NOFA Winter Conference

The weather is still well below freezing out there, but January is behind us, the days are getting longer, and there's a definite hint of Spring in the air. If that's not enough for getting revved up for the new growing season, the NOFA Winter Conference will do it.

NOFA is the Northeast Organic Farming Association. This group of farmers, gardeners, and consumers began to organize about twenty-seven years ago. Click here to learn more. NOFA has grown to approximately 1300 members (including us!), many of whom attended the Winter Conference at the University of Vermont this past weekend.

This is what registration looked like on Saturday:

This year NOFA was honored to welcome Senator Patrick Leahy AND Congressman Peter Welch for comments during the luncheon. Vermont's Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Ross also spoke, as did Governor Peter Shumlin.  NOFA has come a long ways from its humble beginnings.

Here's Vermont's Governor at the podium:

It was difficult to choose from all the workshops. I decided to focus on those aimed at the home gardener.

I came away from the conference eager to expand on what I am already doing, and to experiment with some new crops. At first I decided to do a mini-rice paddy. Yes, wet clay and our climate should be just fine for rice ~ but then I heard that a rice huller is quite pricey. So, my experimental crop will be brussel sprouts ~ not so exotic, but something new for me to grow. And now I'm off to delve into my collection of seed catalogs, and to plan for the new growing season.

Today She Would Be 100

Today marks the anniversary of the birthday of Rosa Parks. She would be 100.

It was on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She is credited with saying that she was "just plain tired and my feet hurt." Years later in her autobiography she states that she was just tired of always "giving in." Her refusal to move from her seat sparked the successful Montgomery bus boycott, a significant milestone in the Civil Rights Movement.

I have a copy of her "Featherlight Pancakes" recipe. I understand it was found among her belongings written on the back of an envelope. In her honor today, here is the recipe, and a culinary connection to the fifties.

Featherlight Pancakes

Sift together: 1 Cup flour, 2 Tablespoons baking powder, 
1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 Tablespoons sugar.

Mix: 1 egg, 1-1/4 Cup milk, 1/3 cup peanut butter, melted, 
1 Tablespoon shortening or oil.

Combine with dry ingredients. Cook at 275 degrees on griddle.

The unusual ingredient here in a pancake recipe is melted peanut butter. Added flavor, added protein.

Happy Birthday, Rosa Parks. Thank you for your courage.