Pictured above: A new farm resident, a Western Bluebirds sitting on one of our 10 or so nesting boxes built and installed by Wild Farm Alliance.
Welcome Bluebirds! Cross your fingers for successful brooding
A couple years ago now, our friends at the Wild Farm Alliance installed boxes for Western Bluebirds. Each year there have been signs that attempts were made at nesting in some of the boxes, but not clear success, but this year almost every box has been occupied and our bluebird friends are very busy indeed wowing us as they zip past snagging insects in flight in dazzling flashes of blue. This is part of what brought us to farming to begin with- the way that a farm can also be a refuge for wildlife while still nurturing and feeding people at the same time. Busy city streets don't make great habitat, but farms do. We see our farm as a mini eco-system that we are the stewards of. It is such a gratifying feeling and a privilege to be able to share this beautiful land with the wild things. We're also part of an ongoing study that has been looking at bird diversity on organic versus conventional farm. As you might guess, organic farms are frequented by more birds and greater diversity of species. What other wildlife lives on the farm? Foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, cayotes, deer (outside the fences we hope), kites, red tail hawks, ravens.. and so many more critters share this productive piece of Earth with us.
REMINDERS & A HELPFUL TIP:
We've noticed some of you aren't maximizing the value in your boxes. We wish HARVIE would show you a running total of the value in your CSA box.. but one helpful hint is when trying to add and remove items from your box look for the little shopping cart icon in the upper right and click on it. It'll show you an easier to view list with an option for deleting and editing each item. You can keep adding until you see swap fees. A swap fee is just the amount over $30 that you have placed in your box.
