Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm's Organic Farm

Aullwood's Farm

| What can visitors see? | Energy use at the farm |

What do we grow/raise?

Ohio has an organic certification process. Aullwood uses sustainable and organic methods (grass-based livestock management, proper plowing, crop rotation, absence of synthetic fertilizers and persticides) and is certified by the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. 72 acres of Aullwood Audubon Farm are certified as organic.

The primary crop grown at Aullwood Farm is grass and forage crops. These plants are harvested by our "flerd" or our mixed sheep flock and cattle and goat herd. Spelt, a winter variety, straw, and hay crops are produced and harvested through mechanical means. The pasture-based "flerd" is moved in a planned rotation to take advantage of fresh forage and allow for pasture regrowth during non-grazing periods. Livestock confined in the barn are fed hay and feed grain by the farmers.

Visitors to the farm are drawn to our 1880's bank barn which houses draft horses, cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, barn cats, and other species seasonally. Surrounding pastures provide habitat for the flerd's cattle, sheep, goats, and donkey. Broiler chickens (raised for theri meat) can be viewd in their "chicken tractor" portable pens spring through fall. Outlying buildings and paddocks house turkeys, layer chickens, a Children's Educational Garden and the Greenview Garden Club's Herb Garden.

Aullwood strives to be a model of local sustainable, organic agriculture in the Miami Valley and direct markets our farm products. Grass-raised beef and lamb, pastured chicken, pork, and eggs are available seasonally. Aullwood purchases chicken and hog feed from local organic farmers and our meats are processed by local butchers. Please see below for more information on Aullwood's farm products.

Farm products can be purchased ala carte at the Marie S. Aull Nature Center Store.

Call Aullwood's Store Manager to inquire about the seasonal availability of farm products or place bulk orders.
(937) 890-7360

What can visitors see?

Thomas Building	Farm Yard	Horse Pasture	Bank Barn
Sheep Barn	Sheep Pasture	Spring House and Pond	Turkeys
Herb Garden	Children's Garden Garden	Chicken Coop	Brood House
Cow Pasture	Orchard and Bee Yard	Sugar Bush	Pastures and Crop Fields

Thomas Building
This buildling serves as the gateway to the farm. It serve primarily as an educational facility for our agriculture and nature programs. Season activities such as Candle Dipping (November - December) take place here. Bulk orders of farm products are available here.

Farm Yard
The large yard between the barn and Thomas Buildings often teems with activity. Apple Fest, Enchanted Forest, and Farm Babies Fest take place in this area. School groups and other visitors picnic on sunny days. A nice tour can be taken by simply walking around the edge of the farmyard and visiting the bank barn and adjacent pastures.

Horse Pasture and Swale Complex
These pastures provide grazing areas thorughout the year. A large Black Walnut tree provides habitat for wildlife and shade for livestock. The narrowly fenced swale serves as a water catchment area. Ask the farmer to show you where the flerd is currently grazing.

Bank Barn
Aullwood's barn is built in the bank barn style used here by German heritage farmers in the 1800's. A grassy slope leads to the upper level where hay, grains, and educational exhibits are housed. The beams were hand hewn from local hardwoods and are attached by wooden pegs. The longest bean is froma tulip tree and is as long as a 6 story building! The lower level houses a menagerie of livestock in small pens. Outdoor paddocks provide additional room. The foundation is constructed of limestone and small glacial boulders gathered from the fields. An astute observer may discover fossils in the limestone blocks.

Sheep Barn
This building provides a small sheltered pen and adjacent pasture access. This barn is used extensively in the spring during the lambing season (March - May). Ewes and their newborn lambs are penned together for the first few days after birth to allow the farmers to keep a close watch on their health and development. As spring fades into summer, the newborns and their mothers will rejoin the flerd and spend the rest of the year on pasture. Sheep also receive veterinary care in this building.

Sheep Pasture and Coffeetree Pasture
These two small pastures are used extensively during the lambing season and are grazed by the flerd during other times of the year. The large Kentucky Coffeetrees provide shade during the warmer months.

Spring House and Duck Pond Wetland Complex
The Spring House was a common site at many farms in the past. Cool spring waters helped the farmer to keep milk, cheese, eggs and other perishables fresh. Look for long-tailed salamanders and crayfish in the water. An adjacent wind mill still pumps water from the spring feeding a small stream and wet meadow. Wildflowers and other wetland associated animals find a home here. The Duck Pond was redug in 2004 to increase its size and provide new educational opportunities. An observation deck and native wetland plant species greet the visitor. Turtles, toads, frogs, and a plethora of aquatic insects add to the diversity. Ducks, herons, raccoon, deer, fox, and coyote are among the frequent visitors to his area.

Turkeys
This triangular shaped paddock houses our Heritage Turkeys. These birds are genetically close to their wild ancestors than the common farm turkey. The Tom (male) can be frequently seen defending his territory through his impressive feather display. Turkeys are the only common native North American farm animal.

Herb Garden
Follow the access road between the Turkey Pen and the Coffeetree Pasture to reach the Greenview Garden Club's Herb Garden. This lovely little herb garden has been tended for over thirty five years! The sights and smells make this a multi-sensory experience. Look for native herbs and herbs from overseas or sit a while and watch the sundial's shadow change.

Children's Organic Garden
This small demonstration garden showcases a wide variety of vegetables and herbs. Rasied beds, compost, mulch, and crop rotation are featured. Cold Frames are utilized in the colder months to featre examples of four-season gardening. Themed beds such as a "Pizza Bed" teach about the variety of plants that contribute to our diet. Arches, benches, and a variety of colors and smells make this a fun introduction to gardening for kids. Weekend farm programs make extensive use of the garden and let participants take home a piece of the farm. Heritage variety crops are well represented. Non-typical shapes and colors of common vegetables make this an educational experience for even experienced green thumbs.

Chicken Coop
This small building houses two pens. Aullwood's layer chickens reside here as well as our rabbits. The chickens provide eggs and the rabbits provide meat and fur. Egg colllecting is a fun part of Aullwood's programs as the diverse breeds produce different colored eggs. Aullwood truly is a place of green eggs and ham! Older hens and rooster are raised as fryers (to eat). Chickens can lay 1 egg every 24 hours. Other poultry species may be seen throughout the season. Guinea Fowl (an African species), domestic ducks, and turkeys may be present.

<> Brood House
This small building is where we raise our young chicks during the summer season. They arrive when they are a day old and live here for a few weeks when they are hardy enough to go outside. Heat lamps provide the high temperatures necessary for their development. Please pay attention to any "Do No Enter" signs to help us ensure the health of the chicks.

Cow Pasture Complex
These three pastures behind the brood house provide forage for the flerd. A variety of plant species offer a seasonal buffet to the herbivores. Red-tailed hawks may be seen perched along the edges scanning for a mammalian meal.

<> Orchard and Bee Yard
<> Follow the path between the Cow Pasture and Entrance Drive to reach the Orchard and Bees. The pasture on your left provides forage for the flerd throughout the year and the spring and summer flowers invite thousands of bees and butterflies. Beyond the small meadow is the Orchard. Cherries, apples, and pears feature fragrant spring blossoms and late summer and fall fruit harvests. The bees readily pollinate the flowers in their search for nectar and pollen. Deer, groundhogs, and other wildlife feast upon the orchard's bounty in the evenings. The bees are present year round and may even be seen flying on sunny winter days! They huddle together in a constantly changing mass to keep warm through the winter. Al Tuttle, of Eagle Ridge Apiaries manages the hives and Aullwood's honey can be purchased in the Nature Center store.

Sugar Bush
This 15 acre woodland features sugar maples and other native hardwoods like beech and cherry. It becomes a busy place in February and March as when we tap the maples, harvest the sap, and boil it down into maple syrup in the Sugar House. Weekend programs give visitors a taste of this Northeastern American native food source. Wildlife benefit throughout the year and a careful observer may spot owls, pileated woodpeckers, wildflowers, and a host of mammal species.

Outlying Pastures and Crop Fields
A variety of pastures and fields surround the main farm campus. Nighttime grazing with electric fencing allows the flerd access to fresh forage. The large open expanses provide habitat for resident and migrant grassland bird species such as Eastern Meadowlarks, Savannah Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Horned Larks, Killdeer, and Red-winged Blackbirds. Hedgerows and grasses provide habitat for cottontails and small rodent which in turn offer prey for foxes, coyotes, snakes, hawks, and owls. Late summer and fall evenings are often alive with white-tailed deer herds featuring sparring bucks and grazing does.

Energy Use at the Farm

The Farm is an excellent example of how humans fit into natural water and energy cycles.

Solar energy provides a neccessary ingredient for photosynthesis. Animals, including humans, run on solar energy brought to us by this energy pathway. Sun - Grass - Cattle - Hamburger - Human - Manure
The water cycle is influenced by the degree of percolation or rainwater into the soil.
The Spring House is a simple way to use the buffering power of the soil and the thermal mass of ground water to stay cool in summer.
The windmill can be seen spinning and pumping up water. The Sun and moisture drive weather systems.
The wetland behind the Spring House has a gravity driven water ram which pumps water. Most of the water flows by but a little is pumped up above the source!
In the Thomas Building (the office, giftshop and classroom building), we use an earth coupled heat pump (ground loop heat pump) to take heat from the ground in winter and dump heat in the ground in summer. We save a thousand dollars a year this way.

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