Community Garden Scholar

2017 Monadnock Farm Tour! THIS SATURDAY !   August 26th 2pm-6pm    Pick eggs! Visit with an alpaca! Enjoy a dog sheep-herding demonstration! Tour a dairy! Delight in freshly made, locally grown snacks! Join us for the 2017 Monadnock Farm Tour at farms throughout the Monadnock Region. Purchase your Farm Tour Button at your first farm stop  and use it to visit all of the remaining farms on our tour! $5/individual or $10/car  All proceeds go to underwrite 2018 Monadnock Farm Tour costs. View the Farm Tour Map! Organized by : The Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition   In Partnership with : Stonewall Farm, CC&D's Kitchen Market, Inn at Valley Farms, East Hill Farm, Archway Farm, the Cheshire County Conservation District, & Badger Balm Sponsored by : Gem Graphics Walpole Creamery  

The American Community Gardening Association 2017 Conference: CONNecting our Roots  has been deliciously invigorating. The conference theme seems especially poignant this year, as I continually "dig" deeper into community gardening as both an extension of my professional journey in sustainability education and the means for "growth" as a community-based and critically-oriented researcher. (I am not the only attendee who finds every opportunity to use garden metaphors; they are everywhere!) I still believe strongly in the power of higher education and local efforts to generate synergistic solutions for health and justice in our food systems, and thereby shift our larger social, economic, and ecological spheres toward greater sustainability. I am finding more and more that a balance between theory and practice - academic and "dirt under the nails" approaches - is the path to real progress. Being able to engage with other dedicated, intelligent, and courage...

A brief update and invitation to join me for these summer adventures involving community, food, or (my favorite) both: Garden parties with Community Garden Connections , a project of Antioch University New England and Cheshire County Conservation District - Tuesdays in July and August, from 4 to 6 pm . The student-run garden is next to the former Cheshire County correctional facility site and across the road from Maplewood Nursing Home on River Road in Westmoreland, NH. Weekly farm produce pickups through  Farm to Family  - my usual market order pickup is Thursdays 3 to 5 pm  at Stone Arch, Keene Housing Authority's senior residential neighborhood. The market is open to all, regardless of income or residence. Keene Farmers' Market , where Granite State Market Match allows me to double my SNAP benefit on Tuesdays 9 am to 1pm . One of my favorite, family-run farm stands to visit: Abenaki Springs Farm .  Hillsboro Balloon Festival Parade  with...

"One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use, is the gardener's own body. A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race." - Wendell Berry "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." - Mohandas Gandhi "Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature ‑ the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter." - Rachel Carson "Everything in nature contains all the power of nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sharing this great development from Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition :  AGENDA:   4pm    Welcome 4:05 - 4:25    Lively, informative panel/Q & A discussion about how to integrate HoM materials into schools, libraries, work sites, health care facilities, restaurants and more! 4:30 - 6pm   Break into 3 - 30 minute sessions (Choose three out of the four available)            6pm               FREE, delicious, locally-sourced meal and network! **********   PANELISTS:   Paul Desmarais,  Hannaford Supermarket Gail Zachariah,  Keene Public Library Denise Pratt,  Keene Housing Jasen Woodworth,  Farmer Johns Plot SESSIONS:  A. Harvest Lesson (Demonstration of a Harvest of the Month Lesson offered in all Monadnock Region SAUs) B. Community Engagement: Year-Round Seasonal Eating C. Retailers and Farmers D. ...

I am so pleased to be moderating the panel of excellent speakers for this event. Please join us! Future of Farming in a Changing World Conference   Creating a Robust, Sustainable & Community Based Food System March 25, 2017, 9 to 4:30 Monadnock Center for History and Culture 19 Grove Street, Peterborough, NH  Growing the next generation of farmers Cutting edge technology solutions to support farmers Models for growing, processing, and distributing sustainably grown food Climate change and its impact on farming Farmland access-matching farmers to farmland Keynote speaker:    Philip Ackerman-Leist , Professor of Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems, Green Mountain College, VT; farmer, and author of  Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable & Secure Food Systems . Talks and panel discussion include : John VanHoesen , Associate Professor of Geology; Director Natural Resource Management, Director Geology progr...

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Re-posting this information on behalf of Marty Castriotta at Village Roots. For more information: www.villageroots.org marty@theorchardschool.or g (603) 477-5533 Course Dates and Times: March 11/12 , April 8/9 , May 20/21, June 10/11, July 8/9 Saturdays 9:00 am to 9:00 pm and Sundays 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. presentations at NH Permaculture Day, August 26 (optional) Supplemental Days: typically 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Students are asked to attend at least one of these hands-on learning days May 1: Timberframing June 3: Building hugelkultur garden beds July 1: Site visit: to be scheduled August chicken harvest: date to be determined Place: The bulk of this course will take place at The Orchard School in East Alstead, NH and on the farm and grounds of Orchard Hill and Village Roots. There will also be field trips to various sites in the region. Course Meals: The course will include four nourishing meals (made with organic and farm fresh ingredients) each weekend and snacks at breaks. ...

Today marks the second and final doctoral weekend of the fall semester. Earlier, my cohort and I exchanged presentations on our essays about the intersections of our professional interests with service learning and community-based scholarship. As a way of sharing with the wider academic/professional community, here are the figures from my presentation, with my working bibliography for the essay.  Figure 1: The intersection of two themes I am working with,  i.e.  the bridging of higher education and food systems and the continuum of praxis (theory and practice, thinking and doing). The figure that follows contains an idea that harnesses these seemingly disparate challenges together and provides a crux for my conceptual framework. Figure 2: Education is cultural work. I like to think about what's possible when the worlds of academia and community food converge around the value and practice of sustainability. This work requires new, more responsive models that trans...

Join me and my colleagues Aaron Witham and Ryan Ihrke today at #AASHE2016 or the premiere of the short film of interviews with sustainability officers in higher education.  Session Title: Sustainability Officers: The Dream, The Sometimes Harsh Reality, The Reasons You Want Us on Your Leadership Team  Tuesday, October 11, 11:30 - Noon Location Room: 308 Trailer: