Seacoast Eat Local

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IPM Update, Corn Heat, & Winter Greens
Twilight Farmers Meeting at Farmer Dave’s in Dracut MA

Time: Monday, March 14, 2011, 3:30 pm to 7:00pm

Location: Farmstand and greenhouses at Brox Farm, 1276 Broadway Road (Rte 113), Dracut, MA 01826-2813

Hosted by Dave Dumaresq

Sponsored by UMass Extension Vegetable Program

Join us for our first 2011 vegetable twilight meeting, hosted by Dave Dumaresq of Farmer Dave’s farm. Dave farms about 90 acres of vegetables and about 18,000 ft of heated greenhouse space, at three different locations including Bronx Farm in Dracut, MA. Dave uses greenhouses to grow flowers, winter and spring greens, greenhouse tomatoes, and vegetable transplants. Dave sells through two farm stands, several farmers markets, a summer CSA with many pickup locations, and some wholesale. Recently he has started selling through winter farmers markets and both winter and early spring CSA’s.

The full program will include:
•    Pre-season IPM update & weather monitoring information. Dave will describe innovative IPM techniques that he uses with assistance from crop consultant Jim Mussoni. Ruth Hazzard will introduce a new UMass Extension project that will offer basic and advanced training in specific IPM tactics, and Jon Clements will talk about our new network of weather stations and how you can use them to access on- line weather data and pest modeling and make more informed pest management decisions in both vegetables and fruit crops.

•    Corn burning furnace for greenhouse heat. This is the third winter that Dave has heated his warmest greenhouse with shelled corn. We will see his innovative heating system in action and discuss the costs, benefits, and challenges. We will review the economics of using corn for greenhouse heat, based on several years of economic data.

•    Growing & marketing greens in the wintertime. Farmer Dave’s has recently started growing and harvesting greens through the winter and early spring greens for a 10-week spring CSA using a sub- irrigation bench filled with compost and potting soil. Becky Sideman UNH Extension Veg. & Berry Specialist and UNH Extension Greenhouse Specialist Brian Krug will discuss their studies comparing benchtop production vs in-ground winter production for yield and energy use. Kate Donald from Seacoast Eat Local will talk about profitably marketing winter produce. Discussion of winter production and sales will continue over refreshments.

1 pesticide applicator recertification credits will be offered. Refreshments will be served.

Directions from Route 93: Take exit 46 for MA-110/MA-113 toward Lawrence/Dracut. At the traffic circle, take the 3rd exit onto Lowell St. Slight right at MA-113/N Lowell St. Continue for ~2.4 miles, the farm stand will be on your right.

For pre-registration or more information contact Andy Cavanagh at 413-577-3976 or acavanagh@psis.umass.edu. Pre-registration is encouraged but walk-ins are welcome. Attendance is free.

This just in — Blue Seal Feeds is holding a poultry seminar in Rochester tonight; call ahead, space is limited:

A free poultry seminar will be held on Thursday, March 3, from 6:30-8:30 pm at the American Legion Hall, Eastern Ave Rochester, Phillips Room.

 

Space is limited. Sign up at Blue Seal Feeds, 275 Portland St., Rochester, NH 03867

rochesterstore@blueseal.com

603-332-4122

 

Guest speakers:

Jason Harris, Blue Seal Feeds TSM

Overall health, production, raising broilers and layers

 

Joseph Marquette, Yellow House Farm, Barrington, NH

Heritage breeds

 

Snacks/refreshments provided Cash bar available

Door prizes and giveaways

The White House ventures further into eating locally with their homebrewed White House Honey Ale, made with honey from the White House beehive. Growing their own hops might be next! Obama Foodarama, which covers White House food initiatives, reports:

The Obamas Make History With Homebrewed White House Honey Ale

 

White House beermaking is a milestone in American culinary history that will continue; there might even be Hops planted in the Kitchen Garden.

 

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama made culinary history when they served homebrewed White House Honey Ale, made with a pound of honey from the White House Beehive, to guests at last month’s Super Bowl party. They are the first presidential couple to ever charge their chefs with the ancient–and now wildly popular–art of homebrewing, according to White House Curator Bill Allman.

 

Allman is the very busy historian who oversees every extraordinary aspect of the most famous 132-room museum/residence in America, from the priceless antiques and art to the decades of records about domestic practices and sometimes curious presidential habits. The Obamas’ White House homebreweing has no precedent: Allman did a thorough check of his sources, beginning with the days when the White House was first occupied more than 200 years ago.

 

“We have no record of beer brewing at the White House,” Allman said.

 

Read more >

The 9th Annual NOFA-NH Winter Conference is just a few weeks away on Saturday, March 19th. This year’s conference will be held in a new location at Exeter High School in Exeter, NH — come out in and support the movement for Local Organic Food!

The Northeast Organic Farmers Association of New Hampshire [NOFA-NH] will host its annual conference for farmers, gardeners and others who care about local food and agriculture issues on Saturday, March 19 in Exeter, New Hampshire. More than 1,000 attendees are expected to attend this year’s event, with a theme of “Localizing Food: Organic Matters.”

 

“This is a great conference for everyone who cares about food and agriculture: gardeners, homesteaders, farmers, and everyone who eats,” said Jim Ramanek, program coordinator. “We also have a special focus this year on beginning farmers, with lots of workshops dedicated to their needs. The number of small farms in New Hampshire is increasing steadily, with most of those farmers being young people. Their success is critical to the future of agriculture in our state.” The newly released documentary film, The Greenhorns, exploring the lives of America’s young farming community, will be shown at the conference. Scholarship assistance for young farmers is available with the help of a USDA grant.

 

“This conference has something for everyone,” said Tameson O’Brien, conference coordinator. “Home gardeners and large farmers alike will tap into valuable training opportunities.” Workshop topics will focus on season extension, soil building, livestock, marketing, cooking, herbal topics and more. With a market fair featuring close to 100 vendors, children’s programs and a bountiful potluck lunch, the day offers activities for everyone, ages five and up.

 

Keynote speakers Ben Hewitt [in photograph] and Jack Lazor will share their Vermont experiences on cultivating an organic future as well as connecting food, farms, and communities. Ben Hewitt, author of The Town That Food Saved, writes and farms in Cabot, Vermont. Jack Lazor and his wife Anne, of Butterworks Farm in Westfield, Vermont, have been farming organically since 1975 and are totally self-sufficient, growing all the food their cows eat, including corn, oats, barley, soybeans, and alfalfa.

 

The conference will feature more than 40 workshops, with registration fees ranging from $20 to $60. An early-bird discount is available for those who register before March 7th. For more information on the conference and registration, visit the NOFA-NH website at www.nofanh.org or call the NOFA-NH office at 603.224.5022.