support food entrepreneurship on Kiva Zip

a note from friend of the Greenhorns, Johnny Price, project director of Kiva Zip

Dear friends,

I’m writing to you as great innovators, entrepreneurs and organizers in the food / agriculture space, who have expressed support and interest in our Kiva Zip project.

I wanted to flag one loan in particular to you in Vallejo CA. Of his business Vallejo Gardens, Kip (the borrower) writes: “Vallejo Gardens mission is to be a beacon of restoration, creativity and good food in the historic downtown area of Vallejo, CA. Vallejo Gardens promises a commitment to a local living, thriving economy, by keeping our dollars in our beloved city and its food choices closer to home.”

https://zip.kiva.org/loans/554

Unfortunately Kip has not been getting a great deal of funding — he is currently only 20% of the way to his goal, and his loan is set to expire on February 6th. If you want to help Kip out, you can make a $25 loan to him by clicking on the link above. Any help you can give Kip in promoting his loan to your networks, e.g. through social media, would be greatly appreciated. He promises to repay you over time.

If you haven’t become a lender on Kiva Zip yet, this one would be a great one to start on!

Hope you’re enjoying your starts to 2013!

Jonny

high altitude farmer training

a note to all you lovely readers from Dana, friend of the greenhorns, asking for your help and willingness to share your wells of knowledge. to reply, email dflett@frc.edu

I am writing to ask if any readers out there have any resources, statistics, or insight into the growth in demand for farmer training and education.  I am part of a group that calls itself FEED (farmer education and economic development) and we are working on a few programs for our area to increase farmer training, specifically in the niche environment of high altitude farming.  We are currently drafting proposals and having meetings with administration at the local junior college to create a sustainable ag. certification through the junior college.  In addition, an awesome woman here has also just received a grant for 2 years of funding to orchestrate an intensive farmer training program for 3 people per year.

Specifically, I would be interested in what you have to say about the rise in interest and demand for small-scale farming.  We have a meeting next Friday with college administration and would like to present them with some data like: what type of jobs will be available to students after they receive a certificate, the rise in interest in small-scale farming (why we think we will actually be able to classes), etc. The ultimate goal: sustainable high altitude farming training and eventual cooperative that links in with slow food and culinary training/endeavors and is sourced to a future local hostel/brew pub and other young entrepreneur restauranteurs.  Far fetch and far away but EXCITING!

Thanks for your help, Dana – dflett@frc.edu

if you’re looking to help out

http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/

here is the place to plug in for hurricaine sandy relief

WE’re donating a truck full of food there today, come along!

train train train, what do you carry?

I watch long rail cars go by many times per day. Is there a way to know what they carry?

IF you live near a train track and are also interested, watch this space for the answer, if you already know it, please tell me

-severine

Farmer@thegreenhorns.net

alaskan greenhorns?

Hi there blog readers,

WE are including in the almanac a ‘ dairy recruitment’ map of alaska from 1926. It therefore came to my attention that we have not adequately covered the young farmers movement in Alaska, and I wonder if anyone out there can point me towards some useful starting points to begin an investigation into the opportunties and communities of the northern most state.

Much appreciated if you’d send some suggestions of young farmer farms, best support organizations, and key institutional hubs tofarmer@thegreenhorns.net. Or asky your friends who live in alaska who would know those things, and forward their replies.  We must do better!

SEverine

farmland investing, a growing sector

Where are there benefits for young farmers? How do these schemes impact the matrix of farmland ownership?

How does it compare with the land-grabs and speculative investment that we have seen in Africa ?

( see  http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/special-investigation-two-land-deals-africa)

Are there other ways for investment to benefit the future of agriculture?

We are interested in your big ideas

http://www.farmlandlp.com/resources/  Here is  a program in Oregon that allows investors to buy conventional ag land, convert it to organic ag land, and then it is managed for sheep and beef grazing.

Know of other examples? Let us know, we are compiling our index of these projects.

Thanks! Severine

any greenhorns want to represent us in madison?

if so, please email farmer@thegreenhorns.net

Sacred Agriculture
2012 Biodynamic Association Conference
November 14-18, Madison, WI

Join us on November 14-18, 2012, at the beautiful Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison, WI, for an extraordinary event — the 2012 North American Biodynamic Conference. This biennial conference will bring together hundreds of farmers, gardeners, educators, activists, and interested newcomers for five days of inspiring keynotes, informative workshops, networking, exhibits, film screenings, art, and organic and biodynamic foods.

This year’s theme, Sacred Agriculture: Creating a New Relationship with the Earth, will focus on how we can build a sacred relationship to the earth through farming, gardening, and transformational work in our communities.

Featuring keynote speakers Dennis Klocek and Charles Eisenstein, a panel of leading biodynamic farmers, 40+ workshops, and much, much more. Click here for conference details….

research in biodynamic world

Announcing Call for Pre-Proposals and Collaborators for Biodynamic Research

The Biodynamic Association is seeking creative, relevant and innovative research projects that will advance the understanding and practice of biodynamics. By making this Call, we hope to spark a new direction and impetus for biodynamic research through a broad idea sharing process. Projects are invited that address any aspect of biodynamics, following any relevant method or approach (natural scientific, spiritual scientific, Goethean, social scientific, artistic, other). Authors of the strongest submissions will be invited to a gathering of researchers to be held November 14-15, 2012 inMadison, Wisconsin, just prior to BDA’s biannual Biodynamic Conference.  Read more here https://www.biodynamics.com/biodynamic-research-call-for-pre-proposals

For the submission guide and template, see the attachment or this link: https://www.biodynamics.com/files/Call%20for%20Preproposals.pdf

 

The Call for Pre-Proposals and Collaborators is one aspect of the BDA’s new Biodynamic Research Development Program

https://www.biodynamics.com/biodynamic-research

national young farmers conference!

Yes, it’s not until December, but you can start planning now.

SAVE THE DATE: 2012 Young Farmers Conference: December 12-14, 2012

Every December, over 250 young farmers from across the United States gather at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture to learn from agricultural luminaries, peers, and advocacy organizations at the National Young Farmers Conference: Reviving the Culture of Agriculture. On December 12-14, 2012, Stone Barns Center will host the fifth National Young Farmers Conference, providing participants with access to inspiring keynotes and more than 50 unique workshops that address soil science, technical skills, agricultural policy, farm business management, marketing, and more.

Requests for Proposals:
The Growing Farmers Initiative at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture is now accepting workshop proposals for the 5th annual National Young Farmers Conference, December 12-14, 2012.

young farmer survey

a thoughtful article and a survey request from Matthew Hoffman on the National Young Farmer’s Coalition blog:

Is there a special connection between women and sustainable agriculture? People sometimes talk about the masculinization of agriculture since WWII or about women being more nurturing and less inclined toward machines and chemicals. But the fact is that the overall number of people involved in agriculture has declined dramatically in the past 60 years. My supposition is that small-scale, sustainable agriculture is more appealing and accessible to everybody, men and women, and especially to people with no background in agriculture—which, as the National Young Farmers’ Coalition survey last year demonstrated, is most new farmers.

The exploratory survey that my friend Piper and I are circulating is for all farmers—men and women, conventional and organic, but especially for young and beginning farmers. We’re trying to learn what makes different kinds of agriculture more or less attractive and accessible, about the different pathways that lead young people into agriculture, and whether there really are any gendered differences with these things amongst the new generation of farmers. Knowing this will help us to advocate for rural policy that doesn’t ignore agriculture, but rather which makes it more appealing and accessible to everyone.

It’s actually a pretty quick survey and your participation is really valuable. Thanks for taking the time to fill it out! Click here for the survey!

lucky to meet malcom, he wants a new farmers almanac too!

Here is is challenge for new work from California:

We are confronted daily with dramatic and very real evidence that California is in decline. Everything seems wrong. We can’t seem to educate our youth, provide families with homes or jobs, keep our parks and libraries open, or take care of our sick. We are not fulfilling the very basic responsibilities of a society–to provide transportation, security, water, clean air, safe and healthy food, or equitable access to opportunity. We don’t trust our institutions, our neighbors, or in moments of honesty, even ourselves. Faced with such complex problems, many revert to hurling simplistic slogans at each other with increasing intolerance, as if loudness could drown out uncertainty. Tragically, at a time when we need it most, California has lost the cultural optimism that has long fueled our dreams.

What wisdom or advice can a publisher offer in these discouraging times? We have a principle we use when we look over a manuscript: don’t start correcting the problems until you understand the strengths. And growing out of the current situation is something amazingly hopeful. What seems to be falling apart along with everything else are old clichés and stale certainties. One senses, at least among thoughtful people, a willingness to question, to probe, to invent new ways of seeing things, to create new dreams.

Stimulated by what has been coming our way, Heyday has begun to search out fresh and thought-provoking new material for what we envision as an annual anthology. We invite our friends and colleagues to help us out.

We’d love more suggestions, and we look forward to hearing from you. Help us bring to California what it needs most at this time—the best thinking and the deepest feeling. Let’s exert our best efforts toward that end.

Malcolm Margolin
Publisher

https://heydaybooks.com/newcaliforniawriting/

the audacity of milling

The idea for Maine Grains was conceived in 2007 when Amber Lambke helped organize the Kneading Conference – a gathering of farmers, millers, bakers, researchers and home bread baking enthusiasts – to revive Maine’s dormant grain economy.  The Kneading Conference demonstrated widespread interest in locally grown and processed grains; by 2011 the Conference attracted 225 of people to its event and 2,000 to its Bread Fair and had spawned a Kneading Conference West in Washington state.   At Maine Grains, the mill, cleaners, a dehulling machine, packing and weighing equipment are on site; the space is ready for equipment installation; and mechanical systems (heating and plumbing) are in place.  Maine Grains needs KickStarter support to purchase and install remaining bins, ductwork, conveyor systems, electrical hook-up and working capital.

usda organic production survey

Farmers: Participate in Organic Production Survey!

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is quantifying organic production in the United States. The data will help shape decisions regarding farm policy, funding allocations, availability of goods and services, community development and other key issues. For example:

• RMA’s Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) will use the information published to provide better insurance coverage for organic crops, as required by the 2008 Farm Bill.
• USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will use the detailed data on agricultural products produced using organic practices to enhance programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
• USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service will use the information to evaluate the potential expansion of the Market Access Program to allow for more exports of organic agricultural products.

All information submitted is confidential. If you are an organic producer, please take a few minutes to complete the survey.

dear senator patty murray,

Patty Murray is the co-chair of the super committee and she is my senator.

Dear Senator Patty Murray,

As your constituent, I urge you to support a fair and balanced approach to food and agricultural spending in the deficit reduction bill.

Farm conservation and environmental programs have already been cut deeply and should not be cut any further.

Reform is long overdue for farm commodity, insurance, and disaster programs. Please support supercommittee recommendations that reduce spending on these programs, maintain a smaller, more targeted farm safety net, and reinvest in job-creating rural economic development, local and regional food systems, and young and beginning farmers.

Thank you,
Washington Farmer

Poster by Andrew Plotsky aka Farmrun at the Tilth Producers 2011 Conference
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD your very own high-res copy to print and share with everyone you know.

pledge for local radio COLUMBIA COUNTY

ROOTS DOWN [root]: the part of a plant that attaches it to the ground or to a support, conveying water and nourishment to the rest of the plant.

In the wake of devastating flooding and in the midst of an always-uncertain economic and political climate, we believe that building a local community media infrastructure is more important than ever.  A media that supports the organizations and individuals already doing critical and creative work in the area – and moves forward our imagination about what else we can be. That’s why we believe so deeply in listener-supported media, and in WGXC: Hands-on Radio, 90.7-FM.We need your support to meet our most basic monthly operating expenses – to continue to give voice to the station’s volunteer programmers, to continue our media trainings and workshops, and to help build a culture of participation and conversation in our region. Community radio is only possible with the support of its listeners and neighbors –- that’s you.

At WGXC, we are only just beginning. The process will be human, incremental, and wildly exciting. It might be infinite. Our doors are open, and there are many ways to be involved. The time to join is now.

Help us dig deep roots in Greene & Columbia counties.