“ASK THE EXPERT” is a production of McLeod County Extension Service, directed this year by their very capable intern, Karen Anderson.
11:00 a.m. – “Wild Weeds for Food and Medicine”
Connie Karstens, MS
www.healthbyconnie.com
Discover healing properties of plants that we frequently think of as common weeds. Using plants as food and medicine is an unbroken tradition that reaches back to the very beginning of recorded history. Common weeds freely found everywhere hold amazing medicinal properties that assist the body’s natural ability to heal itself and return to balance.
Connie holds a BA in Biology from the University of St. Thomas and a MS in Health and Nutrition Education from Hawthorn University. She taught college nutrition for 14 years. For over 25 years, she and her husband have worked on their 180-acre sustainable livestock farm where sheep and other livestock are grazed with bio-dynamic farming practices. She also operates a specialty on-farm USDA processing facility and retail store selling grass fed meats and other wholesome foods. Karstens also is a practicing herbalist and uses local plants to make her own herbal tinctures, medicinal teas, oils, salves, and syrups. She teaches classes both privately and through Community Education and conducts workshops to facilitate health and healing.
11:50 a.m. – “Growing Garlic in Minnesota”
Joel Girardin
Joel is an advisor to the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa for their garlic collection. He has been growing garlic in Minnesota for over 15 years and has grown over 150 different varieties of garlic. Joel will be speaking about garlic varieties, when to plant, scape removal, when to harvest, drying, cleaning, storage, and how to make garlic powder.
12:40 p.m. – “Beekeeping”
Harmony Schlueter
Harmony will be discussing beekeeping. The presentation will include observing a bee hive to show how the bees work and also learning how to extract honey from a hive during the presentation.
Harmony has been beekeeping for five years and has chickens, ducks, bees, kids, friends and a part time job building pallets.
2:00 p.m. – “The Basics of Growing Garlic in Minnesota (Garlic 101)”
Carl Rosen
Extension Soil Scientist and Department Head,
Department of Soil, Water, and Climate
Carl has been involved with garlic growing garlic for about 15 years and has conducted research on various topics related to garlic production at the University of Minnesota.
Garlic is a relatively new crop for Minnesota gardens and farms. In this presentation, Carl will discuss major garlic types and some of the best varieties to grow in Minnesota. He will also cover the general requirements for growing a successful crop. For details about growing garlic in Minnesota see the following bulletin available online: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/cropsystems/DC7317.html
2:50 p.m. – “Extending the Growing Season”
Dan Moe
www.thefarmofmn.com
Moe will be talking about season extensions and the ability to break the myth that food has to be imported in the winter. The biggest point Moe will try to make is that we will need to develop season eating patterns. Tomatoes, green beans, and corn cannot be the only vegetables people think of when preparing a meal.
Dan Moe went to college for Agricultural Engineering in California for 3 years, when he realized that being an engineer was not for him. Dan then worked on an avocado ranch, before returned to the family farm “The Farm of Minnesota” in 2000 after his Grandfather retired in the early 1980’s. The farm envisions multiple crops grown with organic practices, available to the local community, and to achieve this goal we are combining today’s knowledge with yesterday’s passion.
3:40 p.m. – “Growing Great Northern Garlic”
Jerry Ford
Northern heirloom garlic varieties, preferred by chefs and cooks everywhere, thrive in Minnesota and can be grown well in home gardens or as commercial crops. Jerry will cover the basics of finding good seed stock, planting, mulching, scaping, harvesting and curing.
Jerry Ford stands charged with growing gourmet garlic since 2002, and has pleaded guilty. He is serving a suspended life sentence as Director of the MN Garlic Festival, and is flagrantly violating his parole by continuing to grow garlic at Living Song Farm near Howard Lake, which he sells at food co-ops or direct markets to unsuspecting customers. His previous career as a theatrical designer and college instructor, an equally shady undertaking, left him thoroughly unprepared for taking up what E. E. Cummings called “that possibly most inexcusable of all, to use a high falooting phrase, luxuries, that is, or to wit, farming.”