Guest Blog: Meghan Murphy, Founder, Hudson Valley Food Network

Seed and Sow Skill Share

Do you know about the Hudson Valley Food Network? If so, you can meet up with your HVFN social network at their great event coming up on Sunday the 20th. If not, you can grow your network of folks who care about food and farming at their great event coming up on the 20th! We can't come but we'll be there in spirit-- Meghan will be selling our seeds to raise funds for her important cause. One of our seedy farm partners, the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, will be there as well.

Here's the dirt on the Skill Share:

Seedy Folk,

Allow me to tell you a little story about a little website with a big dream that's about to come true on Sunday.

A kitten protects a precious crop of oyster mushrooms grown by Marc Eisenson, who will teach you how to spore fungi at home or in your yard Sunday at the Seed and Sow Skill Share.

When I founded the Hudson Valley Food Network, my intent was to bring a lot of local food lovers together in once place. Every day I approved a new member, my notion that this region is jam packed with talented and knowledgeable farmers and foodies was confirmed.

Now, we have more than 800 people, who connect online every day. So I thought, why not get everyone together in real life?

Through my obsessive perusing of food news, I had come across the concept of a skill share, essentially a cool name for a day of workshops with local experts. With that kernel in my brain, I embarked on organizing what is now known as the Seed and Sow Skill Share.

I put a shout out to the HVFN members and almost immediately Rosa Hoffman of Hodgson Farm in Walden offered her market and greenhouses as a location. In case you don't know this already, Walden is pretty much dead in the center of the Hudson Valley, meaning it's less than 30 minutes from Beacon, New Paltz, Middletown ... everywhere!

With a location, now I needed people to share skills. Through the Hudson Valley Food Network, it wasn't that hard to come up with a stellar list of participants to talk about some truly interesting topics. The knowledge on food in this region is diverse and the people around here are simply awesome ... Everyone wanted to share!

We have a great line up for you to check out on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can learn about herbal tinctures and kefir soda, artisan sausage making, mushroom propagation, organic gardening, incorporating local food in a small business plan and rearing backyard chickens. You can attend three 45-minute workshops, or walk around our information marketplace to find out about other local educational programs, and also chat with folks over some yummy food from Karma Road and Moxie Cupcakes.

And, we have the Hudson Valley's best seeds for sale courtesy of the seed library. To find out more, go to www.hvfoodnetwork.com.

--- guest blogger: Meghan Murphy, Founder, Hudson Valley Food Network