Register now for two must-do Agri-Workshops!!

Workshops for Organic Farmers and Gardeners on how

we CAN restore our waters, our soil, and our health.

January 17-18, 2015 – Two day course for $85 (lunch included)

Agroecology and Food Sovereignty
with Dr. Miguel Altieri

• Design for bio-diverse, productive and resilient farms. 
• Soil enhancing techniques: Bokashi, organic soil management, composting, compost teas, green manures, cover crops, etc. 
• Pest management (biological pest control, crop diversification, rotations, etc.) and conversion strategies (how to get there from monocultures).
• Assess and strengthen sustainability of farms, gardens and local food sovereignty
• Hands-on learning as well as presentations and discussions

About Dr. Aliteri:  Professor of Agroecology at UC Berkeley since 1981 in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. Education at the University of Chile, a Ph.D.  Entomology from the University of Florida.   Author of 230+ publications, and numerous books on The Science of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity, Pest Management ,, and the Search for a Truly Sustainable Agriculture.

                   Register at  famu-agroecology-altieri-2015.eventbrite.com

                                                                                                         

January 26-27, 2015 - $80 (lunch included)

Healthy Farms, Healthy Lives
with Dr. Don Huber & Jim Gerristen

Dr. Don Huber, Purdue/Emeritus Professor  - topics to include:

• impact of present agricultural systems on soil, plants, insects, and human health. 
• managing soil health, controlling plant diseases, micronutrients, GMOs and glyphosate - best management practices. 

Jim Gerristen, organic farmer and visionary - topics to include:

• organic farm strategies, certified organic seed operation, seed purity issues
• building and maintaining healthy soil and organic matter, crop rotations 
• the role of insects, enhancing biological systems
• harvesting for market, post-harvest handling issues, and tips on marketing for profit
• Hands-on demonstration

Register at  foginfo.org/2015-sustainable-development-session

All events will be held at:  FAMU Viticulture Center, 6506 Mahan Drive Tallahassee, Florida  32317. 

2015 Sustainable Development Sessions for Farmers and Gardeners

Follow links below for additional details regarding the program and speakers for the upcoming Sessions scheduled for January 17-18 and January 26-17, 2014 at the FAMU Viticulture Center on Mahan Drive and several local Organic Farms.  Please share the flyer with your contacts.  This is a unique opportunity for all who are involved in the local food movement.    Agroecology Sessions Flyer

For the first time in Tallahassee, two upcoming multi-day sessions will include workshops and farm tours with two of our country's most knowledgeable leaders in the fields of Agroecology principles and implementation, sustainable organic agriculture, and sustainable food systems---sometimes called simply Earth and Agriculture Restoration.  Enhance your knowledge and claim your place in the local sustainable food movement through these crucial and timely capacity building sessions. You will learn how conventional GMO agricultural strategies impact our local non-GMO agricultural farms and environment.  Learn agroecological principles and applications to design bio-diverse, resilient farms. Discover soil enhancement and soil remediation techniques.   Learn critical methods to assess and strengthen sustainability of farms/gardens and local food sovereignty.  We can restore our waters, our soil, and our health.  Learn more about how at these 2015 Sustainable Development Sessions.

Register at Eventbrite.  Early registration for both events discounted at $140. 
 Early registration ends January 10. 2015. 

January 17-18, 2015 - $80 early registration through Jan. 10; $100 after Jan. 10 or at the door

Agroecology and Food Sovereignty/Dr. Miguel Altieri

Dr. Altieri has been iProfessor of Agroecology at UC Berkeley since 1981 in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management.  He received his education at the University of Chile, and a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Florida.   He is author of more than 230 publications, and numerous books including Agroecology:  The Science of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity, Pest Management in Agroecosystems, and Agroecology and the Search for a Truly Sustainable Agriculture. 

January 26-27, 2015 - $80 early registration through Jan. 10; $100 after Jan. 10 or at the door

Agroecology—Healthy Farms, Healthy Lives/Dr. Don Huber and Jim Gerritsen

Dr. Huber will examine the impact of GMOs and Glyphosate on soil, plant, animal and human health; Best Management Practices.  Dr. Huber is Emeritus Professor at Purdue University in Botany and Plant Pathology and an internationally recognized plant pathologist  whose research has focused on the epidemiology and control of soil-borne plant pathogens with emphasis on microbial ecology, cultural and biological controls, and physiology of host parasite relationships.  Dr. Huber has issued stern warnings about shockingly devastating effects of genetically engineered food crops.

Agrarian Elder and Organic Farmer Jim Gerritsen  co-founded and now serves as President of the national farmer-run membership trade organization, Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA). OSGATA is headquartered in Washington, Maine and acted as lead plaintiff in the landmark organic community Federal lawsuit, OSGATA et al v. Monsanto. OSGATA's mission is to develop, promote and protect the organic seed trade and its farmers.  Gerritsen will talk about organic farm strategies, his certified organic seed operation, seed purity issues; building and maintaining healthy soil and organic matter, crop rotations, the role of insects, enhancing biological systems, harvesting for market, post harvest handling issues, and tips on marketing for profit; and critical issues for every organic farm.  Hands-on demonstration.  

Both events will be held at:  FAMU Viticulture Center, 6506 Mahan Drive,  Tallahassee, Florida  32317.   Food trucks available on site or bring your own lunch.  For more information:  famu.register@gmail.com  Jennifer Taylor 850-879-6895 or Sue Hansen 850-264-5929

Provided in collaboration with FAMU State Wide Small Farm Programs,

PGG, Local Small Farmers, and Community Collaborators.

Organic Farming Workshop, December 14, 2014 at Full Earth Farm in Quincy

Florida Organic Growers (FOG) is partnering with Full Earth Farm in Quincy to offer an Organic Farming Workshop in Gadsen County, Florida. The workshop will take place on Sunday,December 14th from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm. The work­shop will provide practical information and advice about sustainable/organic farming such as soil and weed management, cover crops and farm planning. The workshop is designed for beginning and new farmers, as well as those inter­ested in transitioning to organic methods. Full Earth owners and operators Katie Harris and Aaron Suko will lead a farm tours, and discuss production and weed and pest management strategies. There will also be a special presentation on season extension, Herman Holley of Turkey Hill Farm will discuss the importance and methods for sustainable soil fertility and management, and Cheryl Macko­wiak with the University of Florida North Florida Research and Education Center will present on her research on perennial cover crops and sod rotation. Admission is $10 and includes lunch, scholarships are also available. The workshop is open to the public and will be held at the Full Earth Farm located right outside Quincy, Florida. Please contact Travis Mitch­ell with Florida Organic Growers at travis@foginfo.org or at 352-377- 6355 for more information. To register go to http://www.foginfo.org/ organic-farming-workshop-registration-form/

Chemicals in your Mulch and Compost -- All Politics is Local

We'd like to share a recent conversation among some of our followers about the chemicals which may be/are probably lurking in your mulches and composts.  We would welcome your questions, comments, and knowledge as we struggle to find healthy, natural ways to grow our food.

Concerned Permaculture Farmer:  I've just found out that the peanut hay I've been feeding my goats was sprayed with 2-4d and likely clopyralid, they are together in a lot of products.  Turns out it is one of the herbicides that won't break down in compost,  ( I've just finished two big piles)    In this article [from Washington State University at Puyallup] is a bioassay test with peas to see if your compost is safe.     I have noticed a serious lack of worms around the place since we started feeding this hay in the fall, and there are none in the vicinity of my compost.   There is another with a garden test patch that shows only damage to  high concentrations, lighter ones get by ok.    If you use horse manure, there is a good likelihood that they were fed sprayed hay, most hay farmers around here use it, and the stuff stays in the manure.    I'm worried about my goat milk too.

More About Companion Planting--and Comfrey

A recent post on the Permaculture News Blog hosted by internationally recognized permaculture activist Jeff Lawton delves further into the question of the scientific basis for a particular companion plant-Comfrey.  Questions are raised similar to those in our previous post about companion planting claims.  The author of the post followed up with his own on-site trial including soil tests.  Preliminary results support the claims for Comfrey as an effective accumulator which increases the mineral content of the soil where it is grown or composted. By the way, if you don't follow Lawton's blog, you're missing the latest in permaculture news and projects worldwide.

Tallahassee Area Permaculture: First Offical Permablitz

Join us at N-Vision Farm,  Saturday, March 22, 2014, 9:30 a.m., for our first official PermaBlitz with Tallahassee Area Permaculture!!

N-Vision Farm

1674 Fanlew Road
Monticello, FL 
(off the est end of Natural Bridge Road)

(Follow link for map)

If you need help with specific directions call 997-3613, or email dragonwing56@aol.com AHEAD of the event date.

So what is a PermaBlitz?  It is a hands-on, learn-by-doing mini-workshop.  By applying permaculture design principles and site analysis a project is chosen and prepared for a group of people with varying levels of knowledge and experience to learn and do...a doing party!

Sissy Taylor-Maloy and Anna Lee, permaculture designers and instructors, are offering this PermaBlitz specific to sheet mulching technique and soil enhancement.  This PermaBlitz will include discussion about soil, compost, bio-brew, soil amendments, vermiculture, Humanure and Liquid Gold.

Bring work gloves, dirt clothes, bag lunch or food to share, chair, sunhat and sun screen, bug repellants, water bottle, notebook, and shovels or rakes if you have them.  And bring friends!!!  No experience needed.  Lots to learn!

N-vision is a permaculture farm using animals, manures and food sources in building and amending healthy soils.  ...Always a work in practice, creating the cycle.  Come early or stay late, but don't miss this experience!!!

See Tallahassee Area Permaculture Meetup for address and details.  

A Hugelkultur Raised Bed

If we all had half of Regine and Tim's energy, who knows what we could accomplish.  This is Regine's report on the Hugelkultur bed she and Tim built recently: 

I had lots of wood logs used as the garden beds' borders.  After a couple of years they were half rotten.

Rotting = lots of bugs including worms underneath  -  good for the soil eco system…

But on the down side, this attracted critters at night (armadillo?) that love digging around the wood.  It seems that in the garden there are new challenges every year - dealing with the world that discovers the garden (squirrels and others). I need a night camera to see what's going on when I sleep!

So I finally decided to change the borders of two backyard beds - using metal sheets (left over from the roofing project) and cement blocks. 

The visit of Dave's garden (a friend from permaculture class) inspired me to build a hugelkutur bed to use the rotting logs and the old pile of wood chips in the front yard, sitting there since last April (some had turned into very back soil).  Here is the result. I put some compost on top and could not resist putting a few plants straight away.  Will be fun to see how it works out in drought period!

Here is more of the theory on these types of bed! http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

Happy gardening

Regine

Building Healthy Soil - Don't Miss It - October 24, 2013 - 6:00 p.m. at Goodwood

Received this information from Will Sheftall, Leon County Extension Agent for Natural Resources.  Sounds like this is an event not to be missed if you are interested in building healthy soil for your plants. 

As a part of "Seven Days of Local Delights," Red Hills Farm Alliance is planning to screen the film "Symphony of the Soil" at Goodwood on OCT 24th, 6:00-9:30 pm. Check it out and mark your calendar so you can make plans to attend.  The event is a fundraiser for Red Hills Small Farm Alliance and tickets are $35.00.  Obtain them here. 

Film will be followed by a panel of local experts, including our area's first (in this era) commercial-scale practitioner/teacher of healthy soil techniques (Herman Hollley of Turkey Hill Farm), our area's first Master Gardener practitioner/teacher of healthy soil techniques (Ed Schroeder), the first US/IFAS soil scientist at our Quincy research station to teach about and promote the use of cover crops to build soil (Dr Cheryl Mackowiak), and a couple of other folks I don't yet know personally. Yours truly (Will Sheftall) was invited to moderate the panel discussion.

Also, there is a group of soil scientists and agronomists within USDA-NRCS that understands and is preaching "healthy soil" facts and techniques to their peers regularly via webinars. Getting professional conservation workers to convince farmers across the nation is the second step.

 

Thus far, there have been 17 Webinars on Soil Health that are now part of the on-line USDA-NRCS "Science & Technology Training Library." There are Webinars on lots of other topics as well. The Webinars are good. The PPTs are delivered by a wide variety of folks across the country. To see what's been produced, and to watch any or all of them, go to:

At the Wibinars link you will see a TOC of links to all previous Webinars on soil healthy. Navigate to the tab on "Previous Webinars" and you will get a topical TOC to all of the Webinars.

There are a number of local gardeners and permaculture practitioners who understand the importance of healthy soil and are working to build healthy soil. So the word is getting around nationally and locally. We all need to keep on talking about it every chance we get! And as well teach about it, the number of us who are building healthy soil locally and talking about it will grow...