What's the water like?

A couple weeks ago our pond experts Richard and Dave came by to conduct testing on our 4 Winds Pond. 

With all of the snow we had just received, it took some time to get down to the ice. And of course snow was falling all the while. In the photo below, Richard is auguring the hole while Dave is preparing the testing equipment. I am staying nice and toasty warm while watching them work. I will say my fingers did get cold taking photos.

Making way for a prairie

While looking at the photo below, squint your eyes a little and picture a bright yellow patch of Black-eyed Susans waving in a hot July breeze.

Under that thick layer of snow and ice, it might be hard to imagine right now. But come spring, we'll be taking this 8-acre agriculture crop field and planting it with Black-eyed Susans, a native prairie plant. 

This venture is part of a partnership with Agrecol, a native seed and plant company near Edgerton. The flowers will be harvested in the fall for their seeds, and then sold by Agrecol. 

We will definitely keep you posted on how this new venture goes! In the meantime, we're excited for this partnership and look forward to the splash of color this will bring to the Farm! 

Pond Naming Contest: And the winners are...

After riveting debates and multiple rounds of voting, Pond A and Pond B have proper names!

Pond A will now be called... 4 Winds Pond!

Newly-named "4 Winds Pond" at Arington Tree Farm

See how it stretches out in all four directions? Like a compass, there is a portion of the pond pointing north, east, south and west.