A camper doing his morning stretches in the grass outside his tent, a woman teaching a group of adults how to make felt from wool, a man setting up a spot for animals to run in the grass and a pile of books at an exhibitor’s tent were just some of the things happening at the UMass campus in Amherst this weekend where a record breaking crowd of 1600 people gathered in brilliant sunshine for the 35th Annual Northeast Organic Farming Association’s Summer Conference.

An incredible sense of community abounded as people were willing to share their stories, their lunch table, and their knowledge. One young woman had come to the conference with a group of people from her university, another had come to learn more about permaculture for her landscape design business. A college student who lived down the road had just stopped by for the keynote, zydeco music, and organic beer. One man who has been attending and presenting at the conference for over five years said “the summer conference feeds all of us.” The general consensus was that people leave the conference full of nutritious, organic food, knowledge and skills. The feeling of community could be felt watching a circle of people hold hands at the contra dance and at a free emergency meeting on the Late Blight that is devastating tomato and potato crops in the northeast. It could be felt at workshops where neighbors shared tools and information and when a child could be heard yelling down the hall to another – “Come by our tent later!”

Julie Rawson, the coordinator of the conference and Executive Director of NOFA/Mass said “the workshops are the heart of the conference” and there were over 220 of them offered on organic farming, gardening, landscaping, homesteading and sustainable living. Megan Pacelli, a beginner gardener who lives in the suburbs of Boston, chose to attend workshops that focused on natural health and wellness. After attending Herbal Medicine from the Outside In, Ms. Pacelli said “the more I learned at the workshops, the more I wanted to know!” She continued that “The amount of knowledge floating around at the conference would almost be intimidating, if it weren’t for the down to earth, modest people sharing the information. I came away from the workshops with the tools to begin a whole new way of life for my family.”

From herbs to goats, music to tie-dyeing, teens could choose from a number of workshops and to express themselves at the evening deejay and dance. Creativity was bursting from the children’s workshops. One puppeteer, Tom Stock, let the kids get behind the screen and express themselves in their own improv shows and outside, kids led calves on a path around the lawn, watched border collies chase ducks and paraded with music and costume at Saturday’s fair.

The fair was festive and vibrant as people gathered to relax and rest, and be entertained. Farmers and crafters displayed plants, herbs, alpaca wool, and pottery. Exhibitors offered books, farm tools, seed catalogs, and also information on things from rain barrels to humanure. Watermelon seeds from the spitting contest reached almost all the way over to the kids searching for peanuts in bales of hay. Kids churned butter to the rhythm of the music coming from the fair stage. Adults laughed along to a song about an attempt to get homemade vegetable stew through the security gates at the airport. Shouts and cheering could be heard from the corn eating contest to the pie eating stall. Horses pranced, children danced, and the sun shone down upon it all.

Paul Stamets’ keynote speech on Friday night explained how fungi can be used to clean the soil, restore ecosystems, and regenerate health. He described fungi as “soil magicians that interface between life and death.” Wearing a hat made from mushrooms, he called mycelium, the branching, threadlike vegetative part of the mushroom, “Earth’s natural internet”, transferring nutrients and moving water hundreds of feet. He told an enthralled audience of their antibacterial properties, powerful immune systems, and ability to sustain adverse circumstances. He showed various examples of mushrooms cleaning extremely toxic soil and then actually regenerating.

Saturday evening’s keynote speaker, Will Allen, has been working through his organization, Growing Power, to transform urban areas of Milwaukee into vital, growing, healthy green gardens. Will said he was happy to see such a diverse group of people, multi-generational and multi-cultural gathered together, and especially so many young people. He said making sure that “everyone has access to the same healthy, good food is not as a good deed, but as a responsibility.” He continued that he no longer considers the work he and organizations like NOFA are doing as a food movement, but as a “Good Food Revolution.” Strolling through the UMass campus earlier in the afternoon Will had pointed out the many places where he could grow good food, in an open field, next to a building or right on top of asphalt. He said that he would even plant a garden on a barge ON the water. Nothing will stop Will Allen from his quest to GROW and the NOFA Summer Conference grows bigger and better every year!

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