Anna will
facilitate the Community Food Assessment. This is a tool that has
been
used in many communities to help reveal the current workings of the
local food
system, and identify potential gaps, synergies, assets and
opportunities for
strengthening it. This research project was in part born out of a
research question raised at a Farmers’ Research Circle: What
would Columbia
County look like if more people ate “real” food? Through this
initiative
we hope to facilitate a deeper, shared, understanding and consciousness
of the
food system in Columbia County, and ultimately nurture vision and
action to
create a more viable, just, and sustainable food system in Columbia
County.
* We will also
continue to develop the Oral History Project. This is an exciting
chance
to learn from the experiences, stories, and wisdom of those who have
spent a
lifetime working closely with the land and have observed first hand
changes in
land use, as well as the cultural, economic and environmental
landscape.
In this next stage of the Oral History Project this winter, we hope to
interview long-time dairy and livestock farmers in Columbia
County. As
part of this project, we are also developing a photographic
story-telling
project to visually document the agricultural landscapes that are most
important to the farmers we interview and their relationship to the
land.
* We hope to
make
old farm woodlots the centerpiece of our ecological fieldwork in 2010.
While
heavily used for timber, many of these lots escaped complete clearing.
Such
continuous forest cover gives rise to what we are calling, in the
British
tradition, ’ancient forests’. Unlike in ‘old growth’ or ‘primary’
forests, many
trees may be relatively young and human disturbance may be extensive.
However,
the continuous forest cover makes these woodlots the potential home of
rare
plants and animals.
* Depending on
the results of this winter’s analyses of insect mapping, we will follow
up with
more detailed studies to understand the interaction of cropland
management and
insect diversity.
* We will
continue to build our data-base of Columbia County’s Special Places,
and are
searching for the best format to share much more of this information
with you
on our web-site.
Opportunities
to
join us in exploring the natural and cultural landscape of Columbia
County:
* We are now
accepting applications for summer – autumn internships.
* We are
available to mentor high-school students who wish to conduct
place-based
independent research.
* We welcome
volunteers willing to help sort samples, enter data, analyze maps and,
once
summer comes, join us in the field. Also, the FEP Oral History
Project is
looking to involve one or more people in transcribing oral history
interviews
with local farmers, and we would love to hear from anyone interested in
participating in the process of assessing our community’s food system.
* The
Participatory
Natural History Surveys, which are part of our documentation of
Columbia
County’s Special Places, will continue during the off-season with
monthly
Winter Explorations. New and occasional participants are warmly invited
to join
us in these ad-hoc outings to some of Columbia County’s natural areas.
Winter
explorations are scheduled for Saturday afternoons, 1-4pm on January 9,
February 6, and March 6. Bi-weekly Saturday afternoon (1-5pm) surveys
will
resume on May 1st and go through September. Please contact us at
fep@hawthornevalleyfarm.org or (518) 781-0243 if you are interested in
getting
to know the special places of Columbia County and their plants and
animals.
* Guided
Springflower Walks will be offered on April 24th, May 8, and May 22,
from 1-3pm
at locations to be announced. Please check our web-site or the local
newspapers
for details as the date comes closer.
* Farmscape
Ecology Walks at Hawthorne Valley Farm are tentatively scheduled for
May 22,
June 19, July 17, August 21, and Sept. 18. These walks start at 2pm in
front of
the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store and introduce you to different on-farm
habitats
and their native inhabitants. For the specific themes of each walk,
please
check our web-site or the local newspapers, or keep an eye open for
flyers
around the Farm Store.
Acknowledgements
We would like to
extend our gratitude for financial support during 2009 to Mike Brenner
and
Joanne Klein, Margaret Cole, Douglas Feick, Martin and Janene Ping,
Denise
Stowell, Kay Toll, Nancy Williams, an anonymous private donor, the
Biodiversity
Research Institute, the Hudson River Estuary Program, the Sustainable
Agriculture Research and Education Program, and an anonymous
foundation. We
also thank David Duhon for the donation of his collection of books on
sustainable agriculture (which is currently housed in the library of
Hawthorne
Valley School), Mal Schuster for the donation of used office furniture,
and all
our volunteers for their dedication and time! Finally, we wish to thank
Judy Anderson,
Tim Biello, Toni and Gail Cashen, Graham Hawks, Karl North, Walt
Poleman,
Gretchen Stevens, Caroline Stewart, and the farmers’ research circle
for
valuable advice and conceptual programmatic input during the past year.
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