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Monadnock Farm Summit

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Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition Monadnock Farm Summit
Monday, May 19, 2014
5:30pm-8pm
Heberton Hall, 60 Winter St., Keene
Networking dinner will be served

REGISTER HERE

Farming businesses with the equipment and capital needed to operate at maximum productivity; improved and broadened farmer’s links to wholesale and retail markets; new farmers on land with secure tenure; land conserved for agricultural use through conservation easements. This vibrant vision is one of many from our first forum in 2013 and identified in Goals 2, 3, & 6 of Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition’s Strategic Plan.

Based on your feedback, we are offering five workshops addressing current challenges. Time will allow for participants to choose three workshops from the list below. Time before and after can be spent gathering information, problem-sharing & solving, and networking.

Workshops:

  • Where Do I Start? Acquiring Land to Farm – Land For Good
  • Access to Funding & Financing – NH Farm Service Agency
  • Improving Farm Production and Equipment – NH Small & Beginning Farmers; UNH Cooperative Extension
  • NRCS Technical and Financial Programs to Improve Production
  • Successfully Selling Wholesale  – One Buyer Shares Why He Orders from Monadnock Menus

Tables:

  • Grants for Value-Added Products
  • Marketing – Hannah Grimes Center
  • Monadnock Menus – Online ordering & distribution

Goals:

  • Promote increase of food production
  • Improve and sustain local farms’ ability to remain financially viable, and thrive
  • Increase the volume of locally produced food sales by improving farmers’ links to markets

In addition, we will provide an update from our Policy and Farm to School Working Groups. Please use the forum to network! Bring announcements, events, workshops, etc. to share!  Find out how we can impact each others’ work in a positive way!

Networking light dinner will be provided. Bring your appetite!
For more information, email coordinator@mfccoalition.org

Changing the Way We Eat: TEDxManhattan Viewing Party

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March 1 @ 10:30 am – 6:30 pm

Click here to RSVP.

TEDxManhattan Logo, Stacked

TEDxManhattan:  “Changing the Way We Eat”
Viewing Party in Keene

A Sustainable Food Movement Event
Saturday, March 1, 2014 – 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
At Antioch University New England in Keene, NH

COST: FREE! Lunch & Snacks Provided – PLEASE RSVP

Join us for a live webcast of the sold-out TEDxManhattan: Changing the Way We Eat Event held in New York City.  Food and farming leaders from around the nation will share their insights and expertise on sustainable food movement issues, impacts and innovations.

TEDxManhattan speakers include:

– Tom Colicchio: Chef/Owner, Craft Restaurants; Head Judge, “Top Chef” – Tom appeared in A Place at the Table, Participant Media’s documentary about food insecurity in America.
– Nikki Henderson: Executive Director, The People’s Grocery – Nikki runs a non-profit organization working to improve the health and economy of the West Oakland community.
– Michael Rozyne: Executive Director, Red Tomato – Michael directs a non-profit produce ‘food hub’ based in Plainville, MA.
– David Binkle: Director of Food Services, Los Angeles Unified School District – David oversees a program that provides over 650,000 meals daily by a team of 4,000 employees.

A full list of speakers is available at: http://tedxmanhattan.org/speakers/.

RSVP today!

About TEDxManhattan “Changing the Way We Eat”
This annual event is sponsored by Change Food. TEDx events are licensed through TED but are independently organized events: http://tedxmanhattan.org/about/.

Co-Hosted By:

– Monadnock Food Co-op
– Antioch University New England Advocacy Program
– Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition
– Keene Community Garden Connections

Monadnock Region CSA Fair on February 16th

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A free Monadnock Region CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Fair will be held at the Monadnock Food Co-op’s cafe on Sunday, February 16th from 1-4 p.m. Nine area CSA farmers will have informational tables and be on hand to answer questions on their farms and CSA memberships:

Cheshire Fairgrounds CSA offers vegetables & herbs. To find out more information about the CSA or to sign up, contact farmer Taylor Barnes at (603) 762-5037 or tbarnesenviro@gmail.com.  You may also contact Jori Johnson at (603) 357-4740 or cheshirefair@onecommail.com, or stop in at the Fairgrounds, 247 Monadnock Hwy, Swanzey, NH 03446

Edgefield Farm of Westmoreland offers high quality pasture raised poultry, pork, lamb, and eggs, as well as vegetables. CSA members get first dibs on limited-supply items, such as our famous gourmet sausages, nitrate-free bacon, Thanksgiving turkeys, whole lambs, and half hogs. 399-9975,  bill@edgefieldsheep.com

Hillside Springs Farm and CSA Garden, a hand and horse powered farm in Westmoreland, offers vegetables, herbs, apple cider, pick-your-own flowers. 399-7288.   www.hillsidespringsfarm.com, hillsidespringsfarm@gmail.com

Picadilly Farm in Winchester offers vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers through full season, summer season and winter shares. 239-8718.  www.picadillyfarm.com

1780 Farm in Chesterfield offers vegetables, berries, eggs, and meat. 363-4476, www.the1780farm.com

Stonewall Farm in Keene, offers a year-round, individually-sized Garden (vegetable, herb and fruit) and Dairy (yogurt, cheese, ice cream, and milk, raw or pasteurized) CSA. Join any day of the year. You choose the veggies. 357-7278, www.stonewallfarm.org/products/csa

Sun Moon Farm in Rindge provides vegetables, herbs and cut flowers to our members. Located at “The Meeting School,” a property that has been continuously farmed since 1783, the farm grows over 75 varieties of old and rare Dahlias and offers members artisan breads that are baked here on the property,  sun.moon.craig@gmail.com

Tracie’s Community Farm in Fitzwilliam, offers a wide variety of vegetables and herbs, with a home delivery option, as well as bread, eggs, flowers and many other options. 209-1851, www.traciesfarm.com

Walkabout Farm is a CSA farm growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers in Peterborough, NH. Uncertified organic. Eggs and pork. Email: info@walkaboutfarm.org. www.walkaboutfarm.org

Although each local CSA farm is unique and individually run, each offers “shares” of locally grown food to community members. There are variations in the price, share size, distribution, choices, pick-up sites, payment plans and variety of food offered. Some CSA farms concentrate on vegetable production, while others offer eggs, meat, flowers, berries, maple syrup, honey, raw milk, cheese, yogurt, or other local products.

The commitment from community members to join a CSA implies a willingness to share with the farmer both the rewards and risks of small-scale farming. Weather, pest damage, and crop failures affect both the farmer and the shareholder. The entire community absorbs the costs of raising food in sustainable ways, and farmers receive consistent appreciation and financial support for their efforts. The shareholders know when, where, and how their food is grown, and are assured of high-quality and nutritious produce, grown without the use of any synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.

A CSA membership supports local farms and the local economy, eliminating the environmental and food quality costs of marketing, packaging, and shipping food long distances. Freshly picked, locally grown fruits and vegetables are a good value because they have superior flavor and more vitamins and minerals than many large-scale commercially raised crops. Sustainable farm practices also avoid the hidden costs of pesticide residues, soil erosion, and polluted surface ground water often associated with large scale conventional agriculture.

Local farmland in CSA use becomes healthier through crop rotation, composting, cover crops, natural fertilizers, and periodic resting. In addition, small farms are able to grow heirloom or little-known varieties of fruits and vegetables, which helps maintain the diversity and vitality of the world’s seed bank. Some CSA farmers chose to receive organic certification for their produce, other farmers use organic and /or biodynamic techniques exclusively but do not choose certification.

Seed Celebration & Sustainable Community Fair: February 15, 2014

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The Sustainability Project presents the 9th Annual Seed Celebration and Sustainable Community Fair on Saturday, February 15th, from 9 am – 4 pm; admission by donation. This year we are delighted to be hosting the event at Mole Hill Theatre, 789 Gilsum Mine Road, East Alstead, NH.

Over the years, farmers, gardeners, and activists working for sustainable communities have come to know this event as a great opportunity for networking and day-long fun. Come boost your community’s skills for living well in a changing world. Proceeds help support the Seed Celebration and Sustainable Community Fair, our programming throughout the year, and our work to create wheelchair accessible trails and perennial gardens at the Emerson Brook Forest Center. The Seed Celebration is sponsored in part by W.S. Badger, The Gilsum Recreation Committee, The Monadnock Food Co-op, Green Energy Options, The Mountain, Gem Graphics and Mole Hill Theatre.

Schedule of Events:
9 am ~ Opening

10 – 11:30 am ~ Dave Jacke, noted permaculture designer, teacher and author of Edible Forest Gardens, will present “Ecological Culture Design: A Holistic View”

Noon ~ The Solar Sisters duo will perform songs of farm and garden

1:30 – 3 pm ~ Bill Whyte, founder and CEO of the W.S. Badger company, will present “Visualization – The Art and Practice of Imagining with a purpose”

3:15 pm ~ Last call for the raffle

3:30 pm ~ Raffle Drawing

All Day: Cafe featuring soups from local restaurants and kitchens and Orchard Hill breads, Exhibits & Displays, Demonstrations, Seed Sales & Swap, Raffle, & Children’s Activities

Tablers for the 2014 Seed Celebration & Sustainable Community Fair: Stonewall Farms, WS Badger, Kroka Expeditions, Orchard Hill Breadworks, Valley Green Journal, Green Energy Options, RECLAIM: Original Silk Screen Designs, and Wichland Woods

More about Dave Jacke:
Ecological Culture Design: A Holistic View
Few sane, aware and knowledgeable people would argue that our current culture is ecologically sustainable. Clearly we face an urgent need to redesign the ways we live, work and play or risk the worst. If we are to create ecological and egalitarian societies, we must move beyond the traditional environmentalist focus on resource management and technological solutions. Ecologically speaking, culture is the primary adaptive mechanism of the species Homo sapiens, and it is culture, as a whole system, that we must redesign. What is culture? How might we approach the design of ecological and socially just cultures as whole systems? This talk will address these questions, providing a practical framework for discussion and design practice.

Bio
Dave Jacke is primary author of the award winning two-volume book Edible Forest Gardens, a comprehensive guide to ecological garden design (www.edibleforestgardens.com). A student of ecology and design since the 1970s, he has run his own planning firm-Dynamics Ecological Design-since 1984, designing gardens, homes, farms, and communities throughout the U.S. and overseas. He holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Simon’s Rock College and a M.A. in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design. In his teaching and his design work, Dave has always explored the interrelationships between people and land as interpenetrating whole systems, grounding his vision and theory in practical and concrete reality as much as possible.

Visualization: “The Art and Practice of Imagining with a purpose”
with Bill Whyte. Whether you are working on a personal plan for living a healthier lifestyle, designing a house, planning a garden or writing a business plan, visualization can be a powerful aid in developing a successful plan. Consider this workshop a brief space and time for you to create a “visualization mandala” on paper – a piece of “spirit art” that you can use as a daily reminder, mentor, guide and friend. Bring some colored pencils if you can!

Bill is founder and CEO of the W.S. Badger Company in Gilsum.