The crane fly on the rye in this picture is part of the story of the ecology of Millsap Farm. Our farm is a tiny piece of hilltop ground, surrounded by the valleys of the Sac River, on the Ozark Plateau, in the transition zone between the prairie and woodlands, in the Mississippi River Basin. The Crane Fly, which looks like a giant mosquito, is probably looking to breed or lay eggs, as it only has a few days to live, having passed most of it's life under or at the surface of the soil eating decomposing organic matter, building soil and helping convert dead plants into nutrients. It's part of this landscape as much as the rising sun and the rain. We strive to farm in such a manner that it honors the infinitely complex web of life around us, from the tiny crane fly larvae right up to the humans who eat the food we produce. We do this by making space in our fields for native insects, birds, reptiles, and even rodents to thrive, and we love seeing them take us up on our offer of a home or food source. I hope this is part of why you are a member of our farm; we want to keep improving our relationship with our region and ecology, so we can pass it on to the next generation better off than we recieved it.
Thanks,
Farmer Curtis
