Saturday, March 15, was Farm Day at the Norfolk Library. This inaugural event was a collaboration between the Norfolk Farmers Market and the library. The day started off with a showing of the film “The Greenhorns,” a charming and informative hour-long documentary about how young farmers get started in their careers. After a delicious–and healthy!–lunch of bread, cheese, and vegetable soup, with meat and without, the audience settled down to listen to a lively discussion among several local farmers and producers, hosted by Tom Hlas, who himself grew up on a farm in Iowa.  Participating farmers were Adair Mali and Antonio Guindon (Lost Ruby Farm), Grant Mudge (Broad Field Farm), Jude Mead (Mead’s Maple Syrup), Delores Perotti (Border Patrol/Victory Garden), Tracy Hayhurst (Chubby Bunny Farm), Wayne Jenkins (Jenkins’ Backyard Garden), Becky DiQuattro (Howling Flats Farm), Will Kennedy (Cream Hill Veal), John Stepney (Heritage Gardens), and Molly Lannen (Ford Farm). The theme that came across most strongly was the farmers’ enormous enthusiasm for their work and their desire to grow good healthy food for their own families and for their community. The next “food-only” winter Norfolk market will be April 26, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., in Battell Chapel. For more information, see Community News.

Photo by David L. Davis.