Wisconsin Women in Conservation (WiWiC) is hosting a women’s field day in Amery on Saturday, Sept. 10, from 1-4pm, at Blackbrook Farm. Co-owner Ayla Graden-Dodge, who is a WiWiC Conservation Coach, will lead a farm tour, which will be followed by networking time and a farm-sourced snack. The event is FREE and open to all interested women farmers, landowners and conservationists. Children are
welcome with supervision. RSVP at WiWiC.org.
“To be able to see the increase in toads, worms and all kinds of birds and wildlife on our farm brings me great joy and reinforces in me that, as stewards of this land, we need to continue protecting our water, wildlife and land in conjunction with using it…”
Graden-Dodge, with her husband James, runs the 140-acre farm outside of Amery with a scenic and diverse mixture of tillable land, pasture, woods, a pond and a stream running through it all. Blackbrook Farm is home to pasture-raised hogs, a small herd of Scottish Highland cattle and pastured chickens for meat. The animals help the couple to improve the soil through their manure as well as rooting and pecking the ground. The animals love to eat quackgrass and veggie scraps from the 160-member organic vegetable Community Supported Agriculture(CSA) operation. This “composting cycle” keeps inputs lower, builds soil and gives the best life to their healthy animals. The couple is growing about 5 acres of Certified Organic vegetable crops, with the remaining acres in either organic alfalfa hay, pollinator habitat, cover crop, fallow, or home to their animals.
“To be able to see the increase in toads, worms and all kinds of birds and wildlife on our farm brings me great joy and reinforces in me that, as stewards of this land, we need to continue protecting our water, wildlife and land in conjunction with using it,” says Graden-Dodge. Graden-Dodge has focused on increasing biodiversity on the farm, both above and below ground, through regenerative practices, grazing organic pastures, cover cropping, protecting the wetlands for wildlife, creating pollinator plots and roadways, and restoring the woods to oak savannah for habitat and grazing. The couple continually strives to be stronger stewards of the land they inhabit to ensure its diversity for generations to come.
farm brings me great joy and reinforces in me that, as stewards of this land, we need to
continue protecting our water, wildlife and land in conjunction with using it,” says
Blackbrook Farm co-owner and WiWiC Conservation Coach Ayla Graden-Dodge.
Part of the Blackbrook Farm field day will address technical advice and cost-share funds that are available from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and other agencies for portable fencing, remote water lines, native prairie seed and other conservation practices.
