Winter Work
As our farmer’s market season wraps up and we deliver our final CSA shares of the year, I am often
asked,
“what do farmers do in the winter?” In the hopes of answering just that question, I am going to
spend the month of February blogging about just that topic!
First up: education! As first generation vegetable farmers, the work of educating ourselves is never done.
From reading books to attending workshops, we take advantage of all types of opportunities for us to
learn more about farming. Conveniently, all over the country sustainable agriculture organizations are
hosting their annual conferences most of which take place in the winter. This is when farmers have time to
step away from the fields and into their offices, or in some cases, cars, to travel to in person events.
Perhaps it’s because we’ve been a bit isolated the last couple years or perhaps it’s because we find
ourselves in need of a boost of info after 15 years of operating Mile Creek, but this winter Ben and I are
popping into more conferences than any previous winter. Ben just finished participating in the 2022
Organic Vegetable Production Conference, an online event of 4 chockfull mornings of workshops put on
by University of Wisconsin extension, University of Iowa extension, and FairShare CSA Coalition. Topics
covered vegetable intensives like broccoli and sweet potatoes and people managing workshops covering
both being good to employees and to ourselves! Farmers tuned-in from all over the country, but the
majority were located in Wisconsin and neighboring states.
Ben enjoyed learning, and the plethora of upper midwest farmers in attendance inspired him to attend the
MOSES conference this year. MOSES is the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service and
they promote and support organic farms through education. Every February they host a 3 day conference.
As long as we’ve had Mile Creek farm we’ve thought about making the trek to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, to
attend the conference but never have. In a couple weekends Ben will get to take a short working vacation
and attend the conference. We’ve had more and more disease issues pop up with our crops so Ben is
especially interested in a one day plant pathogen bootcamp intensive.
But before Ben heads off to Wisconsin we will both head over to The Ohio Ecological Food and Farming
Association’s conference right here in Dayton, OH. The theme of this year’s conference is Rooted and
Rising. I highly recommend the conference for farmers, aspiring farmers, and interested consumers.
There are workshops on policy topics such as creating a better food system and workshops that focus on
small-scale growing practices like raising backyard chickens as well as larger-scale growing practices. In
addition to the in-person event Feb 18th and 19th there is an online workshop on the 12th. Online
registration, which covers both weekends, ends in a couple days on the 10th. If you are interested check
out the event page here and sign up! I am really looking forward to the online event’s Keynote speaker,
Mary Hendrickson, whose talk is called “Corporate Power and Our Food Systems’ Future.
” Mary
Hendrickson is a rural sociologist who focuses on community food systems, rural development, and
sustainable agriculture. I have to confess I’m not familiar with her work but my interest is certainly piqued.
Ultimately, for me these conferences have always been part education, part inspiration and I’m eager to
both learn and get motivated for the year to come!