2007 NOFA-NY Confernece spurs dreams
This entry was posted on 1/28/2007 12:30 PM and is filed under uncategorized.
I just spent Friday and Saturday at the 25th Anniversary meeting of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. Wow! It was a great conference full of informative workshops, inspiring speakers, and lots of catalogs and books available. I spent Friday afternoon in a session on how to get your farm certified organic. It is alot of work to make it happen, but well worth the effort. The NOFA NY seal of approval gives a farm credibility that their products are truly organic. Thankfully, NY reimburses 75% of the cost to become certified if you submit the paperwork by a certain date. The reimbursement is through a program from the NY State Dept. of Ag and Markets.
Saturday found me in workshops about cover crops & crop rotations, soil health on a sustainable farm, insect & disease management, and marketing to restaurants and wholesalers. We plan to get cover crops planted ASAP to out-compete the weeds and build organic matter. At this writing, I'm considering pairings like red clover & sudex, field peas & triticale, winter rye & hairy vetch. I'd love to grow oats, though the buckthorn existing is a host for a rust Puccinnia that grows on oats. We're definitely removing some of the buckthorn, so perhaps we'll sequester the rest to the far reaches. It is coarsely beautiful and yields berries for birds. That's the beauty of sustainability: BALANCE AND TOLERANCE.
I have an 8 inch pile of catalogs and reference materials to file from the conference. Fodder for my winter daydreams. I really enjoyed the company of other newbies. I'm sure they're also relishing their reading material. One of them has done graduate research on farmer's markets. I look forward to reading over his results. He farms with a team of Belgian draft horses. Karma brought them to him already trained. The implements also found their way to him. He was destined to be a farmer. I love our peers and comrades in farming. We remind each other of how important our role is in the world view. We feed others, feed the soil, encourage biodiversity, educate, create, and innovate. Our 'job' is to protect sacred wisdom. I AM SO GLAD TO BE A FARMER.
Aunt Bee