SSAWG

In January we attended the SSAWG, Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, conference held in Chattanooga, TN. With such an influx of information, we’d like to share each of our learning experiences.

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I spent most of my time at SSAWG attending lectures on livestock production. The talks ranged from husbandry to pasture management to nutrition. One of the more interesting lectures I attended was given by Dr. Charles Sydnor from Burlington, NC. He was a proponent of “mob grazing” for cattle which involves allowing pasture grasses to fully mature and become what may be considered “overgrown.” Rather than turning out the cattle to graze the entire field the producer should aggressively move their herds through. The idea is to not graze all the grass down, but to trample the majority of those grasses to produce two primary goals: 1) An aggressive, non-selective feeding 2) A build-up of massed organic matter from the trampled grasses. This, in theory, produces healthier pastures by increasing soil fertility and forcing cattle to consume other plants (ideally invasives) they might otherwise avoid. If you’re interested in more information I would recommend this article from the Rodale Institute: http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/Slocum/20090310.

There were several courses on pasture care in this same vein. At the root of these talks were the detrimental effects of pesticide and fertilizer use in pastures. It is important to remember that there are many beneficial insects, bacteria, and fungi in the soil, and the majority of these are killed during sprayings. Soil fitness is one of the greatest issues to face the modern farmer and much can be done simply with proper care that allows beneficial life in the soil to thrive. These organisms are capable of building a much better soil than can be achieved with habitual sprayings. While these methods may not provide the instant results of the sprayings, but they can provide the same results and save you money in the long-term.

- Brian Blackmon

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In the diversity session that I attended, the speakers Hollis Watkins and Kulo Zigbi questioned our definitions of diversity and how our organization views diversity. Hollis was also our keynote speaker for the conference. The wisdom that he shared seemed to be drawn from his life experiences, including his work with the Civil Rights movement. He spoke with a simple elegance that allowed his conclusions to naturally flow from the dialogue. The most striking point was his comment on an organization’s attitude toward its community. He said an organization must see itself as a part of the community rather than just an entity serving the community. Though this may seem like a simple shift in attitude, it is without a doubt one of the most important. Recognizing our organization as a part of the community changes our language from us and them to we. For our farm to be a more stable part of our community, we must challenge ourselves to know our neighbors. Thus, the work that we do would a simple part of our relationship with the community.

- Lauren Bailey

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The SSAWG conference in Chattanooga this year was a real mixed bag. Some of the courses were excellent: well planned-out and on-point. Others, however, seemed haphazardly designed and strayed from the given topic. My favorites were the course on heirloom tomatoes, the lecture on sustainable beekeeping, and the talk about year-round lettuce production. Although at Beardsley we won’t be grafting out heirloom tomatoes onto disease-resistant rootstocks, I’m interested to try grafting one heirloom onto another. This would allow us to produce a single tomato plant bearing two or more different varieties of fruit. Because the beekeeping presentation focused primarily on splitting colonies in order to sell hives, we might not directly apply any of the techniques the lecturer presented. Nevertheless, the class also served as a crash-course on honeybees, and brought me up to speed on how we’re managing our four hives at Beardsley. The lettuce course included invaluable information on starting lettuce seed, varietal selection, and maximizing hoop house heat retention and efficiency. We’re already putting what we learned here into practice!

-Graham Taylor

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The most educational workshop I attended, by far, was Tomato Grafting. We learned that grafting is not only for fruit trees. It is a pretty simple process that we hope to use at Beardsley. It allows you to grow several type of tomatoes on one stem. The leader of the workshop showed us a picture of his personal plant, which had 3 different types of tomatoes growing from one stem. If you don’t have much space in your yard, it’s a great way to grow a variety of tomatoes.

It was reassuring to attend the Intensive Vegetable Production on a small scale. We do everything the urban farmers who presented do including composting scraps from restaurants, collecting rainwater, education. I was impressed that the garden in Atlanta did not have fences – if we didn’t have fences our produce would all be stolen. But Mr. Nuri justified the open space as being a welcoming place to anyone. I like his way of thinking, but if we are going to continue our donations as we have, it’s necessary to keep the fence. I think if the neighbors considered us a part of their community, things would be different at Beardsley. Perhaps there wouldn’t be so much vandalism. One way we can offer free produce to anyone, anytime is to have gleaning plots with signs that say “Take these!”. At least its a start to tearing down the fences.

- Claire Godschalk

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This year’s SSAWG conference was an enriching educational experience. Every agricultural conference I attend is a reminder that there is a whole movement of highly intelligent and passionate farmers, policy-makers and educators dedicated to delivering wholesome food to their communities and sustaining the arability of the land. As the outreach coordinator for the farm, I found myself attending workshops geared towards the policy procedures and sociology of the sustainable agriculture movement.
Even though some workshops were duds, I at least took some tidbits of information or contacts away from every session that I would like to share with you.

- An organization based out of Nashville works as an interfaith network to get grocery stores back into low-income food deserts. They “worship by combating injustice” rather than proselytizing their own interpretation of God. It is a program of the Manna-Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee. www.foodsecuritypartners.org AND www.restoringnashville.org.

- Graham mentioned the success of the year-round lettuce production session. The presenter discussed gestations periods, cover crop options, all-natural pest management and timing for planting and harvest. This was quite possibly the most informative workshop.

- We also listened to the “Barefoot Farmer” who follows Rudolph Steiner’s practices of facilitating a biodynamic system (a closed circuit of crop rotation, livestock and composting so that everything on the farm is utilized and nothing is wasted). His techniques were quite eccentric but the basic principles were rooted in efficiency, pragmatism and long-term productivity.

While I cannot rehash every detail, here are some resources brought to our attention through a networking session that may appeal to you if you are in line with values of SSAWG-goers:

Resources:

RAFI. Food Policy Council. Cefs.org. US Work Group on Food Crisis – anti-trust. NRCS. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Grassroots Guide to 2008 Farm Bill. Farm to Cafeteria initiatives. Food First.

*”Right now we listen to respond. We must be a culture that listens to understand. “

*”Organizations trying to help the community see themselves not as members of the community but as working in that community. This must change if we are to connect and succeed.”

-Rachel Winner

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I attended a pre-conference field trip to Crabtree Farms, Chattanooga’s urban farm.  It’s been a few years since I have seen the hard work and fruition of another urban farm in action. As an educator, I believe in learning through experience.  A walk through the 22-acre farm was very informative.  Many of Crabtree’s unique projects could be implemented at our own Beardsley Community Farm.

Beardsley and Crabtree have a lot in common.  Our missions are to teach others about growing food in the city, by demonstrating it, and by serving as an education site.  Beardsley and Crabtree are also influential in their communities, acting as partners to many like-minded organizations and encouraging others to grow their own food, in whatever capacity they can.

I was really impressed with their fundraisers, which include a huge pig roast in October and a fall and spring plant sale which generates thousands of dollars a year.  Some of their successful practices include a CSA, a pick your own operations for their berries, and their shitake operations.  Crabtree’s high tunnels were also spectacular.  Crabtree Farms’ three high tunnels make it possible for them to extend their season, and to grow food year round.  Their successes are inspirational, and we will certainly think of Crabtree Farms’ bounty as examples for innovative practices at Beardsley!

-Khann Chov

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