Date: 03/22/2017

Number: 1

We spent the first 27 years at our farm planting trees, shrubs, and garden areas on 12 sandy acres so marginal they barely sustained grasses of any kind in 1990. Gradually we created habitat areas that now are home to diverse wildlife (raptors including Cooper's Hawks and a Great Horned Owl; songbirds including Eastern Bluebirds, Cardinals, Orioles, Scarlet Tanagers, and many others; squirrels including a strain of albinos; least weasels; red fox; and woodchucks). Last year we began remodeling perennial beds into native plants and grasses trees feed larval stage and adult insects, moths and butterflies. We replanted a small orchard of aged apple trees and are hosting a hive this year. One 30' x 10' bed was entirely planted in with milkweed, Liatris and Eichinacia from the Univ of Kansas Project, and has been very successful as a host for Monarchs for the past two summers. The vegetable garden was remodeled in 2015 and 2016 with raised beds with water-controlled drip systems and all LED lighting. Finally, our 7 acres in pasture was reseeded repeatedly and put on a management program to maximize the value of the locally raised grasses to the sheep and horses we have, and drought-proof against the typical die-off in late summer. After years of careful composting we finally have improved the soils considerably.

Farmington, MN

Latitude: 44.6 Longitude: -93.1

Observed by: Wendy
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