Progress Report on Keystone

It’s been a busy season up at Keystone Farm & Forest Preserve! A dedicated band of volunteers, “Farm Stewards,” worked for weeks to remove all of the horizontal boards from large creosote treated posts so those could be removed. Thanks to all the connections the Whidbey Camano Land Trust has, the appropriate machinery was available to actually pull the very heavy posts out of the ground, and the Department of Natural Resources came and took them away for responsible disposal as part of a grant funded project. Teamwork!!!!

Now, we’re getting our systems in place to keep that area mowed in order to manage the very abundant weeds. 

Also, the Organic Farm School field team came out to terminate the fall/winter cover crop of Austrian peas, then they let the field lie fallow for a few weeks before doing the soil prep to plant a cover crop of Sorghum Sudan. Regenerative ag encourages reduced tillage, and yet when going from an unmanaged setting to a production setting, there is often tillage work to be done to break up soil compaction and to manage a “seed bank” of unwanted grasses and weeds. After a few years of tillage to work in organic matter and terminate invasive species, you’ll begin to see grain and legume crops and much less heavy tillage. As with most things in life, it’s about progress, not perfection.

Back to managing weeds, my oh my the Canada thistle is robust at Keystone! And we’re approaching a key window for managing it. I’ll need a good humored group of about 6 volunteers to spend an evening with me cutting and bagging thistle heads. To be honest, it’s not the most pleasant work — but laughter, stunning scenery, and a few cold beverages can make the task go faster.

Let me know if you can join me this coming Tuesday, July 2, or Wednesday, July 3, from 5-7 p.m.

RSVP to Judy if you can help!