Showing posts with label OEFFA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OEFFA. Show all posts
Monday, August 15, 2011
Farmers and Seed Distributors Defend Right to Protect Themselves From Monsanto Patents
Press Release
New York—The eighty-three family farmers, small and family owned seed businesses, and agricultural organizations, including the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA), challenging Monsanto's patents on genetically modified seed filed papers in federal court on Thursday, August 11 defending their right to seek legal protection from the threat of being sued by Monsanto for patent infringement should they ever become contaminated by Monsanto's genetically modified seed. The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) represents the plaintiffs in the suit, titled Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association (OSGATA), et al. v. Monsanto pending in the Southern District of New York. Last week’s filings are in response to a motion filed by Monsanto in mid-July to have the case dismissed.
“On behalf of plaintiffs in Ohio and elsewhere who fear being sued for patent infringement if their fields are contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically engineered seed, our attorney gave Monsanto the opportunity to state unequivocally that they would not sue,” said Carol Goland, OEFFA’s Executive Director. “Instead, Monsanto’s response was to try to deny our right to receive legal protection from the courts.”
Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT’s Executive Director added, “Our filings include sworn statements by several of the plaintiffs themselves explaining to the court how the risk of contamination by transgenic seed is real and why they cannot trust Monsanto to not use an occurrence of contamination as a basis to accuse them of patent infringement.”
Plaintiffs Bryce Stephens, who farms in Kansas, Frederick Kirschenmann, who farms in North Dakota, C.R. Lawn, who is founder and co-owner of Fedco Seeds in Maine, Don Patterson of Virginia, and Chuck Noble, who farms in South Dakota, each submitted declarations to the court describing their personal experiences with the risk of contamination by genetically modified seed and why those experiences have forced them to bring the current suit asking the court.
As summarized by the accompanying brief filed by PUBPAT on the plaintiffs' behalf, “Monsanto's acts of widespread patent assertion and plaintiffs' ever growing risk of contamination create a real, immediate, and substantial dispute between them.”
Twelve agricultural organizations also filed a friend-of-the-court amici brief supporting the right of the plaintiffs to bring the case. In their brief, the amici describe some of the harmful effects of genetically modified seed and how easily GMOs can contaminate an organic or conventional farmer's land.
For more information, contact:
Daniel Ravicher, PUBPAT, ravicher@pubpat.org or 212-461-1902
Carol Goland, OEFFA, cgoland@oeffa.org or 614-421-2022
Monday, January 10, 2011
Decisions
Eugene showing Doug Randolph, new manager of the MOON Co-op, spring mix in a hoophouse
On Thursday we had a visit from Doug Randolph the manager of the MOON Co-op which is set to open in early April. The MOON Co-op will be offering as much locally sourced food as it can find so Doug is visiting the farms from which they will be buying which is a great thing. He is both verifying his sources and developing a relationship with us farmers so that all parties have the best experience possible.
We have been patiently waiting for this co-op to open for at least 10 years, maybe 11. Long ago there was an OEFFA chapter called the Miami Whitewater chapter and that became the Miami Oxford Organic Network or MOON. in the beginning we were a group of OEFFA members, mainly farmers who got together once a month and shared food and talked about issues pertaining to Organic food and farming. It was a pretty loose group that over time became more coalesced and changed direction from a group that had monthly potluck dinner meetings with no real direction but the connection of Organic/sustainable food and farming to a group with a new direction-creating a cooperatively owned natural food store (this is quite different from a privately owned health food store though they may look very similar) that will provide the Oxford, OH area with an alternative to the other grocery stores around. Gone were the monthly dinners for us Boulder Beltians as the change in direction meant a big change in the potluck dinners-they were phased out quickly. But now on the horizon was a potentially fantastic market for us. So when Harv Roehling asked us if we wanted to buy a share of the co-op we got out our checkbook, cut a check and bought a share. Than we waited and waited some more. For the entire story (and more) go to the MOON Website
So now we have to adjust our planting plans a bit. We were well aware that the co-op would open sometime this coming spring for sometime but had no real idea how much food they would need. It turns out they will likely need a lot. But they will not need a lot of everything we grow. They will need a lot of say, 15 things we grow (we generally grow 60 different crops). Looks like they want spring mix and garlic so far and I am sure they will come up with other needs. We seem to be enjoying success with the Farm Share Initiative as well this year. So far we are way ahead of where we were last year at this time with our membership. We have 8 paid members and many more interested in joining. This time last year we had 1 paid member and not a great deal of interest until March. I hope we are sold out by March this year.
What this means for us, being a small farm run by 2 people, is we have pretty finite resources-we can only grow so much and between the FSI and the Co-op we just might sell everything and that means we have a 3rd market that we may have a hard time filling-the farmers market. So we either have to make the hard decision to cut back on the farmers market in the future (probably not this year, though) or go the expansion route and figure how to grow and harvest more.
Friday, January 08, 2010
OEFFA Conference
Pre-Conference Event
Joel Salatin’s Ballet in the Pasture—Presented by Chipotle
Friday, February 12, 2010, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Granville Middle and High schools, 248 New Burg St., Granville OH
Polyface Farm's choreographed plant-animal symbiosis heals the landscape, the community, and the eater. Learn about Joel Salatin's grass-based multi-species livestock farm, where they raise beef, pork, poultry and rabbit products in a delicate balance that allows each species to perform some of the work of the farm through its own natural behaviors. Joel’s topics include species-appropriate portable shelters; species-appropriate control (different types of electric fences); landscape planning; forage growth principles, monitoring, and rationing; value adding; home processing; on-farm sawmill; predators; nutrient cycling: deep bedding and pigaerating, and pathogen cul-de-sacs and confusion.
OEFFA Conference
Saturday, February 13 - Sunday, February 14, 2010
Granville Middle and High schools, 248 New Burg St., Granville OH
Keynote Speakers
Joel Salatin – Presented by Chipotle
Speaker and author Joel Salatin is one of the best-known farmers of the sustainable food movement. Joel’s family farm in Swoope, VA serves more than 1,500 families, 10 retail outlets, and 30 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs with grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, eggs, pork, forage-based rabbits, and pastured turkey. Joel passionately defends small farms, local food systems, and the right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm. In his talk, Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, Joel will get to the heart of the local food movement challenge: The demonizing and criminalizing of virtually all indigenous and heritage-based food practices. >From zoning to labor to food safety to insurance, local food systems daily face a phalanx of regulatory hurdles designed and implemented to police industrial food models but which prejudicially wipe out the antidote: Appropriate scaled local food systems. Joel will call for guerrilla marketing, food choice freedom legislation, and empirical pathogen thresholds as solutions to these bureaucratic hurdles.
Chef Ann Cooper
What’s wrong with our current food system and what is the effect on children? Chef Ann Cooper (a.k.a., “The Renegade Lunch Lady”) will tell you! Chef Ann’s mission is to transform the National School Lunch Program into one that places greater emphasis on the health of students than the financial health of a select few agribusiness corporations. Her lunch menus emphasize regional, organic, fresh foods, and nutritional education: Helping students build a connection between where their food comes from and personal health and wellness. In her talk, Chef Ann will detail the importance of changing the way our children eat and why parents, schools, farmers, food service providers, and government must work together. Chef Ann is the author of four books, including Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, and Bitter Harvest: A Chef’s Perspective on the Hidden Dangers in the Food We Eat and What You Can Do About It. Chef Ann Cooper is a celebrated author, chef, educator, and enduring advocate for better food for all children.
Conference Information:
Granville, Ohio
The conference will be held in the charming town of Granville, Ohio, about 30 miles northeast of Columbus, at the Granville Middle and High schools, 248 New Burg St., Granville, OH 43023. The facility offers rooms for large group sessions, workshops, exhibitors, dining, kids’ activities, and entertainment—all under one roof. Visit www.oeffa.org for more detailed maps and directions.
Kids Welcome
We encourage participants to bring the family! The OEFFA Kids’ Conference offers a variety of exciting workshops for ages 6- 12. Younger children are invited to spend time in the Playroom, organized by Rebecah Freeling, founder and teach of Briar Rose Children’s Center, a Waldorf preschool in Columbus. (There is no charge for participation in these programs if a parent or sibling over the age of 12 volunteers four hours during the two days.)
Volunteers
In exchange for four hours of work, volunteers may pre-register for both days of the conference for only $50. For more information or to sign up, contact Renee at (614) 421-2022 Ext. 205 or renee@oeffa.org. Pre-registration by Jan. 29 required. Limited opportunities.
Local and Organic Meals
We strive to provide quality meals made from fresh, organic, locally produced meats, dairy products, vegetables, and grains. A limited number of food tickets are available for sale at the conference, so if you plan to eat with us we recommend buying your meal tickets in advance.
Book Signing
Bring your Joel Salatin book and have him sign it on Saturday at the Exhibit Hall. He also will have his publications available for sale.
Exhibit Hall
The Exhibit Hall will offer an interesting array of information, products, services and resources that relate to sustainable agriculture. A 10’x10’ booth includes a covered table, two chairs, and can be equipped with electricity upon request. If you are interested in this opportunity, please visit www.oeffa.org or contact Mike at (614) 421-2022 Ext. 204 or mike@oeffa.org.
Sustainable Ag Film Screening!
Our Saturday evening entertainment takes a new twist with a visit from King Corn’s Curt Ellis, where he’ll serve as host of this film screening.
Non-Denominational Service
Join other conference attendees for spiritual nurturing and community. Retired UMC pastor Charlie Frye will lead a discussion of Scripture and its connection with sustainability.
OEFFA Conference Workshop Schedule
Saturday February 13, 2010
9:30-11:30 a.m.
Small Scale Intensive Farming Systems I (for Urban and Rural Production) (Andy Pressman & Lee Rinehart)
Fresh Mozzarella and Ricotta Cheese in Your Own Kitchen (Angel King)
Mob Grazing (Joel Salatin)
9:30-10:25 a.m.
How to Be a Successful Farmers’ Market Vendor (Christie Welch)
Preserving the Farm Through Estate and Business Planning (Robert Moore)
Can Small Farms Move Off The Energy Grid? (Maurus Brown)
Homestead Goat Husbandry for Beginners (Laura Ann Bergman)
Organic Certification for New & Old Producers & Processors (OEFFA Organic Certification Staff)
Ecological Design in the Garden (Elyse Perruchon & Annie Warmke)*
Mental Models: Making Weed Control Work for You (Doug Doohan)
Organic Corn Variety Performance (Peter Thomison)
10:35-11:30 a.m.
Managing Small Farmers’ Markets for Success (Christie Welch)
Top 10 Marketing Opportunities Using Social Networks (Rob Leeds & Dr. Julie Fox)
Building Green, Living Green (Jay & Annie Warmke)*
Cow Selection and Management for Organic and Sustainable Dairies (Paul Dutter)
SARE Resources Available for Farmers and Farm Organizations (Mike Hogan)
Urban Gardening: Why, What, How (Rachel Tayse)
Using Ecological Principles to Design Small Fruit Systems (Joseph Kovach)
OEFFA Grain Growers Chapter Meeting (Marty Warnecke)
1:45-3:45 p.m.
Basic Off-Grid Living (Christine Tailer)
High Quality Organic Small Grain Production (Deborah Stinner)
Small Scale Intensive Farming Systems II (for Urban and Rural Production) (Andy Pressman & Lee Rinehart)
Grassfed Dairy (Bill Hall, Stacy Dix & Warren Taylor)
1:45-2:40 p.m.
Raising Chickens in a Food Forest (Ed Chen)
Food with Integrity: Chipotle Cooking Demo (Chipotle staff)
Running and Winning Grassroots Food Campaigns (Sarah Alexander)
Food Safety Regulations (David G. Cox)
Soil Testing and Organic Farming: Things to Know About Your Soil (Alan Sundermeier)
Rain Water Harvesting (Chris Luers)*
Pruning and Training of Apple Trees (Dr. Gary Gao)
2:50-3:45 p.m.
Niche Pork Production, Processing and Marketing (J.B. King)
Eat Locally Grown Food All Year (Mary Lou Shaw)
Making Connections: Creating a Local Food Guide for Your Region (Deborah Jordan)
Farm to Table Restaurant Blue Print (Todd Hudson)
Management Approaches and Resources for Certified Organic Producers (Paul Dutter & Mike Anderson)
Looking Back in Time at Victory Gardening (Karen Feltham)
Weed Trees in Your Forest Garden: What To Do? (Janell Baran)
Sunday February 14, 2010
9:30-11:30 a.m.
Small Scale Backyard Chickens (Wayne Shingler)
Developing Community Kitchens (Leslie Schaller)
Recordkeeping Made Easy for Certified Organic Producers (David Benchoff & Paul Dutter)
Tree Grafting: Have Fun and Learn a Great Skill (Bill Johnson)
From A to Z: Setting Up a Healthy School Lunch Program (Chef Ann Cooper)
9:30-10:25 a.m.
Clean and Green (Trudy Stewart)
Solar and Wind as Cash Crops: Can Farmers Make Money from Renewable Energy? (Jay Warmke)*
Practicing Biodymanic Farming and Gardening (Charles Griffin)
Drip Irrigation Systems (Dan Kamburoff)
Understanding Soil Biology and Its Role in Organic Crop Farming Systems (Larry Phelan)
10:35-11:30 a.m.
Worm Composting 101 (Jeremy Gedert)*
Basic Farming with Horses (Alex C. Dragovich)
Foundations of Biodymanic Farming and Gardening (Charles Griffin)
Food Safety Is Everyone’s Business; However It Begins At Your Farm (Hal Kneen)
USDA NRCS Conservation Programs for Farmers (Bob Hendershot)
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Sustainable Beekeeping (Christine Tailer)
Living the Good Life: Autobiographical Literature of Self-sufficiency, Integrity and Social Responsibility (Rich Tomsu)
Transition Initiatives: Local Actions Meet Global Challenges (Mary Cunnyngham & Cindy Parker)*
Connecting the Community: From Field to Sales Floor (Joe Gallo)
Stepping Up to Renewable Energy (Russ Meeker)*
Farmland Tenure Options: Creative Ways to Hold Land in Ohio (Meredith Fox)
Forest Farming American Ginseng and Goldenseal (Tanner Filyaw)
Microbial Inoculants and Biochemical Fungicides for Plant Disease Control (Brian McSpadden Gardener)
Using Cover Crops to Improve Soil Productivity (Dr. Rafiq Islam)
Farm to School Program Opportunities in Ohio (Sara Tedeschi, Noreen Warnock & Amalie Lipstreu)
*Ohio Green Living: Green & Sustainable Practices workshop
Joel Salatin’s Ballet in the Pasture—Presented by Chipotle
Friday, February 12, 2010, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Granville Middle and High schools, 248 New Burg St., Granville OH
Polyface Farm's choreographed plant-animal symbiosis heals the landscape, the community, and the eater. Learn about Joel Salatin's grass-based multi-species livestock farm, where they raise beef, pork, poultry and rabbit products in a delicate balance that allows each species to perform some of the work of the farm through its own natural behaviors. Joel’s topics include species-appropriate portable shelters; species-appropriate control (different types of electric fences); landscape planning; forage growth principles, monitoring, and rationing; value adding; home processing; on-farm sawmill; predators; nutrient cycling: deep bedding and pigaerating, and pathogen cul-de-sacs and confusion.
OEFFA Conference
Saturday, February 13 - Sunday, February 14, 2010
Granville Middle and High schools, 248 New Burg St., Granville OH
Keynote Speakers
Joel Salatin – Presented by Chipotle
Speaker and author Joel Salatin is one of the best-known farmers of the sustainable food movement. Joel’s family farm in Swoope, VA serves more than 1,500 families, 10 retail outlets, and 30 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs with grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, eggs, pork, forage-based rabbits, and pastured turkey. Joel passionately defends small farms, local food systems, and the right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm. In his talk, Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, Joel will get to the heart of the local food movement challenge: The demonizing and criminalizing of virtually all indigenous and heritage-based food practices. >From zoning to labor to food safety to insurance, local food systems daily face a phalanx of regulatory hurdles designed and implemented to police industrial food models but which prejudicially wipe out the antidote: Appropriate scaled local food systems. Joel will call for guerrilla marketing, food choice freedom legislation, and empirical pathogen thresholds as solutions to these bureaucratic hurdles.
Chef Ann Cooper
What’s wrong with our current food system and what is the effect on children? Chef Ann Cooper (a.k.a., “The Renegade Lunch Lady”) will tell you! Chef Ann’s mission is to transform the National School Lunch Program into one that places greater emphasis on the health of students than the financial health of a select few agribusiness corporations. Her lunch menus emphasize regional, organic, fresh foods, and nutritional education: Helping students build a connection between where their food comes from and personal health and wellness. In her talk, Chef Ann will detail the importance of changing the way our children eat and why parents, schools, farmers, food service providers, and government must work together. Chef Ann is the author of four books, including Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, and Bitter Harvest: A Chef’s Perspective on the Hidden Dangers in the Food We Eat and What You Can Do About It. Chef Ann Cooper is a celebrated author, chef, educator, and enduring advocate for better food for all children.
Conference Information:
Granville, Ohio
The conference will be held in the charming town of Granville, Ohio, about 30 miles northeast of Columbus, at the Granville Middle and High schools, 248 New Burg St., Granville, OH 43023. The facility offers rooms for large group sessions, workshops, exhibitors, dining, kids’ activities, and entertainment—all under one roof. Visit www.oeffa.org for more detailed maps and directions.
Kids Welcome
We encourage participants to bring the family! The OEFFA Kids’ Conference offers a variety of exciting workshops for ages 6- 12. Younger children are invited to spend time in the Playroom, organized by Rebecah Freeling, founder and teach of Briar Rose Children’s Center, a Waldorf preschool in Columbus. (There is no charge for participation in these programs if a parent or sibling over the age of 12 volunteers four hours during the two days.)
Volunteers
In exchange for four hours of work, volunteers may pre-register for both days of the conference for only $50. For more information or to sign up, contact Renee at (614) 421-2022 Ext. 205 or renee@oeffa.org. Pre-registration by Jan. 29 required. Limited opportunities.
Local and Organic Meals
We strive to provide quality meals made from fresh, organic, locally produced meats, dairy products, vegetables, and grains. A limited number of food tickets are available for sale at the conference, so if you plan to eat with us we recommend buying your meal tickets in advance.
Book Signing
Bring your Joel Salatin book and have him sign it on Saturday at the Exhibit Hall. He also will have his publications available for sale.
Exhibit Hall
The Exhibit Hall will offer an interesting array of information, products, services and resources that relate to sustainable agriculture. A 10’x10’ booth includes a covered table, two chairs, and can be equipped with electricity upon request. If you are interested in this opportunity, please visit www.oeffa.org or contact Mike at (614) 421-2022 Ext. 204 or mike@oeffa.org.
Sustainable Ag Film Screening!
Our Saturday evening entertainment takes a new twist with a visit from King Corn’s Curt Ellis, where he’ll serve as host of this film screening.
Non-Denominational Service
Join other conference attendees for spiritual nurturing and community. Retired UMC pastor Charlie Frye will lead a discussion of Scripture and its connection with sustainability.
OEFFA Conference Workshop Schedule
Saturday February 13, 2010
9:30-11:30 a.m.
Small Scale Intensive Farming Systems I (for Urban and Rural Production) (Andy Pressman & Lee Rinehart)
Fresh Mozzarella and Ricotta Cheese in Your Own Kitchen (Angel King)
Mob Grazing (Joel Salatin)
9:30-10:25 a.m.
How to Be a Successful Farmers’ Market Vendor (Christie Welch)
Preserving the Farm Through Estate and Business Planning (Robert Moore)
Can Small Farms Move Off The Energy Grid? (Maurus Brown)
Homestead Goat Husbandry for Beginners (Laura Ann Bergman)
Organic Certification for New & Old Producers & Processors (OEFFA Organic Certification Staff)
Ecological Design in the Garden (Elyse Perruchon & Annie Warmke)*
Mental Models: Making Weed Control Work for You (Doug Doohan)
Organic Corn Variety Performance (Peter Thomison)
10:35-11:30 a.m.
Managing Small Farmers’ Markets for Success (Christie Welch)
Top 10 Marketing Opportunities Using Social Networks (Rob Leeds & Dr. Julie Fox)
Building Green, Living Green (Jay & Annie Warmke)*
Cow Selection and Management for Organic and Sustainable Dairies (Paul Dutter)
SARE Resources Available for Farmers and Farm Organizations (Mike Hogan)
Urban Gardening: Why, What, How (Rachel Tayse)
Using Ecological Principles to Design Small Fruit Systems (Joseph Kovach)
OEFFA Grain Growers Chapter Meeting (Marty Warnecke)
1:45-3:45 p.m.
Basic Off-Grid Living (Christine Tailer)
High Quality Organic Small Grain Production (Deborah Stinner)
Small Scale Intensive Farming Systems II (for Urban and Rural Production) (Andy Pressman & Lee Rinehart)
Grassfed Dairy (Bill Hall, Stacy Dix & Warren Taylor)
1:45-2:40 p.m.
Raising Chickens in a Food Forest (Ed Chen)
Food with Integrity: Chipotle Cooking Demo (Chipotle staff)
Running and Winning Grassroots Food Campaigns (Sarah Alexander)
Food Safety Regulations (David G. Cox)
Soil Testing and Organic Farming: Things to Know About Your Soil (Alan Sundermeier)
Rain Water Harvesting (Chris Luers)*
Pruning and Training of Apple Trees (Dr. Gary Gao)
2:50-3:45 p.m.
Niche Pork Production, Processing and Marketing (J.B. King)
Eat Locally Grown Food All Year (Mary Lou Shaw)
Making Connections: Creating a Local Food Guide for Your Region (Deborah Jordan)
Farm to Table Restaurant Blue Print (Todd Hudson)
Management Approaches and Resources for Certified Organic Producers (Paul Dutter & Mike Anderson)
Looking Back in Time at Victory Gardening (Karen Feltham)
Weed Trees in Your Forest Garden: What To Do? (Janell Baran)
Sunday February 14, 2010
9:30-11:30 a.m.
Small Scale Backyard Chickens (Wayne Shingler)
Developing Community Kitchens (Leslie Schaller)
Recordkeeping Made Easy for Certified Organic Producers (David Benchoff & Paul Dutter)
Tree Grafting: Have Fun and Learn a Great Skill (Bill Johnson)
From A to Z: Setting Up a Healthy School Lunch Program (Chef Ann Cooper)
9:30-10:25 a.m.
Clean and Green (Trudy Stewart)
Solar and Wind as Cash Crops: Can Farmers Make Money from Renewable Energy? (Jay Warmke)*
Practicing Biodymanic Farming and Gardening (Charles Griffin)
Drip Irrigation Systems (Dan Kamburoff)
Understanding Soil Biology and Its Role in Organic Crop Farming Systems (Larry Phelan)
10:35-11:30 a.m.
Worm Composting 101 (Jeremy Gedert)*
Basic Farming with Horses (Alex C. Dragovich)
Foundations of Biodymanic Farming and Gardening (Charles Griffin)
Food Safety Is Everyone’s Business; However It Begins At Your Farm (Hal Kneen)
USDA NRCS Conservation Programs for Farmers (Bob Hendershot)
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Sustainable Beekeeping (Christine Tailer)
Living the Good Life: Autobiographical Literature of Self-sufficiency, Integrity and Social Responsibility (Rich Tomsu)
Transition Initiatives: Local Actions Meet Global Challenges (Mary Cunnyngham & Cindy Parker)*
Connecting the Community: From Field to Sales Floor (Joe Gallo)
Stepping Up to Renewable Energy (Russ Meeker)*
Farmland Tenure Options: Creative Ways to Hold Land in Ohio (Meredith Fox)
Forest Farming American Ginseng and Goldenseal (Tanner Filyaw)
Microbial Inoculants and Biochemical Fungicides for Plant Disease Control (Brian McSpadden Gardener)
Using Cover Crops to Improve Soil Productivity (Dr. Rafiq Islam)
Farm to School Program Opportunities in Ohio (Sara Tedeschi, Noreen Warnock & Amalie Lipstreu)
*Ohio Green Living: Green & Sustainable Practices workshop
Friday, November 06, 2009
The Wisdom Of Growing Berries Workshop
On Wednesday we went to Columbus Ohio to the 4-H building (or the 4-H mother ship) to the Wisdom of Growing Berries workshop. If you remember we had a farm tour back in August. That was stage one of the Wisdom of growing Berries and this meeting in Columbus was the second and final stage. This was all about sharing our knowledge with beginning farmers and farmers getting into berries. I saw quite a few people I know who are definitely not beginning farmers but I guess felt they needed more knowledge.
I was very pleased to see Kristi Fisher there. We met in 2000 when we both sold produce at the Dayton Second Street Market (which neither of us does currently). We see each other it seems about once a year, though I think it has been about 3 years since our last meeting. Any hoo we had a nice chat about chickens when we should have been talking berries-oh well...
Eugene and I went to the event as "Mentors" and sat on the afternoon panel. I gotta say I learned a from both the mentor panel and the new grower panel. Lots of good insights from both groups. I found that once again I felt kind of behind the other Mentor growers as we have not made good use of extension/OSU research. But considering most of the research is for the chemical farming crowd I have avoided it. But I was made aware that there is much there for the organic growers as well. If nothing else, pictures of pests and diseases and links and references to other sites.
But back to what we did. We sat on this panel of 5 mentor farmers and we were asked three questions and each of us had five minutes to answer each question. Most of us went over time, some way over time. But it was all useful information. After the panel discussion was over we broke into small groups. There were 43 participants plus the panel members so around 50 people in all. I know a few people left before the afternoon stuff started taking down the numbers. Unfortunately we only had about 25 minutes to talk in these small groups. There is so much to say and teach and rarely enough time to do it at these events.
But Sharon Sachs, the woman who put on this event for IFO, at the end had a solution to the not enough time to teach problem-she wants to pair up beginning and struggling farmers with experienced farmers in a mentor program. We have had apprentices and interns on the farm but this is a bit different. In this case we would get paid by the mentee to teach them what we know. it is up to them to initiate the contact and tell us exactly what they want to learn and than we go from there. Several farmers in the room had been on both sides of the table and the # 1 thing I got from this is don't trade work for information. Charge money for the information.
In the past we have done this mentoring thing a bit and always were disappointed because we would trade information for work but found that we spent a lot of time training the person to do the work and in the end it slowed us down too much. these people said if you do trade work for education than have that work be something big and something you do not really want to do like clean out a livestock barn-something you might pay someone an hourly wage to do for you. But do not include any chores that you are teaching. As one guy said he did not want any students pruning his blueberries but he is more than willing to travel to their farm to show them how to prune on their berry plants. In other words he does not want these people working on his farm and making their mistakes on his farm. Good policy.
I have no idea if we will be come mentors to anyone from this event. We are willing but have yet to be contacted
I was very pleased to see Kristi Fisher there. We met in 2000 when we both sold produce at the Dayton Second Street Market (which neither of us does currently). We see each other it seems about once a year, though I think it has been about 3 years since our last meeting. Any hoo we had a nice chat about chickens when we should have been talking berries-oh well...
Eugene and I went to the event as "Mentors" and sat on the afternoon panel. I gotta say I learned a from both the mentor panel and the new grower panel. Lots of good insights from both groups. I found that once again I felt kind of behind the other Mentor growers as we have not made good use of extension/OSU research. But considering most of the research is for the chemical farming crowd I have avoided it. But I was made aware that there is much there for the organic growers as well. If nothing else, pictures of pests and diseases and links and references to other sites.
But back to what we did. We sat on this panel of 5 mentor farmers and we were asked three questions and each of us had five minutes to answer each question. Most of us went over time, some way over time. But it was all useful information. After the panel discussion was over we broke into small groups. There were 43 participants plus the panel members so around 50 people in all. I know a few people left before the afternoon stuff started taking down the numbers. Unfortunately we only had about 25 minutes to talk in these small groups. There is so much to say and teach and rarely enough time to do it at these events.
But Sharon Sachs, the woman who put on this event for IFO, at the end had a solution to the not enough time to teach problem-she wants to pair up beginning and struggling farmers with experienced farmers in a mentor program. We have had apprentices and interns on the farm but this is a bit different. In this case we would get paid by the mentee to teach them what we know. it is up to them to initiate the contact and tell us exactly what they want to learn and than we go from there. Several farmers in the room had been on both sides of the table and the # 1 thing I got from this is don't trade work for information. Charge money for the information.
In the past we have done this mentoring thing a bit and always were disappointed because we would trade information for work but found that we spent a lot of time training the person to do the work and in the end it slowed us down too much. these people said if you do trade work for education than have that work be something big and something you do not really want to do like clean out a livestock barn-something you might pay someone an hourly wage to do for you. But do not include any chores that you are teaching. As one guy said he did not want any students pruning his blueberries but he is more than willing to travel to their farm to show them how to prune on their berry plants. In other words he does not want these people working on his farm and making their mistakes on his farm. Good policy.
I have no idea if we will be come mentors to anyone from this event. We are willing but have yet to be contacted
Sunday, June 08, 2008
OEFFA Forum
Hey all you organic farming/gardening forum aficionados there is a new food and farm forum on the web The OEFFA (Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association) On-line Community. This has been around for about a month and is a nice forum for being so young. Already lots of good information and you can also check out OEFFA's main website as well and maybe even join up (I have been a member off and on -more on than off-for 15 years or so). This forum is open to all who have a stake in food. that would include farmers, gardeners and eaters-basically everyone.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Friday, April 06, 2007
Almost Famous
Wednesday after a final push to get everything covered and ready for the hard freeze we took a trip down south to pick up our allotment of raw milk for the week. Because we had not been to the post office in many days and I had a catnip order to send out from an order recieved from my Local Harvest virtual store front we went to the PO to get the mail out of the PO Box we have.
In the PO Box was a large envelope with 2 copies of the April edition of the Country Folks Grower (Midwest edition) that has Boulder Belt Eco-Farm as the featured farm. This article was from an interview I did with the author Kelly Gates about 6 weeks ago. It should be on the web in a month or so, maybe less.
Also in the PO box was a yellow card telling us we had something too big for the box to pick up at the front counter. So while I was mailing a package of catnip to Manassas, VA I also picked up the package that was from Seattle but not from my sister. Inside the package was a book, "To Buy or Not to Buy Organic" by Cindy Burke (available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobel and at some local book sellers) and a letter thanking me for for my time. I was puzzled by this. I did not remember at the time being interviewed by this person. But there was a pink post-it in the book and it was marking a nice profile of the farm plus some of my rantings on why Boulder Belt is no longer certified organic by the USDA. I later read through the end notes and found the date of the interview and it all came back to me.
Talk about short to medium memory loss...
The other thing that happened on Wednesday before we got on the road to pick up the milk and mail was I got two phone calls. One from a loyal blog reader from Loveland, OH (I am sorry I did not get your name, feel free to leave it in the educations) asking if his garlic would be okay during the hard freeze. I said I thought so but putting down some extra mulch won't hurt anything.
The other was from some woman from Youngstown looking for organic farms/CSA's in her area. This woman got my name from my GreenPeople listing and seemed to be of a mind that the only good food was industrial organics and if a farmer was not certified than by default they are using chemicals and GMO's. I tried to explain to her this is not usually the case with us small farmers but she seemed to have her mind set about this opinion. I believe she needs to buy a copy of Ms Burke's book and learn more. At any rate, I gave her the OEFFA web address and assured her that NE Ohio has more than its' fair share of sustainable and organic farms and CSA's as she was convinced that NE Ohio was a wasteland as far as organic foods are concerned. I hope she finds the farm of her dreams and buys the book too.
So Wednesday was a day of a me distributing information to people I have never met or a series of coincidences, but since I do not believe in coincidences there had to be a cosmic reason for the calls and the mail.
In the PO Box was a large envelope with 2 copies of the April edition of the Country Folks Grower (Midwest edition) that has Boulder Belt Eco-Farm as the featured farm. This article was from an interview I did with the author Kelly Gates about 6 weeks ago. It should be on the web in a month or so, maybe less.
Also in the PO box was a yellow card telling us we had something too big for the box to pick up at the front counter. So while I was mailing a package of catnip to Manassas, VA I also picked up the package that was from Seattle but not from my sister. Inside the package was a book, "To Buy or Not to Buy Organic" by Cindy Burke (available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobel and at some local book sellers) and a letter thanking me for for my time. I was puzzled by this. I did not remember at the time being interviewed by this person. But there was a pink post-it in the book and it was marking a nice profile of the farm plus some of my rantings on why Boulder Belt is no longer certified organic by the USDA. I later read through the end notes and found the date of the interview and it all came back to me.
Talk about short to medium memory loss...
The other thing that happened on Wednesday before we got on the road to pick up the milk and mail was I got two phone calls. One from a loyal blog reader from Loveland, OH (I am sorry I did not get your name, feel free to leave it in the educations) asking if his garlic would be okay during the hard freeze. I said I thought so but putting down some extra mulch won't hurt anything.
The other was from some woman from Youngstown looking for organic farms/CSA's in her area. This woman got my name from my GreenPeople listing and seemed to be of a mind that the only good food was industrial organics and if a farmer was not certified than by default they are using chemicals and GMO's. I tried to explain to her this is not usually the case with us small farmers but she seemed to have her mind set about this opinion. I believe she needs to buy a copy of Ms Burke's book and learn more. At any rate, I gave her the OEFFA web address and assured her that NE Ohio has more than its' fair share of sustainable and organic farms and CSA's as she was convinced that NE Ohio was a wasteland as far as organic foods are concerned. I hope she finds the farm of her dreams and buys the book too.
So Wednesday was a day of a me distributing information to people I have never met or a series of coincidences, but since I do not believe in coincidences there had to be a cosmic reason for the calls and the mail.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
High Anxiety
I have been quite anxious the past 5 days or so and this will likely continue until sometime next Wednesday.
As regular readers know i am doing a workshop at the OEFFA conference this coming Saturday at 2:15pm on pastured poultry. For some reason I have been in a major procrastination mode and until 2 days ago did not even have an outline to work form. That has changed for the better. I now have on my desktop a decent handout out that I will work on today to make it a really nice handout for the workshop, complete with pictures and references.
I have been talking a lot about how to do the workshop with Eugene since Monday. I want to bring in a chicken tractor, fencing, feeders etc., so the participants have more than a general idea about what we are talking about when it comes to raising chicken on pasture. Eugene does not want to deal with hauling a chicken tractor around Granville High School and I don't really blame him but I think we will be able to get the thing in and out of the building without much too do (unless it is too big to get through a door, than we have a problem)
The other thing that has me quite anxious is the fact that next Wednesday I will be getting a tooth implant in my jaw. I am not looking forward to this. it will involve pain and it will likely effect how I eat somewhat. Though probably not too badly as the part of my mouth where this implant is going is already fucked up from a crown and a deep cavity that has recently been drilled badly filled which makes for a painful quadrant on my lower left jaw. Anyhoo, I have noticed each time I have something done to my mouth these days, other than cleaning, I get ever more pain. I am hoping this will not be the case with the implant, but I will not be holding my breath. From what the periodontal surgeon has told me the implant is way better than a bridge for a couple of reasons. 1) It is permanent. 2) because there is a titanium screw implanted in my jaw with a fake tooth affixed to the screw I will not lose bone density (osteoporosis) in my jaw due to a lack of tooth/lack of pressure. Apparently when you lose a tooth or teeth your jaw starts to degrade because there is no pressure on the bone from the act of chewing/grinding/clenching of teeth. This is why dentures slip within 2 years of being prescribed-because the jaw literally changes shape and shrinks. And the same thing happens with a bridge only on a smaller scale as it is just 3 teeth involved instead of the whole shootin' match. there is a third reason for the implant-it is cheaper than a bridge. A bridge costs around $3500US. The implant will cost around $2000US, maybe a bit less
I seem to have a pretty horrifying mouth-my teeth and jaw are not set right. I have already had major periodontal surgery at age 35 (the average person has this surgery at 55 to 65 years of age-I'm a trendsetter!). And I still have 7 baby teeth in my mouth (I had 8, one got horribly infected and pulled and this is why I am getting the implant). I figure by the time I am 60 I will have replaced a lot of my teeth with implants.
I suppose I could get multi-colored teeth or gem chips in each veneer. I have not really thought of that possibility. I have until May to decide since the implant will be toothless for 2 to 3 months while it heals and bonds with the jaw bone.
What color teeth would you get if given this kind of choice?
As regular readers know i am doing a workshop at the OEFFA conference this coming Saturday at 2:15pm on pastured poultry. For some reason I have been in a major procrastination mode and until 2 days ago did not even have an outline to work form. That has changed for the better. I now have on my desktop a decent handout out that I will work on today to make it a really nice handout for the workshop, complete with pictures and references.
I have been talking a lot about how to do the workshop with Eugene since Monday. I want to bring in a chicken tractor, fencing, feeders etc., so the participants have more than a general idea about what we are talking about when it comes to raising chicken on pasture. Eugene does not want to deal with hauling a chicken tractor around Granville High School and I don't really blame him but I think we will be able to get the thing in and out of the building without much too do (unless it is too big to get through a door, than we have a problem)
The other thing that has me quite anxious is the fact that next Wednesday I will be getting a tooth implant in my jaw. I am not looking forward to this. it will involve pain and it will likely effect how I eat somewhat. Though probably not too badly as the part of my mouth where this implant is going is already fucked up from a crown and a deep cavity that has recently been drilled badly filled which makes for a painful quadrant on my lower left jaw. Anyhoo, I have noticed each time I have something done to my mouth these days, other than cleaning, I get ever more pain. I am hoping this will not be the case with the implant, but I will not be holding my breath. From what the periodontal surgeon has told me the implant is way better than a bridge for a couple of reasons. 1) It is permanent. 2) because there is a titanium screw implanted in my jaw with a fake tooth affixed to the screw I will not lose bone density (osteoporosis) in my jaw due to a lack of tooth/lack of pressure. Apparently when you lose a tooth or teeth your jaw starts to degrade because there is no pressure on the bone from the act of chewing/grinding/clenching of teeth. This is why dentures slip within 2 years of being prescribed-because the jaw literally changes shape and shrinks. And the same thing happens with a bridge only on a smaller scale as it is just 3 teeth involved instead of the whole shootin' match. there is a third reason for the implant-it is cheaper than a bridge. A bridge costs around $3500US. The implant will cost around $2000US, maybe a bit less
I seem to have a pretty horrifying mouth-my teeth and jaw are not set right. I have already had major periodontal surgery at age 35 (the average person has this surgery at 55 to 65 years of age-I'm a trendsetter!). And I still have 7 baby teeth in my mouth (I had 8, one got horribly infected and pulled and this is why I am getting the implant). I figure by the time I am 60 I will have replaced a lot of my teeth with implants.
I suppose I could get multi-colored teeth or gem chips in each veneer. I have not really thought of that possibility. I have until May to decide since the implant will be toothless for 2 to 3 months while it heals and bonds with the jaw bone.
What color teeth would you get if given this kind of choice?
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Gearing Up for the OEFFA Conference
I see by the calender on the wall that the OEFFA conference is less than 2 weeks away. Eugene and I will be doing our Pastured Poultry Workshop at 2:15 Saturday Afternoon.
True to my nature I have been procrastinating on putting together an informative handout for the workshop but I feel the handout muses getting close and this will likely be done and 45 copies printed out by Monday.
There is a lot to cover in less than 40 minutes (the workshops are about 60 minutes but you must leave ample time for questions and the Q&A part is often the best part of the workshop). We will do an overview of what we do and than discuss things like what are the pros and cons of various breeds for pasturing chicken for meat, feed, keeping the birds cool in hot weather, etc.. I'd write out the whole thing but as I mentioned the workshop handout muses are near but not yet here.
Eugene thinks we should just go in cold and wing it. Silly boy, doing that usually makes for a bad workshop. You got to at least write up an outline to keep your talk on track, even if you are not going to make handouts for the attendees. I have done enough lectures and workshops in my life to know better than to go in cold, no matter how well you know the material. What usually happens to a person doing this sort of thing unprepared is they will get knocked off track early on by a question from the audience. the question may be an excellent one but I have found without a map of what you intend to do one questions leads to another and another and suddenly that pastured poultry workshop has become a hoophouse lecture. Interesting to be sure but not what the folks paid their money to see.
Fortunately for Eugene I am a good writer and I love to write handoutty sorts of things so he does not need to do anything other than familiarize himself with the order of go before we are in front of an audience. Oh, and put a chicken tractor in the van and than when we get to the High School in Granville haul it to the room we will be doing our gig in.
I'm getting pretty excited about doing this conference. It's been years since I have been in a building with several hundred other organic foodies and farmers. I am looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones
True to my nature I have been procrastinating on putting together an informative handout for the workshop but I feel the handout muses getting close and this will likely be done and 45 copies printed out by Monday.
There is a lot to cover in less than 40 minutes (the workshops are about 60 minutes but you must leave ample time for questions and the Q&A part is often the best part of the workshop). We will do an overview of what we do and than discuss things like what are the pros and cons of various breeds for pasturing chicken for meat, feed, keeping the birds cool in hot weather, etc.. I'd write out the whole thing but as I mentioned the workshop handout muses are near but not yet here.
Eugene thinks we should just go in cold and wing it. Silly boy, doing that usually makes for a bad workshop. You got to at least write up an outline to keep your talk on track, even if you are not going to make handouts for the attendees. I have done enough lectures and workshops in my life to know better than to go in cold, no matter how well you know the material. What usually happens to a person doing this sort of thing unprepared is they will get knocked off track early on by a question from the audience. the question may be an excellent one but I have found without a map of what you intend to do one questions leads to another and another and suddenly that pastured poultry workshop has become a hoophouse lecture. Interesting to be sure but not what the folks paid their money to see.
Fortunately for Eugene I am a good writer and I love to write handoutty sorts of things so he does not need to do anything other than familiarize himself with the order of go before we are in front of an audience. Oh, and put a chicken tractor in the van and than when we get to the High School in Granville haul it to the room we will be doing our gig in.
I'm getting pretty excited about doing this conference. It's been years since I have been in a building with several hundred other organic foodies and farmers. I am looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones
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