OEFFA Conference 2016: Growing Right By Nature
My husband Joshua and I, along with my farm mentors Charles, Ken, and Steve, spent Valentine's Day weekend with many other farmers/lovers of all things sustainable and organic at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association's (OEFFA) annual conference: OEFFA 2016 Conference: Growing Right By Nature.
I feel very fortunate to have attended the event in the small town of Granville, Ohio, more well known for being the home of Denison University. The conference took place at Granville's high-school, which served the functionality needs of the conference very well.
Farmer's were not the only folks in attendance. I met college students majoring in agricultural programs to philosophy, as well as people who consider themselves 'concerned' citizens, and young farmers in their first years of farming to those who had yet to even break ground.
The two day conference is set up with one to two hour long 'workshops' presented by local Ohio farmers of all sorts and two keynote addressees. The workshops run as 1 hour or 2 hours long and I had to pick and choose which to attend- the hardest part of all. Most of the presenters are just average Joes and Janes who are practicing something important and special on their farm/garden/homestead that needed to be shared with other people.
For quite a few presenters, it was their first time giving any kind of presentation in front of people. How exciting it was to share these experiences and feel the positivity radiate through the crowded classrooms! After one session, my husband Josh and I had a radical conversation with a guy from Snowville Creamery whose business card described himself as a "Dairy Revolutionist."
Check out the Conference Program, especially the Workshop Sessions, if any of them peak your interest, every workshop and keynote address were professionally recorded and are available for purchase here!
So... maybe because I was too excited and too in the moment, I managed to only take two photos the entire weekend, which were of low gravity water system designs (see Sunday 1st session).
Official photographs of the conference can be found here.
Our days went like this:
SATURDAY February 13th:
1st session: Practical Application of Biodynamics: David Chal (Another Young Cincinnati Farmer)
2nd session: Adding 1 to 5 Acres of Vegetable Crops to Your Farm: Mac Stone and Charles Griffin (caught the last hour, both Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati farmers)
LUNCH (all of the food for the conference was locally sourced and prepared by local kitchens).
Exhibit Hall
3rd Session: How I Created My Sustainable Homestead: Frank Greishop
4th Session: Organic Research in the U.S. :2002-2014 and Future Directions: Deb Stinner
Keynote Session: Lindsey Lusher Shute, co-founder of National Young Farmers Coalition, "Building Our Collective Strength; An Agenda for the Next Generation"
-Lindsey grew up on an Ohio farm and moved to New York City for college. Eventually she felt a similar pull that I have in recent years. Being a young farmer, she understands the difficulties of having student debt and finding access to land while trying to get approved for loans to even begin farming. This is partly why Lindsey co-founded the National Young Farmers Coalition, who's mission is; "NYFC represents, mobilizes, and engages young farmers to ensure their success." NYFC's current political focus is to add farmers to the the list of doctors, police officers, non-profit workers, and government employees, who's occupations are considered Public Servant and who qualify for the Government's Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Considering only 6% of farmers are under the age of 35 and the average age of current farmers is 58, if NYFC's push on Washington succeeds, this consideration could effectively draw more young farmers to the fields. I encourage you to check out National Young Farmer's Coalition, and let's maybe have a conversation about their ideas, I'm 50/50 on becoming a member.
DINNER and Traditional line DANCING lead by one of my farm mentors Steve Edwards!
SUNDAY February 14th:
1st Session: Captured and Low-Pressure Water Systems for the Small-Scale Grazier: Shawn and Beth Doughtery
2nd Session: Practical, Radical Ideas For Restructuring Farming and Food Production Systems: John Ikerd
LUNCH
3rd Session: Chemical Free Bee-Keeping: Tom Cail
Keynote Session: John Ikerd, Sustainable Agriculture is Growing, and Right by Nature
-John Ikerd, a professor of Agro. Economics, was a huge supporter and proponent of Industrial Agriculture, until he realized that: A. Industrial Ag. had failed to accomplish what it had set out to do, namely feed the hungry, and B. he realized that Industrial Ag. is not sustain-ably viable ecologically or economically. He did a complete 180 and is now out there in the trenches preaching organics and sustainable farming to the masses, not only that but he is calling for a complete overhaul of our current food production systems. His ideals herald back to the agrarian communities of the early United States, where neighbors depended upon their community for sustenance, forgoing the current model of selling to wholesalers and fighting for breathing room with corporate food giants, that small organic farmers are trying to mold themselves into. I didn't agree with every single thing he had to say but I was definitely inspired and came away with new ideas for spurring change in my local food economy.
Goodbyes!
Below photographs from the Captured and Low-Pressure Water Systems for the Small-Scale Grazier presentation. 
I feel very fortunate to have attended the event in the small town of Granville, Ohio, more well known for being the home of Denison University. The conference took place at Granville's high-school, which served the functionality needs of the conference very well.
Farmer's were not the only folks in attendance. I met college students majoring in agricultural programs to philosophy, as well as people who consider themselves 'concerned' citizens, and young farmers in their first years of farming to those who had yet to even break ground.
The two day conference is set up with one to two hour long 'workshops' presented by local Ohio farmers of all sorts and two keynote addressees. The workshops run as 1 hour or 2 hours long and I had to pick and choose which to attend- the hardest part of all. Most of the presenters are just average Joes and Janes who are practicing something important and special on their farm/garden/homestead that needed to be shared with other people.
For quite a few presenters, it was their first time giving any kind of presentation in front of people. How exciting it was to share these experiences and feel the positivity radiate through the crowded classrooms! After one session, my husband Josh and I had a radical conversation with a guy from Snowville Creamery whose business card described himself as a "Dairy Revolutionist."
Check out the Conference Program, especially the Workshop Sessions, if any of them peak your interest, every workshop and keynote address were professionally recorded and are available for purchase here!
So... maybe because I was too excited and too in the moment, I managed to only take two photos the entire weekend, which were of low gravity water system designs (see Sunday 1st session).
Official photographs of the conference can be found here.
Our days went like this:
SATURDAY February 13th:
1st session: Practical Application of Biodynamics: David Chal (Another Young Cincinnati Farmer)
2nd session: Adding 1 to 5 Acres of Vegetable Crops to Your Farm: Mac Stone and Charles Griffin (caught the last hour, both Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati farmers)
LUNCH (all of the food for the conference was locally sourced and prepared by local kitchens).
Exhibit Hall
3rd Session: How I Created My Sustainable Homestead: Frank Greishop
4th Session: Organic Research in the U.S. :2002-2014 and Future Directions: Deb Stinner
Keynote Session: Lindsey Lusher Shute, co-founder of National Young Farmers Coalition, "Building Our Collective Strength; An Agenda for the Next Generation"
-Lindsey grew up on an Ohio farm and moved to New York City for college. Eventually she felt a similar pull that I have in recent years. Being a young farmer, she understands the difficulties of having student debt and finding access to land while trying to get approved for loans to even begin farming. This is partly why Lindsey co-founded the National Young Farmers Coalition, who's mission is; "NYFC represents, mobilizes, and engages young farmers to ensure their success." NYFC's current political focus is to add farmers to the the list of doctors, police officers, non-profit workers, and government employees, who's occupations are considered Public Servant and who qualify for the Government's Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Considering only 6% of farmers are under the age of 35 and the average age of current farmers is 58, if NYFC's push on Washington succeeds, this consideration could effectively draw more young farmers to the fields. I encourage you to check out National Young Farmer's Coalition, and let's maybe have a conversation about their ideas, I'm 50/50 on becoming a member.
DINNER and Traditional line DANCING lead by one of my farm mentors Steve Edwards!
SUNDAY February 14th:
1st Session: Captured and Low-Pressure Water Systems for the Small-Scale Grazier: Shawn and Beth Doughtery
2nd Session: Practical, Radical Ideas For Restructuring Farming and Food Production Systems: John Ikerd
LUNCH
3rd Session: Chemical Free Bee-Keeping: Tom Cail
Keynote Session: John Ikerd, Sustainable Agriculture is Growing, and Right by Nature
-John Ikerd, a professor of Agro. Economics, was a huge supporter and proponent of Industrial Agriculture, until he realized that: A. Industrial Ag. had failed to accomplish what it had set out to do, namely feed the hungry, and B. he realized that Industrial Ag. is not sustain-ably viable ecologically or economically. He did a complete 180 and is now out there in the trenches preaching organics and sustainable farming to the masses, not only that but he is calling for a complete overhaul of our current food production systems. His ideals herald back to the agrarian communities of the early United States, where neighbors depended upon their community for sustenance, forgoing the current model of selling to wholesalers and fighting for breathing room with corporate food giants, that small organic farmers are trying to mold themselves into. I didn't agree with every single thing he had to say but I was definitely inspired and came away with new ideas for spurring change in my local food economy.
Goodbyes!
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| Using gravity and physics, and digging trenches in 'seeping' areas of a hill to provide their cattle with fresh, constantly moving water, that never freezes! |
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| An extension of the previous diagram. Flow tanks (which are big leftover tractor tires with quik-crete concrete in the bottom) downhill from the original seepage area that are constantly supplied with fresh water. |
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