February 2012
8 posts
Minneapolis and Macalester Greenhorns Screenings
March 8th, 7PM at Macalester College. James B. Davis Hall in the basement of the Campus Center. Sponsored by MPIRG
March 12th, 7PM at Bryant Lake Bowl. Panel of farmers and activists to follow. Sponsored by Land Stewardship Project
March 27th, 7PM at the Casket Cinema in the Casket Arts Building. Panel to follow. In collaboration with California Street Farm.
All screenings made...
7 tags
Farm Bill update: Fewer secrets, more hard work →
My life has recently been involving a lot of time at the computer compiling a recipe data base for the farm website, which leads me to spending time away from the computer in my off hours and very few updates on my life.
To continue the trend of involving you in farmer politics rather than my day to day happenings or the systematic workings of the farm, I invite you to read this Farm Bill...
January 2012
28 posts
9 tags
Virtuous cycle: 10 lessons from the world’s great... →
Oh Portland, Minneapolis, St. Paul, how I miss biking thee. Biking in the country is just a different story and I’m currently in need of a new bicycle as I left the old Schwinn Varsity in Oregon in hopes of finding something more aerodynamic. I also tend to lust over cargo bikes in the possibility that I might ever return to urban living and operate a small business with bicycle delivery.
...
6 tags
New FSA Program to Help Young Farmers Buy Land →
For many of us who have discovered a love for agriculture, the prospect of owning our own land can often seem impossible. For those who have lived their life farming and are looking for someone to continue the stewardship of the land, it’s often difficult to sell. Here is information about a new program that aspires to assist in the transition of land from one generation to the next.
10 tags
Don Patterson discusses OSGATA vs. Monsanto
Jan....
12 tags
Dan Ravicher, Executive Director of the Public...
10 tags
Inspiring Young Farmer gives Keynote Address →
Tess Brown-Lavoie farms Sidewalk Ends Farm, in Providence, RI. Her keynote speech focuses on what it is like to be an urban and young farmer, her community, family, and a desire to be a connection between the rural and urban and to learn from farmers in both locales.
6 tags
Farmscape Ecology Blog →
There are many organizations that comprise the “Hawthorne Valley Association”. One of these I would like to highlight is the Farmscape Ecology Program (FEP). If you are wondering, “What is Farmscape Ecology?” in their own words they describe it on their homepage as…
In our books, ‘farmscape ecology’ refers to the patterning of life on our landscape. It...
11 tags
Citizens Urged to Sign Petition of Support for Family Farmers
Supporters Urged to Attend Citizens Assembly on January 31
New York, New York - January, 16 2012 - We wish to assemble free and peaceful citizens outside the Manhattan District court in an effort to present the important message to family farmers that millions of Americans stand behind them as they seek their day in court. In the...
10 tags
9 tags
Katie and Kale: Promoting Food Transparency in... →
Hello Everyone and particularly Portlanders (Oregon that is, although I hear Maine is quite lovely too.)
It has been a wonderfully misty day, with snow melting and refreezing as ice and that classic grey cloudy sky with soft light that makes you want to sit inside by the wood stove and sip tea or coffee, yet you know it’s best to take in as much outside time as possible and soak in the...
11 tags
Winter on the Farm
Yesterday and today we received the first accumulative snowfall since December 8th. The whole winter thus far has been filled with unseasonally warm weather, often with highs in the 40s and 50s with only occasionally dips into the teens and a two day stint with lows below zero Fahrenheit.
This means that we were able to harvest leafy greens outdoors until the beginning of January (in Columbia...
A look at the $175 in your compost →
If you don’t already have a system for utilizing left overs or purchasing perishable foods with uses for them already planned, this article may stimulate plans for such organization.
Another interesting article that relates to the theme of food overproduction/consumption and waste is another article on dumpster diving…Adventures of a first-time dumpster diver. If dumpster diving...
9 tags
Orientation to Hawthorne Valley
My first month on the farm culminated a week ago, but with the arrival of my new housemates (the remaining three new farm apprentices) the past two weeks have been filled with new introductions and orientations making me feel both new and established in one.
Of the bunkhouse residents, three of us are full-farm apprentices (rotating responsibilities between barn, field vegetables, and corner...
12 tags
Vatican Condemns Monsanto Genetically Modified... →
This is a wonderful article posted by another blogger. Turkson highlights the repercussions of industrial agriculture and GM crops in Africa. The dependency on fertilizers and seed purchase mandates enforced through patents of which he speaks is a dire issue particularly in economically poor nations, but also strongly affects many farmers in the more developed world. This is well worth...
7 tags
Young Farmer News Around the World
Japan - Youthful farmers blaze a trail Europe - Climate farmers’ highlight green agriculture practices India - Grassroots heroes lead Bihar’s rural revolution Canada - Agriculture struggles to attract youth, minister says Australia - WWOOFing grows on local farms
8 tags
NOFA-NY Announces Support Program for Select...
The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, Inc. (NOFA-NY) will be accepting applications from qualified new farmers to participate in its two-year support program, known as the NOFA-NY Journeyperson Program, until February 8th, 2012. The program is modeled off a highly successful program piloted by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). NOFA-NY, along with state...
4 tags
One man’s trash: Dumpster diving for breakfast... →
I dedicate my posting of this video to friends at Anna in Minneapolis, everyone who lived in the Grand Aspirations house since Joey and Andrew, and the greater community of dumpster divers I know or have yet to meet.
Here at the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store there is a bin in which produce that has reached an expedited deterioration (broken chard leaves, bruised avocados, severely browning bananas)...
4 tags
Sunday (January 8th) Brunch with the Brother
My brother arrived at 2am Sunday morning after driving over fifteen hours from Chicago in a single day (and eight from Minnesota the day before).
I milked at 5am and had two meals before coming in at noon and waking him to this lunch…
Another hummus open faced sandwich with sprouts and curry kraut
Soup made from a pork shoulder I cooked down in a crock pot with onions, garlic, coriander,...
6 tags
ATTENTION OREGONIANS
For those in Oregon there are two items that I would like to bring to your attention: An Event and a permaculture housemate request. The first is just west of Portland in my former community of Forest Grove. If you know people in the area, spread the word. There is a a group of amazing folks out there who are working to make the Grange a more active place for the farming and food advocacy...
Grow Your Farmer →
Sometimes I feel like I am just copying all the wonderful information from The Greenhorns and National Young Farmers Coalition blogs because they are so wonderful and full of good news. The Greenhorns and I are often re-posting stories we have found elsewhere while the National Young Farmers Coalition has a solid crew of writers (who are also farmers and many other jack and janes of all trades)....
7 tags
As Supply Dwindles, Organic Milk Gets Popular →
This New York Times article addresses the production costs in supplying organic milk to the nation’s consumers. It highlights the gap between production cost and consumer price expectation that is pressing on organic dairy farmers as they try to meet the rising demand for this product.
My personal critique of this article is that in assessing the cost and production it does not mention...
5 tags
Farm Record Keeping Tools
This summer I spent a significant amount of time thinking about just what I needed to be able to do farm record keeping in a logical, time saving, and communally accessible fashion. For example, I wanted to enter data in a single location and be able to access it by vegetable, date, or field location. I also wanted anyone on the farm to be able to enter data from their own computer or into a...
10 tags
More Farm and Food News and Responses to other...
I understand that this post is really brief with only the article headlines for you to judge by, but it is 9:45pm and although I milk at 5am tomorrow I wanted to share these stories. Again, I am just trying to put some recent food and farming related articles in one easily accessible place. Group includes two that are critical responses to stories from my last news post. I haven’t yet found...
7 tags
First Month on the Farm - Part 1
The first days of January often inspire reflection over time past. For me the time period most prominent in my thoughts is the past month, from December 2, 2011 until today.
On the evening of December 2nd I arrived at Hawthorne Valley Farm with my friend Jon after the Stone Barns Young Farmers Conference. That first night I only had what I carried in my backpacking pack, day-pack, and ukulele...
December 2011
28 posts
6 tags
Food and Farming News Update...
Here is a menagerie of news stories with varying perspectives of the current cultural shifts of viewpoint toward the food system. What is successfully being changed? What issues still prevail? Is local really better? Feel free to share your own opinions of these articles. In this post I am not trying to promote a particular perspective, but share some of what is being written, particularly as the...
4 tags
3 tags
Young People See Opportunity in Farming →
This is yet another article in which the media is amazed by those of us young people choosing farming as our profession. Much of the general data is the same as usual, yet highlighting the stories of more new farmers. Inspiring. Also, one story is about farmers who supply to the Twin Cities, one of the many places I call home. If you are in the Midwest and farming organically or interested in...
The garden.
But not one, not just a simple garden but almost a separate farm, a separate life. There are four gardens, four completely different plots. The potato garden, the corn garden, the kitchen garden, and the garden garden.
They are life. More than the farm, more than the crops and the animals, the gardens are life—all food. There is never money, not ever, not even...
Holiday Cookie Baking
I was raised baking Christmas cookies with my mom and siblings, or at least taste testing each variety at all stages of its production. My mom would create a number of the classics often with recipes passed down from one or the other of my grandmothers or hailing from her high school cookbook, a compilation of recipes from classmates that she has carried since school and now must be kept in a...
