Monarchs and Milkweeds

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Monarch caterpillar on milkweed

Monarch populations dangerously close to disappearing from the earth.  The winter of 2013/2014 saw their wintering grounds in Mexico shrink from a high of 30 acres covered in monarchs to approx 3 acres.  And they were late arriving.  We are late in understanding the importance of saving a flagship pollinator species like the monarch.  Two […]

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A neighborly lunch

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Local history was a topic at yesterday’s lunch with neighbors.  An aerial view of Hedgerow Farm in the 1940’s was duly examined for buildings and barns now disappeared. A land deed from 1888 described the farm boundaries by forestry narrative. This historic article turned the talk to trees such as the Chestnuts that once thrived […]

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The Genetic Commons

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Hill Country Red Okra

At Hedgerow Farm we plant heirloom, open-pollinated seeds.  We buy these seeds from companies that have signed the safe seed pledge.  The Texas Red Hill Okra planted this summer grew from such seed.  Vigorous,  proven, and with traits that fit our farm’s environment, it thrived without the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides.  The […]

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Chanterelles

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The rare and plentiful rains of this summer are receiving mixed reviews in North Georgia.  Areas with impervious surfaces, parking lots and shopping zones, are flooding nearby churches, homes, and restaurants.  Subdivisions are discovering their retention ponds for the first time as they too overflow. However, pastoralists are admiring green pastures in July.  Grazing animals […]

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Creation or Commodity

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A conversation on the farm today saddened me by its careless talk in regards to the created world.  It was a land-deal-forestry-only-as-a-commodity discussion.  In the words of Wendell Berry a “cut and run” kind of economy.   One person suggested that trees grow (yes) and that we’ll always need toilet paper. Sigh.  Land being considered only […]

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Bluebird Boxes

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Everyone loves a comeback story and the bluebird recovery is a good one.  The bluebird decline had multiple causes:  habitat loss, insecticides, and non native birds competing for nesting cavities.  The European starling and the English house sparrow were brought to North America by well intentioned people, resulting in chaos and destruction ever since. Other […]

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GFC Prescribed Fire

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This week we had a controlled burn, also known as Prescribed Fire (Rx Fire,) in the pine tree stands on the farm.  Conditions such as wind, humidity, and temperature assessed. If favorable, burn permit issued.  Community notifications sent out.  GFC forester, and a bulldozer were on the property the day of the burn.  Rx fire […]

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Turkey Season

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A domesticated Narrangansett turkey hen nesting in the irises, daffodils, and vinca along our driveway.  Spring is the season for both wild and farm turkeys to nest.  Newly hatched turkeys known as poults.  In  Georgia, spring also means turkey hunting season:  March 24 through May 15th with a limit of three gobblers. The restoration of […]

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Ownership of the Natural World

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tatsoi, a mustard family member

This is Tatsoi, a green from the mustard family.  Grown from non patented, untreated, open pollinated seed, it has the opportunity to reseed itself generation after generation.  Adapting over time to the conditions at Hedgerow Farm.  This concept is referred to as dynamic farming.  We can also save the seed and replant where we want.  […]

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Gift of Feral Pig

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When you live on a farm, people bring you gifts.  With teeth, or claws, or beaks.  Alive or dead. Sometimes we must say no thank you. This  feral pig appears cute, deceivingly so. We were not yet “pig tight” on our fencing.  Wilbur would have been wild and free again within hours of release into […]

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