What an inspiring event! I highly enjoyed the conference and learning more strategies for Farm to School, policy, community building, and edible mushroom cultivation.

I was happy to present my first poster, with Zach:

The trade show was interesting, and I met a lot of great people and exceptional businesses! My favorite three trade show exhibits were:

Sapphyre and Edmund and other farmers started Common Wealth Seed Growers cooperative about a year ago, and they specialize in breeding downy mildew resistant seeds. As you can see in the photo above, they grow beautiful gourds and pumpkins – that’s what attracted me to their exhibit! I brought home some of these to try:

I also had the great pleasure of meeting Tradd Cotter of Mushroom Mountain!

Tradd’s presentations were SO interesting and inspiring. It’s been a while since I grew my bag of oyster mushrooms, but I definitely feel empowered to give it another go after listening to his talks. I also highly recommend his new book, Organic Mushroom Farming and Micoremediation.

Finally, one of my favorite parts of the conference was the seed swap. I brought a variety things – okra, Seminole pumpkin, tulsi and some others. I met the folks from Sow True Seed there as well, and I was able to swap for some calendula, Corsican gourds and other goodies! It was a wonderful week, and I hope next time to see some new Florida seed companies!