2010 Local Food Project Conference a Success!

Eric, Anne, Mary-Howell and Klaas answer questions from the audience....

 

 

Eric Nordell provides an overview of Beech Grove farm

Klaas and Mary-Howell Martens emphasize the importance of 'thinking upstream' in organic agriculture

Klaas tells the story of Lakeview's transition to organic agriculture

Guest enjoy the local food lunch!

The Martens family takes a break from presenting to refuel before the afternoon sessions...

The Nordells and the Martens rocked the house at Airlie Center with in-depth presentations on innovative approaches to organic agriculture, at this year's Local Food Project conference, last Wednesday, January 13.

Guests not only enjoyed five hours of intensive seminars with the Nordells & Martens, but a wonderful lunch featuring local foods, prepared by Chef Jeff and the Airlie Center kichen staff.

The premise of the annual Local Food Project is that quality, true quality, is at the heart of the local food movement in the United States. The quality that local food systems bring to our lives, in the form of fresh, nutrient dense vegetables, meats, dairy, fruits, grains and herbs; the quality of local farms in our communities as centers of learning for our children, habitat for wildlife, places of restoration for ecosystems and humans alike; the quality of the relationship between local food producers and consumers; all of this quality should resonate with high quality programs on sustainable agriculture as well.

Rather than a thousand presenters overwhelming the audience with information on countless subjects, the Local Food Project conference concentrates on a few, in-depth presentations featuring effective presenters, and in an intimate environment where attendees have the opportunity to ask questions both specific and broad in nature, where the conversations penetrate beneath a surface level consideration of any topic, to the deeper practical and philosophical underpinnings of the topics discussed. Both presenting farms each brought over twenty years of organic farm experience and production to the table, along with practical, tried-and-true approaches to innovative organic agriculture.

Eric & Anne Nordell of Beech Grove Farm (Trout Run, PA) kicked off the morning presentations with a seamless discussion of "Culture in Vegetable Cultivation", and explained the incredible sytem of crop rotations and strategies they have developed to eliminate weed pressure while enhancing soil fertility and crop growth. Klaas and Mary-Howell Martens of Lakeview Organic Grain (Penn Yan, NY) followed up with "Thinking Upstream", the story of their transition to organic agriculture after Klaas could no longer feel his left arm one season thanks to toxic agricultural chemicals, and the development of their organic grain and feed production in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

After a feast in the Airlie dining room featuring local foods, we split into breakout sessions where presenters could talk more in-depth about specific organic agriculture topics. In two afternoon sessions, the Nordells covered "Minimalist Tillage, Tools & Techniques", and "Season Extension with Portable Hoophouses". The Martens covered "Small Grains for Feed, Food & Forage", "Understanding and Using Your Soil Tests," and "Homesteading on a Commercial Scale Farm".

We wrapped up the day-long conference with a farmer social in the Garden Room at Airlie, an opportunity for networking amongst attendees and celebration of the knowledge-filled day.

A Tale of Two Farms: Conference Highlights, Part 4

Attendees at the Local Food Project’s 2009 conference—“Half Pint and Essex: A Tale of Two Farms”—had the chance to see a local draft horse team in action. Justin Lamountain, owner of Piedmont Virginia-based Greenman Forest Management, and his hardworking Suffolks gave conference attendees a sense of the horse power in use at Essex Farm. Justin and his team are also responsible for sustainably harvesting the wood used in the frame of our passive solar hoophouse. Conference participants had the chance to see these beautiful animals up close and ask questions about their work.

View more conference photos in our online album. Thank you to everyone who attended “A Tale of Two Farms”! We look forward to seeing you at the next Local Food Project at Airlie event. Our 2009 calendar will be available soon.

A Tale of Two Farms: Conference Highlights, Part 3

A memorable part of the Local Food Project’s 2009 conference—“Half Pint and Essex: A Tale of Two Farms”—was the delicious buffet lunch prepared by Airlie’s talented team of chefs.
Conference participants enjoyed a feast of seasonal, locally grown foods—roasted carrots and braised cabbage, braised pork with rosemary and shitake mushrooms, roasted red and purple potatoes with herbs, and other sumptuous dishes. Aside from the yummy feast of local foods, attendees had the chance to share new ideas sparked by the presentations and hear one another’s farming and gardening stories.

View more conference photos in our online album. Stay tuned for more highlights from “A Tale of Two Farms”!

A Tale of Two Farms: Conference Highlights, Part 2

The Local Food Project’s 2009 conference—“Half Pint and Essex: A Tale of Two Farms”—shared a peek into the innovative systems of two very different farms. Mara and Spencer Welton of Half Pint Farm (Burlington, VT) inspired us with their passion for farming and eagerness to have fun while doing it. They wowed our audience with their dedication to record-keeping, showing samples of spreadsheets with data on every aspect of running the farm—from weather and soil conditions, to market sales and production yields and beyond! Participants also got a kick out of Half Pint’s “annual meeting”—the demanding agenda for last year’s strategy session showed how comfortably Mara and Spencer take on various roles—CEO, farm manager, field worker, marketer.

Mark and Kristin Kimball of Essex Farm (Essex, NY) led an interactive presentation that mirrored how they describe their farm—high-energy and physical. A series of hand-drawn posters gave conference attendees a visual sense of the systems that make Essex go. Essex employees Sam Ehrenfeld and Matt Volz helped Mark and Kristin take questions from the audience and they all spoke about the farm’s main components: providing a full diet—veggies, fruits, dairy, meat, and baked goods; allowing its 75 members free choice in what they select each week (no pre-measured boxes or bags); feeding members on a year-round basis (summer and winter shares); working the farm with draft horse power; and operating as a membership organization where folks pay for the food at the beginning of each season.

Conference attendee Ellen Polishuk, owner of Potomac Vegetable Farms, appreciated getting such an up-close look into the farms’ systems: “The intensive study of these farms is exactly what made it so valuable, and of course the fact that they were so funny and amazing.”

View more conference photos in our online album. Stay tuned for more highlights from “A Tale of Two Farms”!

A Tale of Two Farms: Conference Highlights, Part 1

The Local Food Project’s 2009 conference—“Half Pint and Essex: A Tale of Two Farms”—was a great success! On January 9, we welcomed more than 100 participants to Airlie for a dynamic day of learning, networking, food and fun. We want to share some of the highlights from this fantastic event and welcome feedback from anyone who attended. If you weren’t able to make it, explore the blog for content summaries, photos, and other valuable info from the conference.

This photo shows folks gathered in our passive solar hoophouse for the networking social that wrapped up the day. After a morning of in-depth presentations on designing successful farm systems, conference participants had the chance to get to know one another and share their impressions. One attendee, Nancy Gravely, appreciated the opportunity to talk with other small farm enthusiasts: “It really makes a difference to spend time with other people who are doing it, seems as though something gets passed along just by being in their company.”

View more conference photos in our online album. Stay tuned for more highlights from “A Tale of Two Farms”!