Farmer to Farmer in the Field

 

A series of monthly free farmer-led, farm-based tours and education geared towards advanced and established farmers.

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JANUARY 2020
Mothers Who Farm
Led by Liz Moran, Darthia Farm
January 24, 2020
MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center

Come join us for an open and comfortable space for mother’s who farm or homestead to be able to connect about all the different ways we are able to juggle or are struggling with raising children and farming. Hear what works for others, what hasn’t worked and learn different approaches we maybe hadn’t ever considered. Join us for a potluck dinner and much more!

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MAY 2020
Dealing with Stress
May 12, 2020

View the recorded webinar on MOFGA’s YouTube Channel:
Part 1
Part 2

The stresses we experience now are new and many. This Zoom presentation features farmers talking about current stresses and effective coping strategies. A short presentation kicks off small group conversations in breakout rooms. Led by MOFGA staff, with Karen Groat, farm coach and executive director of Family & Community Mediation; Leslie Forstadt, farm coach, human development specialist with UMaine Cooperative Extension and director of the Maine Agricultural Mediation Program; and Polly Shyka, farm coach and co-owner/operator of Villageside Farm in Freedom.

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JUNE 2020
Webinar on Online Sales for Farms: Lessons Learned So Far
June 16, 2020 – 7 p.m.

Join us for a webinar focusing on several farms’ and tech service providers’ experiences with online sales for various farm products in response to COVID-19. Presenters include Polly Shyka of Villageside Farm, Drew Lessard of DevelopersHelpingProducers, Jeremy Bloom of Internet Farmer and Jed Beach of FarmSmart. Topics: building an ecommerce website from scratch for a mixed vegetable farm, getting ecommerce integrated into an existing website for seedlings, developing an online site for a PYO operation and integrating online sales data into QuickBooks. Includes question and answer session on each topic and time for general questions at the end. Moderated by Nicolas Lindholm, organic business and marketing specialist for MOFGA.

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JULY 2020
Racial Justice and Maine Farmers: Discussion for Farm Owners and Managers
Thursday, July 9, 2020 – 5 to 7 p.m.

Join Maine farmers to discuss racial justice and commit to antiracist practices on Maine farms and in the Maine agricultural community. Race-based violence, as seen with the murder of George Floyd, and systemic injustices are centuries old. Engaging in racial justice work must include our rural agricultural community for lasting holistic change. This discussion is not a racial justice training but a farmer-to-farmer-style conversation about how to move racial justice forward in a committed and sustained way. It will offer opportunities to respond to the present moment and to commit to equity and accountability in your farm business. This dialog will also help farmers who host apprentices and workers support a more inclusive workspace. Please register for this free conversation, which will include breakout discussions, here. When you register, we will share resources to review before the event.

A note about the involvement of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA): As a white-led organization with a primarily white membership base, MOFGA acknowledges that we are not experts. We are at the beginning stages of learning how best to stand in solidarity with our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community, address past harms and systems of racial oppression in the organization’s work, as well as commit to keeping social justice at the center of MOFGA’s internal work. We hope to use the MOFGA platform to encourage others to engage in the work of racial justice and to use our resources to continue these conversations, knowing that the fear of being perfect shouldn’t stop us from committing to justice work.

About the facilitators: Arvolyn Hill and Genna Cherichello, a skilled team of racial justice facilitators, have attended race conversation training sessions at the New York City-based Center for Racial Justice in Education as well as co-facilitated racial justice training for the New York Botanical Garden’s Children’s Education department to help its educators understand systematic racism and how it affects the outdoor education field while also equipping its educators to teach with an antiracist lens.
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Mothers Who Farm
July 21, 2020 – 7 to 8 p.m.

Join us for an open discussion on farming with children during the pandemic. We will briefly talk about childcare, safety, and everything from making dinner to staying sane. We will gather to support each other and share ideas.

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SEPTEMBER 2020
A Novel Shallow Well Technology to Provide Safe, Sustainable Drinking and Irrigation Water
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 – 5 to 6 p.m.

In this talk, Joe Ayotte of New England Water Science Center and the U.S. Geological Survey will discuss the historical use and problems associated with dug wells and some of the myths about the shallow till aquifer. In addition, you will hear about how a different approach to well design can yield sustainable amounts of bacteriologically safe, nearly arsenic-free water. More specifically, these wells may be resilient to drought and may provide water for irrigation during periods of sustained lack of groundwater recharge.

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OCTOBER 2020
Parents Who Farm
Tuesday, October 27, 2020 – 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Online. Free.

This month we are excited to host a panel discussion with a number of farmers from around the state who have been farming along with their children. Bring your questions and anything you might have to share with the group!

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DECEMBER 2020
Mothers Who Farm
Tuesday, December 15, 2020 – 4 to 5 p.m.
Online. Free.

REGISTRATION

Join us for an open discussion, led by Liz Moran of Darthia Farm, on farming with children. We will briefly talk about creating daily rhythms for your children as well as family role archetypes. We will gather to support each other and share ideas.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number ONE19-334.

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