Wildlife spotted on the farm include deer, raccoon, coyote, opossum, squirrel, rabbit, fox, duck, turkey, red-tail hawks, American bald eagles, owls, bats, fire flies, snapping turtles, pheasant, bobcat, and countless varieties of bird. It is important to leave portions of farmland wild as homes for these creatures. While some wild animals can be an occasional nuisance to farming, they also can greatly contribute to a healthy farm organism. For example, wild animals keep the farm’s rodent and insect pest populations in check.
In an effort to learn more about and care for the wildlife of the farm, we have encouraged the on-farm research of local biologists, Conrad and Claudia Vispo (founders of the Farmscape Ecology Program). To our surprise and delight, they have found two quite rare creatures living on the farm: the bronze copper butterfly and the leopard frog. Both of these species depend on the wet meadows habitat of the farm which, at first glance, many people consider somewhat useless.
