New Passion?

Today I got to take a break from the trudge and drudge of life in the harvest and step out to help recognize something special in a small town. As you all know my business is agriculture. I work with many farmers to run on-farm trials to get real-life results on regular farms in many regions to better characterize new products and management practices at farm level to be able to confidently help farmers do they job more effectively and efficiency. During that process, when the harvest is complete I typically give the grain back to the grower (along with a fat rent cheque). This grower didn't keep the grain however, he donated to a local group. The Waterford Deer Park is a very unique and cool concept. The grain he donated will help feed the deer for over a year. 

What exactly is he talking about here. Well this link might help. Basically there were seventeen acres owned by the county and maintained a deer park for many years, 70 as of 2012 in fact. The herd was getting thin and was almost entirely male, which is not ideal or sustainable. The county was paying almost $40k for the park annually and needed out. A group of individuals from the community grouped together and formed a committee to manage the park. The first year it cost them $1400. Not sure what the county was doing but for a fraction of the cost per year this group of men have grown the herd from a paltry eleven males to a thriving group of 32 deer. It was really cool to go and learn about how they run things and what plans they have for the future. I was only there to get my picture taken as part of the donation of grain for several papers but I left with a good feeling. It reminded of how the community back home would band together to get things done. Currently I'm scheming up ways to further help these guys out and make the park even more of a success than it already is. They are working on a website to live stream several popular locations at the park for people to enjoy the deer when they can't actually get out to see them. I was really happy to be invited to learn about this awesome group of friends who banded together to save a local historical park that is really cool to visit. You can feed the deer through the fence, unless you're there by invitation, then you can go right in among truly wild animals. It was awesome, not going to lie.