by Emily Brooks of Edibles Advocate Alliance

There are numerous advantages to planting gardens in raised beds. Sal Gibertie, owner of Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens in Westport and one of the most knowledgeable gardeners anywhere, will enumerate them and provide expert how-to advice on Tuesday, February 9th from 7pm-9pm at Ambler Farm in Wilton. Sal will also bring copies of his new book, Small Space High Yield Gardening, to sell and sign.

Ages: Adults

Fee: $5 per person, FREE for members

Registration: Walk-ins welcome. Advance registration click here.

CT NOFA’s 28th Annual Winter Conference

Celebrate Local Organic Farming, Gardening, Landscaping and Sustainable Lifestyles

Co-sponsored with Manchester Community College’s Team Green

Saturday, March 6, 2010
Manchester Community College
Manchester, CT
8:30 am to 4:45 pm

Join us in celebration of local organic farming, gardening, landscaping and sustainable lifestyles. This event will feature 30 plus workshops, a vendor and exhibit area, keynote speech, delicious potluck lunch, children’s program, and a series of hands-on cooking demonstrations.

KEYNOTE~ REGISTRATION~ WORKSHOPS~ SPONSORS~VENDORS

Keynote

Featuring Michael Shuman, author of The Small Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition. Author and entrepreneur, Mr. Schuman has written nearly one hundred articles for such periodicals as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Weekly Standard, Foreign Policy, Parade, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy. His books and articles have explored people, practices, and policies in the fields of technology, national security, citizen diplomacy, municipal foreign policy, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and business development. To view Michael’s blog, click here.

Michael co-authored a recent report, “Community Food Enterprise: Local Success in a Global Marketplace,” spotlighting 24 ventures around the world that are pioneering models for local food.

Registration

	Before 2/19	After 2/19
NOFA Members:	$40	$45
Non-Members:	$50	$55
Students/Seniors:	$25	$30

Volunteer for 2 hours and receive $10 off the registration price!

Children 12 and under are free.
Free daycare will be available for children ages 3 to 12 with preregistration only.

Online registration is now available. Details>

For a printer-friendly form to mail in, click here.

Workshops

PERMACULTURE DESIGN FOR PRODUCTIVE CONSERVATION:  GROW FOOD, REBUILD THE ENVIRONMENT - Keith Zaltzberg, Regenerative Design Group www.regenerativedesigngroup.com

GROWING CUT FLOWERS - Alan Gorkin, Growing sustainable cut flower crops for to increase market diversity.

MAKING FOOLPROOF COUNTRY WINE - Jack Kittredge, Many Hands Organic Farm.  www.mhof.net

BUILDING A CSA - Dina Brewster, The Hickories Farm www.thehickories.org

HOW WE GROW GARLIC AT WAYNE’S ORGANIC GARDEN - Wayne Hansen, Wayne’s Organic Garden www.waynesorganicgarden.com

FIRST LESSONS IN BEEKEEPING - C. Marina Marchese, Red Bee Apiary   www.redbee.com

THE AMATEUR ARTISAN BAKER - Jiff Martin, Serious & not-so-serious home bakers learn new techniques and share old favorites.  Taste tests & take home live starter.

WORM COMPOSTING - Nick Mancini,   www.OrganicGardeningSimplified.com

SEEDY BUSINESS:  THE HISTORY, POLITICS, & FUTURE OF SEEDS - Ken Greene,  Hudson Valley Seed Library  www.seedlibrary.org

RAW MILK AND FOOD RIGHTS - David E. Gumpert, www.davidgumpert.com

“LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR, YOUR AGRICULTURE COMMISION IS THERE” - John Weedon,  How to start a commission w/no money down.  What a Town Agriculture Commission can do to help farmers.  How to work effectively with a commission.

THREATS TO THE HEALTH OF HONEY BEES AND WILD BEES - Dr Kimberly Stoner, Vegetable Entomologist at the CT Agriculture Experiment Station, New Haven.  www.ct.gov/caes

FARM TAXES SHOULDN’T BE TAXING - Ron Capozzi, “Class will be limited to those who think they can spend their money wiser than the government.”

GETTING INTO RAW FOODS - Rawdawg Rory  www.rawdawgrory.com

RAISING DAIRY GOATS & MAKING CHEESE - Paul Trubey, Beltane Farm.  www.beltanefarm.com

NATURAL NIBBLES, AN INTRODUCTION TO WILD PLANT FORAGING - Bryan Connolly, Massachusetts State Botanist, PhD student - Native Plant Horticulture.

WEED ECOLOGY & ORGANIC WEED CONTROL - Robert Durgy, Farm Manager CT Agricultural Experiment Station, Griswold Research Center.

THE 10 LEAST WANTED: VEGETABLE INSECTS PESTS & WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM - Robert Durgy, Farm Manager CT Agricultural Experiment Station, Griswold Research Center.

EXTENDING THE GROWING SEASON AND COLDWEATHER CROPS - Bettylou Sandy, Bettylou’s Gardening.  Learn tricks to extend the growing season at both ends. Harvest April thru November.

THE FUTURE OF COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY - Michel Nischan, Wholesome Wave Foundation www.wholesomewave.org

HOOP TUNNELS,  LOW & HIGH - Bryan O’Hara, Tobacco Road Farm.  Use, construction, costs, and appropriate crops for the extended season production of vegetable crops.

BACKYARD BARNYARD - Peter & Judith Rothenberg, Northfordy Farm.  Sustainable farm animal husbandry.

GREENHOUSE/NURSERY ENERGY CONSERVATION - IDEAS THAT SAVE MONEY - John W. Bartok Jr. Extension Agricultural Engineer - Emeritus Univ of CT  Materials, tools, and techniques for reducing fuel  & electricity  use in small to medium size propagation & production structures.  Basics of wood, corn, waste oil, geothermal & solar systems.

REFORM OF THE “SUPPLY CHAIN”: INSTITUTIONAL FOOD SERVICE - Marydale DeBor, Plow to Plate/New Milford Hospital  www.plowtoplate.org

HILLS AND VALLEYS - RAISED BED GARDENING - James Roby, Roby’s Organic Farm.  Raised bed, ridge till and trench planting methods.  Managing walkways, mulching, and cultivation.

SO  YOU WANT TO START A  FARMERS MARKET? - Winter Caplanson    www.CoventryFarmersMarket.com Basics of starting a market; defining a niche for your farmers market, state requirements, location, management, vendor recruitment, rules/regulation & marketing.

EXPERT PANEL DISCUSSIONS:

BACK (AND FORTH) TO OUR ” ROOTS” - Dr. Lisa Gengo, PA, ND, CNS, Chef  John Turenne, President & Founder of Sustainable Food Systems  &  Farmer Wayne Hansen  discuss & demonstrate uses and nutritional benefits of familiar and the less-well known winter vegetables.

Additional details and workshops still to come.

Sponsors

Gold Level Sponsors - Stonyfield Fam and Whole Foods Market

Silver Level Sponsors - Farmer’s Cow and Global Environmental Services

Supporting Sponsors - Sunlight Solar Energy, Farm Credit East, New England Seed and Steven A. Rose Agency

Vendor - Exhibitors

If you’d like to reserve a space, please call the office at 203-888-5146.

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POTLUCK DETAILS

Please bring a dish to share with everyone-it need not be local food or even organic-do what you can. A family-sized serving is fine, along with the recipe or ingredient listing. Drinks are always welcome if you are unable to cook.

Our impressive staff of kitchen volunteers will be on hand to pull it all together for us and make sure hot dishes are hot and salads are dressed.

To help us conserve, please bring your own place setting, napkin, and utensils. Questions? Call 203-888-5146.

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Good thing Westport GVI never settled on a commercial space suitable for distributing the CSA from Shelton-based Stone Gardens Farm they started last year for Westport residents. As fortune would have it, the Wakeman Farm and house on Cross Highway became available for lease from the town for $1 per year last spring and Westport GVI’s team jumped at the chance to lease the property. The town embraced their proposal for a  Town Farm on the site and GVI recently announced the signing of a five-year lease and plans to once again farm the 2.2 acre property.

Westport GVI is a group with clarity of vision and the people and resources to see it realized. The house is being spruced up so the future residents can move in by June. May this be a happy home to Mike Aitkenhead, Staples HS Environmental Teacher and 2009 Westport Teacher of the Year, who will take up residence at and oversee the Town Farm along with his wife, Carrie, and their one year old son, Ethan.

Don’t mind the dumpster; there’s no gutting going on in this historic house. You can see from the above photo that there’s no insulation in the walls and the plaster was cracking so badly in some places that it had to be removed. Think of how beautiful this spacious house is going to look with some new wall board, paint, appliances and fixtures.

The aged red barn is being renovated from the inside out in preparation for CSA season. This is where you will come to pick up your Stone Gardens Farm CSA share each week from Carrie. Don’t have a share yet? Sign up now! Future plans include the addition of CSA shares from other area farms and add ons  like local eggs, cheese, poultry, meat, flowers and honey to make the CSA more full service. These will come after appropriate food service licenses have been obtained and the Town Health Department has given its blessing.

Planting of organic vegetables will begin in the spring at Wakeman Farm, but don’t expect enough production for their own CSA. A farm stand is more likely. The intention was never to grow enough food for the whole town, but rather serve as a model of environmentally sustainable agriculture and an educational facility.

Town Farm Director Becky Howe cited a book, The Backyard Homestead, as the foundation of their message to the public, “You can grow all the food you need on a quarter acre. Anybody can do this. We’re going to be a model of how to do it and provide continuing education to the community in everything from composting to organic gardening to beekeeping so they can get comfortable doing these things on their own.” Andrew (from Andrew’s Local Honey) is going to drop off one of his hives here and Westport GVI board member Sherri Brooks Vinton will give canning and preserving workshops. Get excited but be patient, be supportive, and visit often. It’s going to take the whole community to make this work, and there’s not doubt that it will.

The Green Market Exposition held all day today at the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport kicked off with a speech by Mayor Finch announcing numerous initiatives being undertaken by Bridgeport to green the city. Shortly thereafter guests began to pour into the exhibition area and didn’t let up until late afternoon.

My only regret about exhibiting at this extremely well organized and attended event, instead of just being a guest, was that I was unable to visit all the other exhibitors to learn about their businesses or listen intently to any of the panel discussions being held adjacent to the exhibition area. I was so busy with guests that I managed to have only two quick conversations! Talking with Michelle at Origins I discovered that they will accept ANY cosmetics container at their cosmetics counter for recycling. And Planet Zero Gravity has two new 17 ounce thermoses, one of which fits perfectly into a lunch box and the other into a bicycle water bottle holder. I personally love their large thermos and use it to store smoothies in the refrigerator for easy access by the kids.

News Channel 8 was there and posted an online article with some event footage and photos. No question this event will be a repeat next year. Kudos to the organizers. Thanks Daphne! See you at Green Drinks Fairfield and maybe even the newly minted Green Drinks Bridgeport.

Sherwood Farm on 355 Sport Hill Road (Rt. 59) in Easton makes it easy for you to buy locally grown. Tom Sherwood probably grows a wider range of organic and conventional vegetables, many of which are heirloom varieties, than any other farmer in the area. Those heirloom seeds are handed down from his family, which has been farming the land for over 300 years.

Across from the Hellen Keller School on Sport Hill Road in Easton, Tom’s four-season farm stand sells just picked seasonal produce from his fields along with fruit brought in from local orchards. Baskets of squash, corn, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, eggplants, plums, peaches, apples, and pears line the shelves.

But don’t miss the back of the stand where you’ll find the free-range eggs, local fresh mozzarella, and Hudson Valley farmhouse meat products. The stand will be closing for the season around Thanksgiving except for eggs, which are sold year-round on the honor system.

Phone: (203) 268-6705
Hours
Monday - Friday: 10.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday: 9.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.

Email your recipes to recipes@sherwoodfarm.org if you’d like to be included in their farm cookbook. www.sherwoodfarm.org

If you take a student to the farm stand, she will learn that fresh, local food is not only affordable and convenient, but nutritious and delicious. That’s the lesson learned today by a group of seventeen Mercy Learning Center students thanks to a Health Eating program cooked up by the Junior League of Eastern Fairfield County.

The Junior League volunteers and I met with Sharon Sanford and her students at Mercy Learning Center and took a quick walk to the Marina Village farm stand where we were met with open arms by chef and food policy advocate Michel Nischan, who is Wholesome Wave’s president and CEO. As one of Wholesome Wave Foundation’s

core “Nourishing Neighborhoods” programs, the Neighborhood Farm Stand Program brings Park City Harvest farm stands deep within neighborhoods of under-served Bridgeport, Connecticut where shoppers can purchase CT grown fruit and produce using SNAP-EBT cards and Senior/WIC FMNP checks. Until last month shoppers were able to redeem their cards and checks for double their value in farm stand tokens. Wholesome Wave is working to secure funding to reinstate this Double Value Coupon program.

Heather Harrington, MS RD and Tina Dugdale, MS RN RD, both Extension Instructors from UCONN’s Department of AlliedHealth Sciences at the University of Connecticut, discussed the produce and fruit available at the farm stand and how to prepare it. My favorite part of this was hearing from the students themselves and how they used the vegetables in their native dishes. My mouth began to water thinking about the chile rellenos that

one student was going to make with the Poblano peppers. Another was planning to make fresh salsa using tomatoes, and jalapenos from the farm stand. Michel Nischan lent some great culinary advice: “Zucchini is great in salsa. Just sprinkle squash and zucchini with salt. Let it sit for 15 minutes to soften it up a bit. You can add it to salsa and it’s delicious! Pour it over pasta for a quick dinner.” The zucchini sold out today!

The students were clearly enjoying themselves and made quick work of shopping. One declared “I’m going to eat so delicious tonight!” as she stuffed her bags with zucchini, tomatoes, apples, corn, green beans, and chile peppers. When it was time to check out, each student was given a reusable shopping bag, courtesy of Wholesome Wave, a paper bag donated by Trader Joe’s of Fairfield, and $20 in tokens provided through funding from the Junior League.

I’m looking forward to returning to Mercy in November to work directly with the students in their teaching kitchen. They’re gathering their favorite home recipes for me to tweak with some healthier ingredients or cooking methods. They don’t know it, but I’m looking forward to learning

how to make dishes from their native countries, which span the globe and include Haiti and Peru, as much as I am looking forward to sharing my knowledge with them.

When I asked the students to rate their experience at the market, the votes were unanimous. It’s a 10! I think we’ve got a winner.

Ambler Farm’s red barn immediately reminded me of Margaret Wise Brown’s board book, Big Red Barn, which I must have read, complete with animal sounds, hundreds of times to my children. How fitting that the stories told and lessons taught at Ambler Farm are in great part designed for children.

Ann Bell, President of Friends of Ambler Farm, took two hours out of her morning to walk a group of local/sustainable food advocates around the farm and educate us about their mission, history, programs and plans for the future. That Ambler has a close working relationship with the Wilton Public Schools is reason enough to celebrate. And celebrate they do. Sunday, October 4 is Ambler Farm Day and all are invited from noon-4 for good old fashioned on-farm fun and games. A $20 family entrance fee buys you apple sling shots, pumpkin catapults, live music, crafts including making your own scarecrow, hay rides, farm animals and much more.

The mission of the Friends of Ambler Farm “is to celebrate Wilton’s agrarian roots through active learning programs, sustainable agriculture, responsible land stewardship, and historic preservation.” 2009 marks the group’s third consecutive year hosting the New Canaan Nature Center’s intradistrict LINKS program, which links suburban schools like Wilton’s Cider Mill with urban schools like Norwalk’s Marvin School together for five hands-on environmental programs. Ambler’s day-long LINKS event is an opportunity for the children to experience what life on a New England farm was like. Their day is packed with sack, wheelbarrow, and egg and spoon races, along with hands-on activities including cornbread baking, landscape painting in watercolors, and potato planting in the fields with Farmer Ben. The children form lasting bonds with their partner schools while learning about where their food really comes from.

Kevin Meehan, the Science Instructional Leader at Wilton’s Cider Mill School, also happens to be Ambler’s manager-in-residence and therefore one very busy person. The fifth graders participate in a mid-May seed planting program and an Underground Railroad event, which is tailored to the school’s curriculum. In March the fourth graders came to the farm, instead of the Eli Whitney Museum, for hands-on learning about this famous American best known for inventing the cotton gin. Third graders studying about forests and Native Americans now come with their families to participate in the collection of maple tree sap and work involved in evaporating it down in to maple syrup in the early spring. The program has been so successful that it will likely be expanded to include more of the local community.

The Apprentice Program runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays through the spring, summer and fall and allows 20 middle schoolers to earn volunteer hours by performing farm activities ranging from taking care of the animals to collecting eggs, working in the educational garden, moving the lawn, building chicken coops, fixing tractors, helping farmer Ben in the fields and evening cooking! The season finale is a camp out and pasta party. Participants who want to continue on may become apprentice mentors in high school.

Fear not! Even if your kids are not in Wilton Public Schools there are ample opportunities for them to visit and enjoy the farm. Ambler recently hosted kindergarteners from Fairfield’s McKinley School who  got to collect eggs in the hen house! Summer Farm Camp is overseen by Kevin and runs daily from 9-2  for 4 weeks beginning the end of June and ending the last week of July.  Student campers from pre-K through 7th grade are divided by grade level for age-appropriate activities and  “learn about the plants and animals on which farmers and communities depend. Each week  includes hayrides, planting, harvesting, hands-on projects, cooking, animals to visit, fun and games, and more” according to the web site.

Family and adults only programs include a green gardening program to help you prepare and compost for your own organic garden, the honey harvest in September, wreath making in the winter, farm BBQs in the summer, and cooking classes year round. Ambler Farm Day on October 4 offers you a rare chance to buy their maple syrup. The Friends of Ambler Farm are working to expand programming to include more adult cooking classes and plan to partner with the Wilton Historical Society to offer soap-making, quilt-making, scrapbooking (old fashioned), and felting classes.

Ambler’s farmer stand runs on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10:30-5 through October and then reopens for the week of Thanksgiving. The farm also sells its organic, heirloom vegetables to Tuscan Oven, where they’re highlighted on the menu, and on Wednesdays’ at Wilton’s new farmers’ market at the Wilton Public Library.

It was the most beautiful late summer day one could hope for when attending an outdoor farm lunch. The backdrop of sunflowers  and zinnia in bloom and ripening swiss chard added the most brilliant yet tranquilizing effect to the well-planned and executed event. The setting was Patti Popp’s Sport Hill Farm in Easton and our hostess was Amie Hall, a holistic health counselor and cooking coach. Amie regularly holds lunches here and the next one is on October 13 (see Event Calendar for details).

Patti and her husband started farming the property in 2000 and have been growing their small organic farm, well, organically. They serve the community not only through their on- farm stand (open Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10-6) but also through programs at a local school and their CSA. The Unquowa School runs a summer farm camp that Patti hosts and their cafeteria serves local, organic food picked fresh daily from their fields.  Sport Hill Farm’s CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program has grown from 20 families to 75 and still cannot meet the demand (read long waiting list).

Let’s begin the feast. The amuse- bouche of raw patty pan squash was a revelation - soft and slightly sweet with the warmth of the sun still on it. Lunch began in earnest with warm and crusty Wave Hill bread and heads of roasted garlic served on a small cast iron skillet.  I combined the two for a savory combination of crunchy and silky smooth textures.

Next came the  lima bean, butternut and patty pan squash soup which had been simmering since our arrival. Served in a green pepper bowl, it was light, tasty and satisfying and I’m pretty sure nobody at my table was able to resist a second serving.

The secret to a salad using raw kale is to let it sit. With lettuce you wind up with a soggy mess, but with kale the result is sublime. The dressing was made with orange juice, Nama Shoyu (organic raw unpastueurized soy sauce) and olive oil.  If you have never cooked with soy sauce or used it in a dressing, go out a buy a bottle and start experimenting. Soy sauce contains the fifth taste, L-glutamate, which the Japanese call umami. Do not underestimate the power of umami to deepen and enrich the flavor of a dish. Go put that soy sauce on your list.

The Simply Delicious Lasagna was just that, simple and delicious. The flavors just melted together so beautifully it was hard to believe it was spiked with kale and pesto. The magic continued as we were served black bean brownies that had no hint of black bean and bordered on fudge according to one guest. After that indulgence, I was ready for the farm tour.

Patti walked a few of us around her fields to get a closer look at her produce in its late summer glory. Enormous heads of cabbage, broccoli nearing ripeness, banana peppers galore, lettuce, and kale adorned the fields. I left with some melons from the farm stand and a fresh head of lettuce Patti cut for me and can’t wait to go home and make some soy sauce dressing to go with it.

Time magazine ran and excellent article on August 21 entitiled “Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food” by Bryan Walsh. Early in the article he point out “And perhaps worst of all, our food is increasingly bad for us, even dangerous. A series of recalls involving contaminated foods this year — including an outbreak of salmonella from tainted peanuts that killed at least eight people and sickened 600 — has consumers rightly worried about the safety of their meals.” I encourage you to read the entire article but I’m going to focus on food safety for now.

As we head into Labor Day and the final summer weeks of outdoor grilling, I feel compelled to share a very sobering number with you: “an astonishing 1,675,600 plus pounds of beef and ground meat were recalled since June 8, 2009″ for possible salmonella and E-coli contamination according to US Food Safety. Some was distributed to Connecticut and could have been further processed into other products by the stores.

If you have some ground meat in your freezer that you bought at a local grocer, I recommend you follow US Food Safety’s advice to throw it out just to be safe. My motto is “when in doubt, throw it out” because E-coli can be deadly.

You have options for buying local meat! Here are quite a few farmers’ markets that have local meat vendors that do not use hormones, steroids or antibiotics and raise their cattle at least partially on pasture:

Fairfield Farmer’s Market at the Brick Walk on Saturdays from 9-12 counts Eagle Wood Farms as a vendor. You can call or email ahead to place a special order for pick up at the market. Call 860-379-5978 and ask for one of the owners, Bryan Woods or Dave Finn, or email them using their web form. My favorite so far is their baby back ribs.

You can also find Eagle Wood at:

• Georgetown Farmers’ Market on Sundays from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
• Monroe Farmer’s Market on Fridays from 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Please visit the Fairfield Green Food Guide’s Buying Guide for farmer’s market locations and other information.

Westport Farmer’s Market at Imperial Avenue on Thursdays from 10-2 features Ox Hollow Farm, which just merged with Greyledge Farm and now bears their label. Contact them to place a special order you can pick up at the market. E-mail Tammie at tammie@oxhollowfarm.com
or call her at 203.263.6807 or 860.354.3315. The last steak we got from her was like butter.

Ox Hollow Farm is also a vendor at these farmers’ markets:

• Darien on Wednesdays from 11-6
• Ridgefield on Fridays from 3-6 pm
• New Canaan on Saturdays 10-2
• Branchville sells their burgers on Saturdays from 10-3, to go or hot off the grill.

Please visit the Fairfield Green Food Guide’s Buying Guide for farmer’s market locations and other information.

Rowayton Farmers’ Market at Pinkney Park on Fridays from 12-5 (new hours) offers Kinderhook Farm’s pasture-raised, grass-fed beef. This Hudson Valley, NY farm boasts “several hundred acres of rolling hay meadows and pastures allow us to raise our beef cattle on a 100% grass and legume diet that includes no grain, antibiotics, growth hormone, or animal by-products.” I haven’t tried this farm’s meat yet, but plan to soon.

What’s your favorite source for local meat?