Keith Morris and Dr. Elaine Ingham at NOFA MASS – this weekend!

Howdy friends!

Apologies for the late notice, but those of you in or near Massachusetts may want to catch a keynote presentation with Dr. Elaine Ingham- renown soil biology researcher, founder of Soil Foodweb Inc., and chief scientist for The Rodale Institute.

 

She’ll be presenting her keynote “The Organic Biological Revolution” this evening, Saturday, August 9 at 7:30pm.

I’ll be presenting at 10 am with Connor Steadman:

Agroforestry for Riverlands and Beyond

Agriculturally productive buffers (APBs) are an emerging agroforestry option for vulnerable river lands, which combines crop production, conservation, and flood resilience. This workshop provides an overview of ecological functions, crop systems, planning, and economic considerations for productive riparian buffers, plus case studies from current APB trials on Vermont farms.

And at 1 pm:

Nuts for the Northeast

     Since the dawn of time, nuts have been some of the most important food plants for human beings.  Nut trees and shrubs offer some of the most nutrient dense foods, provide habitat, show the potential for a ‘carbon-negative’ and flood resilient agriculture, and are economically valuable for a variety of products in addition to nuts themselves.

Join with grower and international farm designer Keith Morris to explore the fascinating ecology and mythology of a few nut trees particularly suited to growing on farms and in neighborhoods throughout in the northeast.  We’ll focus of hardy proven nuts, and introduce some of the breeding, trailing, and hybridizing happening at Willow Crossing Farm in Johnson, VT to select for disease resistance, organic production, high quality timber, oils, medicinal properties, and to migrate some important nuts typically grown in warmer regions.  Participants will leave with a deeper understanding and appreciation of some trees commonly found in towns and hillsides, and be introduced to promising less common nuts.

Keith Morris is the founder of Willow Crossing Farm and is Professor of Permaculture Design at the University of Vermont.  As a grower, builder, and designer, he has created ecologically regenerative and economically viable food systems in New Zealand, Colorado, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Quebec, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nigeria, Ghana, Denmark, and the Netherlands- working regularly throughout New England and in New York City.  He has spent over 20 years developing permaculture with farms, towns, schools, indigenous peoples, squats, activists, and in solidarity with exploited populations.

Willow Crossing Farm is Vermont’s longest established permaculture research and education facility, and a debt-free ‘financial permaculture’ working family farm.   We host one of the most diverse collections of tree crops in the northeast, offer farm-based dining and educational opportunities to the local communities, and host annual events that attract people from across the country and a surprising variety of international students. We grow a variety of fruits, nuts, berries, and vines in an organic nursery; experiment with new crops, techniques, and regenerative farm infrastructure; manage production to create wildlife refuge and pollinator sanctuary; and have been focused on developing ‘productive buffers’ to reforest floodplain and riverside banks with marketable production.

 

Also- subscribe to our blog (just enter your email above to the right) to receive announcements about Farm Tours and to view our fruit, nut, and medicinal plant collections, view the listing for the Nursery Sale, and other related workshops and conferences.

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Upcoming Events –

 

ROOT CELLARS AND COLD STORAGE DESIGN/ BUILD:

Oct 18 -19

Basement Retrofits –  Root cellars and food storage can be retrofitted into most any existing basement providing easy access to crops in winter and a more an overall more affordable project. In this project we will retrofit an existing basement with super insulated walls, and doors and install venting and shelves for effective crop storage. Participants will use power tools, build and hang doors, fashion a passive venting system out of Pipe and fittings, and learn important factors for design and construction of a small family sized cellar in an existing victorian home basement in downtown Jeffersonville.

Farm and Restaurant Coolbot Walkins – Learn how to build a super insulated and durable affordable Walk-in cooler that will be used for storing farm produce at Willow Crossing Farm. In this workshop we will construct a Cooler shell in an outdoor Kitchen to be cooled by a coolbot operating system tied to an air conditioner providing an affordable summer and on farm cold storage alternative. Participants will learn to estimate storage volumes needed for crop storage, scale mechanical systems for energy efficiency and effective cooling, learn the pros and cons of using this system instead of Compressor based mechanical system,  and effective ways to build a super insulated and durable shell for long term commercial use.

Winter- Spring Weekend Format PDC!

Please write to express your interest.  Details TBA soon.