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 Opossum
Maysie's Farm offers ideal habitat for many of our featured critters, including opossums. These lonely marsupials are among Earth's oldest living mammals. As marsupials, opossums give birth to relatively undeveloped fetuses, which then crawl into the mother's pouch to continue developing. When they re-enter the outside world they are at a stage of development comparable to that of placental mammals' newborn babies. As they become too big to fit in the mother's pouch, the young ride on her back.
Opossums are both omnivores and opportunistic eaters, although they tend to eat more animal than plant food. Adults can weigh 4-12 pounds, with the males being larger and heavier than the females. These creatures remind us of huge rats, with their naked, scaly, tapering tails. They have the most teeth of any North American mammal, 50! Although they shuffle around, they are excellent climbers. They are surprisingly slow but good swimmers.
Marsupials are generally nocturnal and solitary. During the winter they don't hibernate; however, they may den up during extended cold or snowy periods. Breeding season for opossums begins in late February or early March in Pennsylvania. Females may have one to three litters a year and litter size averages about eight or nine. The males do not help to raise the young.
Besides being preyed on by foxes, bobcats, hawks and owls, many opossums are killed by vehicles while they are feeding on other road kill. Their life expectancy in the wild is a pitiful 1.3 years
Opossums are the only marsupials still surviving in North America. It is their prolific reproductive rate that has allowed them to coexist with the more advanced placental mammals that displaced all the other marsupial species in our continent. In Australia, marsupials were protected by their island continent's isolation and a wide variety of them have survived to the present time. Placental mammals first appeared there only very recently, in evolutionary time, with the arrival of humans.
Yellow Springs Farm — Specializing in Native Plants
About a year ago, my wife, Catherine, and I got in touch with Sam Cantrell and decided to join Maysie's Farm CSA. As it was our first experience with a CSA, we eagerly anticipated the May start date and we were not disappointed by the varied offerings. Although Sam thought it was a tough year, we appreciated and really enjoyed the fresh food we received weekly. We created many new stirfries, salads, and other recipes, and proudly shared the bounty with friends.
Joining Maysie's Farm also fulfills our desire to support sustainable agriculture and open space initiatives. We both feel passionately about preserving rural areas in Chester County for viable farm products, environmental concerns, and aesthetic enjoyment. In fact, we donated a conservation easement on our eight-acre property to the French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust in 2001.
What we found interesting about our particular farm was that a botanists' survey indicated that a fairly large percentage of the plant species on the property were alien species. Quite simply what this means is that many of the plants on the property came from Europe or Asia, but not Chester County. Why should this matter? Some of these alien plants have proven to be invasive, have pushed out native plants and disturbed the balance of our ecosystem, disrupting waterways, animals, insects, and plants. In less serious cases, non-native plants simply use extra resources such as sun, water, or soil nutrients, and thereby make it hard for native plants to compete. This leads to less species biodiversity in meadows, woodlands, and wetlands. On the other hand, native plants have evolved as good citizens in our communities Ð that is, they coexist and thrive among Chester County's animals, birds, and microorganisms. It was at this point that we decided to start a nursery specializing in native plant species that are indigenous to southeastern Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic region.
Since we started the business last year, it has pretty much been non-stop work, but it has been energizing and fulfilling, too. We selected a sight on our property and erected a 20' x 48' hoop house to overwinter young plants. In early fall, we planted about 1000 plants in containers, representing 20 species of mostly native plants. Catherine and I never really calculated the amount of time and effort required to construct a greenhouse, plant, and care for 1000 plantsÑwe just did it! After a lot of sweat and some worry, we now smile because we have some great natives over-wintering in the cold frame.
I remember Sam saying that one of his goals is to educate people on "how we get our food." It is a lot more complex than just going to the supermarket. We believe the same can be said for native plants. Most of us go to the nursery and don't really have an appreciation for what it takes in time, effort, seed collection, soil composition, water conditions and disease prevention to get the final plant you see at the nursery. In some cases, we may unknowingly be planting alien species in our own backyards. One of our goals at Yellow Springs Farm is to educate others on how seeds and cuttings become plants. Then, these plants play a crucial role in our ecologically diverse biosystem. We hope you will never again think "it's just a field" or "no big deal, it's only my yard."
We plan to have plants ready for distribution in early May, just when the last frost will have passed and everyone has that "itch" to plant. The plants we selected to start the season consist of spring bloomers, ground covers, ferns and others that will bloom throughout the summer. We also offer species that are drought tolerant given the conditions that we all have experienced over the last several years. And, we always have our eye out for deer resistant species; we have first hand experience with resident deer at Yellow Springs Farm.
There is more to come too! We have plenty of room in the greenhouse and will be starting more plants in early March and June for September/October planting. We are thinking of starting some field grown woody plants and shrubs, too. We would like your help in deciding what to add to our collection. We value your opinion.
A native plant nursery is our way of fulfilling our desire for land stewardship at Yellow Springs Farm. At the same time, we enjoy sharing our land and our knowledge to educate others on the roles of native plant species in maintaining a biologically diverse and natural ecosystem.
Native plants are a natural extension and a complement to the food we get from the farm. We hope to serve as a source for native plants, education, and also provide a service to further your conservation and environmental interests.
We are planning on attending the Maysie's New Member Orientation in May, at which time we can give a further introduction to our activities. We will donate a portion of any plant sales at this meeting to Maysie's Farm Conservation Center. In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like to receive our plant list, please feel free to contact us at Yellow Springs Farm. Our phone number is 610-827-2014 or you can reach us at catherine@yellowspringsfarm.com.
Fateful Harvest
There were a few good things that came of the 20 inches of snow in February. Yes, we needed the melted snowfall to add to the ground water supply. Yes, we all enjoyed a day, or in my case three days off from work. Yes, I had time to read another informative book. This one, "Fateful Harvest: The True Story of a Small Town, a Global Industry, and a Toxic Secret" was written by Duff Wilson and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Despite being a fairly informed citizen regarding environmental issues, I had no idea how pervasive the problem of toxic waste in fertilizers is in our country. Duff tells the true story of a small town (Quincy, Washington) housewife, Patty Martin, who evolves into a despised mayor and outraged environmentalist. Although the book has plenty of facts, it doesn't bog down the story line or minimize the people involved.
Patty started digging into the issue of toxic waste being "recycled" as a "product" and thereby no longer needing to be regulated by the same standards. Farmers in her town were losing crops that had contaminated fertilizer spread on the soil, farming family members were becoming ill with many types of cancers, and horses that ate hay from one of the polluted fields died horrible deaths. What she discovered alarmed her. There is a loophole in a federal law that allows heavy metals and other toxins (waste from big industry such as steel mills, smelting, & mining) to be mixed with other ingredients and sold as fertilizer or road deicer without any mention on the label of specific ingredients or hazards. She found proof of very high levels of toxins such as cadmium, chromium, beryllium, mercury, and lead in soils and fertilizer tanks and shockingly in some of these turned up in human hair samples collected from community members.
Many people believe that the real reason behind this trend is to save money on waste disposal, not to improve farming. There's a difference with compost, manures, mulches and organic fertilizers: they release nutrients slowly and improve the biological diversity of the soil. Acidic synthetic fertilizers give a quick, strong release. Tom Witte explains, "Organic materials tie up the heavy metals, basically. Tie them up until the organics turn into humus. They will never be in as active a form as they will when they are treated with acid." It seems as though these heavy metals build up in the soil over time and if the pH suddenly drops, these become dangerous because some plants can take the toxins up in their roots. In fact, peas, beans, potatoes, and sudan grass hay that had been grown on land fertilized with liquid fertilizer from Cenex, Ltd. had all tested positive for elevated levels of lead and arsenic.
The Environmental Working Group published a report, "Factory Farming-Toxic Waste and Fertilizer in the United States 1990-1995" and stated, "We found a bustling toxic commerce between factories and fertilizer makers. A total of 454 companies identified as farms and fertilizer manufacturers in the Toxics Release Inventory received 271 million pounds of toxic waster over a period of 1990 to 1995. The major sources were steel mills, foundries, and electronic component manufacturers. Along with nutrients like zinc and nitrogen were copious amounts of lead, cadmium and all manner of solvents and other industrial chemicals-69 different types of toxics in all. The tally for carcinogens alone came to 13.9 million pounds." That study also showed Pennsylvania to be the tenth state in ranking to receive toxic waste by farms and fertilizer companies.
Canada and Europe have stricter regulations on this matter and require those materials to be disclosed, tested and approved for safety to food, users and the environment. Dilution is not the solution to pollution. What you can do: Write or call your congressmen and fertilizer companies to demand that fertilizers contain warning labels if they contain toxic substances. Continue to eat organic produce as much as possible. Use reputable organic products (in general organic fertilizers, crystallized fertilizers and nonphosphate fertilizers were the cleanest in tests done by the state of Washington). Keep an eye on children and pets that tend to get dirt in their mouths and are smaller in size. Thank the farmers who are growing food responsibly.
Since the book has been written, the EPA has closed the loophole that allowed toxic steel-mill waste to go untreated into K061 fertilizer. I contacted Wilson in February and he said, "The EPA passed that very narrow rule on waste-derived zinc fertilizers. The EPA is considering closing the 'Benvill Amendment' exemption for mining wastes. Otherwise all the action has been by the states. Four so far, that I know, have limited toxic chemicals in fertilizer." Texas, Washington, and California were the first three to do so. If you'd like information on some fertilizer products, try going to the Washington State fertilizer site at www.wa.gov/agr/PestFert/Fertilizers/Metals.htm or find the link and other interesting information regarding the book at www.fatefulharvest.com.
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These poor fellows have tiny, primitive brains. While their senses of smell and touch are well developed, their hearing is not great and their eyesight is weak. When bothered these normally quiet marsupials may growl, hiss or click their teeth. As we all know, they are famous for faking death, or "playing possum" to avoid dangerous confrontations. They can also give off a musky odor, perhaps to deter enemies.
When we were talking to Sam about the CSA, we mentioned to him that we live on a former dairy farm that is now much smaller than its original size in 1851. We asked him for his advice on how we could bring back the farm so that it would serve an agricultural purpose. We considered growing vegetables, raising goats, and creating a vineyard, to name a few ideas. For one reason or another, they did not quite fit our goals for bringing the land back into production.