Thursday, 25 August 2011 12:13

Here are some more "farm friends." I found the frog yesterday while preparing some land for fall planting. I think it is a wood frog, which breed very early in the season--sometimes when ice still has a grip on the landscape. They become pretty reclusive after their 2-3 week breeding season, so it was a treat to find this frog living on our farm.

The next picture comes from my experimental garden. Next to the ginger stalk (more on that to come--ginger DOES grow in Wisconsin, and I will be bringing some to the Haymarket Day celebration! Mark your calendars: September 10th) is a blue spotted salamander. It was living underneath the straw mulch I used to cover my walkways between rows of crops. A great place for a salamander to live--dark, warm, moist. I was sorry to disturb the little fellow, but glad to have the chance to interact with it.

Amphibians have very porous skin that prevents them from drying out. Their skin also absorbs a lot from their immediate environment, aiding respiration by taking in air and helping regulate body moisture (apparently amphibians rarely drink water, they absorb it through their skin).

I am partially presenting this info because I think living things are interesting; and I enjoy learning more about how they live and how everyone interacts together.

A more relevant reason for this blog post is to illustrate the safety of food you buy from the Fondy Farm. Because amphibians have such a porous membrane separating them from the outside world, they are very susceptible to environmental pollutants. There are many studies and pictures of the effects of pesticides like Atrazine on amphibians in watersheds near  farms. Frogs with six legs. High rates of emasculating male frogs (that is, turning male frogs into females). Increased mortality rates due to compromised immune systems. All of this leads to a decrease in the amphibian population as well as a weakening of their genetic pool. Not good stuff.

The food at Fondy Farm is grown free of herbicides, and we are transitioning to organic production techniques that create delicious produce that is amphibian approved and healthy for you and your family.

So come on down to the Fondy Farmers Market, ask our staff about the Fondy Farm Project, and have them point out the farmers working so hard to grow you delicious, safe, and healthy food.