Panel Presentation from School & Youth Garden and Ag Education Organizations 

Stephanie Aubert; Hanna Flanders; Andrew Morin 

 

In this session, three NH based organizations will share how they are helping to support farm and garden programs for youth and students at schools. 

 

Stephanie Aubert is the director of new program development for Grow Nashua. Our goal at Grow Nashua is to empower students to make positive lifestyle choices through hands-on learning experiences, community involvement, and healthy eating awareness campaigns. 

 We are accomplishing this by developing and utilizing school gardens, engaging parents, and the incorporation of curriculum focused on sustainability, food systems, nutrition, cooking, and plant sciences. 

 

Hanna Flanders is a cofounder and director of community engagement for the Kearsarge Food Hub. KFH is a nonprofit organization with a mission to increase access to and education around local food in the Kearsarge area, and in connection to statewide and regional efforts. Over the past 5 years, KFH has been developing unique farm and food-based educational programming for students from 1st grade all the way to college level. In a short presentation, Hanna will show the variation of efforts and highlight the successes and challenges the team has found through the iterative creation of educational programming for a wide range of age groups and needs. 

 

Andrew L. Morin, Executive Director of the ReGenerative Roots Association, has been working as co-coordinator of the Nashua Farm to School Program since 2017.  During that time, he has built educational gardens, helped integrate farm to school curriculum with teachers,  and developed an eight week summer internship program for high-school students devoted to sustainable agriculture.  

 

An Apple a Day: Growing Organic Apples - Part III 

Ron Christie 

 

Growing organic apples in the Northeast can be a real challenge (some say impossible). But, it can be done if you are willing to explore the apple orchard of the future. This all-day workshop is geared toward the small-acre orchardist and back-yard gardener who want to have success growing high quality, chemical-free apples. We will talk about all aspects of what it takes to create a friendly apple growing environment, including site selection and soils, orchard design, rootstock and variety selection, planting and early care, and disease and pest management. 

 

Ron Christie is passionate about teaching people how to grow their own nutritious organic food for better health and well-being. He is an avid four-season grower, and a former NOFA-NH Board Member and Master Gardener who loves sharing his experiences as a gardener and farmer. Ron ran Living Earth Farm, a certified organic vegetable and fruit micro-farm in Brookline, NH, until 2017 when Living Earth Farm was sold. Ron and his family are starting a new organic farm in Concord, NH. 

 

Principles of Permaculture

Jack Eaton

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This presentation is an overview of the Principles of Permaculture and how they are and can be incorporated into our way of living. Permaculture is a creative design process based on whole-systems thinking informed by ethics and 12 basic design principles. This approach guides us to mimic the patterns and relationships we can find in nature and can be applied to all aspects of human habitation, from agriculture to ecological building, from appropriate technology to education and even economics. This is an interactive talk which will examine each of the 12 principles of Permaculture discuss how they may currently be part of our lives and how we might incorporate more of them as we move forward.

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Jack Eaton is a permaculturist and site restoration and erosion control specialist residing in Weare, NH. Jack has been a CPESC (Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control) since March of 2007 and holds a PDC, has attended Permaculture teacher training and has been extensively involve with promoting permaculture as part of the organizing committee for Permaculture Day in New Hampshire.

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Nut Trees for Northern New England 

Buzz Ferver; Nicko Rubin 

 

Nut trees provide essential food for a wide range of birds and mammals and are an incredibly resilient source of high quality fat and protein. The natural range for many nut trees follow settlement of the Indigenous people of the Northeast. It is in our nature to spread nut trees. Learn the details of growing a wide range of nut trees, including, chestnut, hazelnut, black walnut, oak, hickory, nut pine and more. This workshop will cover propagation and planting to harvesting and there will be time for a question and answer session. 

 

Buzz Ferver farms perennial fruit and nut nursery stock at his farm, Perfect Circle Farm, in Berlin, VT. Buzz teaches grafting, pruning, and propagation workshops and offers consulting services as well. 

 

Nicko Rubin is owner of East Hill Tree Farm in Plainfield, VT. The nursey has a wide selection of plants available for transplant: apples, pears, plums, and cherries; as well as blueberries, currants, gooseberries, hardy kiwi and many unusual fruits. 

 

Tree Fodder for Livestock Food & Medicine – Part I 

Steve Gabriel 

 

Several species including willow, poplar, and black locust have been researched extensively and offer a wide range of opportunities for utilization in silvopasture systems. 

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Keynote speaker Steve Gabriel is an ecologist, forest farmer, and educator living in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State in the US. Throughout his career, Steve has taught thousands of farmers and land managers about the ways farming and forestry can be combined to both benefit the ecology and the bottom line of the farm. He is Extension Specialist for the Cornell Small Farm Program and has served as guest faculty at Cornell University, Sterling College, Paul Smiths College, and the Omega Center for Sustainable Living. Alongside his wife, Elizabeth, he co-stewards Wellspring Forest Farm, where they produce mushrooms, maple syrup, duck eggs, pastured lamb, and elderberry extract, all from forest-based systems.  

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Farming (and Gardening) on the Wild Side 

John & Nancy Hayden 

 

Ecologists, farmers and authors Nancy and John Hayden will talk about the evolution of The Farm Between over 28 years from conventional dairy to a regenerative organic fruit farm and nursery. They will share information on how you can add pollinator and bird habitat, manage pests, soak up and use carbon for soil fertility, improve water quality, and enjoy the fruits of your labor from whatever size parcel of land that you steward. 

 

John Hayden has been working to design and implement agricultural systems with positive environmental and social outcomes for over 35 years as a researcher, extension agent, university educator, international consultant, and practicing regenerative organic farmer. He has an MS in entomology with a focus on ecological pest management. John has served on the Vermont State Pollinator Protection Committee and is currently a board member of NOFA-VT. 

 

Nancy J. Hayden is a writer, farmer, artist, and former environmental engineering professor. She’s earned degrees in biology/ecology, environmental engineering, English, studio art, and creative writing. She was awarded a Vermont Arts Council Creation Grant to work on her recent book (Farming on the Wild Side/Chelsea Green Publishing) and has published numerous articles about food and farming in local and national magazines. 

 

Integrating Chestnuts on New Hampshire Farms: Responding to Ecosystems in a Shifting Climate

Erin Kassis

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Chestnuts are a promising crop particularly well-suited to New Hampshire.  This session guides farmers and land managers through decisions about whether growing chestnuts supports the ecological and financial health of your farm.  Participants gain skills in reading the land to site an orchard, assessing risk, practical planning and planting techniques, and the implications of choosing to grow chestnuts as climate shifts.  

 

Erin Kassis has farmed in the Northeast U.S. for over a decade, receiving degrees in Plant, Soil, and Insect Sciences and Applied Economic Research from UMass, Amherst.  She currently supports farmers and landowners as a designer and consultant at AppleSeed Permaculture and is a co-founder of a continent-wide climate action network.

 

Kitchen Witching Part I: The Counter Culture of Wild Fermentation 

Jessica Labrie 

 

In this hands-on (and hands-in!) class, participants will learn the importance of a healthy gut microbiome for maintaining overall wellbeing (including memory, immunity, mood, and more), and how simple it is to turn common wild and easy-to-grow plants into your very own old-fashioned fermented foods and prebiotic teas. If you learn by doing, you'll love this workshop (please come to class with clean hands and a notebook for taking notes)! 

 

Jessica LaBrie is a practicing wise woman, sacred Gaian herbalist, & educator specializing in herbal apprenticeships, trauma-informed wellness counseling and life coaching for people of all ages, and reverently-crafted herbal blends. Owner of Blackbird’s Daughter Botanicals, co-founder of Mama’s Kiss Cannabis, and president of the New Hampshire Herbal Network, her artisan apothecary, gardens, and woodland trails, located on 125 acres in Barrington, NH, are a place of healing and joy. 

 

No-Till Vegetable Farming - Part I

Bryan O'Hara 

 

This workshop will present the details for growing large volumes of high-quality crops out of any given area without the use of tillage. The methods utilized in this system have demonstrated tremendous levels of weed control and irrigation reduction, as well as excellent soil improvement. Techniques include solarization, composted mulches, multi-cropping, cover-cropping, broadcast seeding, and so much more. 

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Bryan O’Hara has been growing vegetables for a livelihood since 1990 at Tobacco Road Farm in Lebanon, Connecticut. He works with natural systems to build complex and balanced soil life, the result of which is a highly productive, vibrant growing system. Bryan was named Northeast Organic Farming Association’s Farmer of the Year in 2016. He speaks throughout the Northeast and beyond on vegetable production techniques and is known for providing mountains of details in a concise, practical, and cohesive manner. Bryan has recently authored No-Till Intensive Vegetable Culture, scheduled for release in February 2020.