Trees are a breeze! If you know how to get them started off right.
If you have been wanting to learn to plant trees and shrubs or explore agroforestry as an agricultural practice, this is your sign to join us this Saturday. Learn with experts from @michael_fields_ag and @uwmilwaukee Extension for a work day at Kohl Farm Community Garden in Milwaukee while planting food and habitat for people and wildlife!
🌳Saturday, May 16
🌲12:30-4:30pm
📍Kohl Farm Community Garden
8483 County Line Road, Milwaukee
More info and RSVP at michaelfields.org/event-list
A million thanks to JCB Heffernan for sharing her farm, food, home, books, passion, and extraordinary beaver habitat with WiWiC this week! For many of us, it was a first ever encounter with these brilliant engineers. Now we all want to join the snuggle pile!
Cover crops, community, and growing toward a more sustainable future 🌱✨
Yesterday with @freshertogether , we welcomed community members, growers, and partners to @comercrops farm for a Cover Crops & Climate workshop for an afternoon centered around learning, collaboration, and hands-on experiences in the field ☀️
From farm tours and demo plantings to seed giveaways and conversations around conservation funding, it was inspiring to see so many people come together to share knowledge and explore practices that support healthier soil and stronger food systems. Shoutout to @auachicago for distributing soil health toolkits 💚
➡️ We at the Gary Comer Youth Center are happy to help The Staple Crop Growers Network, a project of @michael_fields_ag , in partnership with @freshertogether , @fondymarkets and @miffs_michigan . This collaboration is supported by funding from the @usdagov National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
P.S. We all enjoyed pizza together afterwards where our GCYC urban agriculture team actually built the pizza oven and the chicken coop. The farm is also home to our chickens and bees, and we proudly sell fresh eggs and honey produced right on the farm 🍕🐓🍯
#comercropsfarm #covercrops #urbanagriculture #climateresilience communitygrowing
Planting is better with partners! Last weekend we planted dozens of trees and shrubs as part of our Agroforestry demonstration project in @hawthornglenmke and it was a blast! Along with UW Extension Milwaukee County, Milwaukee Public Schools, and over 30 volunteers - we installed wildlife habitat and fruit for people and animals. We are doing it again this Saturday morning at Kohl Farms Community Garden in Milwaukee. Come volunteer and learn all about food forests and how to plant for success. Get more information and sign up at michaelfields.org/event-list
Learn how to plant trees and shrubs with MFAI Research Technician Nolan Burkard this Saturday and help plant a food forest and wildlife hedge at Kohl Farm Community Garden in Milwaukee. You will learn all about agroforestry and volunteer alongside experts. Sign up and get all the details at michaelfields.org/event-list
So… is tillage good or bad?
Short answer: it’s neither.
Long answer: it depends.
Most of us use tillage for a reason—bed prep, weed control, getting crops in the ground on time. But like any tool, how (and how often) we use it can shape what happens in our soil.
The goal isn’t to stop tilling; it’s to better understand what each approach is doing, and choose what actually works for your system.
That’s exactly what we’ll dig into at this free workshop on May 28.
We’re trucking in an NRCS rainfall simulator (a rare treat for Milwaukee!) so we can actually see how water moves through soils managed in different ways—and connect that back to your own beds.
Plus, you’ll head home with free cover crop seed from our partners at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.
Register now at the link in our bio!
#MKEEvents #UrbanFarming #Tillage #NoTill #LowTill #SoilHealth #MilwaukeeFarmers #demofarmsmke
Want to learn about agroforestry, or just how to plant shrubs? Help to plant a food forest and wildlife hedgerow at Kohl Farm Community Garden in Milwaukee this weekend! With our friends at University of Wisconsin Extension Milwaukee County and @savannainstitute - we have been designing and installing an agroforestry project there for several years. This Saturday, we will be adding dozens more trees and shrubs. RSVP so we can have enough tools and snacks - michaelfields.org/event-list
Last week, MFAI staff and UW Extension partners had the honor of working with some of the next generation of America’s farmers at Beulah Family Homestead in Elkhorn, WI.
Young volunteers from Victory Christian School joined us to learn hands-on tree planting skills while helping plant hazelnuts and other native trees and shrubs at @beulahfamilyhomestead , one of our agroforestry demonstration sites.
At Marcus and Efueko Landry’s 13-acre property, youth are invited to explore the intersections of nature, stewardship, and community. They did an incredible job of getting these trees into the ground and off to a strong start.
Want to join us for an upcoming volunteer day? All ages are welcome!
We’ll be at @hawthornglenmke TOMORROW (May 9) and Kohl Farm on May 16. Come get your hands dirty, learn something new, and help us plant for the future 💚
Visit michaelfields.org/event-list to learn more and sign up!
This past week, MFAI and UW Extension staff spent the day at @beulahfamilyhomestead in Elkhorn teaching young volunteers from Victory Christian School how to plant hazelnuts and other native trees and shrubs.
Marcus and Efueko Landry’s 13-acre property is one of our agroforestry demonstration sites and a special place for hands-on learning. Here youth are invited to explore the intersections of nature and communal engagement.
Students from @vcstulsa in Milwaukee learned the basics of tree planting skills and played a vital role in getting these trees in the ground! As part of the agroforestry design, fruit and nut trees were carefully selected to diversify the land while also serving as windbreaks and riparian buffers for the horse pasture.
After the planting, Efueko reflected: “Our partnership with Michael Fields on the agroforestry goes beyond words. The kids are doing more than learning and planting trees, they are building bridges and restoring the earth! I think it's pretty commendable and will be a noble success of partnership between communities for years to come.”
We’re grateful for partnerships that bring communities together while investing in the next generation of land stewards 💚
All ages are welcome at our volunteer days! Ready to get your hands dirty and plant with us? Check out michaelfields.org/event-list to see upcoming volunteer days. We’ll be in Milwaukee soon — at @hawthornglenmke this Saturday (May 9) and Kohl Farm on May 16.
Hey WiWiC Hive! We’ve got another amazing Potluck Field Day scheduled - in Bloomer! Tour and explore this regenerative multi-species managed grazing operation with an on-site butcher facility, a commercial kitchen, a farm store, and MORE. Host Vanessa Klemish will introduce us to the beef and hogs at this Centennial Farm, and talk about her passion for providing neighbors with healthy food. Registration is open and closes at 30 participants. RSVP for FREE at WiWiC.org under Events.
Check out the Donate page, too, and support our Spring Fund Drive!
