Agriculture Focus: Soil Building
Local soil, gardening and ecosystem experts will be putting on a series of presentations on the topic of Soil Building in the Horticulture Building during the three days of the Fair. Presentations will range in scale from soil theory for regenerative agriculture to practical application for the backyard gardeners.
Friday
12pm • TUNE UP YOUR COMPOST BIN with Laura Tucker
Tune Up Your Compost Bin: Quick refresher for those who want better results with their compost bin. Too wet? Too dry? Not working well? Get tips and great handouts for success! Beginners welcome too.
1pm • GO WITH THE FLOW -- SAFELY USING URINE AS A GARDEN FERTILIZER with George Sawyer
It’s not just waste; urine is full of valuable nitrogen. Studied by many universities and the WHO, it is widely used in Europe and increasingly in the US. You can simply, cheaply, and safely prepare and use it to help your garden, including an easy way to reduce the odor.
2pm • FROM STRAW TO TABLE: STRAW BALE GARDENING EXPLAINED with Julia Cordz
Want a veggie garden but your soil is impossible to cultivate because of tree roots and rocks? Or maybe you don’t have any soil at all. Meet the humble straw bale - a fabulous cube of productivity! With a few simple steps and minimal care, you can grow almost everything.
3pm • BENEFITS OF SOIL AMENDMENTS with Doug Van Allen
Doug will give an overview on the benefits of soil amendments along with types of amendments and some ways they can be useful in gardens. The talk will cover various ways amendments can be used to correct nutrient deficiencies during the growing season as well as prior to planting.
4pm • WORM BINS … BUILDING YOUR OWN with Herb Tracy
Worm bins are relatively easy to build. The tools are readily available. (Borrow them from the local TOOL LIBRARY at the Fairgrounds!) Other materials are easy to find. We’ll put together an operable Worm Bin that YOU might win at our raffle at the end of this session.
Saturday
12pm • LUNCH WASTE OUT OF LANDFILLS with Laura Tucker
Lunch Waste Out of Landfills: Learn how a wonderful partnership between Blue Heron Middle School students and staff, Jefferson County Solid Waste, and our local Rotary Clubs worked together to reduce two garbage cans of food waste every day from their cafeteria and turn it into valuable compost.
1pm • USING BIOCHAR AT HOME, MADE SIMPLE! with Francesco Tortorici
The presentation will give an overview of biochar history, production and uses, including local examples.
2pm • RETURN TO EARTH COMMUNITY COMPOSTING with Francesco Tortorici
Learn how Return To Earth Community Composting is working to build local soils and divert food waste from the landfill. Find out why food waste composting is an easy step toward mitigating climate change and building local ecological and community resilience.
3pm • SOIL HEALTH AS METAPHOR AND PRACTICE with Imo Baseler
Whether you are farming, gardening, or are just interested in ecology and sustainability, come explore the meaning of “soil health”. How do you figure out if you have healthy soil? What are the best practices to build healthy soil? Share your favorite soil building practice and see how it fits into the bigger picture.
4pm • FEED THE SOIL AND THE SOIL FEEDS THE GARDEN with Jeanmarie Morelli
Think of making compost as an art like making bread, wine or sauerkraut. We work with nature’s decomposers—the worms, insects and soil microorganisms. They grow, multiply, and when they die, act like slow-release fertilizer, providing nutrients in a form the plants can use.
Sunday
12pm • FROM SOIL TO SUPPER: HOW HEALTHY SOIL GROWS HEALTHIER FOOD with Mary Purdy
What if the health of your next meal actually starts underground? Come explore the fascinating connection between healthy soil, the microbes that live in it, the nutritional quality of our food, and ultimately, our own health. We’ll dig into what kinds of sustainable farming practices can teach us about growing food that nourishes both people and planet.
1pm • FISH JUICE AND OTHER SOIL CONCOCTIONS with Jasmine Kamdar
The Community Wellness Project started a small composting site to explore how locally available waste materials can be turned into useful soil amendments. They’ve experimented with fish, crab, and seaweed hydrolysates, compost, and meals, and are testing these materials on farms to explore their potential.
2pm • HUMUS—UNITING THE POLARITY OF LIFE AND DEATH with Chris Reynolds
With humus, carbon—life’s own corpse—is sequestered in the soil, enriching its capacity to support life. As humans (not microbes or worms), we are asked to dive into this dynamic and generative interplay of life and death to help build the soil’s (and our own) inner capacities.
3pm • ASSESSING THE HEALTH OF YOUR SOIL with Imo Baseler
Whether you are farming, gardening, or are just interested in ecology and sustainability, come explore the meaning of “soil health”. How do you figure out if you have healthy soil? What are the best practices to build healthy soil? Share your favorite soil building practice and see how it fits into the bigger picture.