With the change in the weather and shifting of the season we have begun to have more time to focus on completing some of our bigger projects. If you’ve peeked across the street from the farm stand you’ll know that most of our fall projects are of a constructive nature. Our new greenhouse, barn, and coolers are steadily taking shape and I’ll share more about them soon. But today we’ve turned our attention to a satisfyingly destructive mission; eradicating invasive species in our forest. With the help of a grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and a lot of hard work by our crew we are attempting to eliminate the glossy buckthorn, honeysuckle, autumn olive, and Asiatic bittersweet that threaten to overtake the native trees and shrubs at Sweetland.
This is a multi-year project. We begin by walking the property to identify invasives and set priorities for “hot spots.” Next we remove all of the large plants, especially those of seed bearing age. This often involves literally crawling through the tangled mess, chainsaw revving, to get to the base of each plant. Once the first pass is complete we monitor and pull seedlings for as many years as the soil’s seed bank continues to spring them forth. One seed-bearing buckthorn can produce thousands of viable seeds, many of which get distributed across the landscape by birds and other seed eaters. It pays to get the parent plant as soon as possible. We are especially concerned about the bittersweet, which arrived on our farm just a few years ago and has spread alarmingly fast.
Eliminating invasives can sometimes feel like a Sisyphean task when we look at the broader landscape and see their prevalence around us. But having seen the drastic changes they cause in the diversity of the forest we are determined to do our part. I encourage you to get to know the common culprits and do the same on your property. As you remove the invasives you’ll make room to plant or encourage valuable native and mast-bearing species, and your neighbors will thank you for eliminating the seeds that would likely spread to their property, too. Yet another proof that we’re all in it together!
Cheers
Norah and the Sweetland Crew Week 17 Harvest Corn Carrots Spaghetti Squash Eggplant Cabbage Carmen Sweet Italian Peppers Bell Peppers Leeks Shallots Garlic Tomatoes Cherry Tomatoes Kale
What’s Cooking This Week
You can find ingredients for all of these recipes in our farm store! We source meats, dairy, grains, beans, sweets, and more from local and sustainable producers. Don’t forget to use your CSA member discount by entering your account phone number in our POS (member discounts are automatically applied to LocalLine purchases for off-farm delivery).