Square Dancing at the NOFA NY Conference

       Drinking raw milk was not the only new experience I had in upstate New York last weekend. After our creamy pit stop we drove a few more hours up to the conference and were greeted by long white beards, rubber boots, and the smell of patchouli at the the Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA) of New York annual conference in Saratoga Springs. As soon as I walked in I felt a surge of excitement, overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge available and thirsty to devour ALL of it. My mind was running, but that might also be because of the bluegrass and work songs sang by the apprentices of Sylvester Farm from Shelter Island, NY. Who would of thought...
       We kicked off friday with a Lecture by Shinji Hashimoto, a Japanese organic farmer from the village of Ichijima in Hyogo, Japan. Having continuously suffered throughout history from atomic bombs, earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis, and the Fukushima nuclear fiasco of 2011, the organic farmers of his region are experts on recovering from natural and manmade disasters. Shinji shared their struggles and experiences maintaining organic farming in a country that uses 7x the amount of pesticides as the U.S. Through his work with the Japanese Organic Agriculture Association and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture, Shinji has been educating and advocating for CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and organic farming since 1989. His model for Japanese CSAs offers a lot we can learn from, especially the regular member-farmer meetings at which they settle disputes with a party and feast. I especially liked Shinji's naturally occurring closed-loop system that integrates livestock with his crops. Ducks and rice coexist. Ducks don't eat rice, but eat the weeds and bugs in the patty water. Their poop is also a natural fertilizer so there is no needs for synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. It's amazing what nature will do all by itself.
       After talking about Zen and the art of farming and planning a potential WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) over a beer with Shinji, we mingled with like-minded individuals and feasted on a dinner comprised of local, organic products donated by NOFA farmers and producers. I'm glad I decided to go with my gut and pack flannels and jeans because a blazer and heels would not have been appropriate at this kind of conference.
       Saturday started the marathon and scramble for my brain. I started the day with a panel called, "Producing Food for Urban Consumers: A Panel on Planning & Marketing," given by Chris Fane of Grow NYC, Karen Washington of Just Food, and Sean Cummings of VINES and Binghamton Urban Farms. Their solutions for providing better access to local foods for low-income families in urban areas really inspired me to keep fighting for the same in the suburbs. I'd really like to get my Brentwood project going. Next I saw a lecture on farm direct marketing called, "Getting in the Side Door: Selling to Retailers for Beginners."Hopefully I can use the knowledge I learned there to help some local farms get their foot in the doors of Long Island restaurants. After lunch I sat in on a very advanced lecture on "GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) Labeling: Where Do We Go From Here?" that discussed the main traits and arguments in favor of GMOs. Thankfully our presenter spent the second half of the lecture disproving any theories in favor of GMOs, otherwise I would have been angry and confused. (I'm plan on writing a whole separate post on GMOs since a lot of people still don't really understand what they are and why they should care). Finally, I ended my saturday at "Foraing Fun: Fungi & Otherwise," which was by far my favorite workshop. Our speaker knew everything and anything about edible wilds, taking us through the seasons month-by-month and giving instructions of how to identify, harvest, store, and prepare various mushrooms and wild plants. I bought a book afterwards called "Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places" by Steve Brill and Evelyn Dean.  Saturday night ended a little something like this...Oh, did I mention I square danced with  Elizabeth Henderson, one of the pioneers of CSA and organic farming movement in the 70s?

Nick Martielli of Bluebird Dream Farm, LLC and Erik Danielson chow down on some organic turkey legs. Erik has worked for Roo Haven Farm, Stand Fast Beef, and Gong Garden and has an awesome blog: nautyideas.blogspot.com.  Note the barbarianism. 

       Although exhausted from Saturday's excitement and eagerness, Sunday was no day of rest. I started with "Self Promotion," a lecture to help introverts expand their business and people skills. It helped young farmers develop pitches for their ideas, how to communicate, and how not to be intimidated by people in suits. We did some fun exercises on eye contact, self-promotion, and breaking the ice. The last session of the weekend was "Organic Nutrition from  Medical Perspective,"which I am so sad I had to skip out on at the end. Sharon Ostfeld-Johns, a medical student from an organic farm family provided facts and theories about the health benefits of organic products. She didn't just list the scientific evidence favoring organic nutrition, but also recognized the evidence of studies such as The Standford Paper that argue against organic methods and explained why they were poorly conducted and biased.
      I'm getting tired thinking about how much I learned in that one weekend. I met so many amazing farmers, producers, and advocates for sustainable food. The weekend ended perfectly with a poetic and philosophical speech from NOFA-NY Farmer of the Year Scott Chaskey of Quail Hill Farms and the Peconic Land Trust. I have a stack of brochures, business cards, and vintage-inspired alternative energy posters I can't wait to frame for my house. Maybe I'll even go to the NOFA-Vermont conference this spring and take a stop at the Alchemist. Or start my own farm. Either way, this was one of the best weekends of my life thanks to my friend Bernadette Martin, owner of Friends & Farmers, Inc. and LI Green Markets. We drove home in a tired lull, in awe of some brioche from a local bakery and the many amazing individuals we met at the conference. It is truly refreshing to be surrounded by those who share your passion.