INTERNAL NEWSLETTER July 2021
Photo credit: Eliza
IN THIS ISSUE CNN at WNC Department Updates Farm Crew Kudos!
A Note from Dave Summertime and the livin’ is, well, BUSY. And hot. It’s hard to believe that June has come and gone already, but the good news is that the whole of summer is right here in front of us. I know how much work has gone in to making this year a big success already and I am so proud of all that I am seeing around campus. As I wrap up my annual week-onthe-farm with my family, I am once again reminded of what a unique and special place this is and also how much goes into stewarding it while managing all the activity taking place here. Thank you one and all for everything that you are doing. Keep it up and make sure to find time to soak up all that is special about summer, Maine, and Wolfe’s Neck Center. –Dave Herring
Highlight on CNN We were thrilled to host Bill Weir of CNN at Wolfe’s Neck Center in June as part of a documentary on the future of food. Bill’s focus during his three days in Maine was on the Bovine Burp Buster (B3) project, a collaborative endeavor led by our partners at Bigelow Laboratory. The unnamed documentary should air late this month/early next, and we will share details as soon as they become available.
Department Updates Advancement
Research
Event planning and execution is at the top of the list of priorities, with the event season off and running. We have two more Farm to Table events and five Sip & Savor events to come! Also, Beers in the Barn is back this year and is scheduled for September 25 – more details to come soon. In addition, we are working with staff across the organization to fulfill the experiences won in last month’s auction. The signage project continues with lots of new signs installed throughout the property – take a walk around and check them out. The first ever “Great Farm Experience Auction” was a big success! We received just over $18,000, raised awareness around our work, and connected a lot of new people to Wolfe’s Neck Center. We held our first Farm to Table event on Saturday, June 26 with Big Tree Hospitality – it was a big success and it was great to have people back at the Mallet Barn again! It was a wonderful coming together of the WNC community and great celebration of local food and farming. Our next two events: • July 15t from 5:30-7:30pm: Our first Sip & Savor event of the season – a cocktail class with Ned from New England Distilling • July 18 from 5-8pm: Farm to Table dinner with Chaval at the Mallet Barn
This month, we are diving into a Collabathon series with OpenTEAM, including environmental claims clearinghouse, equity in regenerative agriculture, the digital agriculture wallet, public and participatory science, and an online community platform. On the farm, we are planting the CIG plots and conducting a heat stress study in the dairy cow herd. We will be collecting soil samples at Wolfe’s Neck Center and three other Stonyfield farms as part of the Soil Stack pilot program, helping to calibrate the reflectometer for measuring soil carbon. We will also be taking soil samples on seven other farms to quantify carbon to get a baseline for measuring carbon sequestration over time. OpenTEAM currently has 44 organizational members, working together toward an agricultural tech ecosystem that works for all of us!
CV&P Starting this month, we have our first L.L.Bean Day of summer! Every Wednesday in July and August, we are working with L.L.Bean to offer a slew of free programs at the farm. Even the boot mobile will make an appearance! Please know that Wednesdays in the farmyard will be a hub of activity. All programs meet in front of the Haze Hut/Ed Barn, so please direct people to the regular lots and walk over to check in. We have had a great transition for Pi, the milking goat She will be used for lots of programs all year long. We’ve also hit our full summer stride, so we have staff at the barn seven days a week to answer questions, run programs, and engage with guests.
Dairy Team Our main priorities for this month are breeding cows and bailing hay. Last month, we put up over 200 bales of first-cut hay to give us a good start on the year. Our assistant manager Steph Tibbets will be leaving us this week to continue her career at Harris Farm in Dayton, ME. There are bulls in with the cows, so no visitors or nondairy staff should be in pastures or pens. During the summer heat, water access is very important to animals. If you notice empty water tanks, leaking hoses or pipes, please let us know!
Department Updates Programs The height of summer is upon us! For the Education staff, that means we are at the peak of programming and have a full slate of activities across the board. By the numbers, we have close to 300 (281 to be exact) bales of hay put up as of June 30. We hired and trained 17 Farm Camp staff, and onboarded 200 laying hens and 1,200 broiler meat chickens. Ag team members will begin to work through some of the items in the Pole Barn that need to be sorted/ dumped/moved/reorganized, etc. in the next couple weeks. I think everyone should continue to be aware of how much traffic and activity there is around the Farmhouse through the day with camp running. Please be extra careful and communicative when you need to do any driving or work around the Farmhouse and Pole Barn.
FARM CAMP We have eight Farm Camp groups on a daily basis for the next eight weeks. We are at max capacity and have more staff than we have had in the past due to ratio requirements and the need to distance groups. We also have an extremely robust Junior Counselor program with different teens joining us for two-week stints in support of Farm Camp staff. We
hope to leave them with valuable leadership and education skills, as well as available CPR and First Aid certifications to serve them as they follow their path in the world of childcare and outdoor education. The camp staff had a hot first week to deal with but in checking in with them, it’s clear that they’re enjoying the work & had a great first week. Camp brings with it an uptick in the use of, and activity in, the Education Barn. In addition to the numbers of kids and programs running through the barn, we also have the exciting new addition of Pi, the milking goat. CV&P and Farm Camp staff are doing a good job of integrating Pi into the educational program offerings. CV&P programs are ramping up and are on a pretty full schedule now that summer has arrived. Day trippers and campground guests now have a full range of program options to choose from when they visit the farm. You will likely see Jules, Isa, and Andrew leading lots of groups on goat hikes, pasture walks, and adventures of all kinds in the coming weeks. Nice job, everyone! FARM TEAM On the small livestock front, we are seeing the rapid uptick in the number of eggs being laid daily by our young flock. In very short order, we will see about 15 dozen eggs per day coming out of the pasture egg mobile. We have completed the first shipment of meat chickens to Walden Farms; two more of these seven-week-old pastured broilers are on the way through our system. Tom and Spencer have done a fantastic job supporting this operation, which is new to both of them. The pastures will benefit tremendously from the addition of all that poultry manure; it’s a nice system with many benefits. In the dairy world, the team seems to be in a great groove of cutting hay, grazing cows, and spreading manure. This will remain the focus for the team through the summer. The work now sets the stage for the success of the herd in the winter as they make milk and create calves on the quality of this forage. The team says a fond farewell to Steph Tibbetts, who has been with us for the past year as our Assistant Dairy Manager. Steph found an opportunity to help a family farm in Dayton, ME that grazes cows and bottles their own milk. We wish her the best.
Department Updates Farm Camp Last month was all about closing out Farm Discovery School, finalizing staffing and training schedules for Farm Camp, and launching camp training. This month, we have shifted our focus to overall Farm Camp management. Coming up, there’s a possible school fair in mid-July at the Damariscotta YMCA to promote a fall FDS-type program – stay tuned for more details! Farm Camp runs through August 27 and Farm Crew (a NEW residential camp program for teen girls ages 14-16) will be from August 16-20. Please help us spread the word about Farm Crew (flyer on the back page).
We are always looking for Farm Camp subs, so if you know of anyone local who is interested in being available on an as-needed basis, let me know! Farm Camp drop off is from 8-9am, pickup is at 4pm, Monday through Friday, so there is lots of traffic coming through. The circle will be open for traffic to turn around. Please be aware and cautious of where you are parking/driving farm vehicles during these times. Feel free to kindly remind folks to slow down if you see anyone driving fast during these times in this general area! Your support is appreciated!
Fruit & Vegetable Our CSA/Farm Store season is underway! We are hoping to wrap up the majority of our planting this month and then move on to weeding and harvesting as the season progresses. This is our busiest time of year and our opportunity to sell the most produce in our Farm Store. The Maine growing season is so, so short and we are hoping to make the most of it!
We started our CSA three weeks ago and have been excited about the positive feedback we have gotten. Our apprentices are really getting into the swing of things and it is great to see them feeling confident. Don’t forget to pick up your staff CSA share in the Farm Store on Thursdays between 1-6pm!
Farm Camp Staff
KUDOS Kudos to Charlotte and Catherine for expanding our capacity to get more work done in research and OpenTEAM! –Laura Thanks to Andrew for his incredible work on the Big Tree Hospitality Farm to Table event not just for setting everything up and managing the event flawlessly, but stewarding the relationship with Big Tree over the past couple of years and helping to develop them as a strong WNC partner –Jeannie I’d like to offer a huge note of praise and thanks to Michael for all his work behind the scenes, on the phones, and supporting all the work of the Ed team. Twice in the last week, I was told by complete strangers (Farm Camp parents) that they spoke with Michael on the phone and he was amazing, helpful, and a great resource. Good to know we have this guy representing us on the line! –Joe Huge shoutout to Michael for his consistently hard work managing the back-end of camper registrations, sign-in sheets, health notes, and more! Kudos to Kaiti for stepping into her role as Assistant Camp Director and doing an AMAZING job! Kudos to the whole education team, fruit & veg team, and dairy crew for their support during staff training! Our counselors really enjoyed meeting everyone and learning more about the farm! –Molly Kudos to Tom for his work with the chickens! Who knew Tomato Tom would be a natural “bird bro” – we are all impressed! Kudos to Tali, Luke, Spencer, and Aditi for working so hard in these rolling heatwaves! It is not easy and we feel so lucky to have them on our Fruit & Veg crew! –Eliza Kudos to Steph for all of her hard work as Assistant Dairy Manager. We are happy she will be continuing her career in the dairy industry and know she will do great things, but she will be missed. -Ben