Contact:

SANDY PERRY, COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
PHONE: 908-234-1225, EXT. 104
SANDY@NJCONSERVATION.ORG

Organic gardening with Mark Canright on Sept. 13

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FAR HILLS, NJ – Mark Canright, an organic farmer from Asbury, NJ, will give valuable tips on how to grow organic produce from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Bamboo Brook Outdoor Education Center in Far Hills. This event is sponsored by New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

Canright will delight participants with his dry sense of humor while giving valuable tips on how to grown organic produce. There will be activities for children, including planting seeds to take home and grow.

The program is free, but registration is required. Contact Meghan@njconservation.org. Refreshments will be served.

People are clamoring for chemical-free produce because it tastes better though it takes longer to grow and is more expensive than the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables that dominate grocery store shelves. Amy Hansen, a policy analyst with New Jersey Conservation Foundation, believes that “organic is better for people's health and the health of the Earth.”

Canright and his wife, Amy Hansen, bought a 38-acre farm in Hunterdon County in 2004. They join the growing number of organic farms in New Jersey— now over 2,200—and plan to convert the entire operation into an organic farm by the end of this year. They sold the development rights to Comeback Farm, which ensures that it will remain in agricultural use forever.

Canright and Hansen have begun growing fruits and vegetables on Comeback Farm using natural substances such as manure-based compost and ground-up fish to nourish crops, instead of chemical fertilizers and pesticides like their conventional farm neighbors in the fertile Musconetcong River Valley.

If New Jersey lawmakers and a growing number of congressional supporters have their way, organic growers would get increased aid and chemical-free agriculture would get more research support under next year's farm bill.

New Jersey Conservation Foundation preserves land and natural resources throughout New Jersey for the benefit of all. For more information about New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s programs and preserves, visit www.njconservation.org or call 1-888-LANDSAVE.