Nearly 100 farmers, aspiring farmers and folks who otherwise have a passion in working with the land turned out for the two days of workshops, bonfires and sharing experiences. I was lucky to catch a couple great workshops on seed growing (with Andrea Berry) and roundwood timber framing (with Mark Alvis) among lots of others.
- Farmers deep in discussion...
- Andrea Berry (right) of Hope Seeds put on a great seed saving workshop, here we are putting the theory into practice by planting a seed saving garden.
- Another of the highlights was planting a three sisters garden, with corn, beans and squash growing together. We were transplanting the corn seedlings into the hills so that they had a head start on the beans.
- I gave a scything workshop on Sunday afternoon, which proved to be quite a popular event. After some instructions and demonstrations probably 20 people got a chance to try their hand at mowing with a scythe. Here I am demonstrating honing with a whetstone.
- Some of the first swaths...
-After the students got into it we made short work of our hay meadow, we cleared probably a 1/4 acre in the course of the short workshop. Many hands (and scythes) make light work.
Looks like a great gathering. If there is a 4th next year I would love to attend. I'm doing a three sisters permaculture garden this summer and all was going well until a couple of days ago when the coons torn down most of the corn . Like you I started corn seedlings and it was these mature plants that the coons attacked. I also planted corn from seed in each mound and that corn is still there, I suspect the bandits will return though. There is video of my Three Sisters on my blog. http://dalecaldersblog.blogspot.com/
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