Farming for Ideas

For myself as a young beginning organic farmer going to the annual MOSES Organic Farming Conference was something I had dreamed about for the last two years, so last weekend's trip to La Crosse for the event was very exciting. I was ready to get my learning on, see what this experience was all about and, I'm not going to lie, I was excited about the food too.

Keynote speaker Jeremy Siefert talking about his new film
GMO OMG. I'm looking forward to seeing this when it comes out!

There were so many people there! Talk about inspiring--organic yummy food loving farmers at every turn, my fellow heirloom lovers, GMO haters and earth loving folks--delightful. I spoke with experienced farmers with decades under their belts, potential farmers (that reminded me of myself two years ago), friends we attended our Farm Beginnings course with last year, and other partners in the food movement who were working on stuff such as farm-to-school.

Just one of the workshops I attended.

I attended three days of workshops on a variety of topics directly relevant to our farm. The opportunity to meet face-to-face with our organic certification service was great; I really wanted to know, plenty ahead of time that we are on the correct timeline for getting certified by October 2014. There were even courses or lunch time beginning farmer panels (below) focused on newer farmers.

Beginning farmers sharing their experiences--ups and downs.

All in all it was a great experience that allows me to bring some concrete knowledge back to use on the farm this year. Allowing us to improve the experience for our customers, as well as ourselves, be more efficient and have a great year!

Lastly, on the drive home, I picked up our pigs (here's where I make up for all the boring pictures)--Oliver, Yoda, Daisy, Jaymey and Lauren (named by our neice Lauren)!