In Praise of Winter Birds

By Anne Bloomfield
Anne is the Program Manager for the Applied Farmscape Ecology Program

 As we gain daylight, the land begins to show us many signs of spring. Migratory birds are beginning to arrive from their long journeys.  Even though there is still snow on the ground and the temperature continues to dip below freezing, birds have started to sing their spring songs. In the winter, many bird vocalizations are simple in nature – a soft chip note or a buzzy call note. With spring fast approaching, birds begin warbling, trilling and drumming as they turn their attention to setting up territories in order to find mates and protect their young in the spring. The photos in this gallery were taken on bird surveys that are conducted as part of our long term monitoring to better document habitat use year round by birds on farms in our region. At the Farm Hub we have documented 177 species of birds including several species of conservation concern. 

Harvesting Asparagus

Asparagus – Best known as garden asparagus, Folk name is sparrow grass, scientific name Asparagus officinalis. Young shoots are used as a vegetable.

Asparagus harvesting season is underway and mini-skyscrapers of green and maroon colored asparagus punch through a blanket of straw.

At the Farm Hub, it is one of the ones harvested earliest – typically in May and June – and “it’s low maintenance,” says Jeff Arnold, vegetable production manager. It is a perennial vegetable emerging year after year and isn’t a popular vegetable with animals including rabbits and deer.

Three days a week just after dawn, a crew harvest asparagus, seeking young shoots that ideally eight-inches tall that haven’t flowered. The vegetable comes in all shapes and sizes, some with thick thumb-sized stems while other pencil-thin.

Here is a gallery of photos from a recent harvest, including one of a nest of baby rabbits that had made the asparagus field their home.

– Amy Wu 

Native Meadows Trial Twilight Meeting 2020

The Farm Hub held the third annual Native Meadow Trial Twilight meeting earlier this week. While a smaller group due to Covid, members of the Applied Farmscape Ecology Team shared their latest findings related to everything from the establishment and monitoring of the meadows, to the connections between meadows, insects and crops.

Greenhouses

Our new greenhouses play an essential part in producing vegetables that we donate, especially as demand has increased during these challenging times. The greens that are being seeded and grown in the greenhouse are made into salad mixes. The varieties chosen were based on their quick growth rate and nutrient density to make nutritious, fresh food available as soon as possible for emergency feeding programs. After harvest, the produce go to our partners throughout the county, such as through the Kingston Emergency Food Collaborative and the Family of Woodstock Inc emergency feeding network.

Birds of Winter

FINDING A HOME ON THE FARM DURING THE WINTER MONTHS

While production slows down on the farm during the winter months, the land and fields continue to serve as a home for many birds. Here at the Hudson Valley Farm Hub there are some 171 species of birds documented on the farm. If you listen carefully, this season continues to be filled with their sing song chirping and the landscape brightened with their colorful feathers and markings. Some find food and cover in the variety of meadows on the farm, while others circle the fields seeking prey. Here is a collection of photos taken by Anne Bloomfield, Farmscape Ecology Coordinator, who spends the brunt of her day monitoring wildlife in the fields.

Photos and captions provided by Anne Bloomfield, Farmscape Ecology Coordinator

2019: A year in photos

As we look to a new decade we reflect on 2019, we share this special collection of photos – many of them taken by staff — that highlight the various aspects of the farmstead. 

Perspectives on Farming with Nature

Our half-day event `Perspectives on Farming with Nature’ on November 16, 2019 attracted growers, ecologists, researchers and community members at The Ashokan Center in Olivebridge, NY. Researchers and scientists from the Applied Farmscape Ecology Research Collaborative shared highlights on their research on the connections between agriculture and ecology. The event was moderated by Anne Bloomfield, our Farmscape Ecology Coordinator. 

Sunflowers at the Farm Hub

October and the sunflowers continue to spring through the earth, their faces tilted to the sky. During the 2019 growing season, the Farm Hub planted ten different varieties included Mammoth Gray Stripe, Mammoth, Hopi Black Dye, Velvet Queen, Evening Sun, Autumn Beauty, Lemon Queen, Goldy Double, Zohar and the Teddy Bear. As the sunflowers, which were part of the first planting, died down, the flowers from the second planting started blooming.

Beyond their beauty, certain varieties also serve as cover crops for weed control and returning organic matter back into the soil.

Farm Hub and Partners Celebrate Five Years of Small Grains Research

To celebrate the last five years of small grains research, the Farm Hub held an event on October 30 recognizing the progress made and the eleven partners in the Hudson Valley that made this project possible. This research aims to determine which varieties of wheat, barley, rye, and oats can be grown in the Hudson Valley organically and to reestablish the connections that once existed between growers, millers, maltsters, brewers, distillers, and researchers.