Farm Field Day – July 23!
Solar powered irrigation
Field Day: Innovations in Energy Use and Organic Farming.
You are invited to a tour of Fox Haven Farm featuring conservation and energy-efficient farming practices.
The event is sponsored by Future Harvest, A Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA). More details, lunch option and registration are at http://tinyurl.com/farmfieldday.
See successful conservation and energy-efficient farming practices in action at Fox Haven Organic Farm, a 550-acre property nestled in the rolling landscape of Catoctin Valley near Jefferson, Maryland.
Farm manager Dick Bittner will lead a tour of the farm, which includes approximately 190 acres of tillable open land, 180 acres of existing woodlands and 180 acres of new trees and shrubs that have been planted on the slopes through the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Farm enterprises include:
- organic hay production for a nearby organic dairy farm, which then provides manure to nourish the fields at Fox Haven;
- a three-acre organic produce operation featuring a solar-powered system to move water from a nearby well, store it in two 2,400 gallon holding tanks, and deliver it via gravity-powered drip irrigation;
- a vertical-axis wind turbine prototype; and
- a geo-solar greenhouse under construction.
The American Chestnut Foundation is also using a three-acre plot of the land to grow a blight-resistant strain of chestnut tree from the crossing and back-crossing of Chinese and American chestnut species.
Children will enjoy seeing sheep and horse-drawn plowing. Locally produced honey will be available, as well.
The management team at Fox Haven believes in using an adaptive management approach: carefully observing what is happening on the land and directing a continuously adjusting course of action to benefit the farm and the Catoctin Creek watershed, and nurturing living ecosystems to perform at an optimal, self-regulating level in perpetuity.
Cost: Donation suggested. See http://tinyurl.com/farmfieldday to register or to order a locally-sourced meal from The Common Market ($10 per meal)- Please register/order meal by 7/19/11.
Comments