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.

 

INHABIT: Willow Crossing Farm- a Productive Riparian Buffers Video Vignette

UPDATE!  There will be a special screening of the FULL FILM with cast and crew members APRIL 3 at the ROXY THEATRE in Burlington, VT- Stay tuned for more details and email us for advance ticket reservations.

Hi Folks!

I know we’ve been sending out a lot of plant sale announcements lately, so we just wanted to take a minute and THANK YOU for supporting our work!

Here’s a short vignette of our riverbank reforestation work captured on the water and created by filmmakers Costa Boutsikaris and Emmett Brennan captured last spring.

Enjoy!

Costa successfully funded the Northeastern Permaculture Documentary in 2012

with footage taken here with Prospect Rock Permaculture at Willow Crossing Farm.

http://kck.st/KaocHr

 

They are now fundraising for the finished product, which is looking incredible! Check it out:

We’ve put a few hundred more fruits, nuts, berries, vines in the ground this spring thanks to your support of our work!

Next week, we’ll begin design and installation for a Permaculture Plant Nursery at St. Michael’s College, while training the schools first Permaculture Design Certification Students!

I’ll be announcing a few public events if you’d like to come check out a film or speaker, meet the students, and network with some other professional growers, ecological designers, and builders.

Bare root Hybrid Hazelnuts, Black Locust, and Gooseberries are still available from the farm. A limited selection of all of our plants will be available in pots by appointment throughout the summer.

Stop by or give a call if you want to pitch in on some farm building or tree planting this spring, and otherwise I hope to be off the computer!

Peace and Trees!
Keith

Productive Riparian Buffers and Tree Crops Tour

The female flowers of a ‘Buartnut’, which have been hand pollinated by Butternut- giving us Vermont’s first ‘ButterBuarts’!

Hi Friends and Colleagues,

Here is a last minute invitation to any of you who may be interested in joining a small group of students, researchers, and folks with NOFA and UVM Extension for an informal tour of the ‘productive buffers’ and Tree Crops collection at Willow Crossing Farm in Johnson, VT.

As our rivers, riverside farms, and riverside towns are increasingly put to the test with erratic weather we look forward to contributing to the conversation about the health of our rivers and agricultural economy with over a decade of experience testing 100s of species of plants suitable for ‘productive buffers’ and productive floodplain reforestation.  This event is to prelude a larger event this fall, and a multi-day ‘Tree Crops Symposium’ scheduled for the late spring of 2013 with some of the world’s foremost experts in tree crops, nut production, agroforestry, and non-timber forest products.

Willow Crossing Farm (Prospect Rock Permaculture) has been dedicated to making floodplain reforestation profitable and ecologically regenerative since 2001.  Through combinations of native riparian plants with both native and rare nut, fruit, sugar, timber, and firewood producing trees, berries and medicinal herbs, we’ve worked to reforest our river’s corridors and flood prone sections of our farm aiming to prevent erosion; conserve soil and nutrients; shade waterways and improve water quality; create fish, wildlife, and pollinator habitat; and offset atmospheric carbon- all while adding to our long-term bottom line.

We grow many different varieties of plums, apples, cherries, pears, apricots, peaches, berries, paw paws, and over 17 species of nut trees.

Last summer, our systems were put to the test with two 500 year floods within 4 months and largely performed as designed- catching and diverting flotsam and protecting cultivated areas, greenhouses, and other farm infrastructure.  Now, we are inviting other farmers, and anyone interested in watershed health and the potential for ecologically regenerative and carbon-negative farming systems to take inspiration from our trials, and share in our mistakes, successes, and other information gained.

Please be in touch with Keith Morris (Keith@ProspectRock.org or (802) 734-1129) if you are interested in attending.

Please feel free to share with students or other potentially interested contacts or networks.

Best,
Keith