Well, it’s springtime—and in my opinion, it’s about time. It has been very busy at Small Farm Today and on the farm. By the end of March, Jeff and I had already hatched 300 baby chicks. Joanne and I planted spinach, onion, potatoes, lettuce, and snow peas on a south-facing slope about the middle of March, so I hope they make it through the coming cold weekend.

We are already assembling the 2003 trade show and we have a great line of speakers:

• John Jeavons, from Willits, California, author of How to Grow More Vegetables, Grains, Fruits, Berries on less land that you thought imaginable. There are 500,000 copies in print in 7 languages plus braille. John will conduct two short courses on BioIntensive^® Mini Farming and a seminar. This is great stuff for small scale commercial as well as gardeners who want to grow healthy food sustainably.

• Jeremiath Gettle will talk about saving seeds. Jeremiath is a young, successful agripreneur as the owner of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company (417-924-8927). Check out Jeremiath’s new magazine—Heirloom Gardener.

• Al Beck will cover “Solar Energy for less than $2,000”.

• Glenn Lloyd will talk about innovative use of solar power on the farm.

• Becky Marsh will cover the Slow Food Movement and how it ties in with local food production, community, and sustainability.

• Andy Thomas from the Southwest Center has a great talk on solar powered greenhouses for home use.

• Rick Hopkins will give you some practical hands-on sustainable beef production and marketing info.

• Andrew Verbka, from NC+ Organics, will talk on organic seed production.

• Rick Schell will discuss the ins and outs of legal issues when you start adding value and processing edible products on your small farm.

• Travis Creswell brings you cost effective alternative energy for the small farm.

• Kelly Klober is back with “Beyond Brown Eggs and Broilers—New Marketing Methods for the Small Farm,” how to do a better job of selling on the small farm, and small farm hog production.

• Patrick Byers, a long time speaker at the conference, will present the ins and outs for grape production for small scale producers.

• George Bright tells what every beginning farmer needs to know about machinery for the small farm and how to buy it new or used.

• Robert Farr, “The Chile Man”, will entertain and inspire you with experimental marketing tips and much more.

• Aaron Silverman from Creative Growers and Greener Pastured Poultry takes you a step higher in production, where the growers own the processing plant they produce from.

• Joel Dufour, from Kentucky, tells you all about two-wheel tractors and how they fit the small farm.

• Ron Khosla covers a new program—Certified Naturally Grown.

• The Center for Agroforestry will present the five practices of Agroforestry: silvopasture, alley cropping, forest farms, windbreaks, and riparian buffers. They will cover established management and economics of these practices.

• Rob Myers, from the Jefferson Institute, a long time conference speaker, will talk about diversifying with grain, oilseeds, and legumes.

We will also have lots of demonstrations (including stock dogs), an alpaca show, and meat and dairy goat shows. Do not miss the 11th National Small Farm Trade Show & Conference on November 6-8, 2003.

You should return home with a bushel basket of new ideas and a great network of new friends.