Community Scale Soil Health at Woven Roots Farm

Throughout the day we will:

• Learn how Woven Roots Farm no-till, hand scale, composting, mulching, and harvesting practices are informed by their agricultural values.
• Learn several methods to assess soil health onsite with simple and inexpensive tools.
• Learn how Woven Roots Farm’s community and educational efforts are complemented and supported by their ecological practices.
• Learn the essentials of bed prep in a no-till, permanent bed system for both direct seeded crops, transplants and successive crop production.
• Discuss ways in which these management practices can nurture the soil and prevent and alleviate issues including soil compaction.
• View soil life under the microscope with Monique Bosch of NOFA/CT
• Enjoy lunch on the farm and mingle with other farmers, gardeners, and community members.

Schedule/Agenda:

9:30am - 10:00am - Arrival and Blessing

10:30am - 12:00pm - Workshop Station (1st Block) - Systems & Methods of Hand-scale Growing Practices

12:00pm - 1:00pm Lunch

1:00pm - 2:30pm - Workshop Station (2nd Block) - Microscopy

2:30pm - 4:00pm - Workshop Station (3rd Block)- Soil Health Assessment

4:00pm - Wrap Up & Thank You

Registration Fee

Sliding Scale:

$80 - Covers your registration and supports another attendee’s

$60 - Recommended

$40 - Reduced fee supported by contributions from other attendees

Scholarships available: Apply here

Parking

Park head-in on the right side and left side of the driveway. Some areas are flatter than others so please watch your step.

Google Map:

Woven Roots Farm

About Woven Roots Farm & Education Center

Woven Roots Farm is a traditional, hand-scale vegetable farm, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, and education center located on unceded Mohican land in the present-day southern Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts. Through a deep relationship with the land and one another, we commit to feeding, educating, and empowering our community members by co-creating equitable pathways to become healthier individuals, ethical growers, and caretakers of the earth and one another.

Woven Roots celebrates that agriculture itself is rooted in the long-standing cultural practices within communities of Indigenous people, people of color, and immigrants. We acknowledge that the US was built on stolen land and that all US systems are built on the stolen labor of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and other people of color.

Our agricultural practices are centered in the ancestral ways of acknowledging nature as a part of us—just as much as we are a part of nature. We recognize the interconnectedness of all life: soil, plants, microbes, insects, and animals. We embrace these connections and seek to enhance them, not to disturb them. In direct opposition to colonized agriculture, we move through a space of reciprocity that prioritizes our responsibility as land stewards.

In tandem with providing produce full-time, Woven Roots Farm & Education Center also creates for community members to reconnect to Earth’s natural rhythms and teachings from toddlerhood through elderhood. Our education center works to provide students a safe and productive community setting to grow and transform while cultivating food and skills for activism. We also create space for individuals and businesses seeking in-depth knowledge in successful hand-scale and ecological farming practices that produce abundant and vibrant vegetables on a small plot of land. Our farm offers intensives and workshops for both beginner and experienced farmers, as well as those interested in building their skills in self-reliance, food sovereignty, and environmental leadership.

About the Instructors:

Jen Salinetti (she/her) is a co-founder, farmer, and the Director of Education & Community Engagement at Woven Roots Farm -  a farm, education center, and CSA in present-day Tyringham, MA, that grows vegetables, herbs, and flowers using traditional, hand-scale farming practices. For 20 years, Jen has offered programs and workshops that develop relationships to land, build skills of resilience, promote traditional growing practices, and amplify pathways to social justice in the community, for the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), and other regional organizations. Jen serves on the MA Soil Health Advisory Council and is a part of the farmer consultancy program for the state. Jen is also Vice President of the Massachusetts chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association & co-chair of the Equity & Inclusion Committee as well as the Food Access Committee.

Rubén Parilla (he/him) is the Soil Technical Coordinator for NOFA/Mass and trained in microscopic soil microbial identification through the Soil Food Web School. He is a Certified Lab Tech and studied Environmental Design at the University of Puerto Rico. Rubén has 15 years’ experience working at different capacities in the environmental laboratory industry. He has been performing soil carbon proxy testing, soil health assessments, soil chemical analysis, and soil microbiological evaluations for NOFA/Mass for over the past year and has extensive experience farming and working with farmers, including beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers. Rubén performs soil health related outreach and education events for NOFA/Mass by leading monthly farmer learning calls, providing hands-on workshops and instruction at soil health education events, and networking with farmers and individuals in the agricultural industry. He is a fluent and native Spanish speaker and fully English/Spanish bilingual.

Monique Bosch (she/her) is trained in landscape design, horticulture and soil biology and she teaches microscopy, composting, and soil health. She operates Wiggle Room, a vermicomposting company, with her son Justin. She works as the Soil Health Lead for CT NOFA. She co-founded and ran Green Village Initiative, an urban farm and school garden non-profit in Bridgeport, CT. Monique will lead the soil biology presentation and training for this workshop.

Ulum Pixan Ahtoh’il Suk’il (original name), aka Dania Flores (colonized name), (she/her) is an Indigenous mixed-race woman (Maya, Xinca, Garifuna, Russian Jew and ladino), mother and grandmother. She was born in Guatemala, Mesoamerica, and moved to the United States in 1999. She has always been involved with community organizing around aboriginal, women’s, language, and environmental issues. Ulum is a critical thinker, farmer and activist. As NOFA/Mass’s Education Director and Equity and Inclusion co-director, she leads the educational efforts of the organization, promoting organic and sustainable agriculture.

More Information:

Portions of our farm tour will cover uneven terrain. We want to make sure your accessibility needs are met during the event. Please share with us your needs regarding (but not limited to): physical accessibility, allergies, noise, scent, gender, intellectual accessibility, and any instructions or tips to help you fully participate.

Masks are not currently required at this location but are greatly appreciated and encouraged. If you don't feel fully healthy we ask you to stay at home.

Refund/Inclement Weather Policy:

For information on our refund and inclement weather policy, click here.

Capacity:

Capacity for this event is limited to 50 people. Please remember to abide by current MA state guidelines for group gatherings and travel to minimize the transmission of COVID-19. Register ahead of time to secure your space!

Questions?

Contact Dora Miller, NOFA/Mass Educational Events Coordinator, at dora@nofamass.org or 857-265-0598

Sponsors

This event is supported by an Agricultural Soil Health grant from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) in partnership with American Farmland Trust.