Kites and Critters
VCC’s Kites and Critters event held April 13, 2014 at the Moore farm on Bells Lane was quite successful. Our intent was to offer citizens, especially suburban and urban dwellers and young families, a chance to visit a local farm and see the kinds of conservation practices that can protect water and habitat. The response was extraordinary. Approximately 300 people visited the farm and by all accounts had a wonderful time. The kites helped draw in families, while the setting and the display encourage participants to also learn about conservation. The conservation tour included stream buffers, streambank restoration, and trout release. Many conservation partners participated to design the event and provide educational stations.
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The event began at the Tenth Legion Mountain Valley Ruritan Hall with a welcome and thank you to the Pure Water Forum for sponsoring the field day. Then the group viewed a portion of the DVD entitled “Cover Crops of the Shenandoah Valley,” which was narrated by Richard Fitzgerald, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) agronomist. Richard discussed the mechanics of the Smith Creek plots that contained a variety of mixed species, monoculture, and the no cover crop control plot, that were planted at Valley View Farms. The video, which was filmed in the spring 2013, showed the cover crops in full bloom, so the audience could see what the plots looked like with living cover. The plot walk through the corn planted into those cover crop plots, took place later that morning and Richard Fitzgerald discussed the corn yield results, which were hand harvested.
Our farm is not unlike most farms in the Shenandoah Valley. Through the years we’ve raised cattle, poultry, and in general try a lot of things just to keep the farm going. Smith Creek runs through our farm and used to have native Brook Trout in it. By trade, I’m a chemist and I’ve been trying to track surface water chemistry here for years. I’m also a fly fisherman and concerned about the native trout here and all over the world.
About a decade ago we decided that we wanted to try to bring the trout back in our stream. We fenced off the cattle, and planted trees to help stop erosion and to bring back shade. Unfortunately, the streambank erosion that occurred won’t heal anytime soon and we’d like to try to get this fixed. It’s not cheap – and costs tens of thousands of dollars. We’ve already done a lot of it ourselves, with the help of some government money. Unfortunately, there’s a heck of a lot still to do and the government money is starting to dry up and even if we get it we need to find in-kind funds to draw it down.
