Owls
By Dawn Lawless

No animal fascinates me more than an owl. This highly adapted predator has the luxury of being perched high atop the food chain. The owl doesn't have any teeth; it swallows its prey whole. Its beak is curved for shredding. The owl's bones are hollow and lightweight for flight and contain airs sacs to help with breathing and to help lose heat when it's hot (owls don't sweat). Its talons are strong and spread wide for grasping.

Owls have very large eyes (to take in extra light at night) but they can't move their eyes in their sockets, hence the adaptation to turn their heads around nearly 180 degrees. Their binocular vision helps them accurately judge distance. Their ear tufts are just feathers and are not used for hearing. Instead, saucer-shaped facial disks collect sounds and funnel them to hearing ears beneath the feathers of these disks. The owl's feathers have soft, fringed edges that allow for a nearly silent flight.

There are approximately 150 species of owls worldwide, except for Antarctica and a few remote islands. Common Pennsylvania owls include the great horned owl, the barred owl, barn owl, long-eared owl, saw whet owl, and the screech owl. Less common owls include the snowy owl, visiting us from November through January, and the short-eared owl, who also visits in the winter.

Looking for owl pellets under fir trees or in old barns can be a fun way to locate owls. Pellets are regurgitated the day after prey is eaten and are composed of the bones and fur or feathers of animals such as mice, moles, shrews, weasels, smaller owls and birds. Owls are ventriloquists. They can adjust the size of the air passage of their vocal chords to disguise their voice to confuse the interpretation of distance and direction. This helps them avoid enemies and mislead prey. I've had the pleasure of seeing great horned owls and screech owls in the wild. I've been successful at calling screech owls in for a group of excited students. Barred owls are very vocal, but may wait up to 15 minutes to respond to a call.

It's likely that some of these beautiful birds of prey patrol the sky over Maysie's Farm at night and do their part to keep the smaller critter populations in check.

We Need You!

By Dawn Lawless

It seems that we all have too many demands on our time these days. Everyone seems busy with various obligations to family, work, school, etc. No one I know complains about having too much idle time on his hands! So my husband thought I was crazy last year when, in the midst of raising two preschoolers, teaching piano, tutoring math, and singing in church, I decided to volunteer some time at Maysie's Farm. I became a member of the Core Group and editor of the newsletter. In addition I worked a few hours every Monday during the growing season to help with food distribution. Looking back on the year, it was a wonderful experience (for my kids too!) and I'd like to encourage every shareholder to become an active volunteer this year.

Recipe Genoa-style Minestrone Soup Prep. Time: 25 min.Ready in 1 hour & 45 min.Makes 15 (1 1/4cup) servings 2 tablespoons oil 2 cups coarsely chopped onions 1 cup sliced celery 2 garlic cloves, minced 5 cups beef broth (or vegetable broth) 3 1/2 cups water 1/2 cup dry red wine, cooking wine, or water 1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained 2 cups coarsely chopped cabbage 1 cup sliced carrots 2 teaspoons dried basil leaves 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini 1 cup elbow macaroni 1 cup frozen cut green beans 1 (15.5 oz.) can dark red kidney beans 1 (15 oz.) can Garbanzo beans 6 tablespoon purchased pesto (optional) Parmesan cheese (optional) Heat oil in 8-quart Dutch oven or stockpot until hot. Add onions, celery and garlic; cook and stir until onions are tender. Stir in broth, water, wine, tomato sauce, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, basil and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 1 hour. Stir in zucchini, pasta, and beans, Cover; simmer an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until vegetables and pasta are tender. Stir in parsley. Serve topped with pesto (optional) and, if desired, Parmesan cheese.

Would you like to meet interesting people? Learn more about vegetables and how they grow? Do some hands-on organic farming? Take a proactive role in preserving our environment? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then we're looking for you! Maysie's Farm will take volunteers in any capacity, and for whatever amount of time you can offer. But we are in particular need of Distribution Managers for when the CSA season starts. These are the people who hang around the barn on pick-up days to make sure the vegetable bins are stocked. They also direct shareholders to the pick-your-own beds, promote recipe ideas, and answer questions. Basically the job entails staying on the farm a little longer on your pick-up day, and enjoying the atmosphere and people associated with Maysie's Farm.

If you're already a shareholder at Maysie's Farm, you're probably already committed to the philosophy of CSAs and realize how important they are in our rapidly developing area. Why not go a step further and offer a little of your time? Contact Cathy Fornwalt at (610)363-0892 or Cathy436@cs.com for more information. And I'm looking forward to seeing you at the farm in May!

Part Time Administrative Assistant Position Available

Maysie's Farm Conservation Center has a position open for a part time administrative assistant. Candidates should have good organizational, computer, bookkeeping and public relations skills, have a working knowledge of agricultural issues and be able to work with a variety of people on an assortment of projects. This position will provide administrative and logistical support for our CSA, our Sustainable Agriculture Internship Program, our Outreach Programs and the general operations of our nonprofit organization. Specific duties will include business support for our CSA such as marketing and explaining the CSA to prospective members, creating and maintaining CSA lists and forms and conducting the annual CSA member survey. Responsibilities within our Sustainable Agriculture Internship Program will involve handling inquiries from prospective interns and coordinating the interns' SAITA training program. Support for our Outreach Programs will include fielding inquiries, preparing materials for presentations and coordinating logistics. General bookkeeping duties will consist of making deposits, handling vendor bills, generating payroll, performing other data entry in our Quickbooks Accounting System, writing general correspondence and performing other duties as needed. This position will report jointly to the Executive Director and the Finance and Development Director. The estimated time requirement is about 20 hours per week and some of the work can be performed at home. Interested candidates should contact Sam Cantrell at (610) 458-8129.