Land Stewardship LIVE-WIRE, January 21, 2004
Hello:
This is the seventh issue of "Land Stewardship LIVE-WIRE," the Land Stewardship Project's e-mail update. We send this out periodically to provide an update on activities and information related to LSP's work. We hope you enjoy this service, and are looking for feedback. Please send your comments to Brian DeVore at bdevore@landstewardshipproject.org. If you prefer not to receive this newsletter, please e-mail lspwbl@landstewardshipproject.org and write, "remove LIVE-WIRE" in the subject line.
IN THIS ISSUE
* Comment on CSP by March 2
* CSP, the Organic Farming Conference & You
* Hop on the Farm Beginnings™ Express March 26
* Worried About Mad Cow?
* Pig Power II to Feature Drug-Free Marketing Jan. 28
* Business Planning Workshops in Feb. & March
* Food Alliance Annual Meeting Feb. 12
* Sally Fallon Event March 20
* We’re Looking for CSA Farmers
* Wanted: Test Plots for Perennials
* Science for the Citizens
* New Action Alert Page
* Show us Your Creative Side
* Worth Repeating
COMMENT ON CSP BY MARCH 2
The good news is, thanks to pressure from Land Stewardship Project members and people like you from across the nation, the Bush Administration has now officially posted the draft rules for how they plan to run the Conservation Security Program (CSP). We are now in the midst of a 60-day public comment period, which ends March 2. The purpose of the comment period is to allow public input into how the CSP should be run. That’s good, because the bad news
is that there are some big problems with the way the Bush Administration and USDA are planning to implement the CSP. To learn how to comment on the rules, visit our CSP Web page at http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/programs_csp.html.
CSP, THE ORGANIC FARMING CONFERENCE & YOU
Are you planning on attending the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference at the end of February (www.mosesorganic.org). LSP is looking for volunteers to help get public comments on the proposed CSP rules e-mailed to the USDA during the conference. All we need is people who know how to work a laptop computer and are willing to stick near the machine at LSP’s display table for two hours or so during the conference. The Organic Farming Conference takes place just prior to the March 2 USDA deadline, so having attendees of the event e-mail comments from LSP’s display table is a great way to get some important messages to D.C. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Mark Schultz in our Policy Program Office at 612-722-6377 or marks@landstewardshipproject.org. You can also get more information by contacting Caroline van Schaik in our southeast Minnesota office at 507-523-3366 or caroline@landstewardshipproject.org.
HOP ON THE FARM BEGINNINGS™ EXPRESS MARCH 26
Are you interested in learning more about opportunities for getting started in farming or passing on a farming operation to the next generation? Then hop on board the “Farm Beginnings Express” bus excursion on Friday, March 26, for a truly moving experience. The Express will roll across southern Minnesota and southeastern South Dakota on its way to “The Beginning Farmer &
Rancher Conference: Realities and Opportunities” in Kearney, Neb., on Saturday, March 27. Details are available at http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/newsr_040108.html.
WORRIED ABOUT MAD COW?
The December announcement that Mad Cow disease has made an appearance in Washington state has drawn a truckload of attention to how industrialized, large-scale livestock production takes place in this country. Some of those details are decidedly unappetizing. LSP has a listing of farmers who produce beef and other livestock products without using animal byproducts or other controversial ingredients. If you want to know where your beef comes from and how it was raised, check out our Stewardship Food Network at http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/foodfarm-main.html#SFN.
PIG POWER II TO FEATURE DRUG-FREE MARKETING JAN. 28
One of the nation’s leading natural pork companies will be featured at a special Land Stewardship Project meeting on marketing hogs produced without drugs on Wednesday, Jan. 28, in the western Minnesota community of Redwood Falls. “Pig Power: New Marketing Opportunities Challenge Farmers to Keep Hogs off Drugs” will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Redwood Area Community Center, 901 Cook Street. Interested? Check out http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/newsr_040115.html.
BUSINESS PLANNING WORKSHOPS IN FEB. & MARCH
Business planning—yup, it can be worse than doing taxes. But if you are getting ready to farm or have already started, then you ARE ready to write a business plan. LSP is offering a hands-on look at that necessary implement of fine farming during a series of Saturday sessions this winter. Workshops will take place in Plainview in southeast Minnesota as well as in western Minnesota (probably
Willmar). The Plainview dates are Feb. 7 and 14 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), and March 6 (1 p.m. to 4 p.m.). While Farm Beginnings™ alumni and current students get priority, other farmers as well as agricultural educators are welcome to attend, space permitting. We will reference the new publication, “Building a Sustainable Business,” and each participating family will have its own
copy to work from. Will you have a business plan at the end? That depends on you--our goal is to get you started and head you in the right direction. The sessions will be a combination of homework, guided how-to, discussion, and work party all at once. No matter where you are in your thoughts and whether or not you are farming, consider yourself welcome. Please contact Caroline van Schaik in
LSP’s Lewiston office at 507-523-3366 or caroline@landstewardshipproject.org if you wish to attend.
FOOD ALLIANCE ANNUAL MEETING FEB. 12
Food Alliance Midwest has a limited number of travel scholarships available for Extension educators in the Upper Midwest to attend the Food Alliance’s Third Annual Meeting on Thursday, Feb. 12. The meeting will be held in Bloomington, Minn., at the Radisson Hotel South from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p. m. The Food Alliance is one of the nation’s leading certifiers of environmentally friendly and socially responsible farms and foods. Food Alliance’s Midwest regional affiliate is a collaboration of the Land Stewardship Project and Cooperative Development Services. For more information, visit http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/newsr_040109.html.
SALLY FALLON EVENT MARCH 20
Join Anne Mark and LSP member Tara Scaife in southeast Minnesota on March 20 for a presentation on Sally Fallon’s ideas related to traditional diets throughout the world and what this means to our everyday lives. This “Nourishing Traditions” event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Houston (Minn.) High School and will include lunch prepared from the cookbook by the same name as well as plenty of time for discussion. The cost is $13, and registration is through the Houston Community Education office (507-896-7777). Producers who would like to participate in an informal winter market during the event should contact Anne Mark at 507-896-2224. Sally Fallon is a journalist, chef, nutrition researcher, homemaker and community activist. She is also president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit charity founded in 1999 to restore nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism. The Land Stewardship Project is co-sponsoring this event.
WE’RE LOOKING FOR CSA FARMERS
In February, LSP will be producing its annual Twin Cities Area CSA Directory. This is the eighth year of this popular publication and copies are distributed via mail and the Internet. Many farms report back to us that the directory helps them recruit members while educating the general public about the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. If you are planning on operating a CSA farm in 2004 that will service the Twin Cities area, we’d like to invite you to be included in our 2004 directory. The listing fee is $20 for LSP members, and $30 for non-members. These fees go toward the costs of producing and mailing the directory, which is provided free to consumers. If you are a consumer who is thinking about joining a CSA farm in 2004 and can’t wait until February to learn more, you can download the 2003 directory now from www.landstewardshipproject.org/foodfarm-main.html. For information on getting a paper copy, call Louise Arbuckle at 651-653-0618 or e-mail her at lspwbl@landstewardshipproject.org.
WANTED: TEST PLOTS FOR PERENNIALS
The Illinois bundle flower, a perennial legume, is being studied for its grain and seed production capacity by the University of Minnesota’s Craig Sheaffer, who is looking for test plots in southeastern Minnesota. If you have up to an acre, can do the planting, and can allow access for harvest for two to three years, please contact Caroline van Schaik in Lewiston’s LSP office at 507-523-3366 or caroline@landstewardshipproject.org. Sheaffer will provide seed and a small honorarium.
SCIENCE FOR THE CITIZENS
While we’re on the subject of on-farm research, the December 2003 Land Stewardship Letter features the final installment in our series on how citizens and land grant scientists are working together to develop a more resilient farming system. If you know someone who may be interested in a complimentary copy of LSP’s newsletter, contact Louise Arbuckle at 651-653-0618 or lspwbl@landstewardshipproject.org. An electronic archive of past Land Stewardship Letters is at http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/news-lsl.html.
NEW ACTION ALERT PAGE
Check out LSP’s new Action Alert page at
http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/news-alerts.html. Here, you’ll find the latest Alerts, as well as archived notices.
SHOW US YOUR CREATIVE SIDE
In 2004, the Land Stewardship Project will be opening an on-line art gallery. This will provide a showcase for images that reflect efforts to foster and support stewardship of our food and farm system. We are asking our members to submit photos, illustrations or paintings for this Stewardship Gallery. The theme of our first gallery “show” will be “The Farm as Natural Habitat.” The deadline for these first entries is March 1. Do you have art or photos that fit that theme? We’d love to see them. An LSP panel will select some of the entries for display in our gallery.
The entries should:
* Reflect human interaction with land and farms. The art or photos do not have to include people in them, but we are not interested in wilderness scenes.
* For photos, candid shots work well, black and white or color are fine.
Entry guidelines:
* Please do not send originals.
* Send entries as digitals or scanned files. If you are using pictures from your digital camera, they will work just fine if they are JPEG files. If you are scanning the images yourself from photographs or artwork, it is better to save them in either TIFF or EPS format. When scanning, use a 150 PPI (“pixels per inch”) setting.
Send entries by March 1 to:
Brian DeVore, bdevore@landstewardshipproject.org. If you have questions, you can e-mail DeVore or call him at 612-729-6294.
WORTH REPEATING
“I think to be a successful sustainable farmer you’ve got to be an exceedingly good manager. You can’t just go out and plant 50 acres here and 100 acres or 5,000 acres there and then go sit on your ass in Florida for the next six months.” --Willard Cochrane, quoted in the December 2003 Land Stewardship Letter (http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/news-lsl.html).
top
|
