Farm Science Review’s 67-acre Gwynne Conservation Area offers more than three dozen talks and demonstrations related to a farm’s natural resources — from planting trees to selling timber to stocking a pond to bringing in wildlife. They’re free and included with your admission to the Review, which is set for next month in London, west of Columbus. Find out more.
Month: August 2016
Label the changes
What will the new U.S. GMO labeling law mean for the nation’s food system? There’s a talk at Farm Science Review about that.
Earning major revenue on a micro-farm
Joseph Swain and Rachel Tayse’s Swainway Urban Farm in Columbus brings in $150,000 on less than a half-acre footprint. How? Find out from 2 to 4 p.m. this Sunday, Aug. 21, on the Organic Niche Micro-Farm Tour, part of the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series. (Hint: Through microgreens, mushrooms and more.) Get details here on p. 36.
Wholly Toledo: See bees, chickens, fish, more on small-scale farm in the city
Toledo’s University Church hosts the Community Urban Agriculture Tour this Saturday, Aug. 20, from 10 a.m. to noon. You’ll see “an array of agricultural practices in an urban, small-scale setting,” the tour description says. “From bees to chickens, greenhouses to hoop houses, and fish to fruit, University Church’s 8 acres showcase something for everyone.” This tour, too, is in the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series. CFAES is a co-presenter of the series and is the specific presenter of this tour. Free. Details here on p. 26.
Making compost, growing grains
The Organic Compost Farm Tour, part of the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series, is this Friday, Aug. 19, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Hirzel Canning Company and Farms in Luckey in northwest Ohio. You’ll visit the farm’s licensed compost facility, which turns crop, grain, livestock and canning waste into soil-improving compost, which is used on the farm or is sold to other farms. You’ll also learn about small grains and how the farm prepares custom, regional and international orders. The fifth-generation farm grows on more than 2,000 acres, some 700 of which are certified organic. Learn more here on p. 13.
Hops-growing interest is soaring, learn about making the leap
CFAES’s Brad Bergefurd, who’s got hops, headlines the Northwest Ohio Hops Field Day this Thursday, Aug. 18, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The free event is at the Agricultural Incubator Foundation in Bowling Green in northwest Ohio, where a one-year-old planting of hops is in place. You’ll learn about cultivars, production practices, pest control and more. Grab the details with the same vigor as, say, the Cavaliers’ Tristan Thompson, “Canadian Dynamite,” grabs an offensive rebound here on p. 25. The tour is part of the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series.
Feed your family farming in suburbia
It’s a busy weekend for the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series. In addition to Saturday’s two events, there’s the Suburban Homestead Tour this Sunday, Aug. 14, from 2 to 4 p.m. It’s at Weurfulville Suburban Farmstead in Canal Winchester. Owner Teresa Gottier “farms a small yard using all possible growing space by growing vertically in containers and raised beds,” the tour description says. Through those and other practices, including low tunnels and a mini-greenhouse, “her yields have steadily increased, enabling the microfarm to produce enough food feed the family year-round with surplus to sell to the neighbors.” Get details here on pp. 24-25.
See gardening, edible landscaping at Franklin Park Conservatory
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Community Garden Campus at the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus will host the Demonstration Food Garden Tour from 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday, Aug. 13. The garden “provides creative resources for anyone interested in gardening and edible landscapes,” the tour description says. There are herb, fragrance and culinary gardens; community gardens; an apiary; a berry house; and more. It’s another in the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series and the Columbus Urban Farm Tour Series. Learn more here on p. 24.
Columbus-area teachers: There’s help for starting a school garden (and keeping it going)
Starting a school garden — and keeping it going year after year — can be a challenge, says Sue Hogan, 4-H educator with CFAES’s outreach arm, OSU Extension. That’s why she’s helping coordinate “Project Green Teacher,” a weekly school garden educational program from September through November in Columbus. Read the story…
Your neighbors next door: Organic hay and grass-fed beef
Indiana wants you … to consider attending the Quality Hay and Grass-Fed Beef Farm Tour at 10 a.m. this Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Wood Farm in Fort Wayne, about 30 miles west of Ohio’s western state line. The farm is a 500-acre certified organic hay and pasture farm that supplies hay to regional dairies and beef to local restaurants. Features include Angus cattle, rotational pastures and acreage-boosting partnerships including with Fort Wayne’s airport. The tour is part of the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series. Get details here on pp. 12-13.