Canopy Roads of South Georgia

Lowndes County next year: SoGa Growing Local & Sustainable Conference

This year's SoGa Growing Local & Sustainable Conference was a satisfying success, and next year it moves to Lowndes County.

Not only did 260 people sign up, but all the sessions were well-attended, and everybody seemed to learn something new, from hoop houses to solar power, from hands-on workshops to all-hands plenary sessions. Of course the food was excellent. You can get a hint from this picture of Janisse Ray opening the conference; the food in the foreground is on the snack tables (ah, the honeycomb!). Then there were the meals, potluck by and for a conference-full of foodies.

In 2011 about 50 people came to the first one in Tifton. In 2012, about 150 people went to Reidsville. In 2013, about 260 people signed up, also for Reidsville, Tattnall County, to learn what it takes to grow local sustainable food here below the gnat line in this longleaf pine land of tea-colored rivers, acid soil, and rich gardening traditions.

As Janisse Ray wrote on the facebook event for this year's conference:

SoGa Growing Local 2014 will be held in Valdosta, GA. Gretchen Quarterman will be the lead organizer. We'll be keeping you posted on the date so you can put it on your calendars now. (We may do a mini version in Tattnall in 2014.)

More later on what happened at this year's conference, and more as it develops on next year's conference. So far, many local farmers, civic and business organizations, and local governmental bodies have offered to help, and Gretchen is forming an organizational committee. Stay tuned!

-jsq

SoGa Growing Local & Sustainable Conference

I think this is the third year of a fascinating conference that started when some people in south Georgia realized nobody else was going to talk about what it takes to grow local sustainable food here below the gnat line in this longleaf pine land of tea-colored rivers, acid soil, and rich gardening traditions. -jsq

Red Earth Farm Janisse Ray present:

SoGa Growing Local & Sustainable Conference

A day-long, information-rich, action-packed, affordable conference designed to get you healthier and save you money.

facebook event

When and Where: 9AM to 6PM, Jan. 26, 2013 Tattnall County High School, Highway 23/57 South, (1 Battle Creek Warrior Blvd) Reidsville, GA 30453 Registration: PDF, Word $30 before Jan. 15; $45 afterwards. Includes lunch.

Many do-it-yourself workshops in homesteading and country living: mushroom culture, beekeeping, backyard chickens, soil-building, small fruit production, economics, gardening for wildlife, charcuterie, natural cleaning, fermentation, herbs on the menu, natural cleaning & body care products, making jams & jellies, vermiculture, weed management, marketing, everything you need to know about small farming. Ladies Homestead Gathering, seed-saving. And so much more....

Conference actually starts on Friday with a potluck, reading & a showing of the film "Grow."

For more information see Registration on the left here, or email redearthfarm at yahoo.

Gretchen Quarterman will be giving a workshop at the Growing Local conference: Beginning lesson on home made jams and jellies. What you'll need (not much) to start making delicious sweets from fruits that are easily available.

Inspirational gardener & naturalist Ellen Corrie of Tifton, Ga. will be teaching a workshop on Gardening for Wildlife at the Growing Local conference Jan. 26. This presentation will look at how gardening for wildlife makes your garden (whatever size) healthier and helps restore habitat and preserve biodiversity. There'll be an overview of factors which need to be considered to attract and keep any wildlife or beneficial general. I'll focus on pollinators and specific practices and plants to attract them. — with Leeann Drabenstott Culbreath and Dan Corrie.

Albert Kipple Culbreath will be teaching a Mushroom-Growing Workshop at the conference. Inoculation and care of logs for production of shiitake and oyster mushrooms. Will include information on where to obtain supplies, how to handle logs, which type logs to use, care for the logs, and culinary uses. Sign up now. — with Leeann Drabenstott Culbreath.

 

 

 

Native plants in your yard for native wildlife

Nature is not something out there, apart from people. It never was, and nowadays people have built and farmed and clearcut so much that wildlife species from insects to birds are in trouble. In south Georgia people may think that our trees make a lot of wildlife habitat. Actually, most of those trees are planted pine plantations with very limited undergrowth, and in town many yards are deserts of grass plus exotic species that don't support native birds. Douglas Tallamy offers one solution: turn yards into wildlife habitat by growing native species. Since we are as always remodeling nature, we might as well do it so as to feed the rest of nature and ourselves, and by the way get flood prevention and possibly cleaner water as well, oh, and fewer pesticides to poison ourselves.

Douglas Tallamy makes a clear and compelling case in Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants

...it is not yet too late to save most of the plants and animals that sustain the ecosystems on which we ourselves depend. Second, restoring native plants to most human-dominated landscapes is relatively easy to do.

Some of you may wonder why native species are so important? Don't we have more deer than we can shoot? Maybe so, but we have far fewer birds of almost every species than we did decades and only a few years ago.

Some may wonder: aren't exotic species just as good as native ones, if deer and birds can eat them? Actually, no, because many exotic species are poisonous to native wildlife, and because invasive exotics crowd out natives and reduce species diversity. From kudzu to Japanese climbing fern, exotic invasives are bad for wildlife and may also promote erosion and flooding by strangling native vegetation.

All plants are not created equal, particularly in their ability to support wildlife. Most of our native plant-eaters are not able to eat alien plants, and we are replacing native plants with alien species at an alarming rate, especially in the suburban gardens on which our wildlife increasingly depends. My central message is that unless we restore native plants to our suburban ecosystems, the future of biodiversity in the United States is dim.

Tallamy had an epiphany when he and his wife moved to 10 acres in Pennsylvania in 2000:

Blackberries

Red and black:

Red and black
John S. Quarterman, Gretchen Quarterman, Brown Dog, Yellow Dog,
Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2012-07-26.

-jsq

Canning Jalapeno Peppers

Picked and washed:

Sliced and canned:

Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 15 November 2012.

-jsq

Gretchen with okra

Gretchen the farmer and Gretchen the Rotarian with okra and peppers and Brown Dog and Yellow Dog:

Gretchen the farmer and Rotarian with okra and peppers and Brown Dog and Yellow Dog.
Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 31 October 2012.

-jsq

Shelling corn

Gretchen Quarterman shelling corn.

Terry Davis is preparing by shelling one end so it starts in the device easier. Video:

Red cobs and blowing chaff:

Skeeter hawk in the okra

Skeeterhawk says, "come get your okra at Valdosta Farm Days today, at the historic Lowndes County courthouse, corner of Patterson and Central!"

Video:

Pictures and video by Gretchen Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 September 2012.

-jsq

Sweet potatoes

Gretchen will be selling these sweet potatoes at Valdosta Farm Days tomorrow morning, Saturday, 15 September 2012, 9AM to 1PM, at the historic Lowndes County Courthouse.

Displaying:

Double rainbow in the okra field

Movie: Here we are in the okra field, the rainbow (40M):

Movie: Second rainbow is bright and getting brighter (42M):