Yes, Missouri deems it illegal to feed vegetables to pigs

It's official: fresh vegetables and whey are considered garbage by the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA).

Two government veterinarians  (one MDA, one USDA working on behalf of MDA) visited the farm Tuesday morning to discuss our questions about whether Missouri's ban on feeding garbage to for-sale pigs applies to straight produce, whey, and other non-meat products (background here). Joanna was taking notes/transcript the entire time, and we have pages of interesting material that I've left out in an effort to keep this a remotely reasonable length. We may use some of it in future posts; it was a very illuminating conversation.

The official determination, an exact quote:

"You can't feed vegetables to hogs and then go sell the meat."

I'd like to state up front that both of these people were cordial and seemed fairly sympathetic to our situation. This was not a confrontation, just a professional conversation in which they effectively conveyed what their bosses were telling them to say. It made for an interesting and at times tortuous conversation as they attempted to explain something that they seemed to know wasn't quite logical. Another good quote:

"You're up against what I would call an unintended consequence....you're at a point where you're not in the veterinarian field, you're in the legal field."

In other words, Missouri's law is stupid and overreaching, but they're being told to enforce it literally and so their hands are tied. We have to get lawyers involved, or get a new statute passed, for a different outcome to happen.

Again, Missouri (and most other states and the Federal government) passed laws banning the feeding of garbage to pigs in the 1950s, to control the spread of vesicular exanthema, which has since been effectively eradicated. Our visitors pointed out that there are several other swine diseases that remain of concern , that can also be controlled by preventing the feeding of raw, mixed garbage. So there is still a relevance to the overall prohibition, and I have no problem with banning the feeding of mixed dumpster contents to pigs.

However, meat & seafood scraps are the primary and only real concern here. Both our visitors agreed that unadulterated vegetable, fruit, or dairy products (i.e. not mixed with meat) would not be a concern from a swine or human health perspective. Indeed, I discovered that while the Missouri law defines garbage & garbage feeding thus:

...all refuse matter, animal or vegetable, and shall include all waste material, by-products of a kitchen, restaurant, or slaughterhouse, every refuse accumulation of animal, fruit, or vegetable matter, liquid or otherwise...

No person, other than an individual who feeds to his own swine only the garbage obtained from his own household, shall feed garbage to swine unless such garbage has been heated to a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit (boiling point) and fed in compliance with rules and regulations promulgated by and under permits issued by the state department of agriculture.

the Federal version of this law contains a far more nuanced and rational definition that actually addresses the concern in question:

Garbage. All waste material derived in whole or in part from the meat of any animal (including fish and poultry) or other animal material, and other refuse of any character whatsoever that has been associated with any such material, resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking or consumption of food, except that such term shall not include waste from ordinary household operations which is fed directly to swine on the same premises where such household is located...

(a) No person shall feed or permit the feeding of garbage to swine unless the garbage is treated to kill disease organisms, pursuant to this Part, at a facility operated by a person holding a valid license for the treatment of garbage; except that the treatment and license requirements shall not apply to the feeding or the permitting of the feeding to swine of garbage only because the garbage consists of any of the following: rendered products; bakery waste; candy waste; eggs; domestic dairy products (including milk); fish from the Atlantic Ocean within 200 miles of the continental United States or Canada; or fish from inland waters of the United States or Canada which do not flow into the Pacific Ocean.

Moreover, on December 9, 2009, the USDA stated in the Federal Register that:

The regulations in 9 CFR part 166 regarding swine health protection (referred to below as the regulations) were promulgated in accordance with the Act. The regulations contain provisions that regulate food waste containing any meat products fed to swine.

Emphasis mine. Our visitors agreed that as vets, they're fine with the Federal definition. Notice that this version addresses the specific concern, meat and seafood scraps from the lower Pacific coast, while allowing anything else that hasn't come into contact with those specific items. Federal law makes what we want to do (and what lots of farmers around the country do) legal; it's just Missouri that has passed an overreaching law, and someone high up in MDA (I know who, but no names yet)  is interpreting it so broadly as to ban us from even throwing a turnip over the fence to a pig. A paraphrased part of our conversation:

Us: So if we grow turnips in a field and browse pigs on them, that's legal because it's a pasture crop?

Them: Yes, pasture crops are fine.

Us: But if we pick the turnips and throw them over the fence to the pig, then it's illegal garbage?

Them: (uncomfortable pause) According to the way Missouri law is interpreted, yes, that's illegal garbage feeding.

We had the same discussion about whey, with much the same result. As vets, they weren't concerned about us feeding whey from our own herd, or even about bringing it in from a known point source like another dairy (as long as it wasn't getting mixed or adulterated with anything), but they're being told to interpret Missouri law as that being illegal garbage feeding, so therefore it's probably illegal (it's a liquid animal product, after all). We actually had a hard time pinning them down on this one, as the MDA guy kept pointing out that whey is actually listed as a feed material in their official hog handbooks, with the USDA guy saying it still counted as garbage under the wording of the law. If you're interested in the value of whey as pig feed, I more or less randomly found this 1975 study from North Dakota State University which concluded that:

Three years of data indicates that pigs can be raised to slaughter weights very efficiently and economically when using liquid whey as a protein supplement. Pigs that were fed whey required 100 pounds less feed per 100 pounds gain in 1975. 

We also discussed the weirdness of the personal exemption, in which you can feed household garbage to pigs you're raising just for yourself. This is frustrating because that's probably the best way for disease to be reintroduced back into Missouri; someone feeding a personal pig on undercooked kitchen waste (Pacific salmon, say, or imported pork), thus creating an infected pig that could then transfer the disease to other animals regardless of its not being sold. Again, they agreed that such a thing was far more likely to be a hazard than our proposal, but the law is the law. Yet another example in which individuals get a free ride while small businesses get hammered, even though making it harder for American farmers to economically raise their own pork actually increases the likelihood of importing theoretically diseased pork.
Eventually they fell back on saying, accurately, that they weren't in a position to address any of the practical challenges we were raising, which they weren't (just following orders from above). So the conversation effectively ended with them saying that this is how it is. Unless we mount a legal or legislative challenge to this law and its MDA interpretation, it is officially illegal to feed vegetables, whey, fruit, or any other non-grain material to pigs that you intend to transport or sell. And remember that it's also a misdemeanor to buy such a pig, too.

This is exactly the kind of complicated, nuanced, and under-the-radar issue that really matters when it comes to food and farm policy, but is largely ignored. One bureaucrat in MDA can make a verbal determination (remember, we have nothing in writing) that instantly creates an entire class of criminal farmers, when he could just as easily have stated "in my opinion, raw unadulterated vegetables and whey are not refuse, and are therefore legal feed" (i.e. the Federal definition and that of most rational people). How are we supposed to fight the inertia of entrenched bureaucracy, as full-time farmers with little to gain and lots to lose? What do we do now?

This kind of thing must be addressed if we want small farms and local foods to grow and succeed.  Interestingly, our vet visitors tacitly agreed with us that there was no real profit in raising hogs on corn & soy, and it would be more economical to feed out produce & whey generated on-farm or gathered from other farms. But right now anyone who chooses to do that is technically a criminal. So like so many other innovative, enterprenurial small farmers, we face a choice of ethically not doing something and sacrificing potential income, or doing it illegally and both taking a legal chance and unfairly benefitting from non-competition from those who do follow the law. (Our choice not to sell cheese comes to mind).

For this year, we'll just have one pig, sadly lonely, but well fed, and destined for our personal freezer. Our apologies to the numerous people who have expressed interest in buying pork raised our way.

Late April farm food

April is an interesting month for folks like us, who rely heavily on our own home-grown and -preserved food throughout the year. We're still drawing on our diverse stocks of foods preserved last year, but starting to integrate the first fresh, seasonal items. For us, spring means more than salad greens; it's when fresh milk comes back on the menu, in the form of cheese, yogurt, custards, and more, along with abundant eggs (we can easily consume 3 dozen or more in a week), and it's when we start using up the preserved items we won't see again until their fresh season comes (we've just about finished the dried peppers and tomatoes, for example).

 Here's a look at a few of the meals we've made in late April, a somewhat random mix of dishes we bothered to take photographs of. Hopefully the collection helps illustrate both the diversity of food & cooking still available to us even after a long winter, and the value of a diversified farm in producing interesting food. Farm-sourced ingredients listed in italics.

COWPEA CHILI

We love our dried cowpeas, which are easier to grow than regular soup beans and cook far faster. They make quick meals really easy, such as this chili made of stored onions, stored garlic, dried cowpeas,  home-canned tomatillos, dried peppers & tomatoes, home-made frozen pepper sauce, fresh cilantro, fresh-ground venison, salt & pepper.

PASTA WITH GREENS

Pasta provides endless opportunities for combining fresh & preserved ingredients into simple but tasty sauces. In this case, we topped organic penne with fresh collard greens, diced cured ham, dried tomatoes, garlic, herbs, & goat feta.

WIENERSCHNITZEL & MORE

A nice, multi-course meal showcasing all sorts of farm ingredients. Schnitzel: venison loin pounded thin, fried in breading of homemade rye crumbs, egg, & olive oil. Noodles: organic pasta topped with sauce of fresh shiitake mushrooms cooked in butter & flour, with water and fresh sage & thyme. Salad: spinach & sorrel topped with fresh goat feta, olive oil, & balsamic vinegar. Bread: fresh-baked rye bread.

EASTER MEAL

 

Kebabs: goat & pork cubes, marinated in oil, vinegar, garlic, thyme, sage, oregano and grilled over hardwood charcoal and wild plum wood with yellow onions. Fresh-made paneer (Indian cheese) in a marinade featuring yogurt, cilantro, mint, & garlic. Rice Pilaf: onion sauteed in butter, organic brown rice, toasted and cooked in goat broth topped with fresh garlic chives. Salad: spinach, sorrel, herbed fresh ricotta, sliced baby radishes, & chives dressed with oil & vinegar. Grilled asparagus: fresh asparagus tossed with olive oil & salt. Note: I have no idea if the wild plum wood added any flavor, but it seemed like a fun thing to try.

GENOISE CAKE

Cake made with eggs, sugar, flour, butter, & vanilla; topped with powdered sugar and violets. Not shown, but on the side: Cajeta (Mexican goat-milk caramel): goat milk simmered with sugar, cinnamon, & baking soda. Rhubarb sauce: fresh rhubarb cooked with sugar, cloves, and a splash of orange juice.

It's illegal to feed vegetables to pigs in Missouri?

I'm being told, by the Missouri Department of Agriculture, that I may not be allowed (legally) to feed vegetables or whey generated on our farm, to pigs raised on our farm, if we want to sell said pigs to any consumer. I may need a permit and multiple annual inspections, or it may be illegal entirely; they're not good at giving straight answers. Two USDA veterinarians are coming up to the farm next week to conduct a fact-finding inspection on this question. If this seems like the height of lunacy to you (and it did to another experienced direct-market hog-raiser in the area I contacted for their opinion), read on.

Missouri law, as written, strictly limits what and how you can feed a pig you intend to sell, defining just about anything other than grain as "garbage" and putting restrictions or prohibitions on its use. These laws were passed in the 1950s in response to an obscure but devastating disease in pigs (vesicular exanthema) that was spreading to the Midwest from California. At the time, many feedlots fed raw mixed garbage to their pigs as a cheap source of feed, but the inevitable pork scraps or seafood in that mix spread the disease, which was not transmissible to humans or other animals (other than fish and marine mammals, from which it originated). So here's what part of the resulting law says:

Garbage defined.266.410. As used in sections 266.410 to 266.460, "garbage" shall mean all refuse matter, animal or vegetable, and shall include all waste material, by-products of a kitchen, restaurant, or slaughterhouse, every refuse accumulation of animal, fruit, or vegetable matter, liquid or otherwise.
Untreated garbage not to be fed, exception.
266.420. No person, other than an individual who feeds to his own swine only the garbage obtained from his own household, shall feed garbage to swine unless such garbage has been heated to a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit (boiling point) and fed in compliance with rules and regulations promulgated by and under permits issued by the state department of agriculture.
Violation a misdemeanor, what constitutes offense.
266.460. Any person violating the provisions of sections 266.410 to 266.460 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Each day the provisions of sections 266.410 to 266.460 are violated shall be a separate offense.

This was successful in eradicating vesicular exanthema; the Merck Veterinary Manual states that "In 1959, the USA was declared free of VES, and the disease was designated a foreign animal disease; it has never been reported as a natural infection of pigs in any other part of the world".

Yet notice something interesting? Despite the fact that this is a pig-specific disease carried by meat scraps, the law's wording bans feeding of all garbage, even fruits, vegetables and dairy products, and defines garbage as virtually all types of food matter. Yet it's not even biologically possible to transmit this disease (vesicular exanthema) through produce, fruit, or dairy products unless they've been mixed with pork or seafood products. One of the USDA vets agreed with me on this over the phone; he also didn't quite answer my question about whether it would still be garbage if I grew the produce specifically for the pigs. Obviously this is aimed at the large-scale garbage feedlots which are long extinct, but did it really not occur to anyone at the time that plenty of smaller farms still fed their hogs on vegetables or other scraps that weren't full of pork? Pigs are omnivores; one of the reasons small farms have kept them for millenia is their ability to eat almost anything and turn it into tasty, safe meat. That's what pigs do. In both Italy and the US, pig farms were often located near dairies and cheese-makers, as whey is a fantastic pig food.

Yet in a classic overreaction, whomever wrote this law banned even dairy whey from being fed to pigs (it's a liquid byproduct, after all) or raw vegetables. So according to the letter of the law, if we sold a pig that we raised for six months on vegetable scraps and dairy whey as humans throughout history have done, we'd face over 180 counts of misdemeanors under Missouri law. Plus, the same misdemeanor charges apply to anyone who transports or even buys such a pig (i.e. you, the customer). And all of this for a disease that hasn't been seen since 1959 and isn't carried by vegetables or dairy. I was told by the USDA vet over the phone that there is such a "stigma" associated with garbage-feeding that the government will do everything possible to discourage it, but there's a world of rational difference between me hauling restaurant dumpster contents back to the farm and feeding out market leftovers/damaged/overripe produce and whey from vegetarian dairy goats, both sourced on the same farm as the pigs and not mixed with outside materials.

I have been attempting to get a straight answer on whether this really does apply to farms like ours feeding vegetables and whey generated on the farm to pigs raised on the same farm. The MDA vet I spoke to told me I qualified as a garbage-feeder, would need an inspection/permit, and they would set it up. Next thing you know, I'm getting a call from a USDA vet based in Jeff City who sounded pretty confused about the whole thing and asking for confirmation that this was really what he was supposed to do. I gave him the information (legal wording, my past discussions with MDA) and he got back to me this week with confirmation that yes, he and another USDA vet were going to come out next week to inspect our farm and discuss the legality of me feeding on-farm vegetables and whey to on-farm pigs. I've already been told that it would definitely be illegal for me to feed whey from any off-farm source, even a fully inspected/certified cheesemaking dairy like the award-winning one near us, again despite whey being biologically incapable of transmitting vesicular exanthema.

What more evidence could anyone need as to why we're sounding more and more (small-l) libertarian as our farming experience grows? Even if we somehow win our argument and get written permission to feed out farm scraps to the pigs, this is such a classic case of stupidity and waste, and still prevents farmers like us from raising pigs using many other safe and sustainable foodstuffs (like off-farm whey, or leftover vegetables from a grocery store produce department). Keep in mind, for context, that it remains perfectly legal to feed rendered carcasses, blood meal, and other nastiness to feedlot chickens and cattle. But we're apparently of more concern. Lunacy.

Why do we care? Why did we even ask? Because we still believe the rule of law means something, and that we aren't special enough to decide which laws we get to follow and which we get to ignore. Plus, we don't want to take the risk of being the first farm busted for this when some bureaucrat decides to enfore a stupid law. It's not worth risking the farm over a couple pigs being fed bootleg vegetables; the profit margin is too slim (one pork producer at market told me last year that their profit margin was around 10%, i.e. for every $20 customers spend, they keep $2).

In a rational world, raising pigs on the side makes a lot of sense for a diversified sustainable farm like ours. Ironically enough, one of the reasons we're interested in raising pigs for sale is animal welfare; pigs are social animals and most resources state that they do better with others of their kind. Yet we can't eat more than one pig a year, so the only solution to raise a happier, healthier pig is to have multiples, which means selling the extra(s), which on our farm means feeding farm scraps and leftovers. We also intend to use pigs to "plow" up our fescue pastures so we can restore them to a better biological mix, without using damaging and dirty tractors & fossil fuels. The ability to raise & sell pigs fed on farm products would make our farm more diversified and sustainable, both theoretically good things. Problem is, the world outside our gates isn't terribly rational when it comes to food and ag policy.

We'll post the results of Tuesday's USDA inspection/discussion once we've digested it.

Spring wildflowers on the farm

One of Joanna's favorite aspects of spring (aside from warbler migration) is the profusion of wildflowers throughout the farm. Here's a simple photo essay of the diverse and beautiful forms these can take:

In order of appearance:
Bluebells, wild ginger, golden seal
Spring beauty, trout lily (dog-tooth violet), May apple
Dutchman's breeches, pale corydalis, toothwort
Bloodroot, common violet, harbinger of spring
Jacob's ladder, bellwort, trillium
Rue anemone, redbud
Blue phlox (wild sweet William)
Yellow violet, Ohio buckeye, buttercup

Why we like our restaurants

We'll be selling to four Columbia restaurants in 2011 (that we know of), and each has specific and unique reasons that make us grateful for their support. I can say from both experience and hearsay that some restaurants and chefs are more difficult to work with; not returning calls or contacts, not upholding their promised orders/interests, not holding realistic expectations of farmers, not handling produce well, and so on. Not everyone who claims or uses local sources is equal in their actual execution of that ideal. I'd suspect that many restaurant customers really don't see the behind-the-scenes differences in how restaurants work with farmers (or not). Here's why we love the ones we do work with (note: the exclusion of a local restaurant shouldn't be taken as implicit criticism; there are many we've never approached).

Sycamore
An all-around class-act restaurant, Sycamore serves excellent food in a perfect atmosphere, and chef Mike Odette is a real pleasure to work with. He's always interested in working with diverse, seasonal ingredients, reliably responds to contacts, is willing to pay a fair price for good product but also to gently explain when we're asking too much, and is just all-around supportive and easy to work with as a farmer selling direct. He's been a real mentor for us in developing our restaurant sales; very helpful in helping us understand and meet the high standards he requires for his ingredients, and as far as I'm concerned is the model of how farm-table interactions should work from the restaurant end. The first time I saw our farm on their menu, I felt like I'd won an award, and it's still a thrill to serve them.

Uprise Bakery
Courtney may be the most flexible of our contacts in adapting to changing conditions and supplies, and has often salvaged a poor market day for us and others by buying up unsold stock at the end of the morning and finding ways to use it on their broad, diverse menu. They juggle purchases from many different farms and do a really nice job of trying to support many different growers. They're very willing to take unusual items like sweet yellow cucumbers, will preserve items for the off-season (like freezing bulk okra), and again are easy and supportive to work with.

Main Squeeze
As the best option for organic & vegetarian/vegan food in town, Leigh really shares our values and gives clear preference to true organic farms in her purchasing. We can't supply everything she needs, but she is the most willing to pay whatever price the farmer thinks is fair and builds her business around that core support for local, organic food and sustainability. We're really grateful for her principles.

Red & Moe
A new customer for us last year, we expect to sell more and more to this maker of excellent true pizza. Trey & the owners take their commitment to using entirely local foods very seriously indeed, purchasing and preserving large quantities of ingredients throughout the year to minimize their ties to generic food service. We're really looking forward to building this relationship, especially with some of our larger core crops like garlic (they bought & used a lot last year).

We've hosted & fed all these folks at our farm, some multiple times; just their willingness to take the time to visit and learn about their sources tells you something about their commitment and value to local foods. All have supported us and taught us about our business, and we're grateful to them. Please thank them by supporting their restaurants.

March-April farm projects & happenings

 

With the beginning of April, we're now in the official busy season of the farm. March was our cutoff for late winter non-essential/non-vegetable projects, and we made reasonable progress on most of these. Fencing on our two main pastures is close to completion, garden fence upgrades are done, we're been hard at work preparing & planting early spring crops, most of our brush piles have been chipped or burned, the packing shed infrastructure improvements are 75% complete, the orchard is underway, and more. Here's a tour through some of what we've been doing, and what's coming up through April.

ORCHARD WORK

We finally fulfilled a long-term dream, getting the first apple trees established in the orchard area we've spent the last few years clearing. These are various good homestead varieties, such as Arkansas Black, grafted onto rootstock specifically developed to handle the heavy clay soil and moist conditions this site offers. Hopefully they do well; we intend to slowly add trees each year so as not to over commit ourselves (we have 30 sites laid out overall). The plan for this orchard is to produce at least enough fruit to feed ourselves in a bad year, and surplus to sell/distribute in a good year.

SEEDING & TRANSPLANTING

We've been managing lots of seedlings indoors, waiting for decent weather to come for outdoor transplanting. And waiting. Finally we could wait no more, and started taking advantage of some reasonably dry conditions to start setting out onions, lettuce, and brassicas, while direct-seeding peas, radishes, carrots, beets, and more. The poor transplants had a miserable first few days, enduring everything from a hard freeze their first night to a subsequent high of 89ºF and 40+mph winds, then back down below freezing again. At least we didn't get the hail we feared from a recent strong storm system, but that's still a lot of stress for young plants. We'll see what happens. Below are a young pea plant coming up, and Joanna setting out scallion transplants.

 GOATS & MILKING

 Overall the goats are doing well, though this spring has brought more medical/management issues than past years, including a sick newborn kid that needed to be carefully nursed to health (he's now doing great). One of the doeling triplets died recently, in a fence entanglement that we probably could have avoided but thought we had sufficiently prepared against, leaving her sisters (above) as virtually guaranteed keepers for breeding this fall and milking next year. This kind of incident really hurts, as it's something you play over in your mind looking for something to do differently, but as any parent or farmer knows, you also can't prepare for every possible stupid thing a young one does and you can't watch them constantly. In larger herds, this would barely matter. In a small homestead herd, it's a big loss and a hard learning experience for what to change in the future. There is always a silver lining, though, and in this case the remaining two (and the mother) are happier without three kids fighting for milk from two teats. Overall we're getting a good supply of fresh milk from our two adult does, plenty to keep us in fresh cheese and yogurt, and the remaining three kids are now healthy and growing fast. These two are friendly and have a good lineage, so we're looking forward to keeping at least one for a long time.

 OVERWINTERING CROPS

We planted or maintained several crops in overwintering beds, some as usual (like garlic) and some as tests (like parsnips, sorrel, and spinach). The parsnips and sorrel were a definite success, with excellent quality and flavor come spring (we just sold a batch of sorrel to Red & Moe, along with chives, green onions, and cress). We ran a test on the garlic, too, experimenting with using aged leaves instead of straw as mulch. Straw is an expensive and problematic input which we'd really like to move away from, whereas leaves are better for the soil and can be collected and managed during our non-busy times. So far, we can't tell the difference between the straw-mulched garlic (below left) and the leaf-mulched garlic (below right), but won't know for sure until harvest. 

SOIL MANAGEMENT

Many of our management methods are aimed at improving long-term soil health, and spring certainly brings on a lot of interaction with the soil as we hoe beds, turn in manure as needed, cut and chop in cover crops, spread wood ash and other basic soil amendments, and overall prepare the ground for growing. Finding lots of big, healthy earthworms like the one above is always a nice sign that we're on the right track.

OTHER UPCOMING PROJECTS (NOT PICTURED)

- Finishing fence-building, including stringing wire, hanging gates, and running electric where it's needed.

- Moving goats permanently onto pasture for the growing season, including setting up pasture shelter .

- Preparing to start two pigs, including an inspection and permit process from the Missouri Department of Agriculture so we can legally feed leftover vegetables & whey from the farm (stupid but apparently necessary).

- Lots more indoor & outdoor seeding, transplanting, bed prep, and general field work.

- Preparing for start of our market season in late April/early May, including final packing barn upgrades and updates to market signage, materials, and plans.

- Starting restaurant deliveries.

- Finalizing plans for farm workers; we're still working out the best way to handle this in 2011. The most likely model will be a pseudo-CSA work-share arrangement in which people work 3-hour shifts for regular shares of produce and possibly eggs/milk. If you thoughts on this, let us know.

Bird list & other natural events, March 2011

Below is a complete list of birds observed and/or heard within our farm's ecosystem for March 2011. Birds in italics were observed or heard only in flight over the farm, but not otherwise interacting with it.

Snow geese and Canada geese migration finished passing through this month, with only local Canadas observed by the end of the month. Other birds showed up for the first time, and/or started singing for the first time. We can tell it's been wet for a long time, because there are good-sized fish in our little stream, and we've started seeing kingfishers and herons in and along this corridor. Various blackbirds are also on the move, passing overhead in flocks that are very difficult to identify with any certainty.

37 species:

NEW THIS MONTH
Red-winged Blackbird
Unidentified blackbirds
White Pelican (migration)
Field Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Eastern Phoebe
Wood Duck
Brown-headed Cowbird
Mourning Dove (last seen in January)

ALSO PRESENT
Canada Goose
Snow Geese
Killdeer
Turkey Vulture
Ducks (unidentified)
Great Blue Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Woodcock
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tufted Titmouse
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco

MISSING FROM LAST MONTH
Northern Flicker
Bald Eagle
House Finch
American Goldfinch

OTHER NATURAL EVENTS
Lizards and snakes have begun stirring, as have the first insects like flies, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, and flea beetles. Buds have been swelling on trees, and the earliest smaller species have begun leafing out (gooseberry, invasive autumn olive, and multiflora rose). The early wildflowers started blooming, including harbinger of spring and bloodroot.