04/12/2021
I have recently completed the coursework for the Master Gardener program through the Cornell Cooperative Extensions of Herkimer, Otsego, Schoharie and Delaware counties. Thank you Carla Hegeman Crim and everyone involved in developing and delivering this program. I am now an apprentice. While the training is broad and our volunteer hours can run the gamut from answering gardening questions to making displays and presentations to working with community gardens, we are encouraged to develop an area of interest upon which to focus that will serve the community.
I have decided to work with native plants at the intersection of food, fiber, soil and ecosystem health, and human health. Big topic, I know. Important for biodiversity and for climate change. It fits well with what we have been doing on our farm, finding ways to live more in balance with nature. We have many resources to offer here, including our pastures and farm garden that can be brought in as living laboratories as well as our carriage house for workshops and presentations. Not to mention Larry is a soil scientist and an agronomist 😊.
To get myself started, I am inventorying the native plants in our pastures, our wetland, and our woodland. This is helping me get a better understanding of the grazing potential for our fiber animals in terms of their total nutrition and what they return to the soil. It also helps me better understand the support that native plants provide to native bees, butterflies, birds, and beneficial insects in this rather small farm-ecosystem we call La Basse Cour. As I wrap my mind around this initiative, I hope to host field days on our farm for those who are interested in learning as well. It will surely be an ongoing work in progress, and most definitely a labor of love.
Stay tuned!
The Edible Flower Garden
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