Farming in the shade

I was walking around the farm Sunday with a friend. As we walked, I pointed out the tree line to the west of the sheep barn. It includes highbush cranberries, button bushes and assorted spruce trees. Nice cover for wildlife, including the robin which had built her nest in one of the trees. She flew off and we were able to see one perfect, lovely egg. We talked about how our farm straddles two watersheds. Half the farm drains into a watershed to the south, the other half drains to the north. While we believe it's important for everyone to be good land stewards, we realize that we need to be especially careful. I showed her how we've planted filter strips (they look like grass pathways) along the ditches on our property. She asked why, and I told her the grass catches any runoff--fertilizer runoff, pesticide runoff and soil runoff. Keeps the waterways clean. Then I laughed and said since we are transitioning to organic, it might not be as necessary to have the filter strips. ...

I've never liked the reusable bag concept. Well, I do like the concept, but not the poly something or other bags. I prefer paper, which is a renewable resource (plant more trees, make more jobs). In a pinch, I'll accept plastic, which are recyclable. Here's another reason not to like the bags. Edited to change the link. Apparently Yahoo videos have a short shelf-life.

Our farm has been MAEAP verified for several years. MAEAP stands for Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program, and it's a voluntary, rigorous third-party certification that assures our customers and neighbors that we're doing the best we can to be good stewards of the environment. I found this news article about another MAEAP verified farm: "With reindeer, horse-drawn wagons and Santa Claus on hand this time of year, Trim Pines Farm in Grand Blanc resembles other choose-and-cut Christmas tree farms scattered throughout southeast Michigan.  "But behind the merriment of the season, owner Mike Yancho takes the business of growing 3,000 Christmas trees seriously. Like an increasing number of farmers across Michigan, Yancho is working to make his 80-acre tree farm more earth friendly." Read more here .