The National Pesticide Forum March 30-31, 2012

"If I can't protect my child through individual actions, then I will through collective actions." - Sandra Steingraber, at the Pesticides Forum

This past weekend was Beyond Pesticides' National Pesticide Forum at Yale University in New Haven.  I was only able to attend on Friday evening.  The program kicked off with Pesticides 101 a panel that included our Executive Director, Bill Duesing, to discuss the basic issues surrounding pesticide use and the alternatives to pesticides (of which there are many).
After the panel and some delicious dinner, the audience reconvened for the keynote.  Beyond Pesticides' Executive Director, Jay Feldman, presented an award to Nancy Alderman, president of Environment and Human Health, Inc. based in North Haven, CT and to Dr. Jerry Silbert, the Executive Director of the Watershed Partnership.  Congratulations to both of them and we echo Beyond Pesticide's thank you for their work here in Connecticut. 
After this introduction, the keynote speaker Sandra Steingraber was introduced.  Steingraber is the author of Living Downstream an autobiographical and scientific book about the experience of having cancer, and her research about the causes of cancer linked to high levels of toxins in our environment.
Her newest book, Raising Elijah is about the challenges of raising a child in a time of uncertainty surrounding climate change and a massive species extinction.  She discussed at length the concept of Generational Inequity, a climate-change related injustice that is barely being discussed, since unborn children are unable to take part in international negotiations or the 99% movement.  Despite the conversation that is not happening surrounding this inequity, the World Health Organization identified climate change as the greatest threat to children today.  This is a powerful concept, because our actions no longer harm some disembodied next generation, they harm the children we already know and have become attached to.

Steingraber has focused on our addiction to fossil fuels in this book as well.  She parallels our country's unsustainable and unethical investment in fossil fuels, to the investments made in slavery two centuries ago, more because of the economic instability   Given the popularity of natural gas as an "alternative" (but still fossil) fuel, she focused on the environmental and health concerns surrounding natural gas drilling.  I could write about the issues and criminal lack of regulation surrounding hydro-fracking for days, but the impacts on farming were especially notable.  Steingraber explained that the lands leased to natural gas companies are near dairies and farms that produce organic dairy products and heirloom wheat varieties.  All of the organic agriculture anywhere near these areas will most likely be compromised by the use of toxic chemicals for the drilling and by the air and water pollution associated with natural gas drilling.
Given the promise of energy conserving technologies and alternative energies, a refocusing of funding and research on these objectives can transition our country to mostly or all alternative energies.  Steingraber was a wonderful speaker, thank you so much to Beyond Pesticides for bringing her to Connecticut.
There is also a film of "Living Downstream" which is being shown at select film festivals, but keep your eye out for some public screenings near you.  

I was unable to attend on Saturday, but a couple of our staff members did make it, and report that the other keynotes and workshops were excellent.

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

Don't Just go Local, Grow Local!

When searching for the most delicious, healthiest, and most cost effective produce, a great tactic is to buy local.  Locally produced foods cut down on transportation costs and are fresher, more nutritious, and tastier than foods that are brought in from far away.  If you take that mentality to its logical conclusion, however, the most local you can get is to simply grow it yourself!  Growing your own fruits and vegetables is incredibly cost effective, and even if you don't own a yard where you can plant a garden, you can still grow food in planters on the porch or near a window indoors.  Food picked fresh from your own home often tastes better as well since it couldn't possibly be any fresher, and you have the satisfaction of knowing that you grew it yourself.

The image above from the National Gardening Association details the demographics of American home gardeners.  A larger version of the image can be found here.  According to this information, over a third of households in the US have a garden, and many of those people are new to gardening.  If you are interested in starting a garden, or have just started one and want to learn more about how to successfully produce your own fruits and veggies, check out our workshops at Common Ground High School in New Haven.

Have a great evening!

Urban Roots

Last night, I had the pleasure of watching the documentary Urban Roots at a Community Potluck and Film Screening hosted by The New Haven Bioregional Group and co-sponsored by a number of organizations including CT NOFA. 
The documentary was a wonderful testament to the power of gardens and farms in urban areas.  Detroit is a powerful symbol of our society's assumptions that industry can support an economy, that an economy can grow forever and that a booming economy can replace a well-planned infrastructure and society.  In the documentary, Detroit residents complain that they live in a food desert - where they must travel at least twice the distance to a grocery store with "real" food as they would travel to a convenience store or fast food restaurant.

photo credit: inhabitat.com

Residents started growing food in their yards, and then expanded to abandoned land around the city (there is plenty of it).  They have no real right to the land - but with a city that has lost over half it's population since the middle of the 20th century - there isn't much competition for land.  Some people are putting chickens and bees in abandoned housing, or taking over multiple plots on their block to create urban farms.  The soil is tested and if it is contaminated, farmers must create soil by farming non-edible crops for a couple years and building up the soil with compost collected from near-by restaurants, breweries and homes.  Community gardens give people who are unemployed or under-employed, a job to do in their free time, and access to the food that they would like to harvest. The city government seems to be hesitant about encouraging this guerrilla gardening, since they might want to encourage housing developments (thought this seems unlikely given all of the abandoned, already standing houses), but farmers and gardeners are going ahead filling this food desert with urban farms producing healthy foods for Detroit residents. 

So if one of the most depressed run-down cities in the country can do it . . . why can't we do it in New England cities and suburbs?  Even if you don't live in a food desert - wouldn't it be better to live in the equivalent to a food rainforest? Where there is food growing everywhere, on every block, incredible biodiversity and high access, for anyone, to the food they need to eat to be healthy and happy?

One of the main themes in the movie was of self-determination.  The right to self-determination is a very powerful concept in international human rights law. According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.  Many people interviewed in the movie, reasoned that one of the best ways of self-determination, was to rely on themselves for food and for neighborhoods and communities to have food independence.  It's pretty empowering - no matter what happens in your life, you can still provide, the only thing you really need to live - food.  

This film clearly gets you thinking - I highly recommend it.

Have a great weekend,
Kristiane

Mark your calendars for our Winter Food Workshops!

 

 We invite food lovers, gardeners and farmers to learn how to freeze, dry, can, cookand grow autumn and winter crops at our “Winter Food Project” workshop series at Common Ground High School.
“Preserving the Harvest (on a budget) – Freezing and Drying” on Saturday, October 15 from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm will focus on preparing blanched kale, frozen beans and dried tomatoes and fruit. 

“Preserving the Harvest – Canning” taught by Wyatt Whiteman, owner of 1760 Farm House LLC, will also be on October 15 from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm.  Participants will prepare and can different types of foods and will take home a sample jar to enjoy.

“Cooking with Seasonal Food” will be led by Jane Maher wonderful cook and former owner of Snooty Foods in Oxford, CT on Saturday, October 22 from 1:00pm – 3:00. Ms. Maher will share and demonstrate delicious recipes featuring local winter vegetables including kale, sweet potato and winter squash.
“Indoor Food and Flower Gardening” will be held on Saturday, November 12 from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm. Come and learn about the best varieties, containers, growing methods and harvesting techniques to keep growing vegetables and flowers through the winter!

Check out photos from our canning workshops in 2010!

 

 

All fall workshops cost $10 and will be located at Common Ground High School at 358 Springside Avenue, New Haven.  For more information or to register please visit CT NOFA’s homepage: www.ctnofa.org or call our office at (203)888-5146.  For more information about Common Ground High School visit www.nhep.com.

Photos from our Fall and Winter Harvest Workshop last week!

Despite some Irene damage and a number of power outages CT NOFA held our workshop, originally postponed due to bad weather, about Fall and Winter Harvests at Common Ground High School in New Haven, CT.  Shannon Raider, Farm Manager at Common Ground, showed workshop attendees what to plant late in the season and how to care for crops which seem to be growing late in the season so that you can keep eating garden-fresh food in the coming months! 

Workshop leader, Shannon Raider, started off in a classroom at Common Ground High School giving workshop attendees the resources to find more information online for planting and purchasing seeds.

Then everyone went outside to discuss fall and winter crops.  Here Shannon shows participants how to make row cover supports by bending pipes into arcs.

 The workshop looks at row-covered turnips. The cloth covering the rows is called reemay, and protects crops from frost while retaining more heat during the day.

 Hardy greens can be planted in the late summer and early fall and grow under row covers until late in the growing season. Beets, carrots, radishes, escarole, radicchio and turnips Hukera are some other plants which can be planted in the fall and grown into the winter.

You probably don't have one of these in your yard . . . but high tunnels are a great way to extend the growing season for farms.  Functioning in the same way a greenhouse does, they retain heat and keep plants warm and growing well into the winter.

For some more information on fall planting, look out for some of CT NOFA's orther workshops and check out this site: http://www.greencycle.net/2011/08/planting-the-fall-vegetable-garden/

look for a seed calendar and other tools on this site: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/t-growguide.aspx

The Garden Tour is Coming Up!

As you may know, Connecticut NOFA's City Farm and Garden Tour is coming up! I went out and scouted some of our sites yesterday, and discovered that one of our restaurant participants, the Kasbah Garden Cafe (which is offering a 10% discount to tour participants on August 6), is a garden site itself! Stay tuned for more photos from the Community Gardens and check out our facebook for more photos and the City Farm and Garden Tour site for more information!