March 2024 | Issue 2

Welcome!

In case you have not met all of Urban Soil Health personally, we have one Urban Soil Health (USH) Specialist that covers each quadrant of the state. Find your county's USH Specialist on our website and send us a message to see how we can support you. https://www.urbansoilhealth.org/team

Northwest

Marian Rodriguez-Soto

URBAN SOIL HEALTH SPECIALIST
Northwest Area
Lafayette, NRCS Area Office

mrodriguezsoto@urbansoilhealth.org

It has been an exciting past couple of weeks for the Northwest, meeting with districts, doing site visits, participating in the Black Loam conference planning, and dedicating time to nutrient management.

I participated as a speaker in the Garden Tour in Indianapolis, organized by an exceptional high school student named Elijah Brinkley. I also represented Urban Soil Health in the Northwest Black Loam Conference.

I am also part of the NRCS and Marion CO SWCD's nutrient management team and helped launch the Nutrient Management Tool.

I also worked with Liz Maynard to publish the Brassica Bolting Trial in the Midwest Vegetable Trial Report.

Northeast

Terri Theisen

URBAN SOIL HEALTH SPECIALIST
Northeast Area
Fort Wayne, NRCS Area Office

ttheisen@urbansoilhealth.org

Northeast Indiana has been keeping me busy with SWCD annual meetings, conferences, symposia, and visits to peoples' lands. I have been so honored to be invited by numerous groups across the region to spread the good word on soil health and provide practical conservation practices for land managers of any scale.

Some of the bigger events I attended were the Growing Summit (South Bend) and Gardening Symposium (Fort Wayne). It is so fulfilling to have engaging and excited conversations with people exploring soil health and how they can better conserve our valuable resource: soil.

Southwest

Casey Kennett

URBAN SOIL HEALTH SPECIALIST
Southwest Area
Vincennes, NRCS Area Office

ckennett@urbansoilhealth.org

The spring season is gearing up to be a busy one! Working groups in the SW are actively having meetings and planning events for the year. The Mulches for Small Farms and Garden Overview will be available soon. Join us for the April Urban Updates to find out more about this document. District 6 Market in Vigo County is hosting a series of Industry Days and USH will be participating this spring. April 6 we'll talk about soil and why it's important to soil test. April 25 there will be a workshop about garden planning and companion planting.

Southeast

Megan Ayers

URBAN SOIL HEALTH SPECIALIST
Southeast Area
North Vernon, NRCS Area Office

mayers@urbansoilhealth.org

The SE has been full of annual meetings with SWCDs, soil testing on small farms and gardens, and getting great workshops and projects off to a good start this spring!

Jennings County will kick off Earth Day with a half-day workshop on starting a garden with great soil health practices for resiliency all season long on April 22nd.

Hanover College continues their excellent food waste reduction and diversion with their student-led composting program.

SE regional season extension workshop, Keep It Growing, had their final session in Hancock County on Berry Goods Farm.

Ohio County is getting prepared to open their own community garden in Rising Sun!

There was an in-depth Microbiology of Living Soils and Composting workshop in Bartholomew Co. where we made compost piles, dug into some worm composting, and were hosted by Jason Gearheart of Integrated Elements.

Check out upcoming educational and free events hosted in your own region, below!

Working Group Highlights

Northwest

Congratulations to Warren and Fountain counties for launching the newest working group in the Northwest. This working group will focus on site visits and educational opportunities in rural Indiana. They involved Master Gardeners, members of the community, Purdue Extension, and NRCS.

The Tippecanoe county working group is hosting a Soil Health workshop with Tippecanoe Master Gardeners on April 25th. Also, the Community Growers of Montgomery County are gearing up to launch a Bucket Garden Project to help connect people with gardening in the county.

Northeast

Many of the working groups are staying engaged with their communities by providing valuable services to farmers and gardeners through early season soil testing and technical assistance. Now is a great time to get soil testing done before the main growing season.

You may remember a few months ago the Kosciusko Urban Healthy Soils Program received a District Showcase Award from IASWCD because of the great work that Kosciusko Co partners and volunteers have done. The program is seeing some transition as Aleah Southworth (program lead) transitioned into full time farming on her small scale diversified farm (yeah!). And we are excited to have Nathaniel Wise stepping into the role. We wish both of them luck in their next adventures!

In Kosciusko County, they held a Part 1 of Soil Health on the Small Farm in March. Dan Perkins from Perkins Good Earth Farm joined them for a full day of learning and talking soil health. We started with visiting a local farm (Denney Farm) for some farmer-to-farmer networking with Dan enthusiastically sharing all his tips and tricks. Afterwards we filled a classroom with local growers and gardeners to dive deep into soil health and how Dan does what he does so well. It was a great event! And I look forward to Part 2 in July at Hawkins Family Farm

Southwest

Parke-Vermillion-Vigo Soil Health Alliance held a Spring Creative Growing Garden event and a Wild Fungi Workshop in March. (PICTURE INCLUDED) They are a recently formed working group and have hit the ground running with events and offering site visits and technical assistance to their communities.

PHISH is hosting a Spring Garden Workshop on April 2. In partnership with Master Gardeners, they will learn about weed management and termination practices and do a hands on activity at the Morgan County Fairgrounds.

Let's Dig is another recently formed working group that is offering site visits and technical assistance. A fun opportunity for them is partnering with the local high school FFA and students.

Southeast

Clark Co. SOIL continues with their excellent holistic gardening series, Yard Sprouts, where attendees learn about soil health practices, pollinator and native plantings, and other ways to support conservation. Check out Clark Co. SWCD's website for upcoming monthly workshops or contact them about free soil testing. That soil testing is available in every county in the state, so please reach out to your soil health specialist to get connected with groups that can come to your property to test your soils, talk about your growing goals, and offer technical assistance for projects you may want to engage in.

April 2: Spring Garden Workshop

Morgan County Fairgrounds, 6:00PM

April 4: Allen Co SWCD Cover Crop Termination

Bloomingdale Gardens, 420 High Street

4 pm

Join us for cover crop termination, tips for successful sowing, and more! Everyone is welcome. http://www.allenswcd.org/

April 8: Total Solar Eclipse

April 9: Urban Updates

Virtual

9 – 10:30 AM

Join Urban Soil Health and Indiana Conservation Partners as we highlight upcoming projects in each region of the state, and dive a little deeper into specific technical aspects of soil health. This month: Mulching and Tarping. More information.

April 13: Spring Garden Preparation

Owen County: Copper Cataract Homestead

8:30AM RSVP to casey.kennett@in.nacdnet.net by 4/10/24

April 17: Yard Sprouts: Going Native

Lamping Park, Clarksville

6 – 8 PM.

Join Clark Co. SOIL for Yard Sprouts: Going Native, where you will learn about gardening with natives to ensure pollinator support. Visit the website for more information.

April 17: Garden Prep for a Healthy Growing Season

EC Center, Vevay

10 – 11:30 AM

Learn about preparing your garden for healthy plants all season. Event details.

April 18: Women's Learning Circle

Bloomingdale's Community Garden, Associated Churches' Wolf Mission House

420 High Street, Fort Wayne

5 – 8 PM

Fort Wayne's women only gathering on urban soil health. Event details.

April 22: Grass to Garden

Muscatatuck County Park

10 AM – 2 PM

Earth Day will bring a special event to Jennings Co., where we will be building a soil-healthy demonstration garden in a hands-on workshop with raised bed building, cover crops, mulching, and more! Learn more.

April 20: Harrison Master Gardener's Spring Workshop

247 Atwood St, Corydon

8:30 am – 12 pm

Come Grow With Us! $5 fee includes homemade breakfast and 3 gardening presentations as well as a plant sale. This workshop is open to the public. ADULTS ONLY (18+). Visit Facebook for more info.

April 27: Floyd Co. Pollinator Days

Purdue Research Park of Southeast Indiana, 3000 Technology Ave., New Albany

10 am – 3 pm

Purdue Extension Floyd County and Sunnyside Master Gardeners will host Pollinator Day! Classes will be held on Pollinator Way Stations, Pollinators and Climate Change, and Restoring Our Home Landscapes to Provide Habitat for Pollinators and Other Wildlife. Learn more.

May 14: Urban Updates

Virtual

9 – 10:30 AM

June 11: Urban Updates

Virtual

9 – 10:30 AM

June 11-13: 2024 Urban Food Systems Symposium

Columbus, OH

This symposium will bring together a national and international audience of academic, non-profit, academic, and research-oriented professionals to share and gain knowledge on how we can build coalitions to adapt to this changing world and how urban food systems contribute to these solutions. Join 300-400 like minded professionals at this event. https://urbanfoodsystemssymposium.org/

July 9: Urban Updates

Virtual

9 – 10:30 AM

July 19: Soil Health on the Small Farm Part 2

Hawkins Family Farm, North Webster

5 – 6:30 pm

Kos Co SWCD is hosting Part 2 @ Hawkins Family Farm. After a delicious wood fired pizza dinner we will take a farm tour, learning about sustainable practices on a productive and efficient market farm. https://www.kosciuskoswcd.org/events

Aug 2-18: Indiana State Fair

https://www.indianastatefair.com/p/state-fair

Sep 12: Save the date: Get the Dirt

NACD Urban and Community Conservation Grants

Application deadline: April 1, 2024, 11:59 p.m. PT,

Only conservation districts, as defined by state statute and tribes, are eligible to apply for these grants. More info.

SARE - Professional Development Program

Application Deadline: April 3

Awards: Up to $120,000

The North Central Region SARE (NCR-SARE) Professional Development Grant Program supports state professional development programs and competitive grants for training agricultural professionals. Grants emphasize training agricultural educators in extension, Natural Resources Conservation Service, private, and not-for-profit sectors, using farmers as educators and addressing emerging issues in the farm community.

EPA’s Community Change Grants Program

Application deadline: November 21, 2024

The EPA has announced $2 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funds for environmental and climate justice activities. Technical assistance for grant preparation is available. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis with initial award selections beginning in March 2024. The final application deadline is Nov. 21, 2024.

Federal Funding Tip: Applicants for federal grant and cooperative agreement opportunities may require an active Sam.gov and Grants.gov registration to apply. Register in these systems now so you are ready when the opportunities are open.

Nutrient Management Calculator

The Indiana Nutrient Management Tool is a new Excel workbook that provides fertilizer and amendment recommendations for vegetables commonly grown in Indiana. Whether for a backyard garden or a market farm, the tool allows the user to create a plan for the amount of products needed to meet the nutrient goals, which can be based on soil test results or custom entries. Additionally, the inclusion of a compost tab enhances its utility, allowing users to convert between the volume and depth of compost applications and obtain an estimated nutrient contribution.

Based on a farmer needs assessment, a recent Purdue University Diversified Farming and Food Systems publication lists “nutrient management for plant health” and “nutrients, pH, and amendments” as top production challenges in urban agriculture. This new calculator hopes to provide a framework to more efficiently manage the nutrient needs of diverse vegetable crops on our Indiana farms.

This tool was developed by the Marion County Soil and Water Conservation District in partnership with the USDA-NRCS-Indiana Urban Soil Health Team and with input from local growers and Purdue University professors. A special thanks to the grower focus groups and to Ashley Adair and Nathan Shoaf, and Drs. Maynard and Langenhoven for providing comments and suggestions during its development. The data, math, and recommendations are derived from Michigan State University’s Nutrient Recommendations for Vegetable Crops in Michigan, Purdue University resources, the New England Vegetable Management Guide, and Oregon State University.

The tool can be accessed at: https://marionswcd.org/indiana-nutrient-management-tool/

Beyond High Tunnels: Top 10 Conservation Practices for Small-Scale Farms

Presentation for the Purdue Small Farms Conference by NRCS State Urban and Small Scale Conservationist Cara Bergschneider. Provides an overview of conservation practices that are also eligible via working with a local District Conservationist to submit an application through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

Brassica Bolting Trial in the Midwest Vegetable Trial Report

Midwest Vegetable Production Guide 2024