The Outdoor Homeowner

Kevin Brown, BCCD, Ag Team Leader
I will call it this for lack of a better term right now.  The Conservation District will hold a meeting this Saturday, the 14th, to talk about a number of outdoor, around-the-house topics.  We get a lot of interest in our No-Till Garden information when we present it.  This will be the first topic on the agenda.  I will confess that I am no gardener.  In fact, I used to hate gardening.  However, I have found a new way- Mulch, Plant, Harvest, Repeat.  Even I can do that little.  I don’t have to till, and even better, I don’t have to weed or water it.  I can enjoy my summer instead of chasing the garden chores the whole time.

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Other topics will include one of our employees taking their Master Gardner courses from Penn State, Pollinator mixes, Rain Barrels and Rain Gardens, wetland areas and what to do with them, and Food Plots made easy.  If you love doing anything outdoors, around the house, there will be a lot of really valuable information for you at this meeting.
Having a Master Gardener here at the office will help us address people’s gardening concerns.  You can reach them through Penn State, but it may be super convenient to have one right here where people have easy access to them.  She will give a talk on what a Master Gardener is and what they do and share some interesting gardening facts with you.
Another topic that is starting to get a lot of attention is pollinators.  Pollinators are in huge decline right now.  There are probably several reasons for this, and we will talk about some of them.  More importantly, we will talk about what we can do to attract them and help bring their numbers back.  Pollinators are responsible for like 2 out of every 3 mouthfuls of food that we eat.  We need to have them for our crops to survive and reproduce.  They will also help us with our gardens, and they are really cool to watch (once you get over the thoughts that bees are going to attack you all the time). 
The next topic that will be discuss is rain barrels, rain gardens and wetland areas.  A lot of flooding issues could be lessened if each landowner did some really important steps in trying to keep water from leaving their land.  If we could keep water going where we need it to go, into the ground, it is that much less that will flood those downstream.  Rain barrels can help some.  Rain gardens and wetland areas can certainly make even a bigger difference.  And wetlands can actually look really nice if done correctly.  They can also attract pollinators and other good things we are talking about here.
And lastly, food plots.  People spend way too much time and effort planting food plots (going back to the no till thing).  Hopefully we can show people how to save time, fuel, and money and get as good, or better, food plots in the ground. 
Come join us this Saturday from 9:00-12:30.  Please pre-register using any of the information below.  A light lunch will be provided as we wrap things up.
The Bradford County Conservation District is committed to helping people manage resources wisely.  You can visit the Bradford County Conservation District at 200 Lake Rd in Wysox across from the Wysox Fire Hall. Contact us at (570) 485-3144 or visit our web page at www.bccdpa.com.