Want to Get More Involved with CT NOFA?

CT NOFA Board Members Sought!
CT NOFA is looking for board members with Fundraising, Legal and/or Volunteer Coordination Experience.

The Board member will:

1. Attend in-person meetings approximately every other month
2. Participate in conference call meetings on the alternate month
3. Participate or lead the appropriate committee of the Board, with separate meetings for committee
4. Attend CT NOFA events, have fun, eat great food and advocate for local, organic food and organic land care

Interested?
Please contact John Turenne, Vice-President of the CT NOFA Board.  You can learn more about the current CT NOFA board here.

CT NOFA is a growing community of farmers, gardeners, land care professionals, and consumers that encourages a healthy relationship to the natural world.  We are the largest and oldest organization in the state that educates about and advocates for local organic food, farming, and land care.  You can learn more about us and our mission here.

Working Together for a Sustainable Future in Connecticut

Greetings, At this joyous time of year, we ask you to do what you can to support sustainable organic agriculture and land care in Connecticut. For our part, we are working smarter and harder to maintain the high level of programming and distribute the timely, relevant content you have come to expect from us. However, we cannot do it alone. Thank you, and let's keep it going. Together we've made important strides and have had a great impact creating a strong demand for locally-produced organic foods in Connecticut. Here are just a few of the things we've accomplished Hidden Brook Gardens on-farm workshop 125 local farms and businesses are listed in Connecticut NOFA's 2012-2013 Farm and Food Guide Annually, 10,000 free copies the Farm and Food Guide are distributed across the state 4000 people receive CT NOFA's Gleanings e-Newsletter monthly  Over 400 farmers receive The Farmer e-News Thousands of people are reached each week using social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook Over 200 people receive our new CT School Garden Network e-Newsletter, Growing and Learning The CT NOFA Facebook page has an average 5000 person weekly reach 300 people have taken our on-farm workshops on winter food growing techniques and other topics  60 women over four years have taken the Beginning Women Farmer Program Over 800 people have attended CT NOFA's educational programs so far this year  Impact of the NOFA Organic Land Care Program (OLC) The NOFA Standards for Organic Land Care are the only standards of their kind that have been accepted into the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) Family of Standards. These standards include the Basic Organic Principles-Health, Ecology, Fairness and Care as the foundation for all land care programs and projects. Here's what we've accomplished: In 10 years over 1200 professional landscapers have taken the NOFA Accreditation Course in OLC Compost Tea Advanced Workshop  526 of these professionals maintain their Accreditation with the NOFA Organic Land Care Program 300 professional landscapers have taken the NOFA Organic Lawn and Turf Course Over 2,000 copies of the Introduction to Organic Lawns and Yards were distributed  1000 land care professionals receive the monthly NOFA AOLCP eNewsletter 1000 Homeowners receive our quarterly newsletter NOFA Organic Land Care's Facebook page has over 300 fans and reaches 1200 people each week Over 200 homeowners have attended our 90 minute workshops on organic land care Our program has been copied by Oregon Tilth, the State of New York and Rutgers University

And there's more to be done! Will you give a year-end gift to help carry our work forward? Now more than ever, we need your continued support of CT NOFA for our Annual Appeal.  This is a 100% tax-deductible gift that supports our operations and allows us to build a sustainable local food system and a healthier environment for all the residents of this beautiful state we live in and learn from. Please help us to help others and together we will weather these uncertain economic times. We are reaching out and asking for you to consider an Annual Appeal gift of $100 or more.      We've made it easy    You can donate securely online by clicking the button above.  You can join by clicking the button below.  If you're already a member, renew by December 31st to extend your current membership at 2012 membership prices. You can contact the office directly by email atdeb@ctnofa.org or by telephone at 203.888.5146. Do you work for a company with a Matching Gift Program? If so, please submit a matching gift form with your donation and double the impact of your gift to CT NOFA.  We thank you for your continued support. Please know that your contribution and membership will be gratefully received and deeply appreciated. With gratitude, Bill Duesing Executive Director CT NOFA

A Successful Starting Seedlings Workshop

Bettylou Sandy shows students well mixed potting soil

Many students with a wide variety of gardening experience were present at our Starting Seedlings workshop this past Saturday at Common Ground High School and Farm in New Haven, CT.  Co-taught by Common Ground farmer Shannon Raider and longtime gardener and CT NOFA board vice president Bettylou Sandy, the workshop had a great mix of basic information for beginners and more technical training for those who are more experienced.  Bettylou and Shannon kept the workshop well structured in order to provide the most pertinent information for attendees, starting out with a description of the importance of planning and organization, then moving into talking about supplies, temperature, potting mix, water, and light.  Afterward, they discussed the process of planing seeds, germination, and transplanting into a garden setting.  Throughout the class they interspersed opportunities for the students to see and feel this process for themselves, from passing around seeds, to inviting everyone to stick their hands in a bucket of soil to feel the texture.

Shannon Raider and Bettylou Sandy hold
up a properly filled and planted set of
seedling cells

One important thread that carried through the entire workshop was the importance (both ecologically and financially) of reusing existing materials already present in the average household as seed starting supplies.  After all, there's no need to go out and buy brand new seed starting containers if you have egg cartons, grocery store berry packaging, or any other container that can be divided into cells.  Many of these recycled items also have transparent lids or toppers that when closed make perfect greenhouses for starting seedlings, and are an easy and inexpensive way to extend your growing season.

If you missed this workshop, there are still more opportunities get in on the action. Our series of workshops at Common Ground this spring are not yet over! Our Organic Gardening Workshop on Saturday May 5th offers instruction and seasonal tips on what can be planted in your garden now and what must wait for warmer weather. Learn how to prep your garden beds, plan your plantings, deal with early garden pests, and improve soil fertility using organic methods.  At only $10 per person, this a great opportunity to expand your knowledge at a low cost.

If you want to see more photos from our Starting Seedlings Workshop, check out our Flickr page here.  To see our other events this spring, check out our website.

Have a great afternoon and enjoy the warm weather!
-Melissa

Three Workshops in Three Weeks!

Saturday, March 10: Soils and Compost
10:00am - 12:00pm
Common Ground High School
358 Springside Avenue, New Haven, CT
Join the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut at Common Ground High School and Urban Farm in New Haven, CT to learn about building healthy soil to grow healthy plants including composting methods.  CT NOFA's Executive Director, Bill Duesing will be sharing his expertise and experience in fostering healthy soil biology as a foundation for successful plant growing.  Tom Rathier, Emeritus Soil Scientist from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station will be on hand to discuss soil testing for lead contamination and how to read test results. The workshop is $10 per person. 
At the conclusion of the workshop we will be having a Beginning Farmer Brown Bag Lunch Social from 12:00 to 1:00.  Bring lunch (we'll bring the Cider from High Hill Orchard in Meriden) and meet some fellow Connecticut farmers.

Saturday March 17: Starting Seedlings
10:00am - 12:00pm
Common Ground High School

Bettylou Sandy at a past CT NOFA workshop

CT NOFA invites you to learn about starting your own vegetables and flowers from seed.  Demonstrations for both planting and transplanting, plus a list of which plants are set out by seedlings and which ones are directly sown by seed into the ground. This workshop will be taught by CT NOFA's Vice President and veteran workshop teacher Bettylou Sandy of Bettylou's Gardening and Shannon Raider, Common Ground's Farm Manager (who also did a seed-starting presentation at the Getting Started in Organic Conference)! The workshop is $10 per person.

Tuesday March 20: Greenhouse & High Tunnel Winter Growing

9:00am to 12:00pm Star Light Gardens 54 Fowler Ave Durham, CT

David Zemelsky of Starlight Gardens

Join us again on the first full day of Spring! David Zemelsky will lead a tour of his greenhouses and high tunnels.  David is a certified organic grower of many types of greens for both farmers' markets and wholesale.  John W. Bartok, Jr., UConn Extension Professor Emeritus and Agricultural Engineer will be there to address greenhouse design and to talk about ways to improve greenhouse efficiency and function. The workshop is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about greenhouse growing.  We are planning to also have a Beginning Farmer Lunch Meet and Greet after this workshop, either on the farm or a nearby restaurant, if you're interested in coming to lunch please let me know (kristiane@ctnofa.org).  The workshop cost is $20 for members and $30 for non-members.

David's Greenhouses were badly damaged by last year's
snow and ice storms, we're glad hes up and running for
our workshop this year!

For more information: visit www.ctnofa.org and click on the workshop you would like to attend.  You can register for the Greenhouse & High Tunnel workshop online and the rest you can either mail in a form or give us a call (203-888-5146). 

See you at our upcoming workshops!
Best,
Kristiane