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2010 > March > 10 > Entry
By Luci Beachdell
| Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 07:57 AM
For those of you who didn’t get a chance to go - or even didn’t get to go to all the sessions at the mid-February Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association Conference, here are the last of the overviews of what was happening there - or at least some fun and informative tidbits from each. Thanks especially to Megan Croswell, Kat Christen, Mary Sue Gmeiner, and Carli Dixon, who shared their experiences with me! See the attached documents for the full overview of sessions from these folks - and handouts! Also, see the webpage where OEFFA has posted any handouts/presentations from the conference.
Chickens
Here’s a link to a 34-page document about Changing your City’s Chicken Laws! Lots of answers to questions like, “isn’t this a health risk? dirty? smelly?” and far, far more.
Eat Locally Grown All Year, led by Mary Lou & Tom Shaw
Pick cucumbers daily and toss them into a vat of pickle brine (whatever your favorite recipe). When you get enough over a couple weeks or so, can them in a hot bath canner. You can fish them out in the mean time for fresh pickles.
Store cabbage in your garden through the winter by harvesting the head, inverting and burying it in the same spot with the root sticking up out of the soil. When ready to eat, go to garden and pull up the head by the stem! She said her cabbage keeps until at least January!
Carrots can also be stored in the ground for the winter. She finds covering the carrot bed to keep moisture off, keeps them from freezing. Then just dig up a little of the bed each time you are ready for a bunch of carrots!
Urban Gardening, led by urban homesteader Rachel Tayse (all I’ve got from this session is a handout on preserving; here are a few points
Freezing too ripe produce: toss whole tomatoes in the freezer & use them for soup or sauce later. Wrap an entire head of cabbage in plastic wrap, then in foil, then freeze. The texture will be pliable, and no need to boil before adding to casseroles or making cabbage rolls.
Make your own fruit leather. First, puree the fruit (stew quickly and run through a food mill or else use a blender & blend to the consistency of applesauce). Next, line a cookie sheet with silpat or parchment (or use your dehydrator). Spread the puree in a thin layer on the prepared surface. Put in oven at 200 degrees (lower, if you can) or dehydrator. After the puree starts to dehydrate & becomes sticky (about 1 hour), add another layer. Repeat until the leather is the right thickness. Allow to dehydrate until you can break off a piece without seeing any juice/liquid. This may take up to 12 hours depending on humidity. Remove from oven. Cool. Cut into strips, toss with a little cornstarch so they don’t stick together, and store in an airtight container. Keeps a few days at room temperature, a week in the fridge, for a long time in the freezer.
Grassroots Food Campaigns, led by Sarah Alexander of Food & Water Watch
It was clear from the keynote speakers, Joel Salatin and Ann Cooper, that food and politics are hopelessly intertwined. So this workshop was very pertinent to conference attendees. Sarah engaged the audience in discussion on goals, strategies and tactics, with practical examples. Points to remember: define measurable goals, identify the decision maker who can give you what you want, pull together all resources, and understand the opposition.
Developing Community Kitchens, by Leslie Schaller of ACEnet
The Appalachian Center for Economic Networks is a shared-use facility providing growers with a place to create a value-added commodity, as well as business expertise for product development, marketing and distribution. Leslie Schaller of ACENet drew a map for the would-be developer of this kind of facility, with a list of considerations and potential failure points.
Transition Initiave, led by Mary Cunnyngham and Cindy Parker
If you believe that life as we know it is changing, due to peak oil and/or economic crises and/or climate change, then you may be ready to learn about Transition Towns. An essential part of a transition town seems to be an energy descent action plan. The town will be characterized by sustainability, resilience, permaculture ethics, and a renewal of essential skills.
finally, interesting miscellany:
Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education. SARE translates cutting-edge research results into practical, how-to books, bulletins and online resources for farmers, educators and researchers. Also offers grants and outreach to advance sustainable innovations to the whole of American agriculture.
Rain Brothers, LLC, in Columbus, design water harvesting systems
Insurance providers for small farms: Hastings Mutual. Starkey Insurance Agency. (others, too, I just didn’t pick up that literature. See attachments.)
Kenyon College’s Rural Life Center Promotes education, scholarship and public projects about rural life in Knox Co, Ohio.
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