Boston Flora

Tag: Nofa

  • Saturday, February 18, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm – Urban Homesteading Festival

    The homesteading movement is all about self-sufficiency, characterized by growing and preserving food, and conjuring up images of greenhouses, gardens, and cellars filled with dusty jars. But what about us city-dwellers? How can we move towards self-sufficiency and embrace this movement without packing up and moving to rural America?

    The KITCHEN at The Boston Public Market, Slow Food Boston, and The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) are jointly hosting The Urban Homesteading Festival on Saturday, February 18th from 11 – 4 at The KITCHEN at the Boston Public Market, 100 Hanover Street, to train Boston urbanites how to modify traditional homesteading techniques to work in an urban setting. The Conference will showcase six different topics. Session topics will include stocks & bone broth, food preservation techniques, home brewing, urban gardening, home made cheese, and working with herbs. Each session will be led by a leading expert who will walk attendees through the steps to making each product at home. Sessions will include demonstrations, tastes of finished products, and time for Q&A. Bring a notebook and prepare to learn A LOT. Each hour-long session will be packed with tips and tricks, recipes, and answers to all your burning questions. $28 – $48 – register online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/urban-homesteading-festival-tickets-31082660073?aff=PR

  • Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Invasive Plant Identification, Removal, and Control Strategies

    Michael Nadeau, founding member of the Organic Land Care Project, will explore invasive plants, their identification, removal and control strategies for gardeners and homeowners on Saturday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1 at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge. On Friday, his lecture at the botanical garden will focus on plant identification, removal and control strategies of common invasives.   On Saturday, the class will undertake an offsite site evaluation to demonstrate how to develop a realistic plan to manage invasive plants. This program focuses on practical applications to help the home and professional gardeners tackle this problem which is becoming increasingly pervasive.

    Michael Nadeau has been a landscaper, arborist, and ecological designer for over 40 years. He was a founding member of the Organic Land Care Project, a sister organization of the CT Chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, which created the first set of standards for organic landscaping based on NOFA and USDA Standards. Michael is a co-creator and instructor of the CT-NOFA Organic Land Care Accreditation Course, a previous owner of Plantscapes Organics, a Fairfield County-based landscape restoration company since 1980, and owner of Wholistic Land Care Consulting, LLC, in Sharon, CT. www.michaelnadeau.org. Photo of innovative invasive control by www.nyis.info.

    BBG members $40, nonmembers $45. Register online at https://berkshirebotanical.org/education/lectures-and-workshops/

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  • Sunday, April 10, 1:00 pm – Landscaping with Native Plants: Healing Our Home Turf

    Karen Bussolini is a lifelong organic gardener and lover of nature. Her Sunday, April 10 Cape Cod Museum of Natural History presentation is as much about ecological thinking and the importance of recognizing that our yards are part of an ecosystem, as it is about plants. She believes that everything we do on our home turf can heal and support that ecosystem or unknowingly cause damage.

    Karen will show a variety of attractive home landscapes based on natural systems and using native plants, especially shrubs and trees. She will also highlight specific native plants that commonly grow in the Eastern United States and make fine landscape plants, but are often overlooked or cleared to make way for exotic specimens. Readily available native plants that thrive in this region will be highlighted, including plants that are adapted to difficult conditions, such as rocky slopes, poor soil, shade and damp areas.

    Karen has a long career as a garden photographer, speaker and writer, and is a frequent contributor to The American Gardener, the magazine of The American Horticultural Society and Wildflower, published by The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. She has six books to her credit, including The Naturescaping Workbook, The Homeowner’s Complete Tree and Shrub Handbook, and Elegant Silvers, which she also co-authored. She is a NOFA Accredited Organic Land Care Professional with an eco-friendly garden coaching practice devoted to teaching homeowners to garden more sustainably. Her focus is on creating healthy yards that are resilient, full of life, diversity and delight.  Book signing and Q&A to follow the presentation, which begins at 1.  Lecture Admission is $10 per person APCC Members $5.  Tickets available online at www.ccmnh.org.

  • Wednesday, March 16, 10:00 am – A Visit to ‘Les Quatres Vents’: Frank Cabot’s Quebec Garden

    Wednesday, March 16, 10:00 am – A Visit to ‘Les Quatres Vents’: Frank Cabot’s Quebec Garden

    Frank Cabot, founder of the Garden Conservancy, was a plant collector of the first order. At the Garden Club of the Back Bay’s March meeting on March 16 at 10 am, Sally Muspratt will present an illustrated lecture of his showcase Quebec garden, which she revisited in May, 2015. The meeting will held at The College Club of Boston, 44 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Garden Club members will receive written notice of the meeting, which will be followed by an optional lunch.

    Sally McGuire Muspratt holds a Graduate Certificate in Landscape Design from Radcliffe College (1993), a certificate in Landscape Maintenance from UMass Extension (2002), an M.A. from Newnham College, Cambridge and a BA from Harvard. In 2010 she was accredited as an Organic Land Care Professional by the Northeast Organic Farming Association, and in 2011 as a Professional Landscape Designer by the APLD, the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (certification #344).

    Sally gardens in West Roxbury, MA and La Malbaie, Quebec. She serves on the Board of the Arboretum Park Conservancy and on the advisory committees of The Kelleher Rose Garden and the Park Overseers of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. She is past President of the Board of Cogdesign, past Chairman of the Landscape Design Study Classes, the Landscape Design Council of the National Council of State Garden Clubs, and the Civic Development Committee for the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts. If you are not a member but wish to attend please email info@bostonflora.com.

  • Saturday, January 16, 7:30 am – 7:30 pm – NOFA/Mass Winter Conference

    The Northeast Organic Farming Association, Massachusetts Chapter (NOFA/Mass) invites you to its annual conference at Worcester State University on Saturday, January 16, featuring exhibits, an all-day seminar, 70 workshops on organic farming, backyard/urban gardening, beekeeping, health, skill building and lots more.

    Keynote address by Ben Burkett, pictured below, family farmer and coordinator of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives.  The children’s conference (ages 3-12) provides lively, interactive nature and arts experiences for kids.  Hands-on, do-it-yourself workshops keep teens active and engaged.  For more information, visit http://www.nofamass.org/events/wc.

  • Friday, August 14 – Sunday, August 16 – NOFA Summer Conference

    The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) Summer Conference takes place August 14-16, 2015 at UMass Amherst in Massachusetts.  This year’s main conference features 144 individual sessions with 27 different topic areas. Workshops address organic farming, gardening, land care, draft animals, homesteading, sustainability, nutrition, food politics, activism, and more. The theme for this year’s Conference is “Healing the Climate, Healing Ourselves: Regeneration through Microbiology”.

    This year, among the five pre-conference intensives will be an all-day seminar on Friday, August 14, given by Natasha Campbell-McBride, on the healing potential of food for overcoming chronic illness. She will also give the first keynote on Friday night.

    Our second keynoter, Ronnie Cummins will speak Saturday night on “Reversing Global Warming & Rural Poverty through Regenerative Organics”.

    Each year, we offer educational and fun workshops designed for kids and teens where children bond with others throughout the Northeast while parents attend workshops and the plenaries.

    This is an event for the whole family: Music, dance, films, games, animal rides, and meet-ups. Modest registration, inexpensive dorm rooms, camping and delicious, wholesome organic meals.  For complete details, visit http://nofasummerconference.org/index.php.

  • Thursday, July 30, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Seed Saving Basics

    Bryan Connolly will speak at Elm Bank on Thursday, July 30 beginning at 7 pm in the Parkman Room on the techniques and benefits of seed saving. Connolly is author of the  Organic Seed Production and Saving: The Wisdom of Plant Heritage, which covers both the history and cycle of seed saving. This colorful presentation will give you the courage and knowledge to try seed saving.  Lecture Fee: Mass Hort Members $10, Non-Members $15. Register on line at www.masshort.org.

  • Monday, September 1, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Practical Options for Food Production Resilience in an Increasingly Variable Climate

    Spend Labor Day, Monday, September 1, at the Newton Community Farm, 303 Nahanton Street in Newton, with Dr. Christine Jones, Australian soil carbon scientist, as she speaks about Practical Options for Food Production Resilience in an Increasingly Variable Climate.  The program will run from 10 – 4, and the cost is $55 for NOFA members, $64 for non-members.  There will be a potluck lunch, so bring your favorite dish to pass, a drink mug, and a table setting.  Read about the speaker at http://www.amazingcarbon.com.  Topics include building soil carbon to improve production and farm viability, plant and livestock health and disease resistance, human nutrition, and climatic resilience on your farm or garden plot.

    Dr. Christine Jones is an internationally-acclaimed agricultural consultant with a specific message regarding sequestration of carbon and humus development through appropriate agricultural practices. According to Dr. Jones, photosynthesis operating at full capacity is the critical element in soil humification. Among the many benefits of high-humus soils are an abundance of soil micro-organisms which manage and make available to the plants a broad range of minerals; more effective water management; and more vibrant plant health through improved plant immunity. Dr. Jones’ work focuses on how to maximize photosynthesis through biological processes. Her message is appropriate for anyone who raises food, for those who focus on conserving our natural resources, and for climate activists.

    For more information, please contact NOFA/Mass Education Events Coordinator Jamie Lombardo at jamie@nofamass.org or (860) 966-6368.

  • Friday, August 8 – Sunday, August 10, 9:00 am – 5:30 pm – Northeast Organic Farming Association Summer Conference

    The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) Summer Conference takes place August 8-10, 2014 at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA.

    Friday, August 8: Pre-conferences on Changing Dirt into Soil; Tools for Resilient Urban Ecosystems; Healing Autoimmunity with Naturopathic Medicine; and Stocking the Home Apothecary with Locally Abundant Herbs.

    Saturday & Sunday, August 9-10: 150+ adult workshops on organic farming, gardening, land care, draft animals, homesteading, sustainability, nutrition, food politics, activism, and more.

    We also offer educational and fun workshops designed for kids and teens where children bond with others throughout the Northeast while parents attend workshops and the plenary.

    This is an event for the whole family: Music, dance, films, games, animal rides, and meet-ups. Modest registration, inexpensive dorm rooms, camping and delicious, wholesome organic meals.  Cost ranges from $45 – $150.  Visit www.nofasummerconference.org/index.php for complete details.

  • Friday, August 9 – Sunday, August 11 – NOFA 39th Annual Summer Conference

    Join the Northeast Organic Farming Association at its 39th Annual Summer Conference August 9 – 11 at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  This is the one stop place for information about NOFA, with over two hundred workshops on organic farming, gardening, land care, draft animals, homesteading, sustainability, nutrition, food politics, activism, and much more.  Two keynote speeches to highlight:  On Friday, August 9 at 7:30 Atina Diffley, organic farmer, consultant, activist and author of her 2012 memoir Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works, will speak. Her advocacy has addressed the pressures of suburban development, and she has been a leader in the struggle to stop the notorious polluters, Koch Industries from building an oil pipeline over her land and throughout the state of Minnesota. Then, on Saturday, August 10 at 7 pm, attend a debate entitled Is Organic Certification Right for You? Increasingly, young people are going into local farming without getting certified organic. Is “local” supplanting “organic”? Is this a good thing? Is there a special enduring value to organic certification? Has it strayed from its original goals? Two active certified farmers, and two uncertified farmers who use organic methods, will debate the question: “Is organic certification right for you?”  Pro: Atina Diffley & Ryan Voiland;  Con: Justine Denison & Mark Dunau; Moderator: Jack Kittredge.  Learn more and register on line at www.nofasummerconference.org.

    http://bionutrient.org/sites/all/images/events/nofa-summer-conference.jpg