On May 8, I have gone to Vassar farm which is located near the Vassar college.

Vassar Farm has a long history. The 200 acres vassar farm land was purchased by Vassar Brother hospital to create a settling field and filter beds to approach the waste in 1895. In 1911, the land was incorporate with another southern 300 acres of the current preserve to become single tract. According to the 1918-19 Vassar College Catalogue, the farm included “a model dairy and poultry farm, greenhouses, stables, storage barns and farm houses….[It] produces vegetables for the college table, and grain and fodder for the cattle and poultry. The dairy supplies milk and cream for the college from a tested herd of Holstein cattle.”   The Vassar girls worked firstly in World War I and II when the extra help during the summer months was in short supply, which build a spacial relationship between the land and College.After a short term closed off, the farm has been utilized again as an ecological preserve for conservation and research in 1976.

There is a multiple use area in the northeastern portion of vassar farm. A small piece was used as a part of Poughkeepsie Farm project.  Vassar Rugby and Cross Country team can also play games here. Vassar members conduct research on the ecological preserve. And the Field Station also contribute to the teaching and research of natural history, ecology, botany, environmental education, and earth science.  There are many modern facilities in the field station. You can imagine how cool when you study  in the field station where outside there is a vast farm land!

The Vassar farm is so beautiful. There is a diversity of habitats such as streams, wetlands, forest in the surrounding area. you can do so many things in your vacation day. Walking, hiking and biking in the land you can discover a world different from the New York City.

The food production is still a part of Vassar farm. There are many gardeners in the farm who are industrious and interesting. I can learn much about the life and agriculture when I talked with them. I believe the most part of the food in deece are from Vassar Farm. That is why the food in Vassar college is so delicious!

There are many kinds of animals in the Vassar farm. You can observe field sparrows, bluebirds, red-tailed hawks, rabbits, and even migrating bobolinks amongst the grasses and goldenrod. Because the fields and forests combined with the surrounding urban yard provide food supplies, there are many deer here. The deer management plan has been adopted to protect and preserve the ecological diversity of the land.

The field trip to the Vassar farm was amazing. Walk outside to enjoy  spring in the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve!