Integrating Trees, Pasture, and Livestock With Silvopasture

Description

Laugh and learn at NOFA/MASS’s workshop: Integrating Trees, Pasture, and Livestock With Silvopasture. Enjoy a potluck lunch and a walk through a young silvopasture system. Be inspired by the conversation with expert Instructors Ross Hackerson, Jonathan Bates & Jeff Jordain. They will share their knowledge in how to design a silvopasture system, what it takes to get started and how to manage it over time. That's what happens when you bring together a permaculture designer, and a forester, and a livestock farmer who has implemented silvopasture on over 10 acres of his woodlot. See you Sunday, 13 November 2016, 10am to 4pm @ Gray Dog’s Farm in Huntington, MA. For more information contact Dan Bensonoff, Education Events Organizer, at dan@nofamass.org or 860-716-5122. FaceBook Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/552198178309085/ NOFA/MASS Web Link: http://www.nofamass.org/events/integrating-trees-pasture-and-livestock-silvopasture ----------------------------------------------------- Integrating Trees, Pasture, and Livestock With Silvopasture Sunday, 13 November 2016 - 10:00am to 4:00pm Gray Dog’s Farm 35 Church Rd. Huntington, MA Cost: NOFA/Mass Member - $60 Non-member - $75 We offer scholarships of 50% off for beginning farmers (those growing 10 or less years) who are active NOFA/Mass members. To apply please click here. Silvopasture is an agroforestry practice that intentionally integrates the management of trees, forages, and grazing livestock to mimic a natural savannah ecosystem. This complex ecological system allows you and your farm to reap multiple benefits. Livestock benefit from reduced heat and cold stress and by having access to a greater diversity of grasses and fodder. The trees benefit from ample sunlight and available nutrients that are cycled through livestock. You, the farmer, benefit from the resilience of having multiple income streams and a beautiful landscape abounding with wildlife. This workshop brings together a livestock farmer who has implemented silvopasture on over 10 acres of his woodlot, a permaculture designer, and a forester. Together, they will take you through how to design a silvopasture system, what it takes to get started and how to manage it over time. You’ll also get to take a walk through a young silvopasture system at Gray Dog’s Farm. About the Instructors: Silvopasture Ross Hackerson, owner of Gray Dog’s Farm in Huntington, is raising pigs, beef cattle, lambs, goats, and broilers on his farm, which he distributes through a meat CSA. He has been working for several years to develop silvopasture from his woodlot. Jonathan Bates has been learning, thinking and teaching ecologically for two decades. He’s co-designed and regenerated dozens of landscapes where he lives, in the Connecticut River Valley, and beyond. He helped start and is a board member of the Apios Institute, is a farmer with Nuestras Raices, Inc., and contributing author of the award winning book "Paradise Lot: Two Plant Geeks, One-Tenth of an Acre, and the Making of an Edible Garden Oasis in the City". Jonathan loves sharing his passion for life with friends and family, and working with folks to better the world we live in. You can learn more about him, and his regenerative business, including individual and group coaching at FoodForestFarm.com. Jeff Jordain is a consulting forester from Becket, MA who has worked with a number of landowners in recent years to evaluate and implement silvopasture projects. Click here to sign up online now or mail in this registration form More Info: There will be a potluck lunch during the workshop. For more information contact Dan Bensonoff, Education Events Organizer, at dan@nofamass.org or 860-716-5122. For information on our refund and inclement weather policy, click here. --