CT NOFA's 2011 Winter Conference

CT NOFA will be holding its 29^th Annual (yes, 29!!) Winter Conference on March 5, 2011.  The all-day conference will be held at Manchester Community College.  We will have a wide variety of classes, ranging from Mead & Non-grape Wine Making, Deer Fencing Options, Beekeeping, Urban Chickens, Managing Wood Lots, Biodiversity Gardening, and Permaculture…and that’s just to name a few!  We will also have exhibits and vendors from local businesses focusing on food, gardening, farming, and sustainable lifestyles. Continue to check out our site (www.ctnofa.org) for more info!!

We are also proud to announce that the Keynote Speaker for the day will be Shannon Hayes, Ph.D. of Sap Bush Hollow Farm.  She is the Host of grassfedcooking.com, author of “The Farmer and The Grill”, “The Grass-fed Gourmet”, “Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture” and a working Three Generation Family Farmer.

 Shannon's essays and articles have appeared in myriad regional and national publications, including The New York Times, The Boston Review, and Northeast Public Radio. Hayes' quirky lifestyle, her attempts to live a life of personal accountability and sustainability, and her current research and writings about homemaking as an ecological movement have landed her and her family in the New York Times, Brain Child Magazine, Lancaster Farming, Small Farm Quarterly, Hobby Farm Home Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, American Public Media, National Public Radio, Grit, Yes! Magazine, Elle Magazine, the national newspapers of Germany, Turkey, China and Canada, Arab News and the Pakistan Observer. Shannon currently blogs for Yes! Magazine, and her books are available through most conventional channels, as well as directly from the author at RadicalHomemakers.com and GrassfedCooking.com. Shannon's newest book, Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lovers' Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously, is due out from Left to Write Press in 2012. Left to Write Press is distributed by Chelsea Green.

         On a side note...South Dakota recently held a 2-day conference on organic farming – a step in the right direction considering the lack of organic farms in the state (and across the country).  The conference focused on row crops and beef producers, with topics including transitioning to organic, weed management, national organic rules, and production costs.  To see the full schedule, click on this link.  It is really encouraging to see that more and more people are starting to realize that organic farming is the way to go!