Growing food in challenging environments: Strategies for urban farms and backyard growers
August 12 @ 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm
FREE
Nordica Street Community Farm is a 1 acre hand scale no-till farm based in Springfield with a 25 member farm share/CSA and a neighborhood farm stand. The farm has faced multiple soil and pest challenges in its 5 year history. Participants will learn strategies for dealing with depleted sandy soil, dumped clay, and a traumatized forest edge, as well as a range of hungry critters and pests including rabbits, groundhogs, deer, problematic bugs, and spotted lanternfly. Farm owners Anne Richmond and Todd Crosset will share their experience, and will be joined by Sister Anna Muhammad, Food Sovereignty Director at Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust and a market grower in Springfield, who has provided soil technical assistance and support to the farm over the years.
Staff from UMass Extension and the American Farmland Trust will be offering free soil analysis for toxic metals using a portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) device. Please bring a soil sample if you want it to be tested for contamination! The results are for you only – they will not be shared with an outside agency or organization.
Food and beverages will be provided. Registration Required. Please register using this link so that we know how many people to prepare for.
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