Inviting Beneficial Insects to Your Farm and Garden (Resiliency Skills Webinar Series)
May 26, 2020 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Online registration for this event coming soon
NOFA MASS presents this interactive online event which highlights plants and regenerative agriculture principles that support beneficial insects. Join Elise and Tucker Smith of Cedar Rock Gardens, a vegetable farm and seedling nursery open to the public in Gloucester, to learn from about how they are helping pollinators and many other beneficial insects flourish on their farm, Subjects to be covered:
- Virtually tour the farm and see how they provide a variety of habitats for beneficial insects
- Learn about perennial plants for cut flowers
- Discuss the value of intercropping and which crops they are planting together
- Learn more about low-till and no-till farming practices
Cedar Rock Gardens comprises 13.5 acres in Gloucester, Massachusetts where they grow a large variety of vegetables on 2.5 acres of land utilizing crop rotation schedules and cover crops to ensure good soil practices. They operate a retail stand on the farm, sell directly to local restaurants and have an 80 member CSA. Additionally, they currently have about 7,300 square feet of heated greenhouse space where they grow herbs, vegetables, and a variety of annual and perennial flower seedlings. They practice shallow-till and no-till farming practices to preserve habitat for beneficial insects and maintain biological diversity in their fields.
When we design for increased pollinator habitat we also increase the overall resilience of the farm, specifically with the addition of native perennial plants that add both above-ground and below-ground (rhizosphere) diversity, which increases the carbon sequestration capacity of the landscape. With many populations of pollinator species on the decline, it is important to build buffers and organic landscapes that can provide refuge for a variety of organisms. With a bit of knowledge and design you can have a biodiverse farm that utilizes marginal areas of your farm to grow new crops for your market.
