Planting for Pollinators on Farms!

In 2014, farmer Peter Leahy decided to restore a wet area on his farm. Historically the area was used as pasture for grazing cattle, but he was keen to improve the site to keep his cattle out of the muck, to improve water quality on his farm, and at the same time increase habitat for waterfowl and pollinators.

So last year, Peter reached out to partners in the Kawartha Farm Stewardship Collaborative to help him achieve these goals. Ducks Unlimited Canada, and the Species at Risk Farm Incentive Program helped to fund the excavation for a shallow wildlife pond, to fence out livestock, and to install an alternate watering source for Peter's cattle. 

This spring, FAW designed a planting plan that includes a range of pollinator-friendly, native plant species, from trees to shrubs and grasses. Volunteers from the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority assisted Peter and FAW staff with planting on June 1. The Peterborough County Stewardship Council contributed funding to help him with the cost of the plants.

If you're on your way up to Lakefield, watch for the site on the west side of County Rd 28. For more photos of the project, check out our Facebook page.

And if you're interested in learning more about how you can benefit native pollinators on your farm, check out our Native Pollinators pages. They're chock-full of useful information! 

If you'd like to see some of our planting projects in person, on Wednesday September 2, we'll be hosting a tour of a couple project sites that we've worked on recently. We'll spend the morning touring the sites and hearing from the farmers we've worked with, and in the afternoon, we'll get our hands dirty with a planting at another farm up near Lakefield.

Send us a message for more details! info@farmsatwork.ca  |  (705) 743-7671.