Land Stewardship LIVE-WIRE, September 30, 2004
Hello:
This is the 15th 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
IN THIS ISSUE
1) Local Foods Chili Cook-Off Oct. 2
2) Farm Beginnings™ Deadline Oct. 5
3) Farm Beginnings™ Pilots to be Launched in 3 States
4) 'Dine Fresh Dine Localí on Oct. 5 & Support LSP
5) Citizen Task Force: Protect Local Control, Support Family Livestock
Farmers
6) Farming & Eating as if Nature Matters Nov. 15
7) Thanks St. Martin's Table!
8) Working Farms & Clean Water
9) Worth Repeating
10) Worth Repeating II
1) LOCAL CHILI COOK-OFF OCT. 2
Looking for a fun fall weekend getaway? The 5th Annual Western Minnesota
Chili Cook-Off will be Saturday, Oct. 2, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., at
Granite Falls Memorial Park. This year's Chili Cook-Off will be held in
conjunction with the Minnesota River Revival and the ìMeanderî Arts
Crawl Event. For details, check out
http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/newsr_040921.html.
As in past years, the Chili Cook-Off will celebrate the wonderful bounty
of local foods produced in the Upper Minnesota River Valley. All
proceeds from the Cook-Off will go to LSP to aid in its local food
systems development. In fact, a Pride of the Prairie Local Foods Guide
is available from LSP by calling 320-269-2105, or e-mailing
lspwest at landstewardshipproject.org. This Directory is free and lists 96
farmers who sell locally-raised food products in our area. It also has
information on farmersí markets and businesses that serve local food and
tips on how to serve local foods at community events. More information
is also available at http://www.prideoftheprairie.org.
2) FARM BEGINNINGS™ DEADLINE OCT. 5
There is still time to enroll in the 2004-2005 edition of LSP's Farm Beginnings™ program, but you better hurry! The application deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 5., and classes will begin Saturday, Oct. 23, and will run twice a month until the middle of March. After March, course participants will have the opportunity to attend a series of on-farm educational field days. The course fee is $400,
which covers 34 hours of class time, on-farm education including farm tours, and one-on-one mentoring.
More information on Farm Beginnings™ is available at http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/programs_farmbeginnings.html. A new pdf format fact sheet on Farm Beginnings is at http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/fb/fb_factsheet16.pdf. For a free paper copy, contact Louise Arbuckle
at 651-653-0618 or lspwbl at landstewardshipproject.org.
3) FARM BEGINNINGS™ PILOTS TO BE LAUNCHED IN 3 STATES
Speaking of Farm Beginnings™, the highly successful program is going to be tested in three other Midwestern states, thanks to a $74,856 grant from the USDA's North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. The grant will be used to set up pilot beginning farmer education programs in Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska. Land Stewardship Project staff will
work with agricultural educators, farmers and other professionals to set up the pilot programs. To learn more, visit http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/04/newsr_040917.html.
4) "DINE FRESH DINE LOCAL" ON OCT. 5 & SUPPORT LSP
On Tuesday, Oct. 5, you can have a good meal, and support a good cause.
ìDine Fresh Dine Localî is a special one-day culinary event taking place
at select restaurants across the Twin Cities. Restaurants will donate a
portion of the day or evening's proceeds to Food Alliance Midwest, Land
Stewardship Project and Minnesota Grown for their work in promoting
sustainable farming and healthy local foods. For more details about Dine
Fresh Dine Local, including a listing of restaurants that are
participating, visit http://www.dinefreshdinelocal.com, or call
651-698-5586.
5) CITIZEN TASK FORCE: PROTECT LOCAL CONTROL; SUPPORT FAMILY LIVESTOCK
FARMERS
A healthy livestock farming economy in Minnesota requires strong local
township government, a tough corporate farm law, and support for
innovative family farms, says a new report released by the Citizen Task
Force on Livestock Farmers and Rural Communities. The report, which was
released Sept. 28 in Willmar to a group of over 200 farmers, township
officers and other rural residents, makes several recommendations to
policy makers and state officials. Minnesota Attorney Mike Hatch
addressed the crowd during the release of the report, saying that if
implemented these recommendations could go a long ways toward supporting
a strong middle class in rural Minnesota. A strong middle class, he
said, is the basis of a sound democracy.
"Diverse family farms are key to a strong rural middle class," Hatch
said. "It is extraordinarily important to not allow continued
consolidation of these industries. If you take away township control and
relegate it to St. Paul or Washington, you take away that ability to
control what happens in the community."
For a copy of the report in pdf format, contact Bobby King at
bking at landstewardshipproject.org. The report will be available on LSP's
Web site sometime after Oct. 5. To read more about the meeting, check
out the West Central Tribune's coverage at
http://www.wctrib.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=25977&SectionID=3&SubSectionID=83&S=1.
6) FARMING & EATING AS IF NATURE MATTERS NOV. 15
ìFarming and Eating as if Nature Mattersî is the title of a noon talk
LSP's Dana Jackson will give Monday, Nov. 15, at the Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy, 2104 Stephens Avenue South, Minneapolis.
Parking is in the rear. This event is free and open to the public--bring
your lunch so you can stuff your face while filling your brain with some
exciting ideas on food and farming. For more information, contact Julia
Nerbonne at 651-287-3308 or http://www.hecua.org/programs/es/.
7) THANKS ST. MARTIN'S TABLE!
We reported in the last issue of LIVE-WIRE that St. Martin's Table's
volunteer servers were donating all of their August tips to LSP. That
effort produced $2,154.89 in funds for LSP's work. We appreciate this
recognition on the part of St. Martin's and its volunteers. We also
appreciate any of you out there who dined at the restaurant during
August. 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.
8) WORKING FARMS & CLEAN WATER
Check out an interesting fact sheet we've put together on how working
farms can help improve water quality in rural areas. It's based on
research that was done as part of the Multiple Benefits of Agriculture
initiative. Go to
http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/programs_mba.html#info to download
the fact sheet.
9) WORTH REPEATING
"It flies in the fact of conventional wisdom that small herds aren't as
productive. We should not be absolutely convinced that larger is
better."-- University of Minnesota dairy scientist Dennis Johnson,
speaking at a field day hosted by LSP members Dan and Muriel French
(http://webstar.agrinews.com/agrinews/281571097304387.bsp)
10) WORTH REPEATING II
"Through my interaction with the Monitoring Team farmers, I saw how
working farmland could have a positive impact on watershed health." --
LSP Board Member and stream ecologist Bruce Vondracek, quoted in ìHow
Farms Can Improve Water Quality."
(http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/programs_mba.html#info)
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