This is Caroline here, and it’s been a busy week. Now that March is here, I can almost feel the sun grow stronger by the day. The warm days last week made half of my garlic spring to life, and I’m not sure how it will survive the deep freeze of the last few days. Even if it doesn’t make it, I’m grateful that it provided a bright spot of green at the end of this cold winter, and I’m grateful also to have briefly known the man who gave us the garlic, Mike Stutsman. Thank you, Mike.
Spring is coming this month, and we’re eager to gather with local farmers at our fifth annual CSA Fair this Saturday at the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center. It will be a pleasure to get back together with the extended LFC family and we hope that many of you can join us there. For details, check out this post.
Thank you to Laura Krouse of Abbe Hills Farm for her incredible Women Caring for the Land meetings throughout eastern Iowa last week. I had the pleasure of attending the Iowa City meeting and learned more in three hours than I have in a long time! Laura explained the ins and outs of sheet and rill erosion and talked with us about conservation practices. It was a great event, and I’m looking forward to the next one. We’ll keep you posted on that. In the meantime, you can read the Christian Science Monitor’s coverage of the meetings here.
I also read this week that the folks from Food Democracy Now! met with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and presented him with their 87,000 (!!!) signature petition in support of sustainable choices for undersecretary positions. You can read more about the meeting here.
In related news, President Obama appointed Kathleen Merrigan Deputy Secretary of Agriculture this week. Merrigan is Director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at Tufts University. To read more about the appointment, check the USDA press release or the Grist feature story.
Enjoy the cold while it lasts – spring is almost here!
Thanks for posting this, Caroline. Laura will be guiding the women landowners on a field day or two later this month, and facilitating a follow-up meeting after that. Anyone interested can email her at laura@abbehills.com or call her at 319-895-6924.
Meanwhile, I hope all women interested in sustainable agriculture will visit the Women, Food and Agriculture Network website!
Thank you Leigh! I would definitely encourage anyone out there who is interested to get involved in both Women Caring for the Land and the Women, Food and Agriculture Network. Thank you, Leigh, for all of your great work!
[...] to the introductory meetings held throughout February in Linn, Jones, and Johnson Counties. (I wrote about the Johnson County meeting here.) All are welcome, so even if you didn’t make it out to the introductory meeting, join us for [...]