I fully expect that I’ll be a little over my head this weekend, when I attend the Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association’s annual conference. I’ll be there as a representative of Edible Ohio Valley magazine, and I hope to meet many of the growers and producers who bring healthy, wholesome food to the farmers’ markets and retailers in my area. I’m geeky-excited by the program: there are sessions that I can learn from personally on edible landscaping, canning and preserving—but most of the presentations are geared toward commercial farmers. I’m eager to learn about their opportunities and challenges, and to discover how I can help these growers connect with their customers and market their products.

I think I must have been a farmer in a former life …