During our first year here, all the tall weeds attracted lots of birds; goldfinches, catbirds, redwinged blackbirds, robins, blue birds, song sparrows, mourning doves, various swallows, blue birds and indigo buntings.  There were many butterflies as well.  Here are several photos of our weedy jungle (2008):

 

Farm Details:

41.5 Acres: 30 acres of fields, 5-7 acres woods & wetlands

• Located in northeastern Indiana, near Fort Wayne, IN
• This land was formerly used to farm soybeans (Part of the acreage will continue to be farmed until we can begin including it as either pasture or hay fields.)

The beauty of this land drove us to purchase the property and convert a large percentage of its farm fields to pastures.  Its rolling hills and patchy woods were very picturesque. Yet there was clear evidence of long term erosion on the hills, even with grass erosion prevention strips between the rows of soybeans.  We decided that, with so many midwestern farm fields disappearing, we would only take land out of production if it would truly restore the soil.  We feel that this type of land is best suited to pasture, which would hold back the soil and prevent erosion.  The flattest and easiest-to-farm section of our land will remain in production as a hay field to improve our self-sufficiency.

We also plan on restoring the woods and scrub areas to a healthier, more sustainable wetlands.  There were obvious signs of environmental damage here, too.  Shortly after touring the land, we noticed that the wetlands had received a fair amount of field run-off.  Evidence of erosion was rampant.  While there was obviously wetlands on the property, there were no signs of some of the normal characteristics of a wetlands area.  For instance, this shallow, scrubby area should have had frogs, crayfish and waterfowl.  That whole first year, each time we went out there, we never heard a single frog.  

A year later, we had already seen results; many frogs appeared in water that was standing around the construction area of our home.  By this most recent springtime, the noise from all the lovesick amphibians was deafening!  Throughout the summer we found many kinds of frogs, toads and salamanders — not to mention all of the birds!  Despite a wet spring and summer, we didn’t have nearly the mosquito problem we experienced the year we moved onto the property.  It was as though the wildlife was just waiting for a break from some of that farming, and in a few short years the difference is already amazing.