An Evening at Rocky Acres Community Farm
This month, we moved our Farm Tour and Volunteer Night to Rocky Acres Community Farm, run and owned by Rafael Aponte, in Freeville, NY.
It was a fun filled evening, acquainting ourselves with some newly re-homed turkeys! Norman, the most sociable of them, enjoyed walking with the volunteer group. Did you know that in some situations, gobbling at turkeys is actually seen as a gesture to challenge them? Often times when we’d be laughing together, the turkeys would start gobbling and we all just hoped for the best! Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it was very interesting being in such tight quarters with a 50lb turkey!
Rafa raises Nubian goats and he explained his rotational grazing method, moving them 1-2 times a week to new, greener brush and grass using solar powered ElectroNet fencing. Nubians are beautiful and friendly goats, and even jumped on a few folks to give hugs.
After the tour was finished, we began our volunteer work task: making 3 terraces to provide more surface area to grow things, and also to help manage water. We all thought maybe we’d get one done in an hour, but with the hands of 13 eager volunteers, we finished 3 terraces, planted moisture loving canes, and some comfrey to help amend the soil (plus its such a great medicinal and lover of pollinators)! Task completed!
It was a lovely night at Rocky Acres Community Farm, and it felt even better supporting Rafa, who does so much on and off his farm to support the community at large. Thank you Rafa for having us!
