Skip to content

Farm’s Fall Festival A Huge Success!

Preparation began in late Sept. for the farm’s fall festival. A thorough house cleaning happened early in the week, as it was too wet to “clean” the gardens. That had to wait until Wednesday or Thursday, when I also got to plant more kale and dig two rows of sweet potatoes. 

By Friday, we were ready for the hungry heard.  Richard gave an overview of his apiary offering sound advice on beekeeping. The barn was alive with its own preparation, making horsetail, and then digging up horn silica and emptying horns.

Stuffed peppers, acorn squash, chili, salad, greens and pumpkin pie graced the banquet tables. After dinner we celebrated Harvey Lisle, our keynote speaker who died a few months ago. He had obviously deeply touched many of us, judging by the stories we heard. With his 50 years in biodynamics, his insights were greatly appreciated, and we all missed him.  

Saturday was full. Richard discussed homeopathy, Eric described the Belle Bend Project, Susanna explored perm culture, Jennifer made jam, and Verl talked about nutrition and health. After a hardy lunch, Hector explained how he turned his nursery and blue berries over to the next generations, Doug did a workshop on mushrooms an bio-char, Sarah and Gary had everyone dowsing, Sharon talked gardening, Glen showed of his tools, and Alan and Steve examined the high cost of cheap food. All the while the barn folks-Lloyd, Luke, Laura, and Philip- were making barrel compost and stuffing cow horns.

But the 200 people that came through here last weekend would have come with no workshops. They came because of the vibes, the community and the love. Children playing everywhere, small gatherings in and around the gardens and the kitchens were plenty of entertainment.

We topped it off with a talent show and barn dance on Saturday night. Boy, these folk are talented and love to dance! Sunday we chilled out, read a little Steiner, Laura demonstrated raw food preparation, and them we toured the farm. All during the conference, Lloyd’s stirring machine and spray rig were covering a hundred acres with 500, 50-barrel compost and horsetail.

The list of thank you’s would take another two pages. The cooks, the volunteers, the long hungry crew, the kids made this event once again. Our deepest gratitude to everyone, it truly is a community-sponsored conference.