Farm fertility can be a puzzle - whether it’s assessing your farm’s soil, building an on-site composting system, or configuring your Organic Systems Plan (OSP). 

Join us as we walk through some of the considerations and unique approaches to soil health solutions available to farmers.

During this 2-part event, we’ll start by exploring your own role in testing your farm’s soil, learning about a variety of tests and how to interpret them. Some of these tools include refractometers and pH and electrical conductivity (EC) meters. We’ll take a look at standard soil tests, discuss how to interpret them, as well as the information most valuable to you and your management practices.

In the second part of this event, we’ll focus on soil management practices at Late Bloom Farm. Farmer Anna Kelchlin will guide us through their process in moving from deep mulch composting systems to investing in vermi-compost teas as a fertility solution. Deep mulch composting can be labor intensive and may not provide the biological activity that is necessary for delivering nutrients for robust plant health.  You’ll also learn about Late Bloom Farm’s inspiring experiments with cover cropping seed mixes as a part of their soil health investment plan.

Also: Bring Your Soil Sample for Testing!

If you plan to attend but cannot bring a sample in advance, we can guide you on how to collect it during the event.

We invite you to bring a soil sample from your garden, farm, or landscape to be tested for soil chemistry as part of our upcoming workshop series on soil health. This is your chance to get real data about your soil and learn how to interpret it alongside experienced educators and fellow growers.

Please bring your sample labeled with your name and the name of the sample

Note: If you plan to attend but cannot bring a sample in advance, we can guide you on how to collect it during the event.

Pro Tip:

If you manage multiple areas (e.g., different beds or fields), feel free to bring more than one sample—just make sure each is labeled clearly. Please limit to 3 soil samples per person. 

See detailed sampling instructions and relevant resource links in the event confirmation email.

Accessibility Notes: 

The bathroom is only accessible by stairs.
If this is an issue, please share with us! 

NOFA/Mass is happy to provide travel stipends to BIPOC and/or beginning farmer participants in this workshop- see confirmation email for submission details.