Wildlife on the Farm
In 2021 a heron made herself at home and spent the autumn stalking up and down rows of vegetables on Beebe Hill. We got used to farming side by side with her.
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The Interdependent Republic of Housitonica- the IRH as we refer to our biome here in Adamah's Housatonic River Watershed- is a haven of habitat for many species beyond our own. It is not uncommon to encounter an ambling black bear on our way to work. We harvest vegetables under the soaring wings of hawks and vultures and the occasional bald eagle. While weeding beside a flowering patch of dill, one can be inundated by the sound of hundreds of native pollinators buzzing.
Isabella Freedman's four-hundred acres of oaks, pine, maple, beech, birch, hickory, wildflowers, ferns, mosses, mushrooms and the like are connected to undeveloped state land and just a paved road away from the privately preserved wild of Great Mountain Forest. Farming while nestled among these connected tracts of forested slopes and valleys in this wildest corner of Connecticut means that the traffic around and on the farm has fewer rubber wheels and more paws, claws, tails, and wings. There are blessings and challenges to growing food with such a menagerie of neighbors. |
The term Ecosystem services describes the many ways that other creatures support our pursuit of producing human food from the land. Pollinators allow fruiting and seed crops to develop thanks to their frequent visits. Birds of prey and snakes manage our vole population, allowing beets and carrots to grow unimpeded by little nibbles. Predatory insects like braconid wasps and lady bugs manage our populations of aphids and other insect pests. We are proactive in inviting these helpful partners onto the land by maintaining their habitats in the form of nectar-ful flowering native plants, bunch grasses, rotting logs, and wild spaces close by our fields.
Sometimes coexistence takes some craftyness. We have spent many hours developing a labyrinth of fences to protect our egg laying hens from bobcats and hawks. The expensive eight-foot high fence that surrounds our main vegetable growing area is essential for keeping out deer who can demolish a planting of lettuce in the blink of an eye. We use fabric row covers, crop rotation, and soil health to manage the barrage of insects and pathogens that find our tender veggie crops as tasty as we do. We spend countless hours removing opportunistic plants that compete with our plantings. We rotate our goats and sheep along roadsides so their grazing habits can help control dreaded bittersweet, poison ivy and other aggressive plant species.
Sometimes coexistence takes some craftyness. We have spent many hours developing a labyrinth of fences to protect our egg laying hens from bobcats and hawks. The expensive eight-foot high fence that surrounds our main vegetable growing area is essential for keeping out deer who can demolish a planting of lettuce in the blink of an eye. We use fabric row covers, crop rotation, and soil health to manage the barrage of insects and pathogens that find our tender veggie crops as tasty as we do. We spend countless hours removing opportunistic plants that compete with our plantings. We rotate our goats and sheep along roadsides so their grazing habits can help control dreaded bittersweet, poison ivy and other aggressive plant species.
The land we are so grateful to farm on is one of the world's incredible examples of rewilding. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, forests came back from the clear cutting that came with European colonization of the northeast. As trees repopulated the slopes of the IRH, so did an incredible diversity of critters and birds and bugs. We are in awe of our luck and grateful for the open space preservation efforts that have allowed us to partner with such a diversity of species.
