Boston Flora

Tag: Michael Phillips

  • Saturday, March 23, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm – Orchard Management

    Successfully growing fruit for your family becomes straightforward when you narrow the big picture down to getting the basics right. This Berkshire Botanical Garden workshop on March 23 from 9 – 4, led by expert Michael Phillips, of Lost Nation Orchard in northern New Hampshire, covers complementary sprays backed by biodiversity and soil health to set the stage for successfully growing tree fruit in the western Massachusetts/tri-state region. Learn how fungal disease becomes manageable with wise variety choices and enhanced soil biology. Even major insect challenges can be resolved safely when you perceive who, what, and when. All sorts of fruits–from apples and pears to peaches and cherries and onward to berries–make for a diverse home-orchard planting.

    Instructor: Michael Phillips, of Lost Nation Orchard in northern New Hampshire, is the author of Mycorrhizal Planet:How Fungi and Plants Work Together to Create Dynamic Soils, The Apple Growers: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist, The Holistic Orchard: Tree Fruits and Berries the Biological Way.

    BBG Members: $110, Non-Members: $125. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/orchard-management

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  • Friday, August 11 – Sunday, August 13 – NOFA Summer Conference

    NOFA is grateful to have Dr. Don Huber and Michael Phillips as 2017’s keynote speakers at the NOFA Summer Conference, to be held August 11 – 13 at Hampshire College in Amherst. We are also excited to host an amazing collection of organic minded professionals that will enliven our potential to create robust, healthy food systems that provide real food for all. Our three-day conference offers a wide-range of seminars, workshops and other educational opportunities. Immerse yourself in a community of like-minded practitioners and curious learners eager to share inspiration and ideas for organic food, farming, health, activism, and beyond.

    From generations of past cultures that established the sustainable production systems upon which we base our modernized techniques, to our immediate relationship with neighbors and the global community of conscious minded producers and consumers, to the microbial life that supports our bodies and our environment, we exist within a vast web of interconnectedness.

    Simply put, we are better together. We are stronger together. Inseparable, in fact, from each other and the systems that support our lives and our food. If we work to ensure a harmonious relationship with ecological and social systems, we can cultivate fair and thriving production and consumer models to live within.

    Join us to build upon this interconnectedness – from microbial to human communities – on August 11-13! Registration prices range from $70 – $250. Check all the options and register at http://nofasummerconference.org/

  • Wednesday, March 18, 12:30 pm – 3:30 pm – The Orchard Ecosystem

    Farmer and writer Michael Phillips (www.groworganicapples.com,) author of The Holistic Orchard, discusses his holistic approach: health-guilding orchard practices that bring about wholesome fruit.  A healthy orchard ecosystem includes unerstanding soil biology, boosting tree immunity with deep nutrition, timing maintenance tasks relative to tree growth cycles, approaching insect pest situations from a life cycle standpoint, and abetting biodiversity.  Growing tree fruits and berries is something that anyone with a passionate desire can do, given wise guidance and a personal commitment to observe the teachings of the trees.  This Wellesley College Botanic Garden lunch and lecture will be held Wednesday, March 18, from 12:30 – 3:30, and the fee is $45 from Friends of WCBG, $60 for nonmembers (includes lunch.) Register by calling 781-283-3094, or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu.

  • Friday, March 8, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm – Growing Fruit in a Healthy Orchard Ecosystem

    The morning Berkshire Botanical Garden program with orchard health expert Michael Phillips will have participants embracing a whole new way of thinking about growing fruit holistically, as well as understanding the principles and practices for growing healthy fruit. The afternoon session will be an offsite field study in a home orchard, where the instructor will conduct an orchard evaluation and discuss how major insect challenges can be resolved safely and organically. He will discuss how to deal with disease from a holistic perspective, so that challenges faced at your locale will become far more manageable, as you build a system that keeps trees healthy from the get-go. Pruning for fruit production will be demonstrated.

    Michael Phillips is known across the country for helping people grow healthy apples and understand the healing virtues of plant medicines. He helped found a “community orchard movement” that provides a full immersion into the holistic approach to orcharding (www.GrowOrganicApples.com). His Lost Nation Orchard has two acres of trees and supplies local families with many varieties of organic apples. The program takes place Friday, March 8, from 9 – 4, and is $150. You may register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

  • Saturday, January 15, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – NOFA/Mass 24th Annual Winter Conference

    Northeast Organic Farming Association/Massachusetts will hold its 24th Annual Winter Conference on Saturday, January 15 from 9 – 5 at Worcester Technical High School, 1 Skyline Drive in Worcester. The Keynote Speaker will be Michael Phillips (below)  of Lost Nation Orchard in Groveton, New Hampshire. There will be all day seminars by Michael and by Nancy Phillips on Organic Apple Orcharding and Herbs for Family Health. Over 60 workshops, dozens of exhibitors and vendors, a children’s program, potluck lunch and annual meeting round out the day. Open registration at www.nofamass.org/conferences/winter/index.php. For more information about the conference, contact Cathleen O’Keefe, Winter Conference Coordinator, at wc@nofamass.org. For information on the workshops, please contact Michal Lundsen at michal@nofamass.org.

  • Saturday, November 7 – Sunday, November 8 – Franklin County CiderDays

    CiderDays is a community event celebrating all things apples in Franklin County, Massachusetts.  2009 marks the 15th year of this event and there will be two days of orchard tours, cider making and tastings, workshops, and much more.  This is for all who love apples, fresh or hard cider, apple cuisine, apple orchards, or just being in New England in the fall.  There is a charge for some of the activities but there is no admission for the self-guided tour of the orchards or the Marketplace at the Shelburne Buckland Community Center in Shelburne Falls.  Tickets for CiderDays 2009 are on sale at www.ciderday.org.

    Some highlights include workshops, talks and tastings from beginner through advanced for cider makers, home orchardists, and cider afficionados at various locations throughout the weekend.  Saturday, November 7, from 8 – 11, enjoy an Apple Pancake Breakfast at the Second Congregational Church, Court Square in Greenfield.  The Cider Salon, with tastings of a dozen or so ciders from around the country, takes place at the White Church Community Center in Old Deerfield on Saturday (you need a ticket for this one.)  The CiderDay Harvest Supper features Chef Paul Correnty, who will create a savory fall feast featuring apples, cider and other locally grown foods.  The dinner will be held in the Blue & White Society Room at the PVNA Teachers’ Center, 10 Memorial Street in Old Deerfield (another ticketed event.)  New Salem Orchards hosts its Apple Festival with child-friendly apple pressing, live alpacas, cider donuts, caramel apples, hot squash/cider soup, roasted hot dogs over a bonfire, apples, sweet cider, sun-cooked preserves and more on both Saturday and Sunday.  Claude Jolicouer gives a talk about cider varieties for the commercial orchard on Saturday at a location to be announced.  Organic orchardist Michael Phillips wassails apple trees at New Salem Orchards on Saturday from 1 – 2 pm.  Michael is also leading an orchard walk at Clarkdale Fruit Farms on Sunday from 1 – 2 pm.  Terry Maloney from West County Cider and Steve Wood from Farnum Hill Cider will conduct From Apple to Bottle on Sunday at the White Church Community Center (tickets required.)  Apples from the Slow Food Ark is a lecture on Sunday, also at the White Church Community Center, led by Ben Watson (not the New England Patriot) and Tom Burford – tickets needed for this one, too.  Formaggio’s South End pairs with Ben Watson later on Sunday for a Cider and Cheese Pairing (buy tickets for this one – it will be spectacular), and The Marketplace at Shelburne Buckland Community Center in Shelburne Falls will host local artisans and producers, food vendors, and, of course, apples.  For directions and more information, log on to www.ciderday.org.

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