This past weekend 620 Food & Farm Conference goers from Nevada County and throughout the Western states learned new farming, gardening, cooking, and ranching tips, gained cutting edge knowledge to make their farm businesses more successful, were inspired to eat better, grow food more efficiently, raise animals with love and create a healthier planet!
As one participant put it; “I am inspired! I am over the top inspired!”
On the farm tour participants got to see first-hand how intensive rotational grazing is restoring natural ecosystems, building soil, and increasing diversity on one ranch, they tested out human-scale seed threshing and cleaning machines which are available to the community to facilitate local seed saving, and they visited the largest and oldest community supported agriculture farm in Nevada County.
Saturday the outpouring of gratitude was palpable and the community was galvanized into action. The work of farming sustainably can be grueling yet farmers and ranchers left feeling inspired that their work is creating huge ripples of positive change beyond just feeding people. During the food and farming expo, and lunchtime round-table discussions, the attendees found new friends and made connections to support their success. One couple was so inspired by the conference and the community, that they decided this weekend to sell their house in Tahoe and buy a farm here.
Sunday participants honed in on the specific topics they needed to take their farms and ranches to the next level. From trouble shooting problems to exploring new recipes or enterprises, everyone took home tangible concepts to apply at home.
Here’s what we heard from conference goers over the weekend.
“Thank you Sierra Harvest for organizing the Food and Farm conference. I’ve followed Dr. Vandana Shiva’s work for the last 10 years so it was a great honor to hear her speak in person! Hearing about our broken food system is daunting and depressing but also a great MOTIVATOR to get out there and do something about it.”
“Wow, what a success the conference was! I really was inspired by the Kaiser’s talk and my time there, thank you for the farmer discount, that really made the difference!”
“Dr. Vandana Shiva has me in tears of exhilaration this morning.”
“Thank you for bringing such high caliber speakers to our community. You outdid yourselves.”
“Having a booth at the expo was awesome, epic, we can’t thank you enough!”
“I came to the conference very depressed and hopeless. The conference had opened me up to the many opportunities for a meaningful life, I am full of hope and gratitude. Thank you!”
Big thanks to our top sponsors, BriarPatch Food Co-op, Vital Garden Supply, Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply for making this event possible!