April/May 2011

cheep cheep.
zip zip.
up up.

***JUMP TO GREENHORNS NYC PREMIERE***

13 May
AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS
@ the Blue Barn at Bramble Hill Farm, 593 S. Pleasant Stt.
Young Farmer mixer + screening + seed/tool/labor swap
$5-10 suggested donation
Beer and food! Music by Wooden Dinosaur
Please RSVP to tamsinbiona@gmail.com
6:30 - 9:30pm




14 May
PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA
@ Green String Farm, 3571 Old Adobe Rd
Screening + mixer for young and beginning farmers!
Contact Katee to RSVP: katee43e@hotmail.com

14 May
SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS
@ Parts + Crafts HQ (and Boston environs), 155 Powderhouse Blvd
Elderflower bike ride + Boston area premiere film screening
bike ride is free but please RSVP to events@thegreenhorns.net.
$5 tickets for film screening available for purchase from brown paper tickets.
12-6pm - bike ride forage
6-9pm - screening + party



14 May
NEDERLAND, COLORADO
Screening @ Nederland Sustainabilty Project
Contact Morgan for details: morgan_oberhaus@ekit.com

15 May
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN
Screening @ Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing
Contact Chris: cgeith@gmail.com

3-5 June
BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT
@ The grounds of the Brattleboro Retreat and the Brattleboro Common
Greenhorns will be there with the Strolling of the Heifers!
+ Featuring a screening of Greenhorns!

5 June
WEATHERSFIELD, CONNECTICUT
@ Comstock, Ferre and Co. 200 Year Anniversary
+ Free admission, fun for family, Seeds Galore!
+ Acclaimed garden speakers and authors including Katherine Leiner, Margaret Roach, and William Woys Weaver, Ph.D.

18-19 June
CROTON-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK
@ Croton Point Park
Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival
+ Greenhorns will be serving up something special


25 June
WHALLONSBURG, NEW YORK
@ Whallonsburg Grange Hall, corner of Route 22 and Whallons Bay Rd
ESSEX MIDSUMMER MIXER: Save the date!
+ Live music, hot pig, lard-fried potato chips, breakdancing, driving with oxen, a ton else. Get into it man

 

19 June -  25 September
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
A Seed Circus with the Oakland Museum, 1000 Oak Street
**A series of four events that each explore an aspect of urban farming**
Artists, farmers-to-be, layfolk, locals, foodies, and children are all welcome.
19 June - I Felt Oakland
10 July - Foraging Bike Tour
14 August - Pickling and Fermentation
25 September - Polenta Picnic
RSVP to Louella Hill: louella.hill@gmail.com

10 - 15 August
SEDGWICK, MAINE and the MIDCOAST
La Via Campesina North American Young Farmer Activist Training Camp
@ Food For Maine’s Future in Sedgwick
For more details contact Bob St. Peter: bobstpeter@gmail.com

24 September
HIGHLAND LAKE, NEW YORK
“Acts Agrarian” - A Day and a Night of Greenhorn performances
@ NACL Theater
+ Little Farm Show, Vachel Lindsey Play, Children’s Story, Clarinetting, Food, Cider...

14 - 16 October
BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
Bioneers 2011 Conference


FarmHack 2.0

It’s happening in New Hampshire.

Farmhack 2.0 is going on in New Hampshire September 30th/October 1st in partnership with Greenstart, an applied research network. This is a very exciting event and we'll be reaching out into all of New England over the summer to invite (and grant per-diem) particularly gifted farmer-innovators. Info on the results from the last FarmHack@MIT is HERE.  



We've been busy with the book. Manuscript is in to the publishers, we are looking at book release in time for December frenzy.

It is spring. We are galloping.
More in next newsletter!

Severine v T Fleming, director
Laura Cline, graphic design
Jordan Kinley, webisode production
Laura Hanna, editor
Brooke Budner, graphics
Hannah Bernhardt, project management, policy, radio, USDA
Saundra Ball, research, statistics, development
Olivia Sargeant,  Seed Circus Connecticut
Louella Hill, Seed Circus Oakland
Lulu Mclellan, West Coast Warrior
William McFarlane, mapping
Louisa Denison, East Coast GIS
Rachel Horn, ETSY
Ines Chapela, logistics
Paula Manalo, wiki, guidebook
Chandler Briggs, blog+profiles
Pete Fitzpatrick, Sound Design
Anya Kamenskya, West Coast organizer/photo
Patrick Kiley, outreach/screenings coordination
Hallie Chen, Farmhack

March 2011

GREENHORNS. 

Much afoot in March for us young farmers, much underfoot too.

Snowdrops from where I sit, and frisking squirrels shuffling acorn dregs.

And geese flying south over the Hudson. And saucy springtime birdsong.

And so many logistics, mis-matching bolts, awkward voltages. 

Spring is uncoiling, and we Greenhorns are in full gallop coordinating the
COMMUNITY DISTRIBUTION of our DOCUMENTARY FILM. 

ACTION right now!

Those lawmakers up there on the hill seem to have forgotten about us young farmers over winter.  Last week, ATTRA, the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service which provides an invaluable trove of information (including our national apprenticeship listing) and expert technical assistance to farmers, lost $2.8 million in funding. 

This cut was adopted by Congress as part of a Continuing Resolution, basically an extension of the 2010 fiscal year budget to keep the government operating until April 8th. 

This news comes to us from National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. The National Young Farmers’ Coalition is a member organization and we encourage you all to join NSAC’s mailing list to receive pertinent updates such as this. 

We have few precious days to act.

Contact your Congressman/woman today (http://www.congress.org/) and tell them to restore ATTRA’S funding in the next Continuing Resolution.

Call or write, leave a bold impression, and pelt them with celeriac.  Here’s what we have in mind for beginning farmers:

“I want to farm, you need farmers. By cutting ATTRA’s funding, you and your fellow Congressmen and women have just imperiled the organization that hosts the nation’s most comprehensive list of agricultural apprenticeships. Without that list, we cannot find our next farm job, which hinders us from taking the next step to becoming a professional farmer. This is a disservice to the future of agriculture in America and to your constituents’ ability to join a critical sector of our economy. Restore ATTRA’s funding in the next Continuing Resolution.”

UPDATES

Film is out and screening. We are BARELY able to keep up with the increase in emails, interest, reporters. 

We ended up not being able to afford to do color correction, but have decided to be OK with that. Perhaps once we've sold a bunch of DVDs and get a few more grants we'll go back and digitally enhance the already radiant young farmers. Maybe. Maybe it can be a stylistic low budget choice.  

In case you didn't already get the memo, we are distributing the film ourselves. This is called COMMUNITY DISTRIBUTION. Which means that if you want to see it, you can look on the website for the REQUEST A SCREENING link. Whether you already have a space in mind to host a screening or just really want to see the film, fill out the form and film outreach coordinator Patrick Kiley can help you conceive and execute a community screening. And keep checking our events page to see who’s hosting a screening near you.

Press releases and PUSH out we are waiting to do at the tail of our little southern mission, so that means mid-April. That is also the time when we roll out our new website. 

If you are a longtime listserv-member, mixer attendee, blog enjoyer, and you want to find a way to help us out in our SUPER grassroots distribution campaign, here are some things to think about for late April/May and BEYOND.

1. If you aren't already farming...START. 

2. Mobilize your farmers market/CSA/advocacy group/church/college/posse/museum/library/ sewing circle for a community screening.

3. Contact Patrick (film@thegreenhorns.net) if you would like to help with the greenhorns film and event outreach more long term.

4. If you need help finding other young farmers to organize with, use our map, Serve Your Country Food.

Sorry--these are boring logistics, but frankly grassroots is a lot of logistics.  

RADIO UPDATES

Wonderful new farmers on the radio podcast  are broadcasted now! Catch up on the two latest episodes (#68 & #69) with a Midwestern urban farmer, Matt Jose, in Indianapolis, and with newly organic cotton farmer in Texas, Eric Herm, with a sneak peak of his book “Son of a Farmer, Child of the Earth” on the Leonard Lopate show.

RECENT HAPPENINGS

FarmHack at MIT was super awesome. You can watch the video here. But frankly the video is long; an easier way to get involved in technology exchange would be to tune in to the FarmHack blog. 

I'm currently sitting on the shores of Otsego Lake doing a screening with the FARMERS MUSEUM. They have a super cool museum here: a village of    historical buildings housing blacksmiths, print shops, heritage breeds, implement collections, coopers, carpenters, bee keepers. Apparently the central New York region was on the forefront of the modern beekeeping movement back in the times -- and pioneered the Langstrof method that is prevalent today. 

Food Justice out in Oregon was super awesome, I got to meet Vandana Shiva. You might have seen the article in New York Times about Oregon’s young farmers culture emerging. We also made a short little profile film of Clint Lindsey A2R Farms. And the Just Food CSA in NYC Conference was good fun as well. You can catch up via the video here. Great event this past weekend in New Hampshire at The Wild Miller Gardens at Tuckaway Farm, brick oven pizzas from Flatbread and delicious locally sourced beers from Throwback Brewery.

Thank goodness farm conference season is winding down, it’s been quite a hustle of Panels and Mixers and Screenings and Driving across many states. Good mailing lists, good rosy cheeks, lots of beer!

UPCOMING EVENTS

BIG tour still up ahead in the South and Northeast in April. Then Midwest tour in July. Northwest/Cali/Southwest sweep in October/November. 

26 March 2011, LIVINGSTON MANOR, NEW YORK @ Catskills Art Society

27 March 2011, GREAT BARRINGTON, MASS @ Project Native Film Festival

3 April 2011, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA @ Soil Kitchen

7 April 2011, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA @ Morven Farm
12 April 2011, BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA @ Appalachian State University with Blue Ridge Women in Ag

15 April 2011, BAR HARBOR, MAINE @ College of the Atlantic

16 April 2011, PORTLAND, MAINE @ Space Gallery

16 April 2011, WASHINGTON, DC @ Letelier Theater and city farms/gardens

17 April 2011, CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE @ St. Paul’s School

19 April 2011, POULTNEY, VERMONT @ Green Mountain College

19 April 2011, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA @ The Loft, UCSD

28 April 2011, SHELBURNE, VERMONT @ Shelburne Vineyard

ALSO...It’s Not Too Late to Register for the No Farms No Food Rally & Lobby Day
March 30, 9:00 to 4:00, Empire State Plaza, Albany
Register online here:
http://newyork.farmland.org/no-farms-no-food

Join farmers, local food advocates, town officials and hunger relief volunteers to meet with legislators at the State Capitol about the critical importance of farms and food to New York State.

Speakers include: Commissioner of Agriculture Darrel Aubertine; Assemblyman Bill Magee, chairman of the assembly agriculture committee; Reverend Robert Jackson of the Brooklyn Rescue Mission, Richard Ball, Schoharie Valley Farms.



SO...what does all of this mean for you? Well. If you live in those places and want to coordinate with us to rally up a posse for an educational session, for a galvanizing conversation, for a screening, a bonfire, or some beer? Please indicate as much on the web-form. Patrick is keeping up with that impeccably. By filling out that form you help us keep your contact information handy, not scattered in a gmail somewhere. Thank you...

Seed Circus touring also starts in April, many in conjunction with museums and artist types. Our call is still open for entries so send us your most creative brainstormings.

SEED CIRCUS EVENTS

13 April 2011, WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA @ the southeastern center for contemporary art

7 may 2011, NEW YORK, NEW YORK @ the new museum festival of ideas for the new city

5 june 2011, WETHERSFIELD, CONNECTICUT @ comstock ferre 

25 june 2011, WHALLONSBURG, NEW YORK @ whallonsburg grange hall, route 22 & whallons bay rd

july 2011, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA @ the oakland museum

Thank you all so much for being a part of this community of practice.

With MUD crusts and dirty snow,

Severine v T Fleming, director

Laura Cline, graphic design

Jordan Kinley, webisode production

Laura Hanna, editor

Brooke Budner, graphics

Hannah Bernhardt, project management, policy, radio, USDA

Saundra Ball, research, statistics, development

Olivia Sargeant,  Seed Circus Connecticut

Louella Hill, Seed Circus Oakland

Lulu Mclellan, West Coast Warrior

William McFarlane, mapping

Louisa Denison, East Coast GIS

Rachel Horn, ETSY

Ines Chapela, logistics

Paula Manalo, wiki, guidebook

Chandler Briggs, blog+profiles

Pete Fitzpatrick, Sound Design

Anya Kamenskya, West Coast organizer/photo

Patrick Kiley, outreach/screenings coordination

Hallie Chen, Farmhack

Feb 2011

 Greenhorns. 

March is almost here.

The weather certainly is wobbly this season -- "lash down the hoophouse matey!"

I'm starting to wonder who in the world isn't getting their precipitation--or if there is just generally more water moving around our little planet. Sixty inches of snow in New Hampshire, in January. Yikes.

Good weather source: Accuweather has a farmer option, with estimated soil temp and moisture. Blog is even more bumpin than usual these days, PLENTY of super duper farm jobs up there.

Some big bad news out of the USDA in recent weeks too, right during the middle of Egyptian Riots one GMO after another approved for commerical planting without regulation and without precautionary testing. Read up here:
http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/the-battle-over-alfalfa-continues/
http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/united-in-opposition/

The empire may be striking back, but our daikon forces can penetrate the hardpan, our rippling forearms lift and tip yet more cartloads of manure. One farm at a time: this land is our land.

*****

Take ACTION

Call OBAMA to tell him you support the Fair Livestock Competition Rule that helps independent farmers and ranchers get a fair price for their hard work. (It’s also called the “GIPSA rule”.)

Read up here: http://archive.gipsa.usda.gov/psp/Farm_bill_rule_outline.pdf
Make a phone call here: http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5800

*****

December 2010

Hi Farmers and Farmer Friends,

Greenhorns are back in the Hudson Valley from the far reaches of western America, the brimming young farmer scene filling our cup from Albuquerque to Vashon Island and back. Maybe you came out to one of the mixers we held in New Mexico, California, Washington and Oregon this fall? There's a very nice video of our Sacramento Valley mixer we originally posted on our blog. More to come in the new year!

It's real winter here now, snow and ice and vermillion winterberry hugging the shaggy windblown trees by the wide river. Brrr. Time for work! We're editing, budgeting, planning well over fifty events for the year, grinding coffee at a stupendous rate, taking twilight walks and turning our daydreams into plans of action. Oh - and we're wrapping up Christmas presents!

You may have heard, last night was the first full moon eclipse on a winter solstice since Galileo's time,1638. If you're lucky then you were in the country where the dark is still dark. Celestial performance - one more perk of the young farmer's life!

Reading for winter

For those of you unfamiliar with the amazing reference section of Eliot Coleman's New Organic Grower, I have to recommend you get into that. We've also got a nice little list going in our Guidebook for Beginning Farmers. Furthermore, I've discovered the plantation pastoral genre of the New Agrarians -- Robert Penn Warren, etc. Having loitered mostly in the gardening section of used book stores, I've recently discovered all sorts of luscious back-to-the-land drama in the literature section. Holy smokes!  

Check out:

-Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd (Females wreck agriculture, protagonist Bathsheba)
-Nathaniel Hawthorne, Blithedale Romance (He hates on back to the land, protagonist is Zenobia)

-Elaine Weiss, Fruits of Victory (Progressive feminist wartime mobilizing of the women's land army)

-John Berger, Pig Earth (Beautiful vignettes of age-old peasant life)

Contemporary farm vacation novel:
-Kristin Kimball, The Dirty Life (Best book ever for getting your Mothers, Aunts, Cousins on board with farming, a raunchy, conspiratorial book about one of the most radical farms in the northeast - horsepower on 500 acres, full-season CSA with meat, milk, grain, beans, veg, fruit, sugarbush, etc. 

We've got a great list started of children's (and teen) books on farming too -- but that is coming out as part of our USDA/BFRDP grant funded Sourcebook, so you'll have to wait a while longer for it.

Winter conference season is upon us. Greenhorns will be screening and convening beginning farmer mixers all over this eastern seaboard over the winter -- a big deal for us isNOFA NY on January 20. It is in Saratoga Springs, a super wonderful (train accessible) town with natural hot water, a horsey Gilded Age main street, and a kickass winter farmers market. The Cornell/USDA cats have funded and planned a whole Beginning Farmer Track -- and there are quite a number of young farmer scholarships left. So get in touch, and if you are going to attend, help us with set up. Volunteer for that to Patrick at pkiley1@gmail.com. 
 

SEEDs: You have so much potential by Brooke Budner


 Farming: a job outside, by the Beehive collective

We are sure happy to start being able to schedule screenings! Now don't all email atonce. We have a Nifty WEBLINK on our homepage where you can fill in your information. Please use that form. Please use the web form. Please please please. It does not ask for your date of birth or entail a binding contract in any way.

• Weeds
• Land Access
• Family issues
• New social methods for farmers
• Getting credit
• Water/water rights
• Bees/worms and other essential micro-critters on the farm
• Predator/pest tales
• Draft animal stories
• Marketing bling, zing, and secrets to success

National Young Farmers Coalition

Report on the Young Farmers Conference, Stone Barns

Well, it was pretty super. There were hella young farmers there. Katheleen Merrigan spoke about how she used to talk about ag-policy at parties and no one wanted to talk to her. (I've heard similar stories for dairy girls having no luck getting a date) But now when she talks about Ag-policy she's the belle of the ball. Well, she's also Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, so some of those people at the ball might be her staff. I was really moved by her intention to support young farmers, and make good on Vilsack's mandate to grow 100,000 new farmers -- it seems the USDA wants to hear from us on how they can help our businesses succeed. So we are telling them:

Here is an article that NYFC Director Lindsey Lusher wrote for Grist on the policy panels that we hosted (as National Young Farmers' Coalition)

http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-12-15-young-farmers-review-farm-bill-program

Here is the testimony that Hannah Bernhardt delivered to the Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Development Program Advisory Panel at the USDA:

http://www.youngfarmers.org/2010/12/928/

On the practical side, NYFC is pleased to announce the launch of
FARM HACK

http://www.farmhack.net

A place for practical sharing of farmer innovations.

Notice how the National Young Farmers' Coalition is kicking butt? Join the listserv! Become a member! Get in on the action!  Policy is only one third of what we do, and if there were more of us, we could do more!

Updates are live on SYCF.net

There is a larger web-overhaul afoot in which the map takes a more central role -- but for the meantime we've put in some helpful updates. 

1. Pink dots are service providers of young farmers in the northeast.

We got that data from our work with USDA Beginning farmer and rancher group. 

Not sure what a farmer service provider is? They provide services to farmers.

Business planning help, technical assistance, legal advice, mediation services, pep talks, workshops . All these things.

2. Yellow dots. These are members of the Majesteria otherwise known as the House Committee on Agriculture. Greenhorns believes most strongly in the power of community, but we do recognize that government money is a good thing for young farmers. Here is the recommendation: this Christmas send a nice letter to your senator/congressional representatives include some pictures of your farm, the copious amounts of vegetables, the fat bellied porkers, the healthy all-American farm-raised children. The contact information is on the site, just click.

3. And email us. Tell us how you think the map could be made more useful. Those comments are valuable to us now as we are pouring over development plans.

That is all for now!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS from all us greenhorns.

  
Winter Trees

by William Carlos Williams 

All the complicated details

of the attiring and

the disattiring are completed!

A liquid moon

moves gently among

the long branches.

Thus having prepared their buds

against a sure winter

the wise trees

stand sleeping in the cold.

Laura Cline, graphic design

Brooke Budner, graphics 

Hannah Bernhardt, project management, policy, radio, USDA

Saundra Ball, research, statistics, development

Olivia Sargeant,  Seed Circus Connecticut

Louella Hill, Seed Circus Oakland

Anna Moreton, ETSY

Ines Chapela, logistics

Paula Manalo, wiki, guidebook

Anne Dailey, blog+profiles

Anya Kamenskya, West Coast organizer/ photo

Patrick Kiley, outreach/ screenings coordinator

Severine v T Fleming, founder, director

Hallie Chen, Farmhack

November 2010

Chilly breezes, sweet squashes, high milkfat content. Oh Autumn. Oh sparkly grassblades and fallen oak litter, oh cold cold water and cosy bed. The early dark was scary at first, but the ease of this season sure feels welcome after a season full of hustle. 

 

I'm all fresh + plucky from the Quivera Conference out in New Mexico. It was heavenly, a safe watering hole for cowboys, grass-fed advocates, churro navajo sheepherders, native plant people, watershed people. I moderated a panel of New Agrarians.

 

The theme this year was "The Carbon Ranch." Basically we learned how grassland management (with cattle) following holistic management practices, along with mob grazing and intensive rotational grazing, can actually build soil and fix carbon. This is why the prairies are so famously deep in topsoil. Growing grasses, and properly managing the lifecycles of those grasses is what ensures the continued productivity of western rangelands, Midwest dairy farms, and the rotational pastures of mixed veggie producers. The lectures, particularly those by Greg Judy, Brock Dolman and John Wicks, are all available on the Quivera wiki. And I highly recommend joining the Quivera mailing list, its a community chock full of ranchers looking for cowboys/girls to train up-- and next year's Conference is totally dedicated to New Agrarians and helping them overcome the barriers to entry.

 

 

UPComing. 

 

THIS THURSDAY our last west coast event of the tour: Winters, California.

 

Beginning Farmer Mixer

w/workshops, farm tour, networking, service providers and glorious local food. 

 

Sponsored by Greenhorns, California Farmlink, NCAT, Center for Land-Based Learning

 

Its train-accessible from the Bay area, just take your bike on Amtrak to Davis and head out down the walnut/olive lined bike paths towards Winters. 

 

RSVP to Anya Kamenskaya <anya.kamenskaya@gmail.com>

  

Stock up for Christmas!

on 'Brooke Budner for Greenhorns' posters.

 

We did a big printing of the series of four posters on ETSY and knocked down the prices as a result.

You can now get all four for $60+ shipping. They are quite huge, so be ready for that.
 

There are two new posters as well"Farming: a job outside" by The Beehive Collective, with type help from Amy Franceschini, and "you have so much potential," a poster of seeds also by Brooke Budner. We are working on a Rangeland one for cowboys + girls and should have that soon. 


Don't forget also about buttons, stickers, and pocket edition guide books!

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/greenhorns

  

Greenhorns book project.

 

We are underway, working with farmer-authors from all over the country in the production of Storey Publishing's Greenhorns guidebook. This winter Zoe Bradbury, Brooke Budner,  Severine vT Fleming, and Paula Manalo will be busy little bees getting that guidebook together. If you have interest in contributing an essay to that book please email Paula Somoza Manalo <pmanalo@gmail.com> and she'll send you the submission guidelines. We have a pretty tight little format together--and a firm page limit so do check in with us before busting your butt typing it all out. Or, alternatively, bust your butt and then we can help you pitch the story to another venue if it doesn't fit with our format.

 

Meanwhile feel free to download our free ( 5th edition) zine version here: The Greenhorns Guide for Beginning Farmers [PDF, 3.18 MB]

 

And the new "Land.Liberty.Sunshine.Stamina: a compendium of resources on land tenure" Greenhorns Mini Compendium on Land Tenure Resources [PDF, 10MB]

 

 

This has been a year. 

By the end of 2010 Greenhorns will have done 37 events in 13 states.  I've personally been in 24 states this year, shooting, eventing, speaking with microphone, visiting young farmers+ mixing it up! I took the train across a few of those I'll admit, but man it was a big year for us. Remay + airplanes: we're not done yet.

 

 

Dec 2-3, Stone Barns: 3rd Annual Young Farmer Conference

 

Back in our home Hudson Valley, Greenhorns + National Young Farmer Coalition will be there, screening, tabling and carrying on important conversations with our fellow young farmers, organizers and activists. Its totally booked, but you can email Nena Johnson <nenaj@stonebarnscenter.org> to join the wait list, and indicate to her your extreme interest in attending. And the need for them to expand the capacity of the conference next year. 

 

Jan 21, Saratoga Springs: NOFA NY Winter Conference

Beginning Farmer mixer with wool Craft activities, Service providers, micro-brew, super Cheeses. Young/beginner farmer scholarships available!

 

Jan 26, Pacific Grove CA: EcoFarm Conference

Then we're back west, and we'll have more news on EcoFarm as it approaches. Its really a lot easier to look at our events page with all the nice posters and the google cal-- it being autumn maybe a good time to see which event you might be able to attend ( the 2011 spring+ summer schedule will be posted mid December) and which of your friends might be able to attend so you can effectively spread the word. Its organized like a concert schedule with scrolling down : http://www.thegreenhorns.net/events.html

 

 

We greenhorns have a lot more up our sleeves. See you soon, or join us!

 

S, P, H, L, P, Z, B, L, S, C, A, et al.

October 2010

Greenhorns will be in Vermont this weekend too!

At the Tunbridge Fairgrounds! Working demos, electricity generating carts, forestry, plowing, carriage rides. What more could we ask for!

For more details and a full schedule of workshops, demos and speakers, visit the website

August 2010

July 2010

June 2010

Swallows are swooping, eaglets are molting, tomatoes are in! Adventures!

Dear greenhorns & NYF Coalitioneers,

We've returned east after a really super west coast set of mixers. Images from our Petaluma Young Farmer mixer at the Baker Creek Seed Bank are up on the Flickr page. You might have heard about the 600 oysters that were donated? Yes, we're thinking that might become a tradition. Check out the Eventspage on our web site for a full list of upcoming happenings, including a Cherry Pie Mixer in Detroit and, later this year, a West Coast film tour.

Thanks so much for staying up with our network.

Severine + greenhorns

FILM + BOOK + RADIO NEWS

So much great new footage from our trips south to Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama – and of the young farmers in Washington DC asking for change! We are pleased to be working once again with the fine filmmakers and agricultural advocates who made KING CORN. Check out all the great work they’re up to at Wicked Delicate. 
 
We got a deal! Greenhorns is delighted to report our agreement with Storey Publishing to turn our little zine and wiki, “Greenhorns Guide For Beginning Farmers," into a real, fully illustrated BOOK! Thrills abound and we're off at a gallop (myself, Zoe Bradbury, Paula Manalo and illustrator Brooke Budner) working to compile the pep-talk, index, and trajectory planning advice that we wish we'd had in hand when we started our farm careers. The revised (free!) guidebook is available for download and editing here. Your suggestions and comments matter!

We’re still broadcasting every week, with cool guests and new sponsors: Meatpaper + Rishi Tea. We've begun interviewing some of the farmers nominated on our website, and as a result the breadth of our coverage has grown tremendously. Follow the link here to get the podcast: lots of people are writing in saying that they listen to the shows while seeding in the greenhouse. Please keep nominating well-spoken farmers!

ACTION ALERT!

Many of you familiar with our network have already heard about IDAs (individual development accounts). These are special farmer bank accounts in which a federally backed non-profit group matches or doubles money the farmer puts in. After three years these savings + bonus go toward land, equipment or on-farm infrastructure funding. Good for farmer, good for farm, good for local food system. California Farmlink, a national thought leader in beginning farmer affairs, has been on the frontline getting funding allocated for these IDA accounts. Please follow the links to learn more and add your signature to the list pressuring lawmakers to deliver the funding they promised to this program.

• Action Alert PDF
• Letter for Action Alert PDF
• About IDAs from Cal Farmlink
• USDA Study on Expanding IDA’s
• Call Your Representative

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TAKE THE BEGINNING FARMER SURVEY

Cornell's Beginning Farmer Education Enhancement team needs your help prioritizing the challenges and needs of new farmers. We recognize that this is a difficult time to burden farmers with a questionnaire, but this is a project that will direct federal funds to better serve this important population, so it's worth it to get the recommendations right! The survey can be accessed at www.surveymonkey.com/s/BarrierID and easily completed online. Questions? Contact Erica Frenay at 607-255-9911 or ejf5@cornell.edu. 

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COALITION UPDATE

The National Young Farmers Coalition has applied for a 50k grant from the USDA's Risk Management agency to continue development on www.serveyourcountryfood.net – our farmer database/ mapping project. User commentary has informed our vision for the site, which will include a young farmer craigslist, demographic data reporting, market vector mapping, limbo/apprentice farmer dots, institutional service provider mapping (FSA, extension, teaching farms, CRAFT program farms etc.) and much more.

...& A FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENT 

We are also pleased to announce that we have received a grant of $15,000 fromNewman’s Own Foundation in support of our work producing The Greenhorns film, and distributing that film to educational audiences. Other grants and sponsorship ops are tipping into the piggy bank, thankfully. Do you know someone who might like to contribute? Send that generous farmer friend to the TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donation silo on our homepage.

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MERCH<

If you are not into philanthropy but still want to show support for us, there is unique young farmer merch in our Etsy shop. Four fabulous Brooke Budner posters, stickers, shirts, and soon Coyuchi tote bags!

April 2010

greenhorns.
Happy Easter. Happy Vernal Equinox. Happy Spring!
Husky little troopers we've all been this winter neck deep in snow drifts! But now that springtime bounce has come back to the earth, the pep to our step, and those little greenly fellows keep popping up. Good gracious the madness of spring!
news:
We had a super lovely Vernal Equinox Hogget Cook Off at Kinderhook Farm with Adam the butcher, Devon the tanner, Chris the spinner, Natsuko the soapmaker. Super duper cookery by La and Fiore, music by Red Rooster and Red Lions and Tao, and such a lot of lovely local young farmers. Thank you to McEnroe farm and Suko for growing pea shoots, and baby greens for our salad! Thank you Derrick and Mead Orchard for the firewood. Thank you Animal Welfare Approved for the support and thank you Lee and Georgia Ranney for hosting us so graciously. Baby lamb and butchery pics up on the blog flickr page.
Now we're preparing for our April west coast events-- in Oregon or Sonoma zona? Please be in touch, there is room to collaborate/ table/cross pollinate.
Washington State recently legalized farm apprenticeships.
Since our last update we've been off shooting video with DPs Wilmot Kidd and Jay Dunbar in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and in Washington DC where Severine presented at the Drake Forum on Beginning Farmers. You can listen to those proceedings here. So now we're back to fundraising so we can hire an editor and restart editing. Hopeful that at least two of our big grants come in.
nice little profile/article:
www.grist.org/article/greenhorn-guerilla
posters
The Krankies silkscreeners in Winston Salem N.C. printed out a 2nd edition of Brooke Budner's 'use your tools wisely' and 'spend some time in the kitchen with your friends' posters. And the 'your trusty steed' and 'fruits of your labor' posters will be done in time for our Petaluma mixer- digital offset on the west coast. Make your orders on Etsy.
Our first 2 USDA posters are in and stupendous. They are designed by Jim McMullen http://www.jamesmcmullan.com/ and Paul Sahre http://www.paulsahre.com/. We have one in the works from beehive collective www.beehivecollective.org/. These posters are part of our Beginning Farmer and Rancher Program reaching into k-12 classrooms to recruit the next generation of farmers.
 
farm update
Smithereen farm, as you likely know, had a bit of 'Land drama', from which we've thankfully recovered.  This season Severine will be working for Dina Brewster at The Hickories Farm in Ridgefield CT. Tyler will be working for Sean Stanton at North Plain Farm in Great Barrington, MA. All is well and good, we are still all working with young farmers, for young farmers and in the good company of young farmers. Meanwhile,  our search for a new headquarter farm continues calmly, optimistically, and very very carefully.
greenhorns album
Its called 'greenhorns' by paul curreri. Its our sound track (10 tracks). Paul and I have decided that we can release it before the film. It'll be up on Etsy- we are working on cover art.
NYFC update
After its founding at the Stone Barns Young Farmer's Conference, I'm pleased to announce that the National young Farmer Coalition is live on the web and an official legal entity!www.youngfarmers.org. Our logo (still being tweaked) is by Future Farmer Amy Francheshini, with web design by Greg Osofsky. Thank you both! We've just heard back from the Open Space Institute that we've been accepted for fiscal sponsorship-- so quite soon we'll be after you to become a member! of the coalition, and to start sending in your ideas and suggestions. Our motto: "by young farmers for young farmers"
 
As a preface to the upcoming events, I thought I'd spend a minute revisiting the question: "Why organize events for young farmers?"
We Greenhorns spend an increasing amount of our time coordinating these collaborative, cooperative events all around the country. Each event is unique, celebrational and educational. While the events are inclusive of 'aspiring farmers, eaters and families' they are deliberately designed to serve young farmers.  Its not a conference, not a marketplace. We are not hustling our produce! We are hanging out!
The events provide a venue for networking, socializing, skill-sharing, telling stories, confirming gut feelings, sharing equipment, sharing insight, and building community relationships and team-strength. Country dances, chautauqa, grange hall meetings etc. have faded in this country, and as our rural communities struggle to maintain a social scene it is doubly important that the next generation create, recreate and re-instate these social institutions. We greenhorns, as a small organization powered by a network of volunteers, feel this to be a good format for our advocacy, and a useful service to the community of young farmers. As we work to represent young farmers, communicate about young farmers, connect young farmers, and gather resources for young farmers-- it really helps to spend time listening to the banter, concerns, and gossip of our constituents, particularly as we start focusing our energy around the coming Farm bill. The technology we need to gather that critical insight is not complicated: a few bulletin boards, beer, a bonfire, farm host, a seasonal/technical theme + posse of cohorts. If there are others of you interested in convening these gatherings, supporting these relationships and throwing some parties... please be in touch. We've got event templates aplenty and are looking for partners in other regions.
GREENHORNS EVENTS
( pdf. flyers are up on the blog+ facebook page)
spread the word to folks you know in those places!
April 14+ 15
Sisters OR
Small Farmers Journal, Small Farms Conservancy, Friends of Family Farmers, Greenhorns co sponsor: Young Farmer panel, screening, social, nibbles + sparkly beverages.
April 25
Petaluma CA
Baker Creek Seed Bank, Sonoma Historical Society, Greenhorns, Greenstring Farm Band, Greenstring Farm
May Day
Tivoli NY/ Ridgefield CT
Onion Planting and Stone Moving and May pole!
May 22
Charleston, SC/ West Virginia
TBA Young Farmers Mixer
June
Jamaica Plain, MA
Elderflower bike forage
August
Maine
2 day Chautauqua
details TBA
to join planning committee please email cheflamason@gmail.com

March 2010

Vernal equinox hogget Cook Off!

A celebrational/educational event, feast and community gathering in the hudson valley

In honor of the vernal equinox, spring and the start of a new growing season, join The Greenhorns and Animal Welfare Approved at Kinderhook Farm in Valatie, NY on March 20-21 for a celebration of agricultural activities, rural community and a farm to table feast. Thanks to Flying Deer Nature Center, McEnroe Organic Farm, Hawthorne Valley Farm and Art &Agriculture for their support.

What is a Hogget?
A Hogget is a yearling lamb yet to be sheared that has been raised on pasture throughout the year and fed hay & legumes from the farm through the winter. Lambs are traditionally born between the end of January and beginning of March. This allows the young lambs to nurse naturally and weaned when the pastures grow back in the spring. The Kinderhook Farm hogget we will be working with reflects the age, size and tenderness of a lamb of this age.

The event begins with a butchery demonstration of the whole hogget, followed by a cooking demonstration, hide tanning, wool crafts and soap making. Saturday will close with a feast and musical performance by folk collective The Red Rooster. Coffee, tea and snacks will be provided throughout the day.

On Sunday the activities will continue with morning Yoga at Kinderhook Farm and tours of McEnroe Organic Farm and Old Chatham Sheepherding Company. There are also great local hiking trails, sculpture fields and restaurants worth checking out.

This weekend couldn’t be possible without the help of farmers and community allies. Please help out by shopping and supporting local businesses.
www.kinderhookfarm.com
http://flyingdeernaturecenter.org
http://mcenroeorganicfarm.com/
http://www.blacksheepcheese.com
http://www.strongtreecoffee.com
www.hawthornevalleyfarm.org
http://artandagriculture.org/
www.fishkillfarms.com

Weekend admission: $45-200/per adult (sliding scale) $15/per child under 12 years old. ***Worktrade options available.

Special thanks to butcher Adam Danforth, Chef La Mason and Chef Fiore Tedesco.

For any Questions please contact: La Mason @ cheflamason@gmail.com or Severine von Tscharner Fleming @ severine@pixiepoppins.org

 Schedule of events:

Saturday, March 20
At Kinderhook Farm

All Day - Hide Tanning, Wool Crafts, Soap Making workshops
10:00 am Opening Remarks
10:30 am Hogget Butchering Demonstration
1:00 pm Light Lunch
2:00 pm Cooking Demonstrations
7:00 pm Hogget Feast in the Barn
The Red Rooster Folk Collective will close the evening with music

Sunday, March 21
At Kinderhook Farm
10:30am–3pm Hide Tanning, Wool Crafts, Soap Making
11:00am Yoga in the Barn
12:30-2:30 Hogget Stew

At McEnroe Organic Farm
1pm Farm Tour
3pm Farm Tour

Directions to Kinderhook Farm:

From Taconic Parkway:
Take Taconic Parkway to the Austerlitz/Chatham Route 203 exit. If coming from the
south, turn right at end of ramp onto Route 203. If coming from the north, turn left at end
of ramp onto Route 203. In 4.1 miles (just after passing Callander's Nursery), turn left
onto County Route 21B. Take the first right onto County Road 21. Kinderhook Farm is
about 1/2 mile on your right.

From NY State Thruway:
Take NY State Thruway (I-87) to Exit 21. After tollbooth turn left and in 1/2 mile turn
left onto Route 23 eastbound. Follow signs to Rip Van Winkle Bridge, cross bridge, and
continue on Route 23 for 2.6 miles to the first traffic light. At the light, turn left onto
Route 9. At first stop sign, bear right. Continue past the Columbia Memorial Hospital on
your left. At second stop sign, turn right onto Route 66. Follow Route 66 for 9.8 miles to
the hamlet of Ghent. Turn left onto County Route 21. Follow County Route 21 for 3.1
miles. County Route 21 turns left just after passing the grass airstrip on the left.
Kinderhook Farm will be on your right 1/2 mile after making that turn.

From Albany Area:
Take I-90 east to Exit 12 (Route 9 Hudson). At end of ramp, turn right towards Hudson.
Continue on Route 9 south 5.6 miles to Valatie. Turn left onto Route 203 eastbound.
Follow Route 203 (making a right turn over the bridge as you leave the village of Valatie)
4 miles. Turn right onto County Route 21B. Take the first right onto County Route 21.
Kinderhook Farm is about 1/2 mile on your right.

From Hudson, NY:
Take Columbia Street eastbound until you pass Columbia Memorial Hospital on your
right. Columbia Street turns into Route 66. From the hospital, follow Route 66 for 9.8
miles to the hamlet of Ghent. Turn left onto County Route 21. Follow County Route 21
for 3.1 miles. County Route 21 turns left just after passing the grass airstrip on the left.
Kinderhook Farm will be on your right 1/2 mile after making that turn.

Driving from New York City: (Approx. 120 miles)
Find your way to the Taconic Parkway or to the New York State Thruway (I-87)
northbound. Then continue according to the directions above for each highway.

Places to Stay:

Chatham Travel Lodge
Route 295
Chatham, NY 12037
Telephone # 518-392-4066
www.chathamtravellodge.com
$65-$69 per night

Blue Spruce Inn & Suites
Route 9, Valatie, New York 12184
(518) 758-9711
http://www.bluespruceinnsuites.com
$65-$90 per night

Thyme in the Country B&B
671 Fish and Game Road
Hudson, NY 12534
518-672-6166
http://thymeinthecountrybandb.com
$130-$155 per night

The Van Schaack House
20 Broad St.
Kinderhook NY 12106
Phone: 518-758-6118
http://www.vanschaackhouse.com/index.html
$150-$210 per night

The Inn at Hudson
317 Allen St
Hudson, NY
518-822-9322
www.theinnathudson.com
$200-$225 first night
$100-$125 second night

Hudson City B&B
326 Allen St
Hudson, NY
518-822-8044
www.hudsoncitybnb.com
$100-$150 per night

The Country Squire Bed & Breakfast
251 Allen Street
Hudson, NY 12534
518-822-9229
www.countrysquireny.com
$130-$155 per night

+ this just in! our interactive mapping website, Serve Your Country Food, has been nominated for a TreeHugger.com "Best of Green" award in the Food & Health category .

Starting today and running until Friday, April 2, 2010 is the reader's choice voting period. Show some love and vote for Serve Your Country Food for "Best Website About Farming or Gardening". You can vote once a day until voting ends. Winners will be announced the week of April 12, 2010. 

February 2010

Greenhorns. 

Just back from the vermont mixer with pockets full of cheese. What a joy to see such confident, able bodied and rosy cheeked young farmers, and to drink such wonderful beer. 

blog!

radio!

map!

Much, as usual on the calendar. And below that a report on the status of the doc. film. 

 

UPCOMING:

Feb 21
Williamsburg Brooklyn
Local x Local
With Severine+ Rooftop farmer Annie Novak
http://www.brooklynbowl.com/local-x-local-feat-the-phenomenal-handclap-band/

Feb 28
NYC NY
Just Food CSA Conference
panel for aspiring CSA growers: supplying the demand
www.justfood.org

March 3+ 4
Washington DC
Drake Forum, Beginning Farmer Symposium 
http://www.law.drake.edu/centers/agLaw/?pageID=beginningFarmers
Have insight about beginning farmer needs?  email: farmer@thegreenhorns.net
Our last shoot for the movie-- we'll be filming our trip to Washington DC- as the logical conclusion of our narrative arc ( from instinct * there is a movement,  to institution * we have our own political coalition)

March 13th
Williamstown MA
Storey Publishing Food Film Farm Festival
Greenhorns screening, Sev on panel w/ other young farmers
http://www.farmfilmfeast.com/

March 20+ 21st
Valatie, NY- Kinderhook Farm
Vernal Equinox Hogget Cook-off
w/ live music by Red Rooster, hide tanning with Flying Deer Nature Center
sponsored by Greenhorns, McEnroe, Animal Welfare Approved
http://www.redroostermusic.com/
http://flyingdeernaturecenter.org/
http://www.kinderhookfarm.com/
rsvp: tucker@tuckerschwarz.com

Department of Justice Hearings. 
Ongoing: We are watching, though not attending
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/workshops/ag2010/index.htm#dates

April. 14th
Sisters, Oregon
Young Farmer panel, screening and social at the 
Small Farmers Journal Annual Swap Meet+ Horse Drawn Equipment Auction

April 25
Petaluma CA
Green String Farm Band Mixer

May: 
Mixer in West Virginia
+ North Carolina

June:
Mixer in Detroit for US Social Forum in collab

Winter

Its been a busy, metamorphic winter and its an even busier spring coming up. You might remember our announcements about the the Stone Barns Young Farmer Conference in December-- well, at that meeting a new group was officially formed: The National Young Farmer Coalition. This coalition has the mission to serve young+ beginning farmers in a practical, social and political capacity moving forward. NYFC is now officially incorporated with the State of New York- - and we've been filming that process, as we will be our upcoming trip to Washington DC to present about Greenhorns network and NYFC at the Drake Forum for Beginning farmers. 

On the merch front

Brooke has designed a new poster: "your trusty steed"  to add to the gorgeous "fruits of your labor," "spend some time in the kitchen with your friends," and "use your tools wisely" posters. These are all available to order on etsyin both silk screened (thank you Krankies, winston salem NC) and digital offset printing (slightly cheaper+ more flimsy).

Greenhorns has also been partnering some super cool graphic designers in New York City, in a collaboration with our art director/ally James Trueman. Paul Sahre and others are working on designs for our "Public School Ag Recruitment Series," which is a partnership with Cornell + FFA (Future Farmers of America) and other partners as part of the USDA funded 'Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Grant Group.' Yes- lots of meetings and conference calls. This last one took place at Cobleskill right across the hall from a "diesel tractor repair lab" with tractors and tools that you can use to learn mechanics. So lots of new partners, new projects and new paradigms of engagement. 

 Film front

This last shoot is a few weeks out (which will bring us down to GA and MISSISSIPPI), but then we'll be done with shooting, whew! And can keep up the work on our rough cut...getting it smooth and ready to release. We thank you for your patience, we have been quite ambitious with the scope of this project, (24 events last year alone) have taken on quite a lot of ancillary projects, and frankly are glad to have survived the "rockstar super pulse" of press attention that occupied so much of our time! 

Greenhorns started as an instinct,a hunch that a "young farmer movement" was building. That hunch turned into a film project, which turned into a network, and a bunch of punky programming driven by our intention to serve, promote and recruit more young farmers in America. Then came the DRAMA of losing our farm, and the tornado hitting the Swancy farm in Georgia.  Now, with the founding of the National Young Farmers Coalition, we have created a formal, grown up institutionthat can represent young+ beginning farmers on the national stage in the coming Farm Bill, with practical support, and with continued social engagement. This transition of the project, the evolution of the rhetoric, the growing visibility of the players, the narrative arc of the film: these have all played out in real time around the country in our travels+ travails.  Those of you who are impatient for the film: and there are many of you! Please remember, our very first fundraiser for this project was on the front page of the NYTIMES style section. Transparency is fabulous, but it has meant that our micro-organization has had to perform for a big audience, had to grow exponentially in its first budget year, and had to ward off a bunch of reality-tv show offers while building up our database of young farmers. 

So. This is just to say. We've been distracted overachievers. Forgive us, it was so sweet and so brave and so delicious. 

You'll be the first to know, we are hoping for May release. 

XX
Severine