Radio Naturopath Episode 342: Know Your Farmer Fair 2022, Farmer's Markets, Daylight Savings Time

This week we talked about the Know Your Farmer Fair, which is happening this Saturday, March 19 at the Elks Club Lodge, 198 Pleasant St., Willimantic, CT, from 10:00 AM-1:00 PM. It's a great opportunity to meet with 30 local farmers, sample their wares, and talk directly to the people who grow your food! This is a very important event and directly related to everyone's and the planet's health! For more information about the fair, visit: https://www.grownconnected.org/knowyourfarmerfair

We also talked about Daylight Savings Time, since this Saturday night/Sunday morning we sprang ahead! It's kind of nice to have the long daylight hours but not necessarily so nice for people's health. Here's a couple of experts to weight in. The general consensus is that it's really NOT good for our health! Most alarming to me is the increase in major cardiovascular events and motor vehicle accidents.

Radio Naturopath Episode 203: Interview with Diane Dorfer, Jiff Martin and Sydney Clements: CSAs and Get to Know Your Local Farmers!

Today I interviewed Diane Dorfer of Cobblestone Farm CSA in Mansfield, CT; Jiff Martin, Sustainable Food System Associate Educator for UConn Extension; and Sydney Clements of the Windham Community Food Network. There are great events coming up: the alliterative Friends and Farmers Family Fun Night, Friday, February 22, 5:30-8:30 PM at the Mansfield Community Center; and the Know Your Farmer Fair at Windham Town Hall, 979 Main Street in Willimantic, Saturday, February 23 10:00 am-1:00 PM. We talked about these great opportunities to get to know your local and regional farmers. We also talked about CSAs and why they're great; the Taste of Mansfield, pulling farms and farm events together with the community; and also the great work of the Windham Community Food Network. They are working on a double your dollars the Willimantic Farmers Market for your SNAP/EBT benefits; working with the Spring Valley Student Farm, Willow Valley Farm, and Cobblestone Farm to allow gleaning; and also the UConn Food Recovery Network, which gets food from local establishments to distribute to food pantries. Lots of great stuff going on with local, natural food!

Radio Naturopath Episode 157: Interview with Diane Dorfer of Cobblestone Farm, Know Your Farm Fair; and Celeste Kurz of Spring Valley Student Farm, A UConn Learning Experience!

Today, Diane Dorfer was one of our guests. She lives down the road from Ron and me with her lovely husband Bryan Connolly and their two awesome kids, William and Cordelia! Diane and Bryan have this great farm, Cobblestone Farm, on Bassetts Bridge Road in Mansfield. They run a CSA out of it, and also sell at the Storrs Farmers Market. I have eaten their food, and it's awesome, especially Bryan's special PSYCHEDELIC HYBRIDIZED TOMATOES! Bryan is a Seed Saver, and preserves great varieties of seeds for posterity. He is a professor of botany at Connecticut College in New London. Diane came on to talk about farming, and also to promote the Know Your Farm Fair in Willimantic on February 24, 2018, at Windham Town Hall! There will be many farmers there, workshops and talks, and good farm stuff. We also had Celeste Kurz, who is an agriculture student with a Spanish minor and the treasurer of the Spring Valley Student Farm, and she was promoting the Farm Day here at UConn where students can get to know the farm, on March 23 from 4-6 PM! Spring Valley Student Farm is about five miles from the main Storrs campus, and students can go there and work and learn all about farming!