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Land Stewardship LIVE-WIRE, February 24, 2004
Hello:
This is the eighth 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
1) Comment on CSP by March 2
2) CSP Comment E-Mail Terminal Feb. 26-28
3) Local Democracy Under Fire
4) Citizens’ Lobby Day Feb. 25
5) Join a Farm, Get Fresh Vegetables
6) Cornillie Legacy Lives on Through Farm Beginnings™
7) Lorentz to Speak at Minnesota Grown Conf. March 16
8) Sally Fallon Event March 20
9) ‘Greenhouse Swine’ During March 26 Farm Beginnings™ Trip
10) Community Food & Farm Festival May 1-2
11) Permaculture Design Workshop March, April, August
12) Show us Your Creative Side
13) Worth Repeating
14)Worth Repeating, Part II
1) COMMENT ON CSP BY MARCH 2
Time is running out to comment on 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. Our CSP Web page (http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/programs_csp.html#cspletter) is chock full of information on how to comment on the rules. We’ve even posted a sample comment letter to get you started. Whether you are a farmer or just a concerned citizen, please take a few moments to influence the direction of what potentially could be one of the most innovative agricultural conservation programs ever created.
2) CSP COMMENT E-MAIL TERMINAL FEB. 26-28
Speaking of the CSP rules, attendees of the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wis., will have the opportunity to send comments through an online connection at the conference. Using a laptop computer at the Land Stewardship Project booth, people will be able to instantly e-mail comments directly to Washington, D.C., concerning changes needed to the proposed rules. The Conference, which runs from Feb. 26 to Feb. 28, occurs just prior to the March 2 deadline for submitting comments on the USDA’s proposed rules. To find out where our booth is, visit http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/newsr_040213.html.
3) LOCAL DEMOCRACY UNDER FIRE
The 2004 Minnesota Legislature went into session on Feb. 2, and it didn’t take long for promoters of factory farmers to begin work on weakening local democracy. Bills that could gut some of the most effective planning tools available to local governments in Minnesota got their first hearings in St. Paul on Feb. 17. If House File 2021 becomes law, for example, cities and townships will be denied the opportunity to effectively use interim ordinances as a planning tool. And on Wednesday, Feb. 25, Senate File 2108 will receive a hearing at 3:30 p.m. in Room 112 of the Capitol. Senate File 2108 would dramatically weaken citizens’ ability to restrict factory farm expansion in their communities. The bill eliminates the right of townships and counties to apply temporary moratoriums to livestock facilities if the proposers have applied for a permit. It is critical that lawmakers hear from their constituents immediately on these bills. Go to our Action Alerts page (http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/news-alerts.html) to learn how to contact your representatives in the Minnesota House and Senate.
For general information on legislative issues affecting family farms, rural communities and the environment, contact LSP’s Policy Office at 612-722-6377, Bobby King at 507-523-3366, or Paul Sobocinski at 507-342-2323.
4) CITIZENS’ LOBBY DAY FEB. 25
One way to contact legislators is to go straight to their stomping grounds. On Wednesday, Feb. 25, join LSP members and hundreds of our allies from other conservation and environmental organizations for the Minnesota Environmental Partnership’s Citizens’ Day at the Capitol in St. Paul. This event will be from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Details are available at http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/newsr_040212.html.
5) JOIN A FARM, GET FRESH VEGETABLES
As the snows of winter shrink, the desire for fresh, naturally-produced vegetables grows. Satisfy that hankering by joining a Community Supported Agriculture farm today. Community Supported Agriculture, also known as CSA, is an arrangement where people buy shares in a farming operation on an annual basis. In return, the farmers provide a weekly supply of fresh, natural produce throughout the growing season (approximately June to October). Shares are often sold out by early spring. For a free LSP guide describing CSA farms that serve the Twin Cities region, log onto http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/newsr_040223.html. For a paper
copy, call the Land Stewardship Project at 651-653-0618, or stop by our White Bear Lake office at 2200 4th Street (second level). This guide also provides information on joining CSA farms in other parts of the Midwest, as well as across the country.
6) CORNILLIE LEGACY LIVES ON THROUGH FARM BEGINNINGS™
LSP’s Farm Beginnings™ program in western Minnesota has recently been able to expand its library of resource materials through a generous donation of $350 from the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota’s Charles E. Cornillie Memorial Fund. Charles Cornillie was a very active participant in the Sustainable Farming Association (SFA), hosting tours on his farm near Elbow
Lake and taking part in demonstration projects. Cornillie passed away in 1995 at the age of 44. To honor his memory and his dedication to being a steward of the land, the SFA started the memorial fund in his name. To learn more, visit http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/newsr_040202.html.
7) LORENTZ TO SPEAK AT MINNESOTA GROWN CONF. MARCH 16
New LSP Board Member Mike Lorentz will be one of the featured speakers at the ninth annual Minnesota Grown Marketing Conference, Tuesday, March 16, at the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul Campus. Lorentz, along with his brother Rob, owns and operates Lorentz Meats in Cannon Falls, Minn. The Lorentz brothers have developed the “Branding Your Beliefs” marketing program for livestock farmers and are nationally recognized experts on the direct marketing of meat. For more information on the Minnesota Grown Conference, call 651-297-5510, or log onto http://www.mda.state.mn.us/mngrown/conference.htm.
8) 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 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.
9) ‘GREENHOUSE SWINE’ DURING MARCH 26 FARM BEGINNINGS™ TRIP
One of the Upper Midwest’s most innovative swine farms will be a featured stop
during the “Farm Beginnings Express” bus excursion on Friday, March 26. Northwest Iowa farmers Dan and Colin Wilson will provide bus riders a tour of their operation, which produces hogs in deep straw utilizing a greenhouse facility for housing (read more about the Wilsons in the May/June 2002 issue of the Land Stewardship Letter, http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/news-lsl.html).
This is just one of the exciting events that will be featured as the bus rolls 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. For details, check out http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/newsr_040211.html.
10) COMMUNITY FOOD & FARM FESTIVAL MAY 1-2
Consumers will have a chance to meet some of the faces behind the food at the 2004 Community Food and Farm Festival, an Annual Event that brings together sustainable, direct marketing producers and consumers in a way that celebrates this connection. This year's Festival will again be held in conjunction with the Living Green Expo on Saturday, May 1, and Sunday, May 2, at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds’ Education Building. For details, go to http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/foodfarm-main.html and scroll down to “Links to Other Food & Farm Resources.”
11) PERMACULTURE DESIGN WORKSHOP MARCH, APRIL, AUGUST
A series of three workshops on permaculture design in the Upper Midwest will be held in Minneapolis, Minn., Spring Valley, Wis., and Welch, Minn., this spring and summer. The dates are March 19-21, April 23-25 and Aug. 6-8. For more information or to register, call Paula Westmoreland at 612-870-3467, or e-mail permanentagriculture@hotmail.com.
12) SHOW US YOUR CREATIVE SIDE
The Land Stewardship Project is 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.
13) WORTH REPEATING
“… I expected the [The Farm as Natural Habitat] to be an indictment of current U.S. agricultural production. While there were some elements of this present, overall I found the book to be positive in its approach to farmers and the agricultural community.”-- Linda Lee of the University of Connecticut, writing in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics
(http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/03/itn_031130.html)
14) WORTH REPEATING, PART II
“And finally it has been declared that LSP pits ‘farmer against farmer.’ On the contrary LSP empowers farmers.”—LSP Board Member Jim Scaife, writing in the Jan. 22, 2004, issue of Agri News (http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/itn_040122.html).
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