Official Program for the 2013 Nafex Gathering
in Asheville, NC
This bulletin includes● Schedule
● Program topic proposals
● Poll: 10 plus things that the young people coming to the
meeting want to learn about
● Food menu
● Lodging update
● Field trip details
● Day Rates
● 8 essential things to pack for the conference (including a
word about the Auction, show and tell, vendor’s alley,
and fire circles.)
So to start, there has been a lot of question/ confusion/ and frustration as to the
lack of prearranged talks in the schedule. This openness creates a vacuum so all
people will feel a desire as well as a need, to contribute to the meeting rather
than just the guy running it. I received feedback that this tact is too abrupt a
change for some. So in a spirit of compromise I have cultivated a few individuals
to offer proposals for presentations. Mind you, there will still be room for many
exciting topics that are on people’s minds to be shared!
ScheduleThursday August 8th
12:00 Campground open
5:00-7:00 check in at Highland lake lodge
7:00 finger food offered and show and tell (If you want to donate produce that
you’ve grown for the meals or snacks please contact Chef Mark at:
italmon@hotmail.com)
Friday August 9th
9:00- 10:30 open space organizational meeting
10:30- 12:00 Break out session
12:30- 1:30 Lunch
2:00- 3:30 Breakout session
4:00- 5:30 Breakout session
6:00- 7:00 Dinner
7:30 Auction
Afterwards- Fire Circle; homemade cider/ mead/ wine tasting
Saturday August 9th
9:00- 10:30 Breakout session
10:30- 12:00 Breakout session
12:30- 1:30 Lunch
2:00- 3:30 Breakout or plenary session TBA
4:00-5:30 Breakout or plenary session TBA
6:00- 7:00 Dinner
7:30 Auction
Afterwards-Fire circle; community drum circle
Sunday August 11th
Clean up site and leave for field trips
11:00-12:00 Field trip- Rendezvous at Edible Park in downtown Asheville
12:30- Picnic and tour at Goodheart’s urban permaculture paradise garden in East
Asheville
Program ProposalsClifford England of England’s Bizarre Plant Bazaar and nursery will be showing us
some basic grafting techniques for the new members, as well as, some of the
more advanced grafts he does for nut trees. He has also alluded to revealing some
of the old secret family grafts his grandfather innovated, previously held at
“highly classified” status.
Bob Purvis is coming all the way from Idaho to share with us several topics he
feels would be a contribution to fellow members. One is “kinder and gentler
chemicals in the orchard” and “Poultry in the orchard”. He is the apricot group
chair and will be sharing how apricots have been fairing in that group’s trials out
east, he has been a pioneer as a fruit seller in the local farm market revival, and
will be sharing successes and failures he has had over the years. (ed. note- I know
Bob and I will be having heated discussions about refrigeration over lunch.
Ron Powell President of the N. American Paw Paw Growers Assoc. will be sharing
with us a talk titled “Making the most of what you got- growing natives on
marginal land”.
Stan (McCitrusman) McKenzie is coming up from South Kakalaky and sharing his
work on the leading edge of hardy citrus innovation.
Chuck Marsh of Useful Plants Nursery, old guard Permaculturalist, and all around
rascal, will be proposing a talk on growing common and uncommon berries for
nutritional benefits.
Ed Fackler is rumored to be hosting a poker table for beginners, with most of the
profits going to pay for the helicopter to abduct Tom Burford from his Saturday
night haunts so we can get him to the Friday night cider tasting on time.
I would like to reiterate that we are anticipating enough topics will be proposed
to run at least 3 concurrent breakout groups throughout the 2 days including
lunch table sessions. Which means you don’t have to sit through something that
you have absolutely no interest in?
Young person’s pollI asked some of the younger people coming to the meeting what they want to
share and learn from other experienced members. (Believe it or not young people
under 35 years old actually out number the older people at this point in
registration.) Presently, registration is five times the number of participants at
last year’s conference! This marks the highest net percentage increase of any
successive conferences in Nafex’s history! Plan on some of these questions, and
many more being proposed during the Open Space organizing meeting at the
beginning of the conference.
And the 10 most popular questions were….
1. Sheep and other grazers in the orchard (this will most likely be combined
with Bob Purvis’s “poultry in the orchard” (ed. note Can you start to see
how this is going to work?)
2. Gorilla planting on public land – It’s better to beg forgiveness than ask for
persimmon…I mean permission....
3. To an older guy- what advice did you hear when you were starting out that
has stood the test of time and you want to pass on?
4. Small scale fruit breeding - techniques for trying a lot of varieties in a small
space
5. Farm Made Potting soil - start to finish, with a focus on locally available
Non-fossil inputs.
6. Economy of the lazy - a discussion of cultivars and species which provide
the best fruits for the least effort.
7. How about squirrel proofing, if there is such a thing outside of a .22 (us city
dwellers are sorta stuck).
8. Grafting across genera i.e. Citrus on Poncira, Apples on Photinia
9. Wild/feral/urban fruit foraging (ethics i.e. sharing the resource and
mapping)
10.
Che in general. Are Che dieceous or monecous (and how do you spell
those?)
11.
Maximizing habitat diversity in an orchard- and by this I mean how
best to grow plants, animals, mushrooms, etc in concert.
12.
More importantly: where is nafex going and how are we going to pull
together all the generations (newbies and elders) to make the club better
than ever?
13.
Irrigation!
14.
Guerrilla grafting- will there be any incompatability problems grafting
a chimpanzee onto an orangutan?
15.
Questions about climate change and fruits...with some areas getting
colder/hotter/wetter/floodier, what ideas to care for the trees that are in
the ground? How to prepare for loss of trees? Thinking of ways to increase
genetic diversity to give trees adaptation advantage
16.
Nutrition and trees...having information on the biggest punches you
get in vitamins/nutrients/fats from different types of trees, medicines and
other uses
17.
How to best catapult children into trees with a high first scaffold
18.
Growing trees underground (ed. Note is that about gorilla planting or
maybe roots?)
19.
Simple tricks for growing trees, especially if you are Johnny
Appleseed and dirt poor running around with a burlap sack as knickers.
20.
I'd like someone to go over what their tool belt looks like over the
season, maybe they make their own grafting wax and have that in the
spring, maybe they use something other than masking tape b/c whatever,
they got stock in coopoo tape.... and a bit to talk about favorite tools,
perhaps there are old tools out there no longer made people could look for
at estate sales, or make themselves...
21.
discussion on favorite books for continuing education, especially if
folks attending wrote them. (ed. Note- if you care about the existence of
the Nafex library, this conference will probably be your last chance to
voice said concerns. Please write me a letter and I will share it with the
board.)
22.
Possible crosses for fruit trees
23.
economic viability of obscure fruits in general - are there places
where markets for these fruits are growing? what's the economic outlook
for farming with fruits like persimmon, pawpaw, etc.
24.
The future of jujubes = in my mouth :)
25.
The NAFEX handshake. I just think we should have a secret
handshake.
26.
Do I climb the tree to pick the fruit...or do I just shake the @%&* out
it?
27.
growing grapes from seed and other notoriously difficult to
germinate fruits, esp. interested in low-tech methods, creating water
retention landscapes, grow your own rootstocks through stooling,
appropriate tech. for hulling and cracking nuts, grafting stone fruits,
breeding for disease resistance, orchard floor management, the history of
NAFEX and looking forward…
28.
...and finally- “I would like to hear stories from the elders about their
fruit explorations”
To numerous to list, this represents about 1/10th of the suggestions sent to me
from some of the young people who are anxiously waiting for the conference.
Do you have any interest in these discussions?.. something to contribute?...
Clearly, the lack of prearranged talks by experts is not going to hinder the
amount we are going to learn, the amount of fun, or the new friends we are
going to make at this upcoming event.
Food Menu:
As promised the food at the conference will not be industrial cafeteria food as per
usual, but food cooked on site made from healthy local organic food that supports
farmers in our community. Rumor has it that we only had enough money for rice
and beans, but oh contraire, as our resourceful chef Mark, has put together a
feast for us of good traditional southern fare including meat. There will be
meatless plates for those of that persuasion. All this for 25.00/ day. The heck with
talks- let’s just eat!
● Friday lunch
`Classic Picnic`
Cold Cut Sandwiches on Artisinal Bread with Condiments
All Natural Antibiotic Free Ham, Turkey, Hummus
Chips
Carrot Slaw
Green Salad
Honey Mustard, Rosemary Ranch and Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
Dressings
Fresh Fruit, Assortment of Cookies
Herbal Tea
● Friday Dinner
`Down South`
BBQ Pork or Tofu,
Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob
Mixed Fruit Cobbler Cake
Green Salad
Honey Mustard, Rosemary Ranch and Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
Dressings
Lemonade, Herbal Tea
● Saturday lunch
`Mediteranean`
Parmesan Pecan Pesto Pasta
Quinoa Sundried Tomato Tabouleh
Hummus and Pita
Green Salad
Honey Mustard, Rosemary Ranch and Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
Dressings
Bliss Bites
Herbal Tea
● Saturday dinner
`Tex Mex`
Hickory Nut Gap Beef Chili or Three bean Chili
Cumin Coriander Rice
Cornbread
Green Salad
Honey Mustard, Rosemary Ranch and Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
Dressings
Tres Leches Cake
Herbal Tea, Cinnamon Horchata
Food deadline- July 30 It is necessary to reserve a meal ticket as Mark will be
ordering food from farmers ahead of time. He will also be accepting food grow by
our participants. He is especially excited about concocting dishes with fruit we
bring. So have fruit you are growing be showcased in one of the conferences
dishes! (Contact mark at: italmon@hotmail.com)
Lodging and directionsGroup rate deadline at the hotel July 30. If you plan on staying at the hotel you
can capitalize on our group discount up to July 30. After that you will have to pay
their usual full price. Camping is still available for 20.00/ weekend and we will be
running composting toilet system as well as the regular amenities that will be
available. Contact our registrar Karen at: earthstarnc@earthlink.net
GPS address: 215 Rhett Drive, Flat Rock, NC 28731
From I-26, take exit 53, Upward Road. At the end of the ramp, turn
towards Flat Rock. Continue 1.5 miles to Highland Lake Drive. Turn left.
Continue up the hill and turn right on Rhett Drive. Watch for our signs!
It takes about 25 minutes from Asheville and about 50 minutes from
Greenville.
Field TripsThe Edible Park and picnic at Goodheart’s garden- will be the itinerary for our
field trips. So on Sunday morning at 11:00 we will be meeting up in downtown
Asheville to visit one America’s first public edible parks. A New York Times travel
writer recently declared it the first place to go if you visit Asheville. 15 years old,
and a model of what fruit trees in a forest garden in public places can be. One of
five parks the Buncombe fruit club manages, the edible park hosts at least 40
different varieties of fruit from Apples, Blueberries, and Cherries to Zizyphus. We
have kiwis, paw paws, persimmons, plums, elderberries, aronia, goumis, dwarf
mulberries… Come see how they are doing in a public place tended only by the
public with no government assistance. Find out what it has meant to the young
people of our community, and how it has become a rallying point of inspiration
for them to get involved with fruit. Professor T. Bud Barkslip, having been steward
of the park for many years, will be leading the provocative tour.
Afterwards we head to Andrew Goodheart’s urban permaculture paradise of fruit
and flowers. We will have a picnic of leftovers from the conference and get a tour
of his gardens. (note: Because of austerity measures (we are pulling this
conference off at zero cost to Nafex) we have not arranged bus travel so plan on
taking your car or carpooling. There is excellent parking at both tour sites. Money
we saved from not hiring a bus, as well as, all other money raised from this
conference goes to Nafex.)
Day RatesDay visitors will be welcome. Their rate will be 25.00 at the door. 10.00 if they
renew or sign up as new members.
Checklist of 10 Essential things to pack for the conference1. Toothbrush
2. A spirit of generosity with an inquisitive and open mind.
3. Subjects or questions pertaining to fruit you are excited about or think
other members would be also.
4. Pictures of your work, orchard, techniques, fruit that we can post on our
central bulletin board for participants to peruse during the conference.
5. Samples of fruit you are growing and the stories behind them. Extra
produce for our meals.
6. Promotional material for your nursery, product, or organization related to
fruit for the Vendor’s Alley.
7. Something useful, or no longer of use, that someone might find useful as a
donation for the auction Saturday night. This, of course, is a fund raiser for
the club.
8. Something fun, whimsical, innovative, inspiring to share for Friday night’s
show and tell.
9. Homemade cider, mead, wine, musical instruments… for the evening fire
circles. Fermented foods for the meals.
10.
Mostly, important don’t forget #2 on the checklist, it’s your passport.
If all of us can manage to pack at least 5 of the above items it will be an
amazing conference.
You make Nafex what it is,
Bill Whipple
Buncombe Fruit Nut club
Hosts of the 2013 Nafex annual meeting