First Tuesday: Weed Coexistence w/ Helen Atthowe
When: Tuesday, March 4, at 7pm.
Where: Twisp Valley Grange (Get Directions)
Working with Plant Competition
How much of your time in the field is spent removing weeds or suppressing unwanted plants from growing? Weeds are nature’s way of covering bare soil and maintaining ecosystem function, yet much of a grower’s efforts involve working against these natural systems. If appropriately managed, weeds can benefit growers by keeping a living root in the ground year-round, providing habitat for beneficial insects thus helping with pest suppression, and providing nutrient-rich plant residue to complement soil nutrient cycling. In this talk, Helen will explain how to develop a weed-tolerant system based on climate, soil, and crop production needs and the considerations of which weeds are too competitive and which ones can coexist with your food and flower crops.
This event is free and open to the public. Reach out to Bridger with any questions about the event.
About Helen
Helen is author of “The Ecological Farm: A Minimalist No-Till, No-Spray, Selective-Weeding, Grow-Your-Own-Fertilizer System for Organic Agriculture.” She has spent 40 years working to connect farming, food systems, land stewardship, and conservation. Helen has an M.S. in Horticulture from Rutgers University and has worked in education and research at Rutgers, the University of Arkansas, and Oregon State University. She was a Horticulture Extension Agent in Montana for 17 years, where she designed, taught, and wrote the manual for an Organic Master Garden course. Helen has been a board member for the Organic Farming Research Foundation and advisor for Wild Farm Alliance.
She currently farms, and does soil and habitat building research, on her new 5-acre farm in Western Montana. Previous to her current farming venture, Helen and her late husband farmed a 211 acre organic farm in Eastern Oregon where they did on-farm research for orchard and vegetable production, and created educational video presentations on the Agrarian Dreams YouTube Channel. She also owned/operated a 30 acre certified organic vegetable/fruit farm in Montana and co-owned with her late husband a 26 acre certified organic orchard in California.
