Bringing the days of old alive for today's world, Farm & Homestead Day at MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association) is a 100 percent hands-on, FREE event where people of all ages come together to share and learn about resilient skills handy for the farm and homestead. It's for anyone looking to live simply and close to the earth.
Here's a peek at what you might find yourself participating in, with over 40 workshops scheduled:
- Help construct a methane digester, get it started with waste from our F&H Day potluck, and come back in September to see its progress at the Common Ground Country Fair.
- Explore permaculture in the orchard by sowing a variety of companion plants.
- Forage for herbs and craft your own herbal salves.
- Put together ingredients to take home your own sourdough starter.
- Learn to sew a deerskin pouch or weave a basket.
- Work together to design and erect the perfect garden scarecrow.
- Slaughter, skin and butcher a rabbit, tan the hide, and we will cook the meat in our stone soup.
The focus at F&H Day at MOFGA is on simple technologies that use readily available items and can be learned with no previous experience.
Farm & Homestead Day takes place at MOFGA's Common Ground Education Center, 294 Crosby Brook Road in Unity. The event will begin at 9 a.m. with tea and crumpets (and at 7 a.m. for those who want to help scythe a berm), with skill-sharing workshops running from 9:30 to 4:30. No pre-registration is necessary.
Join together for a potluck picnic lunch at noon. Enjoy freshly baked bread and butter, made from flour ground and cream churned in the children-of-all-ages area, along with bean hole beans and scrumptious stone soup (with vegan, gluten-free and meat versions). Bring a dish from home to share - something that does not need to be heated or refrigerated.
There will be an ongoing Plant Swap, so please bring your extra seedlings or divided perennials to share. (Don't forget to label your plants.) Participants are encouraged to take responsibility for their own trash and come prepared to "pack it in, pack it out."
A schedule and list of workshops will be posted before the event at
www. mofga.org (click on Events > June > Farm & Homestead Day).
Volunteers are welcome and appreciated, with opportunities to help the day before, of and after the event. Volunteers also receive a free T-shirt! To volunteer, contact Anna Libby at
[email protected] or
207-568-4142.
