Warren Farm

July 14, 2012
Last Thursday, July 12, our class visited Randy Warren's farm.  The farm holds an interesting history; one in which Randy has been an intricate part of for the last 60 years.  It is incredible how the land has changed over time due to human intervention.  New roads... old roads... houses being moved... gallions- when hearing the story of the area, everything seemed to change with a smooth moving flow, but I doubt daily life was smooth for people trying to farm the land. 

Randy's land is beautifully diverse.  He manages the land for habitat usage of the birds, animals, insects.  The birds were so abundant, so loud singing away.  They enjoy the variety of habitat his land offers, and his management practices have drawn rare varieties of birds that are not seen often.  He has a naturalist, Scott, that keeps records of which birds and animals have been seen.  I would like to do this for the land around our house- although not as large as Randy's, I am now wondering how to manage it for habitat.  How can I create a mosaic of vegetation that would attract a variety of wildlife?  Perhaps I will call the county extension next month and ask if anyone can help me with this process. 

Farming seems as if it would be difficult.  To me farming always seems romantic.  Simple, peaceful, and relaxing.  I could work all day outside, and getting dirty would be so natural for me.  Gardening has so much ecology and patterns involved- imagining see that on a larger scale.  But, I am not sure the stress of financial insecurity is worth the trade...

In class on Thursday we calculated the carbon found in the biomass of our College Woods plots.  I am still a bit fuzzy on how to do these calculations... I think part of it is my lack of background in ecology.  I've had some, but nothing so exact, deep.  In my undergraduate ecology class, we never had to leave the class/ lecture hall.  We never had a lesson taught using inquiry.  Now I almost wish we had... education has changed dramatically in the last 20 years.  Twelve years ago I worked as a paraprofessional for and outdoor education program in an Ohio school district.  We took kids on nautre hikes, took them crayfishing, and reinacted Thanksgiving.  The nature hikes did not involve inquiry.  It was a hike with me identifying and telling them stories of plants.  As I have looked back over the past few months, I have realized that inquiry was not involved and we probably were not teaching the students in the most engaging way.