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Land Stewardship LIVE-WIRE, June 24, 2004
Hello:
This is the 12th 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) Grazing Boosts Bottom Line, Birds
2) SE LSP Celebration June 26
3) Get a Handle on Grazing
4) Field Days Feature CSA, Swine
5) Sustainable Energy in Southeast Minn. June 26
6) CSP Sign-up Begins July 6
7) Grazing & Haying Field Day July 7
8) LSP Policy Open House July 21
9) Review Videos in WBL July 22 & 29
10) Minnesota Cooks! Aug. 31 at Minn. State Fair
11) Women in Ag Featured at Iowa State Fair
12) St. Martin’s Table to Benefit LSP in August
13) Ripley Township Residents Form Task Force
14) LSL Out Soon
15) Worth Repeating
16) Worth Repeating II
1) GRAZING BOOSTS BOTTOM LINE, BIRDS
For more than a decade, grass has been the foundation of the John and Donna Bedtke dairy operation in southeast Minnesota. And as the Bedtkes made clear during a recent field day put on by the Land Stewardship Project and researcher Melissa Driscoll, using a cow’s ability to harvest its own feed has been good for everything from the family’s bottom line to songbirds. Click here for words and pictures that show how profitable grass farming can help our feathered friends. That link also includes some practical tips on how to create good grassland bird habitat on a pasture-based livestock operation. To read the coverage Agri News gave the field day, go to http://webstar.agrinews.com/agrinews/280813091749652.bsp.
2) SE LSP CELEBRATION JUNE 26
The Land Stewardship Project’s southeast Minnesota office will hold a “Food, Family and Farming” summer celebration and pig roast Saturday, June 26, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Eric and Lisa Klein’s Hidden Stream Farm near Elgin, Minn. Come on down for good food, exciting conversation and fabulous fun. By the way, LSP is still looking for volunteers that can help with ice cream scooping, grilling and general set-up, etc.
3) GET A HANDLE ON GRAZING
Between now and November the Land Stewardship Project is helping organize a series of hands-on workshops with Natural Resources Conservation Service State Grazing Specialist Howard Moechnig on grazing management in southeast Minnesota. On July 10, a workshop on pastured livestock watering systems will be held at the Tom Scarponcini farm near Lewiston. To register for these free workshops, or for more information, contact Caroline van Schaik in LSP’s Lewiston office at 507-523-3366 or caroline@landstewardshipproject.org.
4) FIELD DAYS TO FEATURE CSA, SWINE
LSP’s Farm Beginnings™ field days are in full swing. Vegetable production, Community Supported Agriculture, swine production, organic cropping and appropriate technology for small farmers are the focus of field days being held in Minnesota and Wisconsin this summer. The next three field days are:
--Saturday, June 26, Madison, Minn.: Pork and organic crop production
-- Thursday, July 15, Prairie Farm, Wis.: Community Supported Agriculture vegetable production and profitability; what it takes to be a successful beginning vegetable farmer
--Saturday, July 31, Wykoff, Minn.: Low-cost, appropriate technologies for small farmers; Community Supported Agriculture vegetable production.
5) SUSTAINABLE ENERGY IN SOUTHEAST MINN. JUNE 26
The Southeast Minnesota Clean Energy Resource Team (CERT) will release findings of its regional resource inventory and assessment of 15 counties in southeast and south central Minnesota at a conference on Saturday, June 26, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center near Lanesboro. The team examined several things pertaining to the region, including (1) current energy usage, (2) possibilities for using energy more efficiently and productively, (3) potential renewable energy technologies, and (4) renewable energy resources in the region. The next stage of its work will be combining their findings into preparing a regional clean renewable energy plan for SE/SC MN and implementing some conservation and renewable energy projects. David Morris of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., will present the keynote address: "Energy Independence for SE MN -- Getting from Here to There." To register send a check for $8 for lunch made out to “Eagle Bluff ELC” to: CERTS, 225 West 2nd St., Winona, 55987. For more information, call 507-457-6484. The 15 counties in the SE MN CERT's region are Blue Earth, Dodge, Fairbault, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Le Sueur, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca, Winona.
6) CSP SIGN-UP BEGINS JULY 6
Sign-up for the long-awaited Conservation Security Program (CSP) will begin July 6. Farmers in 18 watersheds nationwide—including watersheds in south-central Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin and southwestern Iowa—may be eligible for the program, depending on how they meet the criteria and categories set by the USDA. Sign-up will run until July 30. Also, literally as you read this we are working on a new CSP fact sheet (number 6) that will describe how to participate in CSP now that sign-up time is here. That fact sheet will be available by early July on our CSP Web page.
7) GRAZING & HAYING FIELD DAY JULY 7
Pasture renovation, the economics of rotational grazing, forage improvement, cattle watering systems and beginning farmer options will be some of the topics discussed during a special field day Wednesday, July 7, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Spring Valley, Minn., farm of LSP members Dan and Cara Miller farm.
8) LSP POLICY OPEN HOUSE JULY 21
LSP’s Policy Program will be hosting its third annual open house/cookout from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 21 (that’s rescheduled from June 11 sue to soggy weather). The event will be held at the Policy Office: 2919 East 42nd Street, Minneapolis.
9) REVIEW VIDEOS IN WBL JULY 22 & 29
Come to White Bear Lake on July 22 and July 29 for the town’s “Marketfest” celebrations. While you are there, stop by LSP’s office at 2200 4th Street between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. to view two special videos: “Houses in the Fields” and “Deconstructing Supper.” These videos should spawn some good discussion about food, farming and stewardship of the land. Contact Louise at 651-653-0618 or lspwbl@landstewardshipproject.org for more information.
10) MINNESOTA COOKS! AUG. 31 AT MINN. STATE FAIR
As you make plans for summer, you’ll want to be sure to attend the Food Alliance Midwest’s Minnesota Cooks! event at the Minnesota State Fair on Tuesday, Aug. 31, in Carousel Park. Last year’s event with Minnesota Farmers Union was so popular that we’re doing an encore. With more chefs and more farmers serving up delicious local foods, this event may become a regular feature of the great Minnesota get-together. And we’re looking for volunteers to help out at the Minnesota Cooks! event and to cover the Food Alliance booth in the Farmers Union building from Aug. 26 to Sept. 4. For more information, contact Jean Andreasen at 651-265-3682 or jean@foodalliance.org. Volunteers receive free admission to the Fair. Food Alliance Midwest, a joint initiative of LSP and Cooperative Development Services, provides a seal of approval for sustainably raised foods. For more information, including a listing of retailers that carry Food Alliance certified products, log onto www.landstewardshipproject.org/programs_mwfa.html.
11) WOMEN IN AG FEATURED AT IOWA STATE FAIR
Speaking of state fairs, don’t forget the Hawkeye State’s agricultural showcase. If you’re attending the Iowa State Fair Aug. 12-22, make sure you stop by the Agriculture Building to check out the “Voices of American Farm Women” booth. This is a video/photo exhibit put together by Cynthia Vagnetti. It gives farm women, including some who are LSP members, a chance to tell their own stories. The project shows some women creating successful alternatives to conventional farming practices. The booth will be on the second floor of the Agriculture Building and will provide women visitors an opportunity to record their own stories. On Saturday, Aug. 14, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., there will be a public presentation on the ground floor of the Agriculture Building. This will include a panel discussion involving farm women, as well as a presentation that puts contemporary experiences in an historical context.
12) ST. MARTIN’S TABLE TO BENEFIT LSP IN AUGUST
For several years, St. Martin’s Table in Minneapolis has been the epicenter of activities related to promoting non-violence, economic/social justice and hunger prevention (meetings that launched the Community Supported Agriculture movement in the Twin Cities region were held at St. Martin’s, for example). If you haven’t dined at the St. Martin’s Table restaurant yet, August would be a great time to check it out. During that entire month, volunteer servers at the restaurant will be donating their tips to the Land Stewardship Project. LSP appreciates this recognition on the part of St. Martin’s and its volunteers. The restaurant/book store is located at 2001 Riverside Avenue in Minneapolis (near the west bank campus of the University of Minnesota). The phone number is 612-339-3920.
13) RIPLEY TOWNSHIP RESIDENTS FORM TASK FORCE
A task force to gather information and make recommendations on township planning and zoning has been formed by a supervisor and local residents in Dodge County’s
Ripley Township. For the past two years, Ripley Township’s residents have been wrestling with large-scale livestock factory farm development and how it will affect the community’s future. More information is also available in the July/August/September 2003 and October/November 2003 issues of the Land Stewardship Letter.
14) LSL OUT SOON
What do you get when you combine Coca-Cola and pork chops? What does a pond of pure liquid manure look like? Find out in the latest issue of the Land Stewardship Letter, which should be in your mailbox within the next two weeks. You can also look for features on the potential health benefits of ancient seeds, as well as a summary of the 2004 Minnesota Legislative session and the latest local food news.
15) WORTH REPEATING
"It's making the soil better. It's making the land better. It's making family better. And it makes more money." -- grass farmer John Bedtke
16) WORTH REPEATING II
"So many people say that they want to see small farms survive in the Midwest but don’t show that when they go to the stores.”—Farm Beginnings™ graduate and dairy farmer Roger Benrud, quoted in the Spring 2004 issue of Luther Alumni Magazine.
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