Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester continues its 2019 Speaker Series on July 24 with Allison Houghton speaking on Climate Resilience in Your Own Backyard. Soil is alive with more microbes in a teaspoon of healthy soil than there are people on this planet. Only in recent years have we come to fully understand the extent to which a thriving soil also has the potential to rapidly sequester carbon, store and filter water, buffer extremes, break down toxins, and support biodiverse ecosystems. This talk is a call for gardeners to learn to become stewards of the immense thriving world beneath our feet. Learning these skills not only has benefits for our gardens and the food we grow, but also for our local ecosystems, watersheds, communities, and for the planet. Free, but registration required at www.wlfarm.org

Allison Houghton is a soil, plant and natural world enthusiast. She recently wrote The Carbon Sequestering Garden: Gardening for the Planet While Growing Some of the Best Food Possible. She has played many roles over the past few years as a gardener, farmer, teacher, writer, mother, and naturalist, including as former Director of Horticulture at Green City Growers in Somerville where she wrote the gardening guide, The Urban Bounty: How To Grow Fresh Food, Anywhere. She currently works at the Northeast Organic Farming Association with their soil technical assistance program.