Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening: How to Grow Nurient-Dense, Soil-Sprouted Greens in Less Than 10 Days

Peter Burke

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In a few simple steps you can grow all the fresh salad greens you need for the winter months or throughout the entire year without a lot of special equipment. No lights, no pumps, no greenhouse needed. I will demonstrate the technique, show pictures of my Indoor Salad Garden and serve a salad to everyone to try. If you are a localvore in need of winter greens, a Southern gardener looking for greens in the hot summer, a gardener wanting to extend the garden season this is for you.

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An avid gardener himself, author Peter Burke has been teaching garden classes since 2006 when he started presenting workshops on Indoor Salad Gardening, Square Foot Gardening, Extending the Garden Season, Salad Gardens, Herb Garden, Growing Wheatgrass, Fall Garden, Food Dehydrator, Recipe Gardens. He also started thedailygardener.com website to supply organic seeds for Indoor Salad Gardening. He became a Certified Square Foot Garden Teacher by the SFG Foundation in 2010. Peter lives and gardens in Calais, Vermont.

  

Real Organic - Why Does It Matter? 

Dave Chapman 

 

As corporations dilute the meaning of organic certification in the USDA, many food activists are turning to other names to identify a different way of farming. Regenerative and Agroecological are two such names. I will present the challenge that just because a bully pushes you off the swing doesn't mean you should leave the playground. Together we can take back the swing. As conventional chemical farming keeps getting more extreme, we don't have the time to keep starting over again. 

 

Dave Chapman is a longtime organic farmer from Vermont. He runs Long Wind Farm, which grows greenhouse tomatoes in fertile soil. He is a founding member of Vermont Organic Farmers. He is also the executive director of the Real Organic Project. The ROP has only existed for 1.5 years, yet they have brought together a national coalition of organic farmers and eaters creating an add-on label that will identify food grown in fertile soil and animals raised on a pasture-based diet. 

 

An Apple a Day: Growing Organic Apples - Part IV

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. 

 

Woody Plant Propagation and Grafting Demonstration 

Buzz Ferver; Nicko Rubin 

 

This workshop will cover the basics of woody plant propagation focusing on fruit and nut plants. We will discuss basic propagation techniques- layering, divisions, cuttings, seed growing, grafting, and budding. If time allows, we will also discuss when and how to best move plants and managing plants in pots. Discussion will cover a wide range of plants from raspberries to hickories. Let’s make more plants! 

 

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. 

 

Bee Hive Construction

Randy Fleury

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This workshop will cover the basic construction and the different components of the Langstroth hive, the Warre hive, and the Top Bar hive. We will compare and contrast these hive types and discuss pros and cons for each.

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Randy Fleury is a beekeeper and honey purveyor in Sutton, NH.

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Tree Fodder for Livestock Food & Medicine – Part II

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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Edible Landscaping for People, Pollinators and Birds 

John & Nancy Hayden 

 

Nancy and John Hayden will describe the perennial crops and growing techniques that they use to promote biodiversity, manage pests, and enhance pollinator populations while making a living at The Farm Between. They will focus on specific pollinators and the habitats that they need to thrive. Examples of the benefits of native plants for birds and insects will be highlighted. 

 

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. 

 

Options for Extending Your Grazing Season 

David Kennard 

 

Save money and labor while improving both animal and soil health by extending your grazing season into December. Extended grazing is a natural, organic system that produces a more desirable grass-fed animal while offering many other benefits to the farmer. 

 

David Kennard, of Wellscroft Farm and Wellscroft Fence Systems in Harrisville, NH, has been farming sheep for over forty years and during that time has had over 12,000 lambs born in the winter. David is a regular speaker at NOFA conferences and farm shows, and hosts popular educational workshops such as Lambing Clinics, Fence Clinics and Grazing Workshops.  Along with his son, Colin, and their hard-working border collies, he also delights audiences with his informative and entertaining herding demonstrations at county fairs, sheep festivals, and farm days throughout New England. 

 

Kitchen Witching Part II: A Cauldron of Winter Wellness 

Jessica Labrie 

 

All you need is a wood stove and a pot (or a second-hand slow cooker) to stir up all sorts of delicious and nutritious potions to support deep immunity and fight off dis-ease. Your favorite frugal Green Witch will happily share her tricks to mixing simple herbs with "throw away" ingredients like veggie scraps and chicken feet to create bone broths, cough syrups, decongestant steams, soothing teas. Bring a notebook and lots of questions for this 

fun, inspiring, no-recipes-needed class! 

 

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. 

 

Alternative Funding and Sustainability Options for School Garden Programs

Sarah Marcoux; Kristen Snow; Brian Winslow; Edith Couchman

 

Hear from Sutton Central School and Southwick School in Northfield garden program coordinators. One garden program is funded and managed by the PTO, the other through their Title One Teacher and Master Gardener volunteer. Learn how they connect the garden programs to curriculum and experience one of their garden related activities. They will also share how their programs are funded. Presentations will be followed by a group discussion.

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Brian Winslow is a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) teacher at the Southwick School in Northfield, NH. He began the program at the public school and manages the school's greenhouse, garden beds, pollinator garden, and apiary. Students in third, fourth, and fifth grade apply the core concepts of math and science to the everyday work involved in agriculture and ecology.

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Sarah Marcoux has been a Master Gardener since 2016. She is an active member of the Speaker’s Bureau in addition to assisting in a wide variety of projects ranging from those for elementary students to assisted living facilities. Most recently, she has been involved with the NH Free Seed Project and the Pollinator Garden at Southwick Elementary School. Sarah has a passion for sustainability in all aspects of life and holds a certificate in Permaculture Design from Oregon State University.

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Kristen Snow is with the Sutton PTO and manages the school garden as well as is the primary teacher.

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Edith Couchman is a retired art teacher and environmental educator. She has utilized a school garden to teach about both. She currently serves on the board for NOFA NH, participates on the Nashua Food Council, as well as the NH School and Youth Garden Network, and the NH Farm to School network. She created her own website, EvolvingBeauty.org, to share the resources she developed as a teacher.

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No-Till Vegetable Farming - Part II 

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. 

 

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.