Soil Festival 2017 host committee prepares for third annual event to educate and grow healthier communities
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As the weather gets warmer, community gardeners, school gardeners, backyard gardeners and urban farmers across Atlanta are rolling up their sleeves and digging into the soil to prepare for the Spring growing season.
After planting seeds and nurturing the soil, it will reap rows of beautiful flowers and nutrient-dense vegetables for all of us to enjoy.
During this time of year, Food Well Alliance loves bringing gardeners and the local food community together for its annual Soil Festival: Healthy Soil, Healthy Food to raise awareness of healthy soil and compost practices to grow more sustainably grown, local food.
Soil Festival 2017 will take place on May 6, 2017 at Truly Living Well’s Collegetown Farm and will kick off International Compost Awareness (May 7-13).
This year's event will raise awareness of the benefits of using compost to improve and maintain high quality soil, to grow healthy food, to reduce the use of fertilizer and pesticides and to protect the environment.
Soil Festival would not be possible without the help from our partners, vendors and our host committee who works hard to put on a successful event each year.
As we gear up for this year’s Soil Festival, get to know the 2017 Soil Festival Host Committee:
PORTER MITCHELL
Community Farmers Markets, Decatur Farmers Markets Manager
Porter Mitchell is a first-generation Southerner who found her home in the Atlanta local food movement in 2013. She sees her work as a convergence of three of her greatest interests: culture, sustainability, and social justice. She enjoys Southern Gothic literature, dancing like Kate Bush, and vegetable worshipping.
Why is soil important to me:
Soil is a complex, beautiful, and precious resource that we are only beginning to learn about.
What excites you most about about Soil Festival 2017:
I am looking forward to seeing folks come together to celebrate our soil.
TERRI CARTER
The Food History of the South; Family and Consumer Science Department at University of Georgia Cobb County Extension
Terri Carter is an avid organic gardener who serves a Cobb Master Gardener. She is also a graduate of HABESHA Inc., an urban gardening training program, from which she graduated as the top female student in the 2014 class. She is always eager to do outreach in her community, teaching cooking classes as well as gardening classes. Terri is currently presenting a program called The Food History of The South, which traces the foods that we call Southern, soul, country and comfort foods back to their roots.
Why is soil important to me:
We are all as humans, animals and plants all so closely tied to the soil and mother earth. Soil is made of of past life and it gives life to the future. Healthy soil is likened to a healthy mind, body and soil. One does not exist without the other. Healthy Soil is Life.
What excites you most about about Soil Festival 2017:
I am really excited about sharing my passion for gardening with new gardeners and seeing that light come on when someone gets how important it is to grow food and make sure we are good stewards of Mother Earth.
FRED CONRAD
Community Gardens of the Atlanta Community Food Bank
Fred Conrad has been supporting community gardens in metro Atlanta for almost 20 years. He has membership in five community gardens, holds certification in organic gardening and horticultural therapy, and is active in the American Community Gardening Association. In his role at the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Fred leads the Community Gardens Project, through which he and his volunteers currently support approximately 150 neighborhood community food gardens across metro Atlanta. Their “Plant a Row for the Hungry” campaign volunteers grow and distribute over 100,000 pounds of nutritious crops each year to help people in need.
Why is soil important to me:
As a grower I can appreciate the fertility of soil that has a healthy micro-herd. Good soil makes your crops more drought and disease resistant.
What excites you most about about Soil Festival 2017:
I am excited to be surrounded by people that share my values of earth stewardship and local food.
KATHERINE KENNEDY
Concrete Jungle
Katherine Kennedy started her career in food as a farmer on a rooftop in New York City before returning to her hometown of Atlanta to start her own market farm. She has lead horticultural therapy and occupational therapy programs on farms and now directs Concrete Jungle, a local nonprofit locating fruit trees around Atlanta and organizing picks to bring fruit to local shelters. Katherine is passionate about small-scale farming, food access, special needs, and giving people the information to grow and pick their own.
Why soil is important to me:
Soil is important to me because it's the source of all life--when we take care of our soil, our plants and wildlife thrive!
What excites you most about about Soil Festival 2017:
I'm excited about Soil Fest because there will be something for everyone and so many ways to explore soil in a new light!
EMILY CABRERA
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
Emily works as one of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agents in Fulton County, and has a diverse background of work and education within the fields of agriculture and natural resources. She previously lived in Alaska where she worked as a sea kayak guide and a Wildlife Technician. Emily has also worked on an organic produce farm, growing a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and cut flowers, and as an environmental consultant. She earned her Master’s in the spring of 2016 and is excited to serve the public in their pursuits within agriculture and natural resources.
Why soil is important to me:
Soil is important to me because it is the source of all life and all that we consume. It is a renewable resource and one that is too often overlooked. We can all contribute to a healthier planet, a healthier community and healthier selves if we change the lens with which we view soil…it is a living thing, and a sustainable future depends on how we treat the soil here and now.
What excites you most about about Soil Festival 2017:
The thing I’m most looking forward to for this year’s Soil Festival is the comradery with folks who are just as passionate about soil as I am. I’m equally excited to share my passion about the interconnectedness soil has with our lives and so many other ecosystem functions.
CHEF CAROLYNN LADD
Owner & Private Chef at A Date With Figs
Carolynn Ladd believes that to maintain a healthy life, one must have a healthy relationship with food. Carolynn’s holistic farm to table cooking accounts for the physical, nutritional, environmental, emotional and spiritual components in one’s life. By working with both the diet and lifestyle, Carolynn helps people return to a state of healthy balance and well-being. Carolynn promotes seasonal eating and community building by sourcing ingredients from organic/naturally grown Georgia farms.
Why is soil important to me:
What soil means to me is best said by Poet and Environmental Activist Wendell Berry “The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.” - Wendell Berry
What excites you most about about Soil Festival 2017:
I’m excited to see people actively strengthen their relationship with nature.
DANIEL MOBLEY
Community Farmers Markets
Daniel is an environmental advocate, local food junkie, and Manager of the Ponce City Farmers Market.
Why soil is important to me:
Everyone always focuses on everything growing in soil, but what really amazes me is everything living in soil. You only need to break the surface to open yourself up to the complex web of life living beneath your feet.
What excites you most about about Soil Festival 2017:
People have said that I would talk about soil all day if they would let me. Now there is finally a day when people will talk back. I can't wait for Soil Festival!
CORINNE COE
Terra Nova Compost
Corinne has been teaching composting for nearly a decade and has been growing food using regenerative agriculture methods for twenty years. She has lived, worked, and taught across the United States and in Haiti, the Philippines, and the Republic of Guinea.
Why soil is important to me:
"The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.” — Wendell Berry
What excites you most about about Soil Festival 2017:
For the third year in a row, I am pleased to share my knowledge, skills, and passion for soil health with neighbors, colleagues, friends, and friends I haven’t yet met.
SAM GADER
Community Farmers Markets
Sam Gader is the manager at both the Grant Park and East Atlanta Village Farmers Markets, where she rallies many of Atlanta's farmers, small business owners, foodies and eaters around the benefits of buying and eating local sustainable food.
Why soil is important to me:
Scientists have discovered that having consistent contact with soil works as an anti-depressant. If I'm dirty and covered in soil from a day gardening then I'm definitely in a happy place!
What excites you most about about Soil Festival 2017:
I'm excited for Soil Fest because I can't wait to introduce many new and curious people to all of the amazing agriculture and garden education work that is being done throughout Atlanta.
JEFF MILLER
University of Georgia Extension
