Ways to Connect

I've got a couple of speaking engagements and another class coming up, and I thought I'd let you know where I'm going to be and when.

First, on Saturday, March 6, I'll be in Concord, NH at the NOFA-NH Winter Conference. The Northeast Organic Farming Association has been so powerful in creating conditions for small scale organic agriculture in our region that I'm thrilled to be doing the keynote for this conference. I'll be speaking mid-day on "Making a Place at the Table" and doing a workshop in the afternoon on low energy living with kids and teens. And I can't wait to attend other workshops! You can find links to early registration here http://nofanh.org/winterConference and I hope to meet some of you there!

Also, on Tuesday, March 9, from 6-8pm I'll be appearing on a panel exploring "Case Studies for the Way the Way Forward" at the public forum (free and open to the public) of the annual NESEA Building Energy Conference. With Linda Wigington (of the Affordable Comfort Institute, which works on Passivehaus-style home retrofits) and Tina Clark of Transition, we'll be talking about what a sustainable society might look like. You can find information and register for the conference here: http://www.nesea.org/buildingenergy/conferencecontent/

Also, Aaron and I are offering our Farm and Garden Design Class beginning Thursday, February 18. The class will cover all the basics of starting up a garden, expanding an existing one, extending your garden's season, seed starting, making good use of small spaces, basic livestock husbandry, soil fertility and garden design. The class will give each participant a chance to work up a full garden plan and the tools to implement it. The class is offered over 6 weeks beginning in mid-February, and is asynchronous and online - ie, you don't have to be online at any particular time to participate. Cost of the class is $180 or equivalent barter (email to discuss) and we do have several remaining spots on scholarship (provided by us) for low income students. We also welcome donations to allow us to grant additional free spots to low income households. Email me at jewishfarmer@gmail.com for more info.

Finally, after the raging success of my first apprenticeship weekend, I'm going to be running another one for families and kids (you are more than welcome to come if you don't have kids, but just be warned there will be a lot of wee ones running around and family-style programming in part - and yes, I will do another adults-only weekend at some point.) This one will be run at my house over Memorial Day weekend, May 28-31. Payment is by donation. I will have 3-5 (depending on housemate issues) rooms where families could sleep together, or there are local accomodations available at various motels and B and Bs. It will be spring and we'll have new kids (goat, not human), chicks, bunnies and ducklings in the barn, dirt to dig in, garden work galore and we'll cover a range of topics appropriate to adults and to kids.

Among them will be dairying and goat care, poultry keeping, animal raising for kids, garden design and implementation, herbs for tea and tincture, low energy life with kids and several other things - I'll send around a list of topics closer to the time. All children, obviously, must be accompanied by at least one adult ;-). I've also got space for 1-2 people who would like to come for free and trade their skills at leading kids through fun projects and keeping the chaos under control for a spot in the weekend. We have a gigantic playset, a fenced yard, lots of climbing trees, a creek for playing in and space to run, so this should be fun for everyone. Email for more details (and don't be surprised if I don't get back to you in the next day or two - I'm offline a lot, but not ignoring you!)

Sharon