Friday, April 10, 2009

Friday at the Farm

We left for the farm early today. On the way we got a call from Mark Shepard letting us know that the apple scions we ordered (see here for the types ordered) were ready to pick up. So we took a little detour to Mark's 100 acre permaculture farm and picked up the scions and had a grafting lesson. It is still a little too chilly for grafting so we put them in the fridge to wait for a warmer weekend. We also decided to get a couple willow & poplar cuttings and 3 European Black Alder trees. The Alders I will plant tomorrow in the orchard area. They are great nitrogen fixers which is excellent to have in the orchard. The willow & poplar trees will be used for trellises, fencing and furniture.

Mia came with us this weekend for her first visit to the farm. She did great in the car and is now sound asleep in the chair in front of the fire. She has been on a kitty adventure since we got here. So many new smells and things to jump up on. She is in kitty heaven :-)


I went to town this afternoon while Steve took a well-deserved nap (after a busy week at work). I went to the headquarters for the Valley Stewardship Network and talked to a couple people about the CAFO siting. I found out that the Vernon County Board of Supervisors will be asked to request an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) should the county receive a permit request from Petry Trust to operate a CAFO. The meeting is to be held on April 21st which I plan on attending. Petry is still surveying all of his properties.There is an article in the Vernon Broadcaster which goes into detail about the EIS. It sounds like it is our only hope to legally stop him. I did find out that more farmers are against this than the hog farm a couple years ago. Especially because it is an "out-of-towner" trying to do this. This is such a shame that anyone has to deal with this. Our county is in the heart of sustainable, organic agriculture. That is what brought us here.

Before going back to the farm I stopped at the food co-op to pick up a few things & also bought red & yellow globe onion sets. I really have the itch to plant something, and soon :-)
Tomorrow should be a productive day. Planting trees, staking out the new garden area and working on more inside walls. Oh yea... and chasing Mia around the barn :-)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you were able to go to the farm this weekend. We couln't go to the mountains because the kids both were attending a birthday party for one of their friends who is turning 29 - So here we are. Sunday we are having Easter dinner and Easter Egg Hunt for the girls. Should be a fun day. I bet Mia is having a great time checking out everything. Enjoy your time together...debbie

Rabbit Hill Farm said...

Sounds like you'll have a lovely Easter.

SkippyMom said...

Agreed...wishing you a lovely Easter. And btw...your kitty looks so at home at the farm. :D

The Three Little Bears said...

I love the apple trees you picked! I just put down Liberty, Priscilla and Spencer on our list of trees to buy!

I love how you have spray foam around your front door. I thought we were the only ones that did that (and our windows). lol. We are actually in the middle of having them all replaced, so they will be losing that lovely look!

PS: I just blogged about my own permaculture "experiment."

Granny said...

I love the picture of your kitty looking out the door. Hope you have a great weekend at the farm. I posted about the CAFO at Homesteading Today. Hope it helps.

Jackie

ChristyACB said...

Great post! When the cat is comfy the house is good!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

You know that poplar makes a lot of shoots? They can really become awful after some time.

Grafting is fun but oh so difficult in the beginning :-) Never really mastered that properly :-)

I really hopes that the EIS will stop the CAFO!!
Have a great easter now!
Christer.

Anne Marie said...

I'm buying my onions Monday!
Happy planting!! yeah!

Just wanted to come by and tell you thanks for following me at Na-Da Farm!
Have a Blessed Easter!!

And enjoy the weekend!!

Love,
Anne Marie

Barb said...

Thanks everybody. Have a great Easter!