Maryland Horse Council
Winter Farm Stewardship Committee Meeting
Summary Report
The Third Farm Stewardship meeting
took place on February 18, 2013 in the comfortable and heated lounge of Lori
Larson’s lovely Wyndham Oaks Farm.
Overlooking the impressive indoor arena, 25 members of the Maryland horse community gathered to discuss land
stewardship issues with the overall goal of contributing to healthy horses and
a healthy environment in Maryland.
Jane Thery, the committee chair,
opened the meeting with an overview of the committee priorities of: promoting
the view of the equestrian community in state-wide policy discussions regarding
the environment; getting public recognition for the positive contribution to
land management on the 527,000 acres in Maryland horse farms; linking technical
and financial assistance resources to horse farm needs; staying ahead of the
curve on land management technologies and regulations; and promoting the
participation of horse farms in the Maryland Farm Stewardship Certification and
Assessment Program (FSCAP).
Amy Burk, University of Maryland
Equine Specialist and committee vice chair,
distributed her latest paper on horse farm implementation of best management
practices which highlights that horse farmers are very well-informed on good
farm management but sometimes lacking in implementation of these sound
practices. She also invited participants
to attend the Horse Pasture Management Training sessions on May 23 and
September 19, 2013.
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| Sagamore Farm owner Kevin Plank |
Gerald Talbert, the program director
of FSCAP, shared the good news that Sagamore Farm, owned by Kevin Plank and
managed by Tom Mullikin, and the Potomac Horse Center owned by the
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and managed by Rick
Terselic, were certified. This brings the
number of certified horse farms up to seven with acreage of 898.3. Again, congratulations
to Persimmon Tree Farm and Carolyn Krome, Edgewood
Farm and Steve Darcey, Bloomsbury Forge and Karla
Stoner, Graden/ Rover’s Content and Milly Welsh, Wyndham
Oaks and Lori Larson, Potomac Horse Center
and the Maryland-National
Capitol Park
and Planning Commission, and Sagamore
Farm and Kevin Plank. Gerald answered
questions from several farm owners looking into getting certified.
 |
| Sagamore Farm, owned by Maryland's own Kevin Plank, CEO of Underamour, joins the seven horse farms now certified under the Farm Stewardship Certification and Assessment Program (FSCAP) |
Lori Larson, the owner
of Wyndham Oaks Farm, talked about designing the farm from the beginning to
meet high environmental standards. Her
experience with the FSCAP certification was that the process was simple as long
as you had good farm management practices and kept your records
up-to-date. Lori noted that she had also
installed solar panels on the indoor arena roof and built the barns with
natural light and ventilation. She is
interested in exploring new technologies for on-farm energy generation using
the horse manure from the 65 horses on the property. Wyndham Oaks has its Farm Stewardship green
sign prominently displayed at the farm entrance.
Gary Felton,
bio-environmental engineering and water quality specialist from the University of Maryland, is an expert on composting. He reviewed the simple steps to composting
horse manure and highlighted its value as an organic soil enhancement. He also raised the issue of action needed to
stop the use of persistent herbicides on equine hays and grains as the
herbicides do not break down in the composting process and can kill plants when
the compost is applied. The Maryland
Horse Council will look into ways to help stop the use of these persistent
herbicides. Gary offered to provide additional
information to anyone interested in composting horse manure.
Brenda Platt directs
the Composting Makes $en$e Project at the Institute for Local Self Reliance and
was representing the National Composting Association. She raised the need to come up with modern
composting regulations that will promote composting in a clear and transparent
manner. She noted that the state of Maryland is presently
reviewing composting regulations and encouraged the horse community to get
involved. Brenda distributed a list of
certified composting facilities that accept horse manure. The list was provided by Craig Coker of Coker
Composting and Consulting. They are:
Veteran’s Compost in Aberdeen, Maryland; Howard County Bur Environmental
Services in Marriottsville, Maryland (for Howard County horse farms only);
Peninsula Compost in Wilmington, Delaware; Royal Oak Farm in Evington,
Virginia; Black Bear Composting in Crozet, Virginia; McGill Environmental
Systems in Waverly, Virginia; Two Particular Acres in Royersford, Pennsylvania;
Terra-Grow, Inc. in Terre Hill, Pennsylvania; and Barnside Mulch and Compost in
Schwenksville, Pennsylvania. She said
that discussions are ongoing about building more composting facilities to
manage the growing demand for composting in the region.
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| John Blackburn, internationally-renowned stable architect, points out the natural lighting and ventilation features of Wyndham Oaks Farm which he designed. The farm hosted the Winter Farm Stewardship Meeting. |
The meeting was topped
off by a presentation from architect John Blackburn on his design of Wyndham
Oaks. John explained how he lays out
stable operations to separate the spaces for people, cars and horses for
safety. He also described the
thermodynamics of roof design to bring maximum ventilation to the stables to
contribute to a healthy air supply for the horses. His use of natural ventilation and natural
light also cuts down on energy use. He
gave the group a walking tour of Wyndham Oaks stables and answered questions
about his design work.
A special thanks to
Andy Bennett of The Piedmont Group. Andy
provided information on the insurance his company provides as well as some swag
bag goodies to the group. He also sponsored
our meeting refreshments. Thank you
Andy!
Thanks to everyone for
coming out on a chilly February day for our Farm Stewardship winter
meeting. Stay tuned for information on
the spring meeting.
