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Tag Archives: Permaculture Farming
Sunday in NH: Nuts and Cannabis!
Posted by on March 16, 2018
Nuts for the Northeast and Organic Cannabis-
Keith Morris at NOFA NH Sunday, March 18, 2018
106 Village Street Concord, NH 03303
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.
Organic Cannabis
Long cultivated for seed, oil, fiber, medicine, and its intoxicating effects-the cannabis plant has a fascinating history and offers tremendous agricultural potential. With various types of legalization possible in New Hampshire and surrounding us in Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Canada, we’ll explore this plant with a particular eye towards CBD (Cannabidinol) and the rapidly expanding legal recreational industry. While serving to introduce some basics to folks new to the plant and its growth, this workshop will also offer valuable information to more experienced growers, exploring the present and possible future legal nuances and its potential role in regenerative agriculture on small farms, market gardens, homesteads, and with small indoor growers.
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Keith Morris is the founder of Willow Crossing Farm- Vermont’s longest running Permaculture/ Agroforestry Research Site- producing fruits, nuts, eggs, herbs, nursery plants, solar power, farm dinners, educational events, kids programs, nature and yoga education with local schools, and small farm-based music festivals. Willow Crossing has been implemented entirely debt-free, and without pre-existing capital- through sweat equity and deliberate financial permaculture/ community-supported social design. Off farm, Keith helps growers and communities design appropriate infrastructure to make food systems more regenerative, resilient, and connected; and started the Permaculture Education programs at the University of Vermont, Sterling College, the Yestermorrow Design Build School, St. Mikes College, and Paul Smiths College, and with the USAID Farmer to Farmer Program.
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.
Rising Appalachia is coming back to the farm!
AND we’re hosting an affordable 1 week intensive Permaculture Action Camp!
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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Pruning the Forest Garden- March 31 REGISTER NOW
Hands-on in Vermont’s most diverse collection of Fruits, Nuts, Berries, and Vines!
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7th Annual Grafting Workshop and Scionwood Exchange- April 7, 2018 REGISTER NOW
Learn how to make more of your favorite apples, plums, peaches, pears, and more- and go home with your own grafted fruit tree!
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An unparalleled learning experience- with the most experienced teaching team in the northeast and beyond!
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FRUIT, NUT, BERRIES, VINES, and MEDICINAL HERB PLANT SALE! Pre-orders open now, for pick up beginning April 23.
Thank you for reading and sharing with your friends and networks! Look forward to seeing you.
Best,
Keith and Family
Fruit and Nut Tree Pruning Workshop- March 15
Posted by on February 27, 2014
Hands on- Fruit and Nut Tree Pruning
A day long exploration of the science and practice of ecological tree crop management for diverse yields.
Willow Crossing Farm
Johnson, VT
Sunday, MARCH 15
(Please note- new date!)
10 am – 4 pm
Join VT’s Master Horticulturalist Zach Leonard and Tree Farmer Keith Morris for a day of hands-on practice with fruit and nut tree pruning, in a diverse permaculture forest garden setting. Spend the morning in the large yurt learning the science and ecology of how trees lose limbs and ‘heal’, and explore the deep traditions of how humans beings observe and interact with this phenomenon.
We’ll synthesize a variety of pruning ideas, strategies, and techniques to help you develop your own philosophy, understanding, and confidence to go out and work with trees in your landscape in a regenerative and yielding way. After lunch and some hot cider we’ll go outside to explore one of VT’s oldest permaculture designed food forests- a reforestation of old pasture and hayfield in the floodplain of the Lamoille River. We’ll briefly tour ‘Productive Buffers’, wildlife corridors, and stop to work in zones of Plums, Apples, Peaches, Pears, Berries, Vines, Hazelnuts, Walnuts, and more- driven by the group’s interest, and discussing pruning techniques for trees both young and old.
We’ll look at and evaluate previous years of pruning decisions and ensuing consequences, and explore some natural tree injuries and healing responses, helping participants to better understand the implications of our pruning decisions over varying periods of time.
We’ll finish the day practicing with different tools to cut wood cleanly- with an eye towards maximizing production, fruit quality, ease of future maintenance, and minimizing pest and disease pressure. We’ll also set the stage for top-working, multi-variety grafting, species changes (i.e.. Peaches on Plum roots), and other forms of propagation, in preparation for our March 21 Grafting Workshop and Scionwood Exchange.
We’ll also prune mature, bearing Hazelnuts and manage black locust, walnut, butternut/ buartnut, pecans, and more for nuts, firewood, high-value lumber, succession, aesthetics, and other long-term aims.
We’ll pass around, demonstrate, and allow you to trial favorite tools, including pruners, saws, pole saws, etc.; speak to their selection and maintenance, and discuss hygienic practices to promote orchard health and reduce cross-contamination.
This workshop kicks off our series for 2015!
Please enter your email in the box on the right hand side of the page, or ‘like’ us on Facebook to get the calendar and details for our other offerings such as: fruit tree grafting (March 21), nursery plant sale, compost toilet design/ build workshop, natural beekeeping workshop, nut production, diverse understory planting, spring development for gravity fed irrigation, natural building, compost heat, season extension, earth oven construction, stone masonry, and more. Our Plum Flower Festival and Nursery Plant Sale is scheduled for May 3.
Our 2015 Permaculture Design Certification Course will be offered June 20- July 2 OR July 19- 31, and they are filling quickly.
We have full scholarships available to income-elligible Vermont State residents, and are presently fundraising for gender and diversity leadership scholarships for out of state residents- please be in touch if you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution.
Applications for our Advanced Permaculture Design / Build /Grow / Teach internship, and APDC guided portfolio development are accepted on a rolling basis.
Event is $60 suggested donation/ sliding scale, including warm or cold cider during lunch and a round of hard cider tasting (21 and over) afterwards. No one will be refused for lack of funds.
*We are looking for photographers or videographers to help document the event, or create a short educational video.*
Please pre-register, and dress to spend the day outdoors.
We’ll need your email address if you’re planning on coming because the weather will determine where we’ll have people park. Feel free to bring your *clean, sterile, and sharp* pruners and saws.
Apple Blossoms at High Hopes Orchard
Zach Leonard is a master horticulturalist and was farm manager of Elmore Roots Nursery for over a decade. He and his family have created High Hopes Farm, a diverse, off-grid homestead, where they preserve heirloom apples, sheep, and more. He runs High Hopes Tree Care, Vermont’s most experienced orchard restoration and maintenance service specializing in Organic Management.
Felco’s F 13s- the pruner of choice for large hands, or thick branches
Keith Morris has been collecting and experimenting with rare fruit and nut trees for 14 years, and is professor of ecological design at the University of Vermont. He has worked to help create resilient, diverse, socially just, and economically viable food systems around the world since 1996. Please spread the word to potentially interested friends and networks. Thank you for your support of our work!
Thanks,
Keith and Crew
Willow Crossing Farm
You can view some photos from last years event and share this via social media HERE.
Nuts for the Northeast- NOFA VT Winter Conference, Sat. Feb. 15
Posted by on January 3, 2013
Hardy Organic Nuts for Farms and Yards
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Keith Morris at
NOFA VT 32nd Annual Winter Conference
3:45 – 5:00 pm
Silver Maple Ball Room, Davis Center UVM
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 Spring Nursery Sale, and other related workshops and conferences.
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Stay tuned for details about our February Pruning Workshop, March Grafting Workshop, Farm Dinners, and other upcoming events.
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Our 2014 Summer Permaculture Design Certification (July 20 – August 1) is filling fast- please be in touch if you would like to reserve your space!
This is Vermont’s oldest independent Permaculture Design Certification Course, with the most highly regarded PDC and teaching team in the Northeast. Prospect Rock Permaculture has largest body of PDC alumni/ graduates in the North America! We hope you can join us.
Its almost full!
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With the Happiest Wishes for your New Year, and Warm Winter Blessings,
The Prospect Rock Permaculture Family and Crew
Nov. 15- Keynote Presentation in NH and Comments for FSMA!
Posted by on November 6, 2012
New Hampshire- 2100
Farms for the Future
Ecological Regeneration and Economic Viability for Northeastern Farm Legacy
FRIDAY, November 15, 2013
6:00 PM — Newport, NH
As the 21 century gets underway, it appears ever more likely that we will face continued challenges and change at an unprecedented rate- likely even greater than experienced during the 20th century. As we face uncertainty in regards to climate, energy, government, and the global economy- we can fear change, scramble to react, or adapt appropriately and with intention.
Join with professional farm designer Keith Morris to explore how the study of ecology, history, and ecological design can help us act on the tremendous opportunities we have at present to make our farms more resilient, ecologically regenerative, and economically viable with an eye towards healthy communities and a lasting legacy into the future.
We’ll look to a few inspiring examples from here in the northeast and beyond of farms using permaculture to create health and abundance by combining tradition with new crops and techniques- focusing on the intersection of social and ecological health, and caring for future generations.
On Friday, November 15 at 6 pm, you are invited to join us for the 67th Annual Awards Dinner for the Sullivan County Conservation District. There will be a farm-sourced meal, recognition for stand-out farms and educators, and an opportunity to weave connections between area veteran farmers, young and new growers/ homesteaders, extension agents, and state and local representatives looking to engage in making a viable agricultural future for the region.
$15 Includes Dinner and Award Ceremony, to make a reservation, please contact Lionel Chute, ASAP
lchute@sullivancountynh.gov
6:00 PM in the Sugar River Bank Community Room
10 N. Main St. in Newport, NH
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HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT FSMA (the Food Safety Modernization & Safety Act)!?
Comments are due by NOV. 15!
The rules, as currently proposed, have the potential to be very damaging to many farms – especially those who are focused on veggies and fruits, or concerned about Food Sovereignty.
RURAL VERMONT, NOFA VT, UVM EXTENSION, New England Farmers’ Union, and the VT Agency of Agriculture have pulled together some of the best analysis of what you need to know and what you CAN DO to add your voice to the protest over how these proposed rules could devastate small scale agriculture in the northeast.
PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR AN AWESOME COLLECTION OF INFORMATION ON HOW TO LEARN MORE AND SUBMIT EFFECTIVE, INFORMED COMMENTS!
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We’ll also be presenting with MARK SHEPARD (whose farm is pictured in the flyer above) during this Winter’s NOFA MASS Conference on January 11.
AND with NOFA VT on February 15
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LASTLY- Our internationally recognized, farm-based PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATION COURSE will be held this summer July 20 – August 1, and is already beginning to fill! Please reserve your space now, and feel free to share course information with potentially interested friends and networks.
Happy Harvest-
Keith and Family
ProspectRock.org 