NOFA-NY NO-WAY

Gold Heart Dicentra

Today winter kept me from attending the NOFA-NY conference in Saratoga Springs so I'm feeling a little more need for the sight of spring than usual.  Instead of feeling blessed by the beauty of a new blanket of snow I spent the day angry at the treachery it creates on the roads and cursing myself for not getting a hotel in Saratoga Springs rather than committing to driving back and forth from Hudson (it's only an hour!) each day of the three-day conference.  Tristan did a lot of cursing also, since the conference hosts an awesome children's program that he enjoyed immensely yesterday. 

The theme of this particular conference (NOFA, the Northeast Organic Farming Association, holds several throughout the season) is soil.  Soil's significance in agriculture is obvious, but the mismanagement of soil should be hugely important to EVERYONE as it contributes tremendously to pollution and climate change.  As a gardener, it is practically my religion; the soil is everything.  It is teeming with life that we've only just barely begun to understand.  It is a medium for gestation and nourishment and for communication between disparate species.  Unfortunately organic agriculture is just as guilty as conventional agriculture when it comes to exploiting the soil.  Some of the voices at this conference give me hope that the tide is turning.  Soil appreciation and conservation and even CREATION should be foremost on the minds of anyone that grows food.  The challenge of creating a farm from scratch with minimal disruption of the fragile ecosystem of the soil is something I had hoped to hear discussed today but FUCKING DIDN'T, THANKS WINTER!!

TAKE THAT!

Yesterday I had the privilege of falling in love with seeing Jean-Martin Fortier speak about his incredibly tiny-but-successful farming (but really just French intensive gardening) operation outside of Montreal.  His book, The Market Gardener, was a huge part of making me believe that I really could manage a farm, just using the experience and skills I've gleaned from maintaining (or sometimes not maintaining, at least to my neighbors' satisfaction) my own extensive and diverse backyard garden.  I worked up the courage to tell him as much but before I could get more than a few words out Tristan, in a very symbolic gesture, placed his person directly between Jean-Martin and I, disrupting nearly all audio-visual contact.  Thanks, Tristan.

You're welcome, Mom.

I was also able to hear Hugh Williams of Threshold Farm here in Columbia County talk a little about his biodynamic methods, i.e. maintaining a closed system on his farm, using external inputs sparingly and maintaining and creating soil fertility with careful management of his cattle herd and grasses.  As he spoke he would occasionally digress and allude to the magic and intrinsic synergy of the soil and the animals and the plants left to their primal ways and it was incredibly inspiring to me.  He seems like quite a magical man himself, and I'm so anxious and hopeful to speak more with Hugh and his lovely wife.  And to get their advice on fruit tree pruning because when I see their orchards I'm faced with the reality that I just don't have a clue.

Tristan and I met so many lovely people yesterday in addition to the speakers above, and it pains me to think of what we missed today.  We'll hopefully make it tomorrow, but even if we don't our experiences yesterday were so fantastic and reassuring and motivating that it's hard to feel regret, exactly.  We're on a path that continues to feel right.  We're met with support and encouragement everywhere we turn here.  And occasionally we meet cute Québécois and that's even better.  If I prayed I'd be praying for more of that.  Those of you that do, please get on it.