On-farm workshop at Wolfe’s Neck highlights regenerative agriculture

Freeport, Maine — The first stop on the Northeast Grazing Network’s annual Northeast Luminary Tour is scheduled for Saturday, July 12 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment, 184 Burnett Road in Freeport. This year’s luminaries are Dale Strickler, agronomist and author of the best-selling books Drought Resilient Farm, Managing Pasture, and The Complete Guide to Restoring Your Soil and Elizabeth Heilman, professor of ecology and science education at Wichita State University and co-founder of Regenerative Wisdom. 

The event will feature classroom and field activities covering topics that include:

• Grazing management strategies that work for you: understanding the principles. Understanding basic plant growth principles will allow growers to develop customized grazing strategies.
• Don’t buy your fertilizer, grow it! Creating a robust soil microbiology can make the application of commercial fertilizers unnecessary. How do growers get to that point from where they are now?
• Growing Grit: Building Social and Emotional Resilience for flourishing farms and communities. Farm and life choices can be more driven by emotion than by logic. Learn how to master perceived threats to safety, esteem, belonging and justice.

Space is limited, registration required at the event webpage. Cost is $30 for farmers (sliding scale) or $60 for non-farmers. Lunch is included. For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact Kate Turcotte at 802.343.6419 or kturcotte@wolfesneck.org.

The Northeast Luminary Tour is organized each year by the New England Grazing Network and its member and partner organizations with a goal to bring innovative, in-person, interactive grazing resources to farmers and farm service providers across the region.

Additional events in the Luminary Tour are slated for July 14 at Vermont State University, July 15 at Shelburne Farms in Vermont, and July 18 at Hawthorne Valley Farm in Ghent, NY. Topics covered at these events will include growing nutrient dense through soil health, bacteria and micro-organisms; restoring and revitalizing the local water cycle; innovative approaches to designing effective fencing and water systems; enhancing plant diversity in pasture systems; and incorporating warm-season grasses in forage systems.

University of Maine Cooperative Extension

As a trusted resource for over 100 years, Extension has supported UMaine’s land and sea grant public education role by conducting community-driven, research-based programs in every Maine county. UMaine Extension seeks to build thriving communities and grow the food-based economy, focusing on aspects from production and processing to nutrition, food safety and food security. Extension also conducts the most successful out-of-school youth educational program in Maine through 4-H, which offers hands-on projects in areas like health, science, agriculture, and civic engagement and creates a positive environment where participants are encouraged to take on proactive leadership roles.