As last summer’s crippling drought proved, Northwest Arkansas residents’ collective wishes for more rain can’t magically open up the clouds.
Brad Lancaster, a rainwater collection expert, makes no promises about how much it will rain, only how much benefi t even a little rain can provide.
“There’s no way to get more rain, but there’s a way to make it go further,” said Lancaster, who has written several books on capturing rain.
He’ll bring the ideas behind his techniques to Fayetteville from March 1-2 as part of the third Dig In! Food and Farming Festival, which begins Feb. 28.
The festival, now in its third year, focuses on gardening, sustainable eating and supporting local farmers.
It’s expanded every year: 2011 saw about 100 participants, and last year’s festival had about 600 guests.
Leigh Wilkerson, one of the festival’s three co-organizers, said she expects a larger event in 2013.
That means there will be more things for festival-goers to do than ever before.
Wilkerson, a gardener, and fellow coordinators Cheri LaRue and Charity Lewis, both farmers, have expanded the number of sessions available.
Classes will cover topics such as canning and preserving, cooking in season, backyard chickens, easy-to-grow herbs, composting and more.
The expansion of the festival also includes its first keynote speaker, which is where Lancaster fits into the equation.
He’ll speak March 1 and 2 on methods he’s used to trap rainwater.
Considering he makes his home in arid Tucson, Ariz., his work is all the more impressive.
Lancaster said methods like those he employs at his home work in drought conditions but also in times of excess rain.
In the latter case, taking water from the high point of the watershed helps eliminate flooding downstream, Lancaster said.
For his presentations in Arkansas, Lancaster said he will provide tips that are “simple and accessible” and will “start to make a dramatic difference.”
Making a difference is also part of the Dig In!
philosophy.
One of the ways the festival organizers attempt to do so is through farm- and food-related films.
Several selections shown in previous years will return this year, but two films are making what organizers believe are their Arkansas debuts.
“To Make a Farm” follows three young Canadian farmers who attempt to start a farming operation for the first time.
“It really gets to the heart of young farmers,” said Wilkerson, who vetted the films alongside the co-coordinators.
Likewise, the new film “Eating Alabama” focuses on a young couple who move to Alabama and make a pledge to eat only Alabama-grown foods for a year.
In spite of living near farm country, the existence of commodity crops made the ordeal much tougher than they anticipated.
“Eating Alabama” premiered at the 2012 South By Southwest Film Festival before being accepted into numerous other festivals.
Local food has gained a lot of momentum in recent years, and Dig In!, a nonprofit event, seeks to continue that movement.
“Local food sounds like a trendy thing … It’s a way that every food we eat contributes to our community,” Wilkerson said.
Life, Pages 6 on 02/20/2013