permaculture

["Forest Garden" <forestgarden@gvtc.com>]

Hello Everyone,

NAFEX - the North American Fruit Explorers - is having their annual meeting 
in Lexignton KY this coming Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 (you can be back in time for 
the Labor Day stuff).  The cost for the whole conference is about $100.  
Below is an overview of the lineup of speakers and events.  

And much more info at www.nafex.org.  I will be going.  If anyone else is 
going, let me know!

Cheers,

Marjory

Beginning around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30, UK Horticulture Department 
Chair, Dwayne Ingram will kick off an official "Welcome Reception, Social, 
Show &Tell". Immediately thereafter, Tom Cottrell will host a "Kentucky Wine 
Tasting". You are encouraged to bring fruit samples, jams, jellies, etc. to 
share (and brag about!).

Lectures and Speakers. Thursday's (Aug. 31) presentations will begin at 8:00 
a.m. and will consist of many diverse subjects relating to the following.

Fruit Culture Worldwide (including Southern Asia and Eastern Russia)
Fruit Varieties (including minor or obscure fruits)
Fruit Breeding (professional and amateur) and Propagation (including a 
hands-on demonstration by some of NAFEX's best).
Fruit Culture History, Processing and Winemaking.

Banquet. On Thursday night, we'll feast on a Kentucky buffet of barbequed 
ribs, catfish and all the trimmings. Entertainment will be furnished by Dr. 
John Clark of the University of Arkansas. His presentation is entitled 
"Pouring Cold Molasses or NewVariety Introduction: Which Moves Quicker?" I 
heard a version of this a few years ago and it is not only very informative, 
but is truly hilarious regarding the trials and trivia (some aspects of the 
patenting process drift toward being goofy!) of the entire plant introduction 
process. The evaluation process (finding the winners) alone presents some 
interesting twists.


Field Tours. On Friday, September 1 we will leave at 8:00 a.m. via bus to 
tour the UKHorticulture Research Farm. We'll look at plots of Blackberry, 
Grape, Blueberry, Strawberry, Apple, vegetables (which includes many new and 
exotic melons, tomato and a sustainable vegetable production trial), woody 
ornamentals and flowers. 

Additionally, NAFEX member Bob Capshew will demonstrate his extraordinarily 
efficient (and inexpensive) cider press.

At approximately 10:45 a.m. we'll travel to Boyd Orchard of Versailles, KY. 
Boyd Orchard is a premier retail operation consisting of 24 acres of apples 
(many newer varieties), 6 acres of peaches, 2 acres of Asian and European 
pear and 3 acres of strawberry. We'll have a buffet lunch at Boyd Orchards 
around Noon.

The afternoon will bring a tour of Kentucky State University Research Farm 
located just outside of Frankfort, KY. KSU is the home of the National 
Germplasm Repositoryfor Pawpaw. Kirk Pomper will lead a tour of this gorgeous 
planting (I've walked it many times over the years). We should have a wide 
range of varieties to sample. Additionally Kirk will arrange to have pawpaw 
ice cream as an added treat. We'll also see a Primo-cane Blackberry variety 
trial, Current and Gooseberry Trials, and Tom Webster will discuss his work 
with Honeybees.

We'll return to the motel around 5 pm.

Other local orchards of interest to many NAFEX members (lots of unusual 
varieties) include the following. And I strongly encourage your visit either 
or both of these fruit producing facilities.