PSI Winter Gathering: MOFGA’s Eric Sideman on Building Your Garden Soil
Portsmouth Library, 175 Parrott Ave, Portsmouth, NH 03801
Levenson Community Room (1st floor)
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
5:45pm
Join us for the talk, Q&A, and looking ahead to spring. Wednesday evening at the Portsmouth Public Library Levenson Room at 5:45pm.
Soil management is at the heart of an organic approach to growing crops. Every grower wants good and bountiful yields, but the real goal of an organic grower is to improve the soil as you grow. The key elements that will be discussed by Eric Sideman, MOGFA’s (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association) crop specialist, are organic matter (why is it important and how to build it), and building reservoirs of nutrients so the soil can feed the crop.
Eric Sideman, Organic Crop Specialist, grew up just a stones throw outside of New York City where he could see the Empire State Building way off in the distance from his bedroom window. Slowly he edged north and to the country while he tested different colleges. During those years he earned a BS in agriculture from Cornell University, an MS in biology from Northeastern University and a PhD in Botany from the University of New Hampshire. Eric moved to Maine in 1982 to teach biology and ecology at Bates College. In 1986 he moved on to MOFGA to become what some call “the nation’s first Organic Extension Agent.” He provides technical support for farmers and gardeners, serves as staff scientist for MOFGA, plans and produces educational events for MOFGA and Cooperative Extension, and serves on various agricultural committees for the Maine Department of Agriculture and the University of Maine. From 1997 to 2002 Eric served a term on the National Organic Standards Board, an advisory board to the USDA National Organic Program. On the side Eric runs a PYO strawberry farm.
For more information: www.thepsi.net