Cost-effective Conservation! Simple Practices that Make a Big Difference! Improve Your Farm in 5 Easy Steps! Did I grab your attention like those magazines in the check-out aisle? I usually read those eye-catching articles and realize I already knew most of the information, but need to put knowledge into action to see improvements. A lot [...]
I recently went to watch one of my best friends perform in the play The Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever at the Little Theater in Tuscarawas County. I remembered one of my grade school teachers reading that story to our class years ago and knew that I had really liked it, but hadn’t seen the [...]
“Over 2300 acres of conservation on the ground in two days — this is definitely a worthwhile project!” That was the comment we heard at the Holmes Soil and Water Conservation District board meeting last night from staff member Joe Christner, who coordinated our aerial cover crops program for the fourth year. We are proud [...]
I’m not much of a “joiner,” but I do belong to a couple conservation-minded organizations. It has become obvious to me that one of these organizations recently sold my contact information to every other conservation organization in the United States, and possibly the world. I have been invited to save the rainforest, the whales, tigers, [...]
As beneficial as soil is, even we conservationists have a hard time extolling its virtues when spring rains turn farms to mud and the cows are standing in it up to their knees.
It’s no secret that every tax funded agency has been under scrutiny the past several years to justify its existence, and soil and water conservation districts are no different. While the value of conservation to society is long-established, putting an actual dollar value on clean water, clean air, open spaces and productive soils is elusive. [...]
As I write this, it’s raining. Again. And the weather forecast shows little clouds with raindrops and lightning bolts almost every day this week. But you don’t need me to remind you that we had some wet and wild weather this past winter and spring. And a drive through the countryside shows the toll it’s [...]
Holmes Co., Alpine Cheese water quality trading project is successful The idea set forth to Holmes SWCD and others was relatively straightforward, yet innovative. The Alpine Cheese Company in Holmes County needed to expand its production to meet the market demands of Jarlsberg Cheese, of which they are the sole manufacturer in the U.S. In [...]
Locally led conservation programs — they’re what Soil and Water Conservation District supervisors dedicate their time and talents to. SWCDs are governed by five publicly elected volunteer board members, or supervisors, as they are sometimes called. They set the direction for the district based on that county’s conservation needs. The Holmes SWCD aerial cover crop [...]
Yesterday, I had the good fortune to be working in our small woodland on an absolutely perfect spring day. If I would have sat still long enough, I’m convinced I could have watched the redbud at the edge of our yard flower. It had bare branches in the morning and by afternoon gorgeous purple blooms [...]
