What is NOFA?

What is NOFA?

"What is NOFA?" NOFA stands for Northeast Organic Farming Alliance. It is a non-profit organization with the goal of promoting healthy food, organic farming practices, and a cleaner environment. NOFA has chapters in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. NOFA-NY is the New York chapter. They provide educational conferences, workshops, farm tours and printed materials to educate farmers, gardeners, consumers, and land care professionals.

The Natural Farmer, the quarterly newspaper of the NOFA Interstate Council, publishes features on organic farming techniques, certification issues, environmental developments as they impact farmers and growers, organic market conditions and other topics of interest to the Northeast organic community.

Another valuable service offered is NOFA-NY Certified Organic, LLC, accredited by the USDA National Organic Program since 2002. They operate the largest organic certification agency in New York State and certify in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. When you buy local organic certified products they were probably certified through this program. Devine Gardens compost and Super Grow are approved for organic use through NOFA-NY. 

As I wrote in last month's newsletter there are many, many interesting workshops focused on gardening in more environmentally friendly ways. The workshop I'm presenting is Sunday morning from 8:15 - 9:30. The title of the workshop is "Using Earthworms to Transform Waste into a Valuable Soil Amendment". 

 I've also been asked to participate in a permaculture discussion group which will take place on Friday from 4:30 - 5:30. What is permaculture? Very simply put it is a system of ecological designs that we use to meet our needs while also regenerating the natural environment. A great example is our sidewalks and driveways. Concrete and asphalt look neat and upkeep is minimal. One downside is they don't let water seep through instead encouraging runoff and possible erosion. So what could be used to replace them? That's where permaculture comes in. 

This conference is just the thing to stir our passions in the middle of wintry January. For more information visit the conference website https://nofany-winterconference.squarespace.com/
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