WHAT: Spring Farmers’ Market

WHEN: Saturday April 24, 10 am–2 pm

WHERE: Heron Pond Farm, 299 Main Ave, South Hampton (Google Maps is recommended for directions.)

You don’t have to wait for the farmers’ markets to open in May and June!  Heron Pond Farm will be hosting a spring farmers’ market featuring a wide variety of locally grown and made foods on April 24.  You’ll find fresh greens and other spring vegetables, plants for your garden, farm-raised meat and eggs, honey, maple syrup and delicious prepared foods and baked goods!  The market will be held outside the Heron Pond Farm farmstand, which is now open on weekends.  Come check it out!

Vendors

Heron Pond Farm: The farm stand will be open with lots of spring vegetables—fresh greens, cilantro, potatoes, carrots, and parsnips!

Yellow House Farm: Chicken and duck eggs, farm photo cards, feathers.

Moriarty’s Greenhouse: Potted perennials, herbs and houseplants.

Forty-Five Market Street Bakery & Café: Cookies, scones, bread, muffins, pies.

White Heron Tea: Organic tea beverages, organic + fair trade packaged teas, ready-to-eat breakfast and lunch foods.

Kellie Brook Farm: Farm-raised pork, beef, veal, turkey, and chicken; prepared meals made with their own meats.

Harrison’s Poultry: Eggs, maple syrup, honey, chicken and guinea fowl meat, garden baskets, feathers and maple candy.

The Soup Guy: Gluten-free, all-natural soups and chili made with locally grown ingredients.

Eastman’s Local Catch: Sign up for a local fish share! Carolyn Eastman will be there with information about Eastman’s community-supported fishery (CSF).

New Roots Farm: Scallions, greens, and pasture-raised pork, including bacon.

In case you haven’t been bitten by the urge to garden yet (and with this weather, how can you not?), you might be spurred to action by knowing that April is National Garden Month!

From the National Gardening Association:

Every April communities, organizations, and individuals nationwide celebrate gardening during National Garden Month. Gardeners know, and research confirms, that nurturing plants is good for us: attitudes toward health and nutrition improve, kids perform better at school, and community spirit grows. Join the celebration and help to make America a greener, healthier, more livable place!

If you don’t have a garden of your own but are itching to get some dirt under your fingernails, pencil in April 24. In the morning, join other volunteers for Garden Cleanup Day to help ready Strawbery Banke Museum for its opening a week later. In the afternoon, attend free workshops at the  Heirloom Seed Plant-In, also at Strawbery Banke. Slow Food Seacoast is partnering with Strawbery Banke and the Chefs Collaborative to teach you how to grow and eat unique heirloom produce from your own backyard. See DETAILS and AGENDA for these events. RSVP requested.

As if that weren’t enough to urge you to don your gardening gloves, the Seacoast Community Garden Network (brainchild of Slow Food Seacoast’s own Jenny Isler!) is poised to launch its interactive website in May to inform and connect gardeners, and to connect gardeners and gardens. Stay tuned for the official announcement!

The Jenness Farm Spring Open House/Open Farm Weekend is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, April 17 & 18, 2010, from 10 am to 6 pm, rain or shine. Enjoy fresh donuts; browse the new-and-improved Jenness Farm store (there’s so much more than goat milk soap!); buy products from several vendors. Visit with chicks, piglets, baby goats, lambs, and crazy turkeys—not to mention Rhun the Frisbee Dog, official farm greeter! The weekend-long event will offer lots of fun for children of all ages. Bring a picnic lunch and any questions that you may have. WHAT: Jenness Farm Spring Open House/Open Farm Weekend WHEN: April 17 & 18, 2010, 10 am–6 pm WHERE: 77 Garland Road, Nottingham, NH 03290 WEBSITE: http://www.jennessfarm.com

Illustration donated by Brenda Drew Designs, www.brendadrewdesigns.com

The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) New Hampshire Herbal Network (NHHN) 1st Annual Spring Herb and Garden Conference will be held on Saturday, May 22, 2010, at Pine Hill Waldorf School in Wilton, NH.

The conference, entitled Beautiful Earth, “will feature some of New Hampshire’s top herbalists, gardeners, farmers, retailers, crafters, artisans and trades people who support organic growing methods, ecologically friendly products, local food, sustainable agriculture, natural medicine, and community awareness.”

Check out the NOFA–NHHN link for details!

It’s less than 2 months until the the first Seacoast Growers Association summer farmers’ market opens in Portsmouth, and the winter farmers’ markets in Newburyport, MA, and Northwood, NH, have finished for the season. But thanks to the efforts of local consumers, craftspeople, food producers—bakers, beekeepers, farmers, ranchers, vintners, and more—and the fabulous local organizations that bring us all together, we in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire are fortunate to have several more winter markets to get us there.

Final Winter Markets

Come check out what the vendors have to offer at the last indoor markets of the season.

• March 13 - Seacoast Eat Local Exeter Winter Farmers’ Market at Exeter High School, 1 Blue Hawk Drive, Exeter (GPS users, please use 315 Epping Road)
• March 20 - Rye Farmers’ Market - 10 am to 2 pm at Rye Junior High (note new location!), 501 Washington Road, Rye
• March 20 - Newmarket Farmers’ Market - 9 am to 1 pm at the Stone Church, 5 Granite Street, Newmarket
• March 27 - Seacoast Eat Local Rollinsford Winter Farmers’ Market at Wentworth Greenhouses, 141 Rollins Rd., Rollinsford
• April 10 - Seacoast Eat Local Exeter Winter Farmers’ Market at Exeter High School, 1 Blue Hawk Drive, Exeter (GPS users, please use 315 Epping Road)

Spring Markets

• April 17 -Newmarket Farmers’ Market - 9 am to 1 pm at the Stone Church, 5 Granite Street, Newmarket
• April 24 - Farmer’s Market at Heron’s Pond Farm, 299 Main Ave, South Hampton

Summer Markets Opening Soon!

The first summer farmers’ markets of the season usually feature early spring greens and locally grown plants to decorate your flower beds, create a vegetable garden, and add color to your life after a long winter. Other food and nonfood products will be available, too. Come see what they have to offer.

• May 1 - Portsmouth Farmers’ Market, Saturdays, 8 am–1  pm, 1 Junkins Ave., Portsmouth
• May 2 - Newburyport Farmers’ Market, Sundays, 9 am–1 pm, Tannery Marketplace, Newburyport, Mass.
• May 6 - Exeter Farmers’ Market, Thursdays, 2:30–6 pm, Swazey Parkway, Exeter
• May 15 - Newmarket Plant Sale & Farmers’ Market - 9 am to 1 pm, 5 Granite Street (Stone Church), Newmarket
• May 22 - Newmarket Plant Sale & Farmers’ Market - 9 am to 1 pm, 5 Granite Street (Stone Church), Newmarket
• May 27 - Northwood Farmers’ Market, Thursdays, 3–6:30 pm, Junction of Route 4 & Route 202A & 43, Northwood
• June 7 - Durham Farmers’ Market, Mondays, 2:15–5:30 pm, Pettee Brook Lane (Pettee Brook parking lot), Durham
• June 8 - Hampton Farmers’ Market, Tuesdays, 3–6 pm, 289 Lafayette Rd/Route 1 (Sacred Heart Church parking lot), Hampton, NH
• June 9 - Dover Farmers’ Market, Wednesdays, 2:15–6:00 pm, corner of Central Ave. and Sixth St. (parking lot of the new Dover Chamber of Commerce), Dover
• June 26 - Wentworth Greenhouses Farmers’ Market, Saturdays, 10 am–2 pm, 141 Rollins Road, Rollinsford (parking lot)

For More Information

Want to know which vendors are scheduled to be at the market, check a venue address, or get directions? Go straight to the source!

• Newburyport Farmers’ Market
• Newmarket Farmers’ Markets at Stone Church
• Northwood Farmers’ Market
• Seacoast Eat Local Winter Farmers’ Markets
• Wentworth Greenhouses Farmers’ Markets (Rollinsford)
• Rye Farmers’ Markets
• Seacoast Growers Association (Dover, Durham, Exeter, Hampton, and Portsmouth)

Follow Slow Food Seacoast on Twitter

Read the full story on the Seacoast Eat Local blog.

Summer CSA harvest

Seacoast Eat Local is sponsoring yet another great event to connect consumers and food producers in the Seacoast! They’ve planned a community-supported agriculture (CSA) and community-supported fisheries (CSF) event to coincide with the Winter Farmers’ Market to be held at Wentworth Greenhouses (141 Rollins Rd, Rollinsford, NH—a mile past Red’s Shoe Barn on Broadway in Dover), on Saturday, Feb. 27, from 10 am to 2 pm. (Similar events will take place at 12 locations in Maine and in Newburyport, Mass., on Sunday, Feb. 28.)

If you’ve ever wanted to know more about CSA and CSF, keep reading … then attend the event that’s local to you. Learn, ask questions, meet 15 participating farms and fisheries, make connections, and maybe sign up for your own 2010 share.

Learn more: Download the Choosing a CSA flyer (PDF) from Seacoast Eat Local.

Learn more: Read a comprehensive list of CSA farms in Rockingham, Strafford, and York Counties in Seacoast Harvest: A Local Food Guide.

Learn more: Get dates, times, and directions for all of the Seacoast Eat Local Winter Farmers’ Markets.

From a Seacoast Eat Local press release:

Seacoast CSA + CSF Day Coming to Winter Farmers’ Market

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a partnership between consumers and farmers in which members buy shares of the farm’s harvest and receive regular allotments of food throughout the growing season. For farmers, this provides much needed cash flow for the beginning of the season, as well as a ready market and community of supporters. Shareholders join in the risks of the growing season but reap the benefits of the harvest.

Community Supported Fisheries, or CSFs (modeled after CSAs), are a way to buy seafood directly from fishermen and support our local fisheries by purchasing seasonal shares.

Each CSA and CSF has its own pricing structure and distribution schedule, and some farms have work requirements. Signups for CSA and CSF shares often begin in February by directly contacting the farm or sponsoring fishery.

Participating Farms & Fisheries:

Brookford Farm
Connolly’s Organics
Eastman’s Local Catch
Farmer Dave’s CSA
Heron Pond Farm
Meadow’s Mirth
New Roots Farm
Riverside Farm
Riverslea Farm
Stone Wall Farm / Osprey Cove Organic Farm
Touching Earth Farm
Two Toad Farm
Wake Robin Farm
Willow Pond Community Farm
Wolf Pine Farm CSA

This week, Slow Food Seacoast has posted twice about NH policy related to genetically modified organisms (GMOs): Your chance to speak out against GMOs in NH and Attend GMO hearings today. Elizabeth Obelenus (info@nofanh.org), program coordinator at the Northeast Organic Farming Association, NH Chapter (NOFA-NH), provides a brief report of yesterday’s hearings here:

The hearings were delayed till 2 pm and we finished at 5 pm.  The morning’s hearing on a study committee to ban pesticides went from 9am to noon (it was an excellent hearing too) which was a problem for us because we had at least 60 people show up all anxious to be a part of the hearings.  However, our hearings went very well, and even better, biotech’s lobbyists were in DC digging out from the snow so could not show up and their substitute lobbyist was a joke.  Rich Bonanno from the NE Veg & Berry Growers though showed up against (I was surprised) but after all the people signed in (not including the 150+ emails sent) we out numbered the opposition by what, 30-1?

The interim results sound promising … but the game is still on! If you haven’t yet, please urge your NH legislators to support the labeling of GMO seeds and protect NH farmers whose non-GMO crops are contaminated by GMO crops by February 15. Use the following link to quickly send (or customize)  a form email to the members of the NH House Environment and Agriculture Committee and your own representative: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1221/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2253. Suggestion: Write the message on your own computer, SAVE IT, then copy and paste it into the window provided. If the website doesn’t work properly, please send your message to the following addresses, provided by Elizabeth from NH House of Representatives, Environment and Agriculture Committee, website (http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/committeedetails.aspx?code=H06):

Tara A. Sad, (d) Chairman (tara.eric@gmail.com)
Jane E. Beaulieu, (d) Vice-Chairman (jane.beaulieu@leg.state.nh.us)
Suzanne J. Smith, (d) Clerk (zanne1@metrocast.net)
Derek Owen, d (owen31@juno.com)
Leigh A. Webb, d (leigh.webb@leg.state.nh.us)
Roger R. Beauchamp, d (roger.beauchamp@leg.state.nh.us)
Steven W.Lindsey, d (steven.lindsey@leg.state.nh.us)
Brian D. Poznanski, d (bpoznanski@anselm.edu)
Susan E. Wiley, d (stephmwv@ncia.net)
Robert H. Haefner, r (bobhaefnerjp@comcast.net)
J. David Knox, r (jdknox@worldpath.net)
Laura J. Gandia, r (laura.gandia@leg.state.nh.us)
Warren J. Groen, r (warrengroen@gmail.com)
Stephen J. Palmer, r (spalmer_peanuts@msn.com)
Pamela Z. Tucker, r (pamzt@comcast.net)

And finally, here are some GMO-related facts and resource links from Pam, to inform and motivate you.

• Geneticist Marcello Buiatti says, “From a scientific point of view GMOs are a total failure.” He adds that they “use out-dated technology, do not increase production of useful food crops, do not help fight famine and do not do what their patents claim” and “serve only to make their owners rich as farmers have to pay royalties to the multinationals to use their seeds” (http://www.slowfood.com/sloweb/eng/dettaglio.lasso?cod=D5D7F482190d022CD4RxY105A0A2).
• Monsanto is a U.S.-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It calls itself an agricultural company yet was founded as manufacturer of agricultural chemicals, then expanded to include molecular biology, biotechnology, genetic modification, and pharmaceuticals (http://www.monsanto.com/who_we_are/history.asp).
• Monsanto sells 90% of genetically engineered or GMO seed worldwide. It started to acquire existing seed brands in 2004 and has continued to do so almost every year since (http://www.monsanto.com/who_we_are/history.asp).
• Monsanto also is the world’s leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate (active ingredient in the Roundup family of brands). Its broad-spectrum, nonselective herbicide products “are registered in more than 130 countries and are approved for weed control in more than 100 crops” (http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto/content/products/productivity/roundup/back_history.pdf).
• GMO farming encourages monoculture (growing one single species or crop), which decreases ecosystem diversity and is not a sustainable approach to agriculture. “Monocultures deplete the soil, and fruits and vegetables become more susceptible to pests and disease than those grown in a diverse crop environment, thus requiring larger amounts of chemical sprays” (http://www.sustainabletable.org/intro/dictionary/).
• Farmers growing GMO crops are prohibited from saving seeds (i.e., collecting and drying seeds from one crop to use the following season) because GMO seeds are patented (http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstryc657.html?recid=505).
• Many GMO crops are genetically modified to either be tolerant of or contain (directly in the seed) pesticides or herbicides. Examples include Roundup Ready varieties of soybean, cotton, canola, and corn (which require the application of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide) and YieldGard Rootworm corn (with “in-seed insect-protection against the corn rootworm”) and Bollgard II insect-protected cotton (http://www.monsanto.com/who_we_are/history.asp). Both kinds of seed increase environmental exposure to pesticides and herbicides, which has implications for the health of water, plants, insects, and humans as well as other animals.
• The use of pesticide-tolerant GMO seeds has been implicated in the widespread decline in the populations of honeybees and other plant pollinators (http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4557.cfm). Without pollinators, plants cannot bear fruit or vegetables.
• The results of a recent study indicate an alarming effect of GMOs on human health: Monsanto’s GMO Corn Linked to Organ Failure (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/monsantos-gmo-corn-linked_n_420365.html).
• Because of nature (in the form of wind, birds, and other animals), GMO seed and pollen inevitably “drift” into non-GMO crops. And in cases of GMO drift, liability usually falls on the farmer (http://www.caff.org/publications/aa/02_Fall/gmo_threat.shtml).
• GMO drift and cross-pollination spell economic loss or ruin for farmers whose valuable non-GMO crops have been contaminated by GMO crops. What’s more, Monsanto has a history of criminalizing small farmers who have been unwitting victims of the forces of nature (e.g., Monsanto Canada Inc. v. Schmeiser, http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/schmeiser012004.cfm and http://www.percyschmeiser.com/).

Thanks in advance for sending your written statement!

On Monday, we posted about Your chance to speak out against GMOs in NH. Today, we’re forwarding an action alert from Northeast Organic Farming Association, NH Chapter (NOFA-NH), requesting your presence or written testimony at tomorrow’s hearings. (Note: A link to democracyinaction.org in the original newsletter from NOFA-NH did not work, so it was deleted; we will post an update ASAP if we get a working link!)

GMO Action Alert

We need your support at the public hearings

Thursday, February 11

in the Legislative Office Building (LOB)
33 North State St., Concord NH
Room 308

11 am for the GMO liability bill
1 pm for the GMO seed labeling bill

Monsanto is coming with their expensive propaganda and expensive lobbyists.  There is nothing locally grown or heirloom about biotech - show the legislature that traditional and organic agriculture and gardening is our choice.

Or, email NOFA for two handouts info@nofanh.org that can help you compose testimony - the more people that speak the better.  Or just come with friends and colleagues and sign in to support the bill, and stay to hear both sides.

We believe consumer-farmers and consumer-gardeners have a legal right-to- know if their seeds contain GMOs.  And we want to protect traditional, organic and small farmers from cross-contamination that occurs with GMO crops.

Please forward this alert to all your networks and get promises to attend the hearings.
And to make it even better, please email Elizabeth at NOFA-NH info@nofanh.org with your RSVP that you or others will be offering testimony.

More people than ever are growing food for their own families, or for sale.  Organic agriculture continues to grow.

Did you know that there are at least six transgenic varieties of yellow summer squash, crookneck and zucchini that are available to consumers, and are not labeled?

Did you know that a farmer can buy transgenic seed without knowing it? It has happened!

Biotech is only getting bolder with their plans to own all seed in the world.  And to pollute our soils with pesticides and herbicides while creating super weeds and super pests.

No state has yet been able to get seeds labeled for GMOs.  Aren’t we still first in the nation?  Let’s be the leader!

Recommended websites for info and for studies to support your statements:

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/geneticeng.pdf is an excellent (32 pg) summary of all that has been happening with transgenic crops. http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/Home/index.cfm is the website of the author of Seeds of Deception and other books on GMOs, Jeffrey Smith. http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/usda-releases-organic-production-survey-results/

You can also write Op Ed pieces about this issue.

How to testify: You will sign in at the hearing and wait till you are called. You will have only 3 minutes, maybe much less depending on the number of people who are signed up to testify.  Written and oral testimony do not have to be diatribes. Keep it simple, polite and to the point.  Thank the committee when you are done. Short statements about complex points are more memorable than long dissertations.

Please try to arrive by 10:45 am for the GMO liability bill (HB 1388) and 12:45 pm for the GMO seed labeling bill (HB 1172).  And plan to spend some time.

Thank you!

NOFA-NH recognizes that farmers, gardeners, and consumers of organic products share a “community of interests:” a common need to grow and consume safe, healthy, nutritious, great-tasting food; and a common interest in preserving a healthy environment that nurtures all of us. In an age of industrial agriculture, we’re working to re-establish a shared sense of pride and participation in a community-based food system that links local farmers with local consumers, and rewards them both equally.

Contact: Elizabeth Obelenus, Program Coordinator
info@nofanh.org
(603) 224-5022

Via NOFA-NH:

The theme of this year’s Northeast Organic Farming Association, New Hampshire Chapter (NOFA-NH), Winter Conference is “A Place at the Table”. It encourages everybody to become involved in shaping an organic farming and food future. There is a place at the table for everyone at the NOFA Winter conference, but we are especially encouraged by the prospect of young voices participating in the discussion. Keynote speaker Sharon Astyk will offer a special family-centered workshop on the topic of creating a viable way of life. The conference has many informational sessions that would be relevant to future farmers and consumers interested in organic food and farming. In addition, there is a special track for youth presented by youth.

Early registration discounts are available through February 26.

WHEN: Saturday March 6, 2010

WHERE: Rundlett Middle School, Concord, NH

CONTACT: Winter Conference Coordinator Scott Morrison, (603) 226-9434, WinterConference@nofanh.org, NOFA-NH website