We SUPPORT beginning Farmers
Our Farm Business Courses and One-to-One Guidance help new farmers set goals, find markets and plan for profit.
We create affordable Land Access
Our Incubator Farm Program makes it easier to start farming by supplying equipment, training, resources and land just 3-miles from Ithaca.
We COLLABORATE for Justice & Equity
Through our Farming for Justice Discussion Group, and community events, we partner with organizations led by people of color to address injustices in the food system.
We FOSTER sustainable farming
Our hands-on Workshops highlight techniques that improve soil health, conserve water and promote land regeneration.
WELCOME TO GROUNDSWELL CENTER FOR LOCAL FOOD & FARMING
Get involved
Our Workshops are hands-on and led by sustainable farmers and social justice activists. They integrate practical and regenerative farming techniques applicable to all growers; small to large and beginner to advanced.
Whether you’re looking to learn technical farming skills, integrate equity into your business, launch or expand your own farm, or join the Finger Lakes farmer network, our Programs can meet your needs.
SUPPORT A MORE SUSTAINABLE AND EQUITABLE FOOD SYSTEM.
Visit our giving page for more information about how you can contribute to our mission.
MEET THE INCUBATOR FARMERS
Our Incubator Farm Program started in 2012 to reduce land access and resource challenges new farmers often face. Learn about the Incubator Farmers and how they are establishing successful farm businesses in our community!
EVENTS & NEWS
september, 2018
06sep5:00 pm7:30 pmVolunteer Day & Tour at the Farm
Event Details
First Thursdays: From May to October, come help out at the Groundswell Incubator Farm, just a few miles west of Ithaca, on the first Thursday of every month from 5:00-7:30PM. We'll lead
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Event Details
First Thursdays: From May to October, come help out at the Groundswell Incubator Farm, just a few miles west of Ithaca, on the first Thursday of every month from 5:00-7:30PM.
We’ll lead a short tour of the farm at 5:00, followed by volunteering starting at 5:30. Tasks may include helping fix or build infrastructure, weed, plant, or helping the Incubator Farmers. These events are family friendly, but please leave your dogs at home.
RSVPs not required, feel free to drop in! Contact Farm Manager liz@groundswellcenter.org with questions.
Directions
The Groundswell Incubator Farm is located on land owned by EcoVillage Ithaca, 100 Rachel Carson Way, Ithaca NY. From Ithaca, take route 79 West for 2 miles, turn left on Rachel Carson Way, bear left just before the store Gourdlandia. Turn left at the stop sign, passing solar panels and a greenhouse. The Incubator Farm is to the left, just past the solar panels. There is a Groundswell sign on the gate.
Time
(Thursday) 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Location
Groundswell's Incubator Farm
100 Rachel Carson Way
Organizer
Groundswell
15sep4:00 pm6:30 pmLeatherstocking Region Beginning Farmer Listening Session
Event Details
Come join the Leatherstocking Region Young Farmers Coalition, and NYFC Northeast Campaigns Director, David Howard for an opportunity to share your farming experiences and discuss New York agricultural policy issues! David will provide
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Event Details
Come join the Leatherstocking Region Young Farmers Coalition, and NYFC Northeast Campaigns Director, David Howard for an opportunity to share your farming experiences and discuss New York agricultural policy issues! David will provide an update on NYFC’s land access policy work in the state over the last year, and facilitate a broad discussion of challenges facing beginning farmers in the Leatherstocking Region. What NYFC learns from this, and similar events around the state, will help inform their New York State policy work over the next year.
Following the presentation and group discussion, we’ll conclude with a social hour and potluck. Please bring something delicious to share!
Presentation & Discussion: 4:00 – 5:30
Social Hour & Potluck: 5:30 – 6:30
For any questions, please reach out to Greta Zarro at leatherstocking.nyfc@gmail.com
Time
(Saturday) 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Location
Pierstown Grange
137 Wedderspoon Hollow Rd
Organizer
Leatherstocking Region Young Farmers Coalitionleatherstocking.nyfc@gmail.com
21sep5:00 pm7:30 pmFeaturedSunset Soiree
Event Details
Click HERE to RSVP to the Sunset Soiree! You & a guest are invited to: Sunset Soiree on the Farm
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Event Details
Click HERE to RSVP
to the Sunset Soiree!
You & a guest are invited to:
Sunset Soiree on the Farm
Friday, September 21st
5:00pm till the fireflies glow
Groundswell Incubator Farm
Rachel Carson Way, Ithaca NY
RSVP at 607-319-5095 or via THIS LINK
Cash bar with local libations
Complimentary farm to table hors d’oeuvres
~Live music by Remanu (piano) and Sister Val (folk)~
~Farm tours ~ Silent auction~
- Corn Chowder w/ Bacon
- Delicata Squash, Apple and Leek Puff pastry
- Caramelized Onion & Brie Puff Pastry
- Roasted Beet, Kale Pesto and Goat Cheese Crostini
- Roasted Seasonal Vegetable Platter with Hummus, Herb Whipped Feta & Crostini
- Charcuterie Board
Food prepared by TC3 Culinary Arts Program featuring ingredients from Wide Awake Bakery, Northland Sheep Dairy, The Piggery, Ithaca Cold Crafted, TC3 Farm, Main Street Farms, Kingbird Farm, Finger Lakes Pop Corn, Cornell School of Horticulture, Side Hill Acres, Wegmans, Emmy’s Organics, Greenstar Cooperative Market
Libations generously donated by Hopshire Farm and Brewery, Ithaca Beer Co, Atwater Estate Vineyards, Hector Wine Company, JR Dill Winery, Finger Lakes Cider House
Time
(Friday) 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Location
Groundswell's Incubator Farm
100 Rachel Carson Way
Organizer
Groundswell
26sep7:00 pm9:00 pmFarmers Can Help Cool The PlanetA Free Informational Forum
Event Details
Wednesday, Sept 26, 7:00 - 9:00pm Tompkins County Public Library, 101 E. Green Street, Ithaca Farmers can offer a significant solution to climate change by reducing greenhouse gas
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Event Details
Wednesday, Sept 26, 7:00 – 9:00pm
Tompkins County Public Library, 101 E. Green Street, Ithaca
Farmers can offer a significant solution to climate change by reducing greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Known as “carbon farming”, a wide range of farming practices can affordably pull carbon from the atmosphere and place it productively back into the soil. When done on a global scale, this is one of the most hopeful solutions to global warming that we know about.
Four speakers will present their experiences with increasing soil carbon while also improving soil fertility, water holding capacity, and resiliency to their operations. Dr. Jeffrey Creque from the Marin Carbon Project and the Carbon Cycle Institute in California will describe exciting results of new soil research, especially compost application and intensive rotations on grazing lands.
Three local farmers representing different sectors of our agricultural economy will show how carbon farming is beneficial in our climate and conditions: Suzanne Hunt from Hunt Country Vineyards; Steve Gabriel, writer and farmer with Wellspring Forest Farm using silvopasture in Mecklenburg; and Brian Caldwell, farmer with Hemlock Grove Farm in West Danby, Cornell agronomist (retired) specializing in Organic Farming practices. Jonathan Bates, of Food Forest Farm in Caroline, will be the Moderator.
Co-Sponsors (partial list): Citizens’ Climate Lobby NY-23; Cornell Botanic Garden; Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County; Cornell School of Integrative Plant Science (SIPS); Dryden Resources Awareness Coalition (DRAC); Environmental Management Council of Tompkins County, Fossil Free Tompkins; Groundswell; Interfaith Climate-Justice Action Network (ICAN); League of Women Voters of Tompkins County; Social Ventures; Sustainable Tompkins; Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI); Tompkins County Food Policy Council; Tompkins County Planning and Sustainability Department; Cornell Small Farms Program
Time
(Wednesday) 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
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“In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”
- Baba Dioum, Senegalese environmentalist and forester
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