Hark the peeps!
Sniff the earth!
SHE IS HERE!
In this edition:

• Greenhorns summer schedule
• Sources of hopeful and useful news
• Engagement opportunities with Greenhorns

Summer Schedule

As you know Greenhorns has recently moved our headquarters to ‘Reversing Hall’ , an old Odd Fellows Hall in Pembroke, Downeast Maine. To celebrate and showcase our beautiful and historic HQ we will be hosting an array of summer workshops and camps that support the entry of young people into sustainable agriculture in Pembroke this summer.

June:

GPS for Beginners  June 10th

 
Our teacher is Markley Boyer, conservationist and adventurer and we will be learning how to use digital mapping, remote sensing, large-scale print-outs and plain old drafting paper to create working farm management plans. We’ll use great software to access different layers of information (soils, tax maps, etc). The resulting maps/farm plans can be used for grazing management, organic certification, trail-making, agroforestry, monitoring seaweed harvests and other aquatic users, and includes multi-layered data about weather, wildlife and other phenomenology.
We will work with a variety of tools, comparing best uses. From Open Source: Farmier, Gaia Maps, Pasturemap, Prospect, maybe even a tiny bit of google maps. We have a few lender-laptops for those who need, if you have a laptop please bring it. Class size is limited, scholarships available. $40 to register: [email protected]

One day short-course in Scything: June 15th

Taught by scything legend (and neighbor farmer) Jim Kovaleski and Carol Bryan of Scythe Supply. You will learn to manage fencerows, roads, paths, lawns, orchards – all without motor noise! Find the optimal physics, the romance of the swing, and learn some small tricks for sharpening and blade maintenance. (If you are coming from away, plan to arrive the evening of June 14th)
No purchase of Scythe is required, but all equipment will be available for sale. The daylong course costs $20 for downeasters/$40 from away, and includes camping, picnic lunch, use of outdoor kitchen.

Trail building theory and practice workshop: June 16th & 17th

Hosted by:
– Brannan Buehner of Owl and Bear Tree services,
– Connor Stedman of Appleseed Permaculture,
– Deirdre Whitehead, Maine Coast Heritage Trust land steward
All animals and all empires understand the power of the trail – but do you? We’ll cover siting and planning, tool-use, wet-area materials, underbrush and trail-edge management. Reading slope, topography, landform– what does the land want? How can we design a sensuous slalom, with just enough intervention and design? We’ll do some wildlife trailing and tracking, noticing how animals use the landscape, where do they congregate, over-winter, nestle-down. How does this relate to our own goals, for hunting, for under-story herbalism, for siting our pathways across the forest?
Join 3 experienced trail-makers as we cover theory, tools, practices and implementation in a very beautiful Maine forest. We’ll create some trail earthworks (swales, drainages, water-bars, brush-piles and brush-gabions) that prevent erosive decline of the trail-way, and discuss remediation for old lumber roads. The techniques of trail-making can build skills relevant on self-willed as well as domesticated landscapes, today’s meadows are yesterday’s woodlands. From here, we can begin drawing the forest-habitat back out into the meadows with agroforestry planning. YES! We will actually make trails through a beautiful forest on a salt-water farm in Downeast Maine and you will gain serious confidence to make better trails in whatever forested landscapes you call home. (June 15 afternoon/evening arrival)
$25 downeasters/$60 from away for the two day course, includes all meals. Scholarships available, email: [email protected]

Wild and Cultivated Algae: Seaweed workshop #1: June 23rd

This will include a full day session with Sarah Redmond and special guest teachers which will feature:

• Presentations and Slideshows at the Reversing Hall, field study on the shore.
• Orientation to the Inter-tidal, marine biology
• Introduction to wildcrafting and farming edible seaweeds.
• Look at the history of seaweed aquaculture around the world.
• Looking at the potential for seaweed aquaculture in Maine: opportunities and risks.
• Introduction to the work of Elinor Ostrom on the Commons, and principles of community resource management.
• Introduction to species, ecology, ethics, equipment, siting considerations, seasonality, harvest, processing.
• We’ll discuss bio-safety protocols, look at seaweed health and disease management strategies.
• We will talk about local economy, political ecology and learning our lessons from fisheries history in Maine.
• We’ll discuss what kind of policy is needed create a Maine seaweed sector inviting to young, conservation-minded mariculturists.
• We’ll evaluate wild and cultivated products, discuss best practices and market potential
• We will have plenty of time for discussion.

Farm lunch provided $200/Scholarships available. Email [email protected] to RSVP

July

- July 21st - 22nd: "Halls away Downeast" - A bus-your of historic halls from Ellsworth to Eastport, Maine.

August

- All of August: Blueberry Camp!
- August 5th: Blueberry Wine Workshop
- August 17th - 25th: Sail Training Camp - Downeast Foxfire with Arista Holden

September

- September 7th - 9th: Edible Wild Plants and Mushrooms in the Maine Woodlands and Wildlands - with Russ Cohen and Peter McCoy

October

- October 13th: Wild fruit vinega! Making apple cider vinegar on a homestead scale.
Emma made a nice calendar online where you can view the full line up.
We've also got a few hovering workshops on natural beekeeping, oystering and another one on seaweed ecology...so stay tuned! We will be posting them on social media and the online calendar.

Sources of hopeful and useful news

Given the state of the world, we are finding that without some effort we fall into a NYTime/NPR/Guardian votex of headline -in the time that could be spend on personal research and inquiry on topics relevant to intervention. Therefore we have been taking the effort to catelog alternative sources of new and learning which can occupy the 'news curiosity' in a more uplifting and fulfillling manner You get the drift?
Global Sisters Report - news from nuns around the world.
Reveal - a podcast from the Centre for Investigative Reporting.
Down to Earth - a podcast from Quivira Coalition
The new food economy - a slightly bitchy new online food and farm news source, we love them!

Here is a list of others that you should check out too!

Purple Pitchfork
Heritage Radio Network
Farmer to Farmer Podcasts
Permaculture Voices
Farmstead Meatsmiths
Ileia magazine
The Ruminant
Radio Cate/ Down to Earth
NextEconomyNow Podcast
Delicious Revolution Podcast
The Daily Yonder
Civil Eats
Ag Insider
Tilth Online
Perennial Plate videos
Rural in These Times newspaper
Rural Roots Film Festival
Farmerama Podcast

Engagement Opportunities

Sought: EXPERIENCED and EXCELLENT volunteer proofreader/final editor for the forthcoming Greenhorns guide to Food Logistics. You will work in partnership with Claire and Leah the authors, to bring to final perfection our new guidebooks as we head into layout and art production. It says volunteer, but we'd be very willing to barter you a free tipi-weekend with blueberries and boating for your family. Email [email protected]
Sought: Part-time Spring/Summer Greenhorns! We're looking for a few good part time residential workers to help with establishing our summer camp infrastructure, cataloging the library, preparing the hall for the new office and our summer programs. We can also help you find other local work around here in Downeast Maine...there are wonderful local organic businesses to chose from. Get in touch now! with your resume and cover letter. Early birds et their first choice of bay-view tend platform. We are looking for motivated, happy, helpful and kind-spirited Greenhorns for our new home, we had such delightful winter helpers..and now the sun is shining and the air is warm! Email [email protected]
Sought: micro-part-time Greenhorns bloggers, please get in touch with [email protected], blog maven about contributing to our beloved blog. Usually it's a 1-2 hour a week commitment and gives you a chance to peer into an amazing trove of news items!
Looking forward to a very busy summer!
Thanks to our crew,
Soraya Farivar - Former intern, current Greenhorn
Ethan Bien - OurLand
Arista Holden - Downeast Fox Fire Sail Camp
Briana Olson - Almanac Editor
Katie Eberle - Almanac Design
Leah Cook & Claire Cekander -  Greenhorns Guide to Food Logistics
Emma O'Leary - Administrative Director
Ian McSweeney - Treasurer
Severine Fleming - Director
Donate to help the Greenhorns continue with our important work. Please click here and feel happy that your support is shared (8%) with our new fiscal sponsor MOFGA (Maine Farmers and Gardeners Association)