Come see Frank Crandall speak at 2 Upcoming OLC Events

 We are very pleased to announce that Frank Crandall will be a presenter at both the Mid-Atlantic Accreditation Course Dec-2-5, 2013 and the Annual Gathering on Dec. 11, 2013 where Frank will present on Creating a More Sustainable Business-Financially and Environmentally. 

 Frank Crandall: Former owner of Wood River Evergreens, Inc., an awarding winning landscape design, construction, and maintenance firm in southern RI. Current owner of Frank Crandall, Horticultural Solutions, a landscape design, installation and maintenance firm specializing in sustainable designs, organically maintained landscapes, and specialty pruning. Additionally, Frank conducts his GEM Business Seminar, consults with New England horticultural firms, speaks at various industry venues, chairs the NOFA Educational Committee and has guest lectured at area colleges including URI, The Landscape Institute (Boston Architectural College), and North Shore Community College.

Award winning consultant Bernadette Giblin will be at our Mid Atlantic Accreditation Course!

 

We are delighted to announce that Bernadette Giblin will be presenting at Mid Atlantic Accreditation course on December 2, 2013!

Bernadette Giblin is the two time recipient of the Toxics Use Reduction Institute's (TURI) Toxics Reduction Champion Award.  She is an organic land care consultant who has worked on the organic transition of several public parks, schools and health care campuses throughout Massachusetts. She is currently launching her blog project Finding Safeground. Additionally, she's collaborating with the NOFA Organic Land Care Program to train landscapers throughout the Long Island Sound region in more effective social marketing campaign strategies. Bernadette's mission is to drive the demand for organic land care to protect the environment & promote a green economy in local communities where we all live, work and play. 

Changing the World One Lawn at a Time by Kathy Litchfield

"Out & About with AOLCPs"
 

Changing the World One Lawn at a Time

By Kathy Litchfield

LEXINGTON, KY - One of Storey Slone's favorite clients is a woman who requested she plant as much clover and as many violets as possible on her lawn, to combat her neighbors' synthetic turf monoculture.

Slone, a 24-year-old organic lawn and turf specialist for the Dave Leonard Tree Specialists, wishes more homeowners would recognize the benefits of an organic approach and embrace this model client's attitude on their own properties.

"People don't realize how their lawn care practices affect their environment, their own homes children or pets, or even a pedestrian walking by," she said.

 Slone is one of the NOFA Organic Land Care Program's youngest AOLCPs. She took the Philadelphia, Pa. accreditation course in 2012 and started her job as the organic lawn and turf specialist in January 2013. Hers is a brand new position for the tree care company, founded in the 1970s by nationally recognized arboriculture authority Dave Leonard (who helped to write the International Society of Arboriculture's original certification test and still meets with tree clients daily.)

Announcing Mike Nadeau as a Presenter at the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Accreditation Course!

We are proud to announce that Mike Nadeau ,founder of Wholistic Land Care Consulting, LLC, will be presenting NOFA OLC's Mid-Atlantic Accreditation course December 2-5, 2013 in Philadelphia, PA. Mike Nadeau serves on the advisory, education, standards committee for NOFA OLC and has been essential to the Organic Land Care Programs as a founding member. Mike was kind enough to share with us his history in organic land care and express his gratitude towards OLC programming,

Accreditation Course Presenter, Todd Harrington, Updates us on his work in Organic Landscaping

Todd Harrington of Harrington’s Organic Land Care, and one of the founders of the NOFA Organic Land Care Program, will be presenting for the first time at this years Mid-Atlantic Accreditation Course December 2-5, 2013 in Philadelphia, PA and returning to the New England Regional Course February 10-13, 2014 at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, CT. Todd was kind enough to share some photos with NOFA OLC of the outstanding landscaping work he has been doing, insightful captions writtten by Todd himself!

Out & About with AOLCPs

"Out & About with AOLCPs" 

Lifelong Wildlife Lover Nash Pradhan Designs with Respect for Nature

By Kathy Litchfield

When Nash Pradhan told his parents he wanted to move to the United States, they thought he was "absolutely crazy." The Nairobi, Kenya  native was just 24 years old and his three brothers and four sisters didn't share his aspirations. His father worked for a canvas sewing production company while his mother raised the family.

 "I was the only wild one that decided one day, after finishing high school and a couple years of agricultural college in Kenya, to go the States," said Pradhan, who had worked as a courier taking tourists to the game parks and interpreting the flora and fauna of East Africa for them. He had always loved the flowers, trees and wildlife of his native country and enjoyed sharing his knowledge and taking photographs. He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro three times and also attended the Outward Bound Mountain School.

Out & About with AOLCPs: Longtime AOLCP Sarah Holland Raises the Bar in Vermont

Out & About with AOLCPs: Longtime AOLCP Sarah Holland Raises the Bar in Vermont 

By Kathy Litchfield

VERMONT -- Driving by the Red Hen Baking Co. along rural Route 2 in Middlesex, one might notice something unusual towering above the cars filling the parking lot – nine-foot tall broom corn (Sorghum spp) growing alongside amaranth, quinoa, millet, wheat, oats, sunflowers and barley. Toss in a little parsley and basil and one has the ingredients necessary for a wonderful loaf of freshly baked herb bread.

Showcasing these grains, carefully and organically grown in handmade hemlock raised beds adjacent to the popular eatery, is the brainchild of Sarah Holland of Moretown, one of the NOFA Organic Land Care Program’s original accredited professionals and one of just a  handful of AOLCPs in the state of Vermont.