This workshop takes place on October 18th – 19th at Adams State University. It is led by Dr. Allen Williams, a champion of the grass-fed beef industry as well as cutting edge grazing methodology. Dr. Williams helps restore natural soil water retention and reduce runoff, increase land productivity, enhance plant and wildlife biodiversity, and produce healthier food. In fact, he developed many of the original grass-fed protocols and technologies now adopted by the grass-fed sector.
This workshop focuses on the connection between cattle management and healthy soils as part of the local food economy. The Field Day on the second day focuses on details important to local cattle producers in managing and assessing their operations, maximizing quality, and ensuring soil and human health.
Great news! We found a couple exceptional ranching apprenticeship opportunities with The Quivira Coalition New Agrarian Program. The organization is seeking some eager greenhorns for several 2017 positions on ranches out west.
The New Agrarian Program offers apprenticeships in regenerative agriculture through partnership with mentor ranchers and farmers who are part of the Quivira community. In particular, this program aims to build resilience on Western lands by training the next generation of stewards in agricultural best practices, and by training ranchers and farmers to be mentors.
Our apprenticeship program works closely with carefully selected rancher and farmer mentors who are dedicated stewards of the land; practice beyond organic, regenerative methods of food production; provide excellent animal care; and who are natural teachers for young agrarians.
There are still 4 positions open!
Brett Gray Ranch
Eight-Month Ranching Apprenticeship in Rush, CORound River Resource Management, LLC is a land resource and livestock management company dedicated to restoring and improving agricultural operations through the principles of Holistic ManagementTM in a sustainable manner and consistent with the goals of the resource owner.The name Round River is derived from the metaphorical river described by Aldo Leopold that flows endlessly into itself, circling around and around in a never ending circuit that symbolizes the current of life. Leopold’s illustration describes the manner in which energy streams from the soil into plants, then into animals and finally back into the soil in a continuous circuit of life. Round River Resource Management was founded in 2008 to manage the Brett Gray Ranch and other agricultural enterprises following the principles of Holistic ManagementTM and to provide educational and business opportunities that help young, innovative people enter the ranching business.Start Date: Flexible start date.
TO APPLY: Please email a resume and letter of interest to Louis Martin at louis@roundriver.biz.
Cobblestone Ranch
Eight-Month Ranching Apprenticeship in Chico, CAThe Cobblestone Ranch is a sheep operation based on private property and on federal wildlife refuge lands managed specifically for wildlife habitat. Breanna Owens runs approximately two hundred ewes (with expansion plans over the next few years to increase to five hundred ewes). She uses a rotational grazing strategy on the refuge with the overall goal of maintaining and enhancing wildlife habitat and specific goals of reducing thatch, shrub and weed control, and stimulating new herbaceous growth. She moves the sheep one to two times a week, in paddocks ranging from one to five acres depending on seasonality and management objectives. Owens sells lambs as grass-fed and -finished either as feeder lambs to a direct marketer or as finished lambs to a regional processor. She plans on transitioning a portion of the flock to organic and selling through a regional CSA.Start Date: Flexible start date.
TO APPLY: Please email a resume and letter of interest to Bre Owens at breowens5@gmail.com.
James Ranch Artisan Cheese
Eight-Month Dairy and Cheesemaking Apprenticeship in Durango, COJames Ranch Artisan Cheese manages a small herd of Jersey cows for the production of raw milk and small-batch cheeses in the beautiful Animas Valley near Durango, Colorado. Operated by Dan and Becca James, James Ranch Artisan Cheese is one of several family-run enterprises on the larger James Ranch. This dairy and cheesemaking apprenticeship offers professional training for aspiring agrarians committed to a life and career at the intersection of conservation, sustainable agriculture, and artisan foods. The apprenticeship includes hands-on experience with all aspects of dairy operation and cheese production, including low-stress animal handling, milking, cheese making, affinage, biological monitoring, marketing, financial planning, Holistic Management, and land stewardship.Start Date: Before April 1.
TO APPLY: Please email a resume and letter of interest to Dan and Becca James at cheese@jamesranch.net.
Vilicus Farms
Eight-Month Grain Farming Apprenticeship in Havre, MTVilicus Farms is a first generation, nationally recognized organic, dryland crop farm located in northern Hill County, Montana. Established in 2009, Vilicus Farms grows a diverse array of heirloom and specialty grains, pulse, oilseed and broadleaf crops within a 5+year rotation on approximately 5,000 acres. Vilicus Farms practices advanced land stewardship at a scale that matters. The Vilicus Farms Apprenticeship is intended to be a multi-season training and mentoring program that immerses highly motivated young professionals in organic farm operation and management – a journey that ultimately ends in farm ownership. Doug and Anna understand the challenges of taking a farm from vision to reality. Through the Vilicus Farms apprenticeship program they hope to give beginning farmers a real opportunity to start a successful organic dryland crop farm in the Northern Great Plains.Start Date: Before April 1.
Delegate Registration for Slow Food Nations is now open. Before the Slow Food Festival opens to the general public on July 15 in Denver, CO, 400 delegates from around the world will meet for a summit of delegates on July 14. Delegates meet with each other, connect, discuss the needs in their countries, and “shape the future of Slow Food.” Delegate tickets are $200 for Slow Food members and $25o for others, but scholarships might be available based on need.
Conference leaders write, “We are currently seeking funds for scholarships to assist limited resource individuals to attend as delegates who represent youth, First Nations, advocates of color, and the Ark of Taste.For more information, please email sfninfo@slowfoodusa.org.”
The Quivira Coalition, a Santa Fe-based nonprofit that builds resilience by fostering ecological, economic and social health on Western landscapes, seeks a coordinator for their New Agrarian Program (NAP). Now, we can’t even tell you how awesome the Quivira coalition is in less than 500 words, so we’ll just like to some of the other times we’ve told you, like here, and here, and here, to name a few. Or just take our word for it. They’re hiring for a part-time coordinator, a position that requires living in sunny Santa Fe, and which offers excellent benefits.
Full position description below!
NAP offers apprenticeships in regenerative agriculture in partnership with mentor ranchers and farmers who are part of the Quivira community in the West. It aims to provide the next generation of food producers with hands-on, on-the-ground mentoring from seasoned mentors who are dedicated stewards of the land; practice beyond organic, regenerative methods of food production; provide excellent animal care; and are skilled and dedicated teachers. Continue reading →
Slow Money is hosting the world’s first Decelerator on October 21st, bringing together all who care about Colorado food systems and want to find new ways to invest in them!
The day-long event will take place at beautiful Lone Hawk Farm, just north of Boulder. Learn more and register at www.decelerator.org.
Social obstacles faced by the youth of San Luis are many for a small town. Since traditional ways of life have been eliminated by loss of land rights, youth are challenged by poverty, northbound drug trafficking, and alcoholism. Costilla County has the highest rates of diabetes in the state. The 2012 Census states 37.3% of residents of San Luis were below the poverty line; more than double the rate of Colorado. Despite these challenges, the youth involved in our program are achievers. 19 out of 21 surveyed youth at the culmination of Summer 2015 internships agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I have a plan for my future that makes me feel excited.”
Move Mountains focuses on transforming all forms of oppression by focusing on empowering individuals and learning how to best support their organizing efforts to make change. To learn more and to support their cause, click HERE!
Their idea was to use the building as a community food hub: Local farmers pay a fee to the organization to bring their food to the school building, where it’s sold wholesale at an affordable price for consumers. That way, the hub can compete with chain grocery stores.
Starting a career in regenerative agriculture? Want to develop technical skills in grassfed beef production, dairy management and cheesemaking, or heirloom fruit tree cultivation and holistic orchard management?
The wonderful folks at the Quivira Coalition are seeking applicants for their New Agrarian Program‘s eight-month (March to Nov 2016) on-site apprenticeships at San Jaun Ranch in Alamosa, CO; James Ranch Artisan Cheese in Durango, CO; and Tooley’s Trees in Truchas, NM. All of these positions explore sustainable agriculture in the new American West and include a monthly stipend, housing, some food, and an education fund.
For more info contact: Sarah Wentzel-Fisher, Quivira Coalition New Agrarian Program Coordinator at sarah@quiviracoalition.org. Full position descriptions are available after the break.
Most human endeavours, unless checked by public dissent, evolve into monocultures. Money seeks out a region’s comparative advantage—the field in which it competes most successfully—and promotes it to the exclusion of all else. Every landscape or seascape, if this process is loosed, performs just one function.
This greatly taxes the natural world. An aquifer might contain enough water to allow some farmers to grow alfalfa, but perhaps not all of them. A loch or bay or fjord might have room for wild salmon and a few salmon farms, but if too many cages are built, the parasites that infest them will overwhelm the wild fish. Many farmland birds can survive in a mixed landscape of pasture and arable crops, hedgerows and woodlands, but not in a boundless field of wheat or soybeans.
Some enthusiasts for rewilding see reserves of self-willed land as an exchange for featureless monocultures elsewhere. I believe that pockets of wild land—small in some places, large in others—should be accessible to everyone: no one should have to travel far to seek refuge from the ordered world…
Lady Justice Brewing is unique. We are the world’s only solely women-founded and operated, community-focused, philanthropic brewery. Your support plays a crucial role in setting a new standard for brewing. Your support also lays our foundation to begin making positive change in the lives of women and girls in Colorado.
5 years ago, when this little dream was dreamed up, we never imagined it would become a reality. However, over the last 2 years, we have built a business plan, registered our company, met with community stakeholders and government services, scouted locations, created a new model for bringing industry and community together, brewed a whole lot of beer, and much, much more.
Today, you get to join us on this journey. To be honest, the rest of this journey simply can’t happen without you. By supporting Lady Justice, you are joining our team. Together, we’ll make great beer for a better world.
A Little Bit of Background
Lady Justice Brewing Company is co-founded by Kate Power, Betsy Lay and Jen Cuesta. We are three women who share two crucial connections. First, we share a commitment to social justice work (we met while serving together in Americorps) and being a positive force in our communities. Second, we love good beer.
Lady Justice Brewing (or affectionately, Lady J) is a Community-Focused Philanthropic Brewery which will brew and sell beer. All profits of our beer sales, over cost,will be donated, through a grant-making process, to Colorado-based community organizations that promote the status and opportunity of women and girls. We will distribute our beer through a Community Supported Beer Share program, which allows customers to pay a monthly fee and have beer delivered to their doors. To learn more, visit Lady Justice Brewing’s Community Supported Beer Share web page.
The Contemplative Alliance and Naropa University would like to invite Boulder area farmers to join a special gathering of faith and spiritual leaders, civil society, ecological advocates and others from April 3rd to April 7th. Anyone interested in attending can contact Janelle Surpris directly.
Open Tech Forever is helping create the Open Source Economy: a collaborative society that shares its knowledge, skills, technologies, and resources to overcome artificial barriers and achieve abundance and prosperity for all. And they are building an OPEN SOURCE FACTORY!
We have a 40 acre permaculture site 15 minutes from downtown Denver. This campaign will fund the construction of an Open Source Factory to kickstart our open hardware cooperative:
Open Hardware R&D – we are collaborating with people around the world to design, prototype, field-test, and share open source technology.
Open Hardware Documentation – we actively teach others how to acquire new skills and build/use open hardware. We create state-of-the-art digital learning resources with pictures, videos, text, animations, interactive multimedia, and more – that anyone can use, edit, improve, remix.
Open Agriculture – we are adopting a mixture of permaculture, aquaponics, and organic farming practices.
Open Business Models – we are adopting and incubating new, transparent business models that entrepreneurs can use anywhere in the world.
Public Workshops – we will provide hands-on learning programs for the public to help grow new businesses and support the development of sustainable communities.
Commercial Products – we sell open source products as an open, transparent, replicable business.
Quivira Coalition – Land & Water Program Opportunity
Summer Watershed Restoration Intern:Download the PDF for full job descrption & application. The Quivira Coalition seeks a 2013 summer intern who is passionate about land health to assist with a variety of tasks linked to our Comanche Creek Watershed Restoration project. The intern will work under the direct supervision of Mollie Walton, Ph.D., Quivira’s Land & Water Program Director. This is an amazing opportunity and involves projects that will require both field work and office work. Interested? Take a look at the application – pdf attached in this email – and apply as soon as possible. Dr. Walton will be filling this position as soon as possible.
Other Great Opportunities:
A few of the opportunities listed below were in the April newsletter. Khalsa Greenhouses is hoping to find one additional intern who would be interested in over-wintering with them – see job description and contact info below if you’re interested. Chico Basin is good to keep in mind if you’re interested in ranching, and can plan several months ahead of time. Spur Lake has regular openings for people with horseback experience…. Zapata Ranch is listed again, but with new positions… Continue reading →
This workshop takes place on October 18th – 19th at Adams State University. It is led by Dr. Allen Williams, a champion of the grass-fed beef industry as well as cutting edge grazing methodology. Dr. Williams helps restore natural soil water retention and reduce runoff, increase land productivity, enhance plant and wildlife biodiversity, and produce healthier food. In fact, he developed many of the original grass-fed protocols and technologies now adopted by the grass-fed sector.
the irresistible fleet of bicycles 