The final day at the West Virginia Small Farms Conference began with a very educational presentation from Linda Whaley from the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health about food safety, especially at Farmers Markets. She sure cleared up a lot of things we were wondering about. Following Linda, Chef Dale Hawkins, a strong advocate for local foods presented information about several research projects he is working on.

And then the presentation we were really looking forward to, “How to Prevent Pain and Restore Yourself”. Margaret Carr, a certified Iyengar yoga instructor from the Inner Life Yoga Studio, had us all up stretching, breathing intentionally and opening our minds. Wow, it really was refreshing!

Margaret Carr compliments of Inner Life Yoga Studio

Pam West of West Farms in Lewisburg spoke about a “Small Farm in a Small Town”. (Could not find a website for West Farms, but then again it doesn’t sound like Pam has time to eat or sleep let alone manage a website) This woman had us all wondering about how much time we must waste. Her accomplishments are amazing; done with one seasonal helper. A SARE educator, she shared her imaginative sustainable management techniques using high tunnels, crop rotations, and her 100 head of sheep among other things.

To top things off for us, Dave Miller from Mountain Diamond Longhorns told us about his farm operation in Tunnelton. This was a treat because we always enjoy seeing Woody at the Buckwheat Festival.

A huge thanks to Tom McConnell and the staff at the West Virginia University Extension Service for this great conference! We are heading back to the farm refreshed, renewed and inspired!