Sign and Sedge

 Our farm sign arrived, along with some news about Orono Sedge.

We have needed a farm sign.   Folks picking up hay have complained that sometimes they drive by us two or three times because they can't find the farm.  That is because the land is in back and, from the road, we look like a house and yard.

Having no sign budget, I tried making a sign.  It is still leaning on the side of the frig in the kitchen.  I kind of liked it, but then I made it.   George had misgivings.

I noticed that the Orono Land Trust had put up some nice wooden signs on the Davis land conservation easement over on Gardiner Road, which is close to us.

So, I contacted the Orono Land Trust last year, to find out who made their signs.

The person who got back said he made the signs, and he'd make us a farm sign if we joined the Orono Land Trust!   This was great!   So, we ended up with two wonderful things - a farm sign and a land trust membership!   I'd been wanting to join the land trust, but it wasn't in the budget.   So, this gets us started.

When David dropped off the sign, he mentioned that Orono Sedge wasn't just on the Davis conservation easement, but all through the nearby hay fields.   It might be in our hay fields.

Orono sedge is Maine's only endemic plant species (occurring no where else).   Information from Maine's Natural Areas Program.   The USDA lists it as threatened.

This is so great!  Not that the plant is threatened, but that it might be here!  Maybe we can help protect a plant!    But, it is not an easy plant to identify.   I would need help there.    Somehow I would need to figure out where the sedge may be, so I can hay/mow more appropriately.   I'm already trying not to destroy all the bobolink nests when I mow.  Maybe, with any luck, there would be some overlap.

Dave said avoiding mowing until August would be better for the sedge.   I know this would also be good for the Bobolinks, since the pairs here seem to stay around their nests on the ground well into July.    The challenge would be to delay mowing part of the field and still produce the hay we need for the farm, as well as do needed mowing to keep the weeds in the field under control.

I wonder if the sedge is here?   Wow, Orono Sedge!