Seed Celebration & Sustainable Community Fair: February 15, 2014

The Sustainability Project presents the 9th Annual Seed Celebration and Sustainable Community Fair on Saturday, February 15th, from 9 am – 4 pm; admission by donation. This year we are delighted to be hosting the event at Mole Hill Theatre, 789 Gilsum Mine Road, East Alstead, NH.

Over the years, farmers, gardeners, and activists working for sustainable communities have come to know this event as a great opportunity for networking and day-long fun. Come boost your community’s skills for living well in a changing world. Proceeds help support the Seed Celebration and Sustainable Community Fair, our programming throughout the year, and our work to create wheelchair accessible trails and perennial gardens at the Emerson Brook Forest Center. The Seed Celebration is sponsored in part by W.S. Badger, The Gilsum Recreation Committee, The Monadnock Food Co-op, Green Energy Options, The Mountain, Gem Graphics and Mole Hill Theatre.

Schedule of Events:
9 am ~ Opening

10 – 11:30 am ~ Dave Jacke, noted permaculture designer, teacher and author of Edible Forest Gardens, will present “Ecological Culture Design: A Holistic View”

Noon ~ The Solar Sisters duo will perform songs of farm and garden

1:30 – 3 pm ~ Bill Whyte, founder and CEO of the W.S. Badger company, will present “Visualization – The Art and Practice of Imagining with a purpose”

3:15 pm ~ Last call for the raffle

3:30 pm ~ Raffle Drawing

All Day: Cafe featuring soups from local restaurants and kitchens and Orchard Hill breads, Exhibits & Displays, Demonstrations, Seed Sales & Swap, Raffle, & Children’s Activities

Tablers for the 2014 Seed Celebration & Sustainable Community Fair: Stonewall Farms, WS Badger, Kroka Expeditions, Orchard Hill Breadworks, Valley Green Journal, Green Energy Options, RECLAIM: Original Silk Screen Designs, and Wichland Woods

More about Dave Jacke:
Ecological Culture Design: A Holistic View
Few sane, aware and knowledgeable people would argue that our current culture is ecologically sustainable. Clearly we face an urgent need to redesign the ways we live, work and play or risk the worst. If we are to create ecological and egalitarian societies, we must move beyond the traditional environmentalist focus on resource management and technological solutions. Ecologically speaking, culture is the primary adaptive mechanism of the species Homo sapiens, and it is culture, as a whole system, that we must redesign. What is culture? How might we approach the design of ecological and socially just cultures as whole systems? This talk will address these questions, providing a practical framework for discussion and design practice.

Bio
Dave Jacke is primary author of the award winning two-volume book Edible Forest Gardens, a comprehensive guide to ecological garden design (www.edibleforestgardens.com). A student of ecology and design since the 1970s, he has run his own planning firm-Dynamics Ecological Design-since 1984, designing gardens, homes, farms, and communities throughout the U.S. and overseas. He holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Simon’s Rock College and a M.A. in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design. In his teaching and his design work, Dave has always explored the interrelationships between people and land as interpenetrating whole systems, grounding his vision and theory in practical and concrete reality as much as possible.

Visualization: “The Art and Practice of Imagining with a purpose”
with Bill Whyte. Whether you are working on a personal plan for living a healthier lifestyle, designing a house, planning a garden or writing a business plan, visualization can be a powerful aid in developing a successful plan. Consider this workshop a brief space and time for you to create a “visualization mandala” on paper – a piece of “spirit art” that you can use as a daily reminder, mentor, guide and friend. Bring some colored pencils if you can!

Bill is founder and CEO of the W.S. Badger Company in Gilsum.

Monadnock Menus Winter Forum: Providing easy access to foods grown in the Monadnock region

monadnockmenusJoin the Monadnock Menus Program Farmers, Producers, and Buyers, the Cheshire County Conservation District, and John Ayer, Food Service Director for Brattleboro High and Middle Schools, for our 2014 Monadnock Menus Winter Forum. The forum will be held on Tuesday, February 4, at 10:00 am at the Keene Public Library. Please RSVP for the forum by Monday, January 27th. Contact Monadnock Menus at 802-289-9440 or coordinator@monadnockmenus.org. There is no cost for this meeting.

The Monadnock Menus Market is a developing program launched by the Cheshire County Conservation District. Its purpose is to provide schools and other institutions throughout Cheshire County with easy access to foods grown and made in the Monadnock region. Our project is supported by the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program through the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food, and partners include the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension and the University of Vermont Extension. A non-profit service, Monadnock Menus facilitates direct farm to institution sales, supporting and encouraging local farmers and the local food movement. For more information, visit http://www.monadnockmenus.org or contact Sara Lovitz at 802-289-9440 or coordinator@monadnockmenus.org.

Monadnock Region Winter Farmers’ Markets

From the NH Farmer’s Market Association (Updated 11/13)

**Please contact market to verify products available**

Farmers’ Market of Keene:
Colony Mill Marketplace, West St., 2nd and 4th Sat. of the month, Nov.-Apr., 10 a.m. -2 p.m. Vegetables, fruits, flowers/plants, dairy, maple, baked goods, meat, crafts. SNAP benefits accepted, keenefarmersmarket@gmail.com, www.keenefarmersmarket.com.

Squash from Peter's Stand.
Squash from Peter’s Stand in North Walpole, NH.

Rindge Winter Farmers’ and Crafters Market:
Rindge Meeting House, 6 Payson Hill Rd., Rindge Center. 11/14 & 21, 12/12 & 19, 1/9 & 23, 2/13 & 27, 3/13 & 3/7, 3 – 6 p.m. Vegetables, flowers/plants, dairy, maple, baked goods, meat, jams/jellies, soap, yarn, crafts. Live entertainment, face painting, spinning. 491-5482, rindgefm@aol.com, facebook.com/pages/Rindge-Farmers-and-Crafters-Market.

Walpole Farmers’ Market:
Special Thanksgiving Market, Sat. Nov. 23, 9 a.m. – 2p.m. on the Common. Holiday Market, Dec. 14, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Town Hall. Sat., Jan. 18, Feb. 15, Mar. 29, Apr. 19, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Town Hall.  Visit the website for a complete vendor list. SNAP benefits accepted, 756-3168, jill@walpolefarmersmarket.com, walpolefarmersmarket.com.

A Pig Roast, Home-Brewed Beer and 150 Happy People at Mayfair Farm

MayfairWhen an afternoon at Mayfair Farm in Harrisville, N.H., begins with pumpkin and goat cheese pierogies and ends with chocolate truffles — plus borscht, challah, roast pig, four-grain pilaf, and 12 more dishes in between — it’s destined to be a great event.

On October 6, 150 people gathered at Mayfair Farm for October Feast, the last of this year’s five farm dinners. Though the weather was dreary, the afternoon rang with a festive beer hall atmosphere.

During the event, attendees sampled local beer entered in the home brew competition, listened to the Mayfair Farm house band, and ate a gourmet meal prepared in the farm’s commercial kitchen. Mayfair supplied the meat, eggs, tomatoes, pumpkin, and raspberries, while produce came from Farmer John’s Plot and cider from Keene’s Maple Lane Farm.

First-time home brewers Nick Colony and Bryan Kingsbury of Harrisville won the top prize in the competition with their Cupola Oktoberfest brew. The duo will be enjoying a whole Mayfair roasting pig and use of the farm’s motorized spit. Second prize, a Mayfair Thanksgiving turkey, went to John Bennink of Vermont for Maypo, his maple porter ale.

“The seven different entries in the contest were all amazing tributes to the craft of local beer making,” said Mayfair farmer Craig Thompson. “The whole afternoon was great. We are so excited to make October Feast an annual event.”

As with past Mayfair dinners, the farm donated 10% of its on-farm retail store sales for the week following October Feast to a local non-profit. This time, Mayfair gave $350 to Farmer John’s Plot in Dublin, N.H.

The next Mayfair event, to coincide with Pumpkin Fest, is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 19. Mayfair farmers Sarah Heffron and Craig Thompson will host a breakfast featuring eggs from their laying hens and sausage and bacon from their pigs. The menu will include house made bread and apples from nearby orchards.

Tickets are $22 plus tax for adults and $17 for kids. A free guided walking tour will follow the meal and begin at 10 a.m.  This is a rain or shine event, and the walking tour will cover most of the farm. Boots are recommended.  Purchase tickets online.

For more information about Mayfair Farm products and events — or about having Mayfair arrange a pig roast of your own — call 603-827-3925 or write to info@mayfairfarmnh.com.