Date: 09/07/2021

Number: 1

From 2018-2021 Windswept Hill Farm has remodeled large borders of perennials with native plants, shrubs and grasses. We are on 250’ of glacial sand and gravel, and keep supplemental watering to a minimum. In the record heat & drought of 2021 the habitat areas flourished. We have over 30 species of plants, and saw no dieback. We were home to six weeks of fireflies (a first for our hill above the Empire wetlands to the south), over 40 counted Monarch caterpillars, a dozen Swallowtails, Sphinx moths, a wild honeybee colony, and diverse wildlife and birds. We didn’t see any damage to plants all summer, but the Amur Cherry ajd fruit trees were hit hard by Japanese Beetles for about three weeks. Our bluebird trail was absent bluebirds, only one pair of Orioles stayed the summer, and we only saw one breeding pair of Indigo Buntings. We did rescue a juvenile Red Tailed Hawk to the Raptor Center, found in our sheep barn.

Farmington, MN

Latitude: 44.6 Longitude: -93.1

Observed by: Wendy
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