Job Offering in Arizona!

We have farmed in Arizona since 1960 and have converted our farm into a community that includes a permanent 12-15 acre urban farm. We have been cover cropping and doing test gardens for five years now and are about to plant our first production garden. It will be used to supply produce to our restaurant, a coffeehouse, and our produce stand. The farming is done organically.

Our staff is small and we are currently looking for someone who is passionate about urban, organic farming to be our head farmer. It is desert growing, which has its own special challenges. Housing is available on the farm.

We are located in Glibert, AZ and the name of the community is Agritopia. Our web site is www.agritopia.com, if you would like further information. Please contact us, if you are interested. The position is available immediately.

Take Action Now...

Last year, farmers and citizens in Mendocino County California voted to become the first county in the U.S. to ban genetically engineered (GE) crops. Since then, two more California counties and two cities have followed Mendocino's example. In response, the biotech industry is working to remove these democratic rights. In the past several months, 14 U.S. states, prodded by the Monsanto Corporation and the Farm Bureau, have made it illegal for local communities to ban GE crops.

Two recently introduced bills (AB 1508 and SB 1056) in the California legislature would make California the 15th state to eliminate local communities' rights to ban or otherwise regulate genetically engineered seeds. This "preemption" bill would overturn GE-Free victories in Mendocino, Trinity, and Marin counties, as well as the cities of Arcata and Point Arena, and prohibit local communities from banning or regulating genetically engineered crops in the future.

Please take action now to stop the biotech industry from hijacking democracy! p.s. Spread the word!
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ca.htm

Who Killed The Electric Car?

Facinating. Produced by Sony Pictures, opened June 28th, coming to Santa Cruz July 28th, the trailer can be found here.

Tour D'Organics Santa Cruz

Date: Sunday July 23, 2006
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Type of Event: Bicycle Touring
The Tour d’Organics is a bicycle century featuring local, organic food and farms. The routes stop at local farms where riders can refuel from fruit straight from the field. Come enjoy strawberries, melons, peaches, plums, figs, tomatoes and a bounty of vegetables while riding through beautiful country. 35, 65 and 100 mile options.
Contact Email: bradley@organicathlete.org
Contact Phone: 707/360-8511
Web site: http://www.tourdorganics.com

These Are The Battles!!!

Please ACT NOW! Fight the National Uniformity for Food Act! The Senate is expected to vote soon on the National Uniformity for Food Act (S. 3128), a bill that could wipe out an estimated 200 state and local food safety and labeling laws, including shellfish and milk safety laws, restaurant safety laws, and carcinogen and lead warning labels. The bill eliminates state laws that protect consumers in favor of a "uniform" lowest common denominator of existing federal food laws. Since this dangerous bill already passed in the House, your help is needed now to defeat it in the Senate. Learn more about this issue and send an e'mail to your senators. Please be sure to personalize the sample text and subject line so that your letter has the greatest impact. If you have already sent a letter on this issue, please call your senators to reinforce your message. Find your senators' phone numbers here.

Update From The Front Lines...

It looks like Whole Foods is getting the Buy Fresh, Buy Local message. Details here, courtesy of our friends at the Grist.

Epigenetics=Why We Should Care

This is an amazing article about how what we eat and the environment influences the epigenetic make-up of our DNA. The most astonishing thing to me is that once a change occurs, it is passed on forever as the DNA replicates unless something influences it to change back. Please share this article with everyone you know. It is supposed to be available by subscription only, but it's importance moved me to create a tinyurl for all to access: http://tinyurl.com/qnr76

A Few Things..

1. This is the website Diane referred to in her e'mail. I found it to be a very informative resource for the aspiring small farmer in California.
2. This is a movie called "Monumental," which is extremely inspirational. It outlines the early history of the Sierra Club and how David Brower pushed the 1964 Wilderness Act through Congress, saved the Grand Canyon from damming and helped create Redwoods National Park, Cascades National Park and Point Reyes National Seashore. I was boggled by how much one man can accomplish and the fact that so much of what we take for granted today was entirely up for grabs as little as 30 years ago.
3. For those of you who post on the blog, please do NOT republish your posts, simply refresh your browser. In the CASFS Library, this requires refreshing 4 browsers--Safari and Firefox on both computers. Thanks =*)

NEXT WED 7/12: ARDEN to talk about URBAN SCHOOL GARDEN PROGRAMS

Wednesday Night July 12th SOW with Garden Crusader: Arden Bucklin-Sporer.
She will give a presentation and slide show on urban school garden programs in San Francisco and discuss how to find funding for yourself and your garden program.

DIRECTOR/ Preparing the Ground; the San Francisco Green Classroom Project
Develops and directs a non-profit organization dedicated to rejuvenating San Francisco public school gardens in order to use them as outdoor classrooms, linking and integrating California’s core curriculum using nutrition and science as part of the garden curriculum.

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL GARDENS/ SFUSD
Works closely with Facilities Management of SFUSD to promote and sustain school garden programs.

When Arden Bucklin-Sporer decided to make an outdoor classroom out of a San Francisco Public school’s neighboring empty lot, the gardening program was a new experience for almost all of the students. With approval of the principal and a small grant from the parent association, Arden began a school gardening program in 1995. This beautiful garden grows organic flowers and vegetables all year long and is an outdoor classroom used by all the elementary school teachers of Alice Fong Yu Alternative School. Children have the opportunity to learn first hand about nutrition, botany, entomology, horticulture and cooking. The teachers have found interesting and compelling ways of integrating core curriculum and standards.

In 2003, Arden created the position of Director of Educational Gardens in the San Francisco Unified School District, working closely with Buildings and Grounds, Landscape Department, Student Health, and school principals. She is working to raise the awareness and profile of school gardens, link the coordinators of these sites with available resources, promote ecoliteracy, and grow healthier children in this district.

Alice Fong Yu Alternative School Garden continues to be a model for San Francisco Public School Gardens, and Arden continues to work to support, strengthen and sustain garden based education in the San Francisco Unified School District.