Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Open House @ Yockey Farms Greenhouse- 2014

Did I tell you?

 rainy spring green

            Well I am sure I did, and if not then I am having my open house may 17th, 2014 from 10 -6 with the last 2 hrs. will be a customer appreciation, we will provide hot dogs , and amenities and you provide the covered dish and we will have an old fashioned get together.  A free chainsaw carving will be drawn by the oldest person in attendance at 6 o clock. Bring your old folks and have them up your ante and see if you could win a free chainsaw carved bear, by me personally. This is the best I can offer besides a free six pack of tomatoes for showing up. Also I will be having a hay ride at 3:30 P.M. weather permitting. This is to view our farm from the highest point on farm. We have a commanding view of both landfills in Southern Stark County. If you view it at night one could easily see the luminescence of the Ashland marathon refinery in the distance as it its 4 foot high flame burns bright the noxious after effects of spewing unwanted hydrocarbons, offering yet another chance to warm our environment for no good reason . Although the burn off light is not nearly as bright as it once was.
       The top part of our farm has suffered a loss of identity to its former self and this was before me and was around the early 50’s I assume when strip mining was in its infancy. In fact at that time there was still a lot of backyard miners who would try their luck at mining the easy coal out from the top layers of coal. Ours was strip mined and left open for years. Subsequent mining has left it reclaimed but not totally, and nowhere close to what it was before. It is a bald mountain compared to its former self. Still work needs to be done in a lot of respects. That would be mainly tree planting as I leave the open areas I can farm easily with a minimum of runoff, and I create more woodland to increase wildlife habitat and retain moisture and soil loss.
       With the purchase of a new wood chipper I intend to supplement my ornamental wood chips and improve my wood lot at same time. Normally I allow the chips to heat before using them. Wood chips I harvest from wood lot this year will be used next season at earliest. No matter where we live we are all responsible for our environment, and in not only the world but in our back yard. We need to be better managers and leave this old place a little better than before. How do we do it?
     By picking up a piece of litter or a plastic bag floating by, plant a tree here and there and next thing you know, you become attached to the land a little more. With pride you watch your tree grow and wildlife comes to visit. A pond or waterfalls would enhance your viewing efforts of nature as it allows up to ten times the wild life activity as animals are drawn to water to refresh. By retaining the runoff water of the greenhouse I am able to generate a small waterfall’s environment which will be suitable for my newly installed bees to drink. The pond I built in a low swampy area that we had in our field, and has underwent several transformations and now it is becoming more aged and settled. Never is there a second go by that one doesn’t hear a bird chirp as once again wildlife enjoys our back yard. I do have a little bigger back yard and front yard than most, but it still needs tending to. I try and do my best, and consciously think of how it affects the nature of things in general. Bloom where you are planted.




     I also want to mention from 10 -3, I will be having a carving demonstration weather permitting. Demo’s will be every hour on the hour till 2. I might do a demo later in evening if interest desires it. We will have a camp fire and hope you will come and enjoy yourself first. Take time to view the farm and enjoy the peacefulness here. If you are lucky you may be able to view Mudder, the errant cow if she decides to stay home that day. Beware of the electric fence and do view the bee hives from a distance. Be smart and be safe. This is a working farm. 

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