Grow Your Own! Soil Health & Crop Nutrition With Helen Atthowe

Growing Your Own Fertilizer and Mineral Balancing to Minimize Inputs and Maximize Crop Nutrition

Helen Atthowe author of "The Ecological Farm: A minimalist no-till, no spray, selective-weeding, grow-your-own-fertilizer system for organic agriculture," will share results from her 40 years of on-farm research and experience using no-till living mulch residues and different incorporated cover crops to cycle nutrients, suppress insect pests, disease, and weeds and to attract beneficial insects. She will also talk about further minimizing farm and garden inputs by growing your own nitrogen and mineral balancing.

We will be hosting the workshop at the Rocky Mountain Grange #116 on November 2 at 6:30pm.  The workshop is free with the purchase of her book from Chapter One Book Store or $10 which can be paid at the door.  Books are available now at Chapter One.

Helen Atthowe has worked for 40 years to connect farming, food systems, land stewardship, and conservation. She currently farms and does no-till, living mulch, and soil- and natural enemies’ habitat- building research on her new 5-acre farm in Western Montana.  Helen and her late husband owned a 211 acre organic farm in Eastern Oregon experimenting with grow-your-own fertilizer and no-till orchard and vegetable production methods. Before moving to Oregon, Helen operated with her late husband, their 35 year certified organic orchard in California where they pioneered no-till methods for raising apples, peaches, and other tree fruits without the use of any type of pesticides. Helen also owned/operated a 30 acre certified organic vegetable/fruit farm in Montana. Her on-farm research included ecological weed and insect management and managing living mulches for soil and habitat building. Atthowe has a master’s degree in horticulture from Rutgers University and has worked in education and research at the University of Arkansas, Rutgers University, and Oregon State University, and served as a horticulture extension agent in Western Montana, where she developed and taught an Organic Master Gardener Course.