CASFS 40th Anniversary

Howdy Farm Family! This is my first post as the gracious admin of the CASFS blog and there is nothing more fitting to post other than info regarding our 40th birthday! Check the CASFS website for updates!

40th Anniversary Celebration Planned for July 27–29, 2007

2007 marks the 40th year of organic training for apprentices at the UCSC Farm & Garden. To honor this milestone and showcase the work of four decades of Apprenticeship alumni, we're hosting a weekend celebration July 27–29, 2007. Come on back for the Back 40 Celebration and get your apprentice classmates to come as well!

July 27, 1909 was the late Alan Chadwick’s birthday, inspiring the choice of July 27-29 for the anniversary of Chadwick’s founding of the UCSC Student Garden Project in 1967. The weekend will include a Friday evening reception, a Saturday symposium of alumni speakers, dinner in the farm fields, poetry and stories in the Garden, alumni farm tours, and much more. The detailed program and registration information for the Back 40 Celebration will be sent to Apprenticeship alumni in early 2007. In the meantime, if you’d like more information about the event, contact Erin Justus at farmandgarden@gmail.com, or call 831.459-3248.

A contact person for each year has offered to help locate apprentices from that year’s group. If you would like to volunteer or want to reach the contact person for your group, please contact call or email Erin Justus. Event information will also be put on our web site as we get more details; see www.ucsc.edu/casfs and click on the Back 40 Anniversary Celebration link under Announcements.

Other 40th anniversary events are being planned throughout 2007, including a 40th Kick-off “mixer” at the Ecological Farming Conference in January and some special 40th anniversary editions of Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden events.

MORE info regarding events at Eco Farm to come! Blessings Mike

Job Offering With Eliot Coleman

Greetings from Sydney! This just in from Eliot's wife Barbara Damrosch. I've worked on Four Season Farm before, and it's a true pleasure as well as an incredible working experience. Please email Barbara if you're interested.

"We’re looking for people to work here next season. We can house up to 2 couples, now that there is an apartment above the woodworking shop (no plumbing, I’m afraid). They get to learn from Eliot and his library, while getting respectable wages, enjoying gorgeous Cape Rosier and eating an acceptable farm lunch. We, in turn, are looking for hard workers with a real interest in farming, who are good at taking responsibility for tasks on their own. We’d need at least part of the team to start by April 1st (date somewhat negotiable) and would need them to commit to staying at least through November."

Starbucks call-in! No growth hormone! yeah!

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5: NATIONAL STARBUCKS CALL-IN DAY
Tell Starbucks to stop lacing its coffee drinks with Monsanto's genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone. Tell them that injecting this cruel and dangerous drug into dairy cows is morally unacceptable. By calling them and telling them you'll stop going to their cafes if they don't drop rBGH, you'll let Starbucks know that rBGH is bad for business. Call Starbucks at: 1
(800) 235-2883

Kiwi!

Finally looked into this. Since Google owns both YouTube and Blogger I figured it would be possible but hadn't taken the time. 2006 apprentices, your YouTube login/pw is the same as it is with all of our other services. 2007, you're in good hands with Mikey J.

Seeing Stars?

Hannaford Brothers (grocery store chain) has launched an innovative new system, "Guiding Stars," in which they rate their products healthwise. Stars are awarded based on vitamin, mineral, fiber and whole grain content, offset by saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium and added sugar content. This article provides an interesting analysis of this decision, which required them to debunk the packaging on pseudo-health foods like "Lean Cuisine" and "Healthy Choice," as well as most of their Hannaford Brothers label products. I feel this is an extremely positive step towards consumer education and the creation of a more sustainable food system.
P.S. This is the 100th post on the CASFS Blog!!

The Constant Gardeners

Sunday's NY Times features this article about "the perennial king and queen of organic gardening," Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch, and their Four Season Farm in Maine.
P.S.-Eliot Coleman Greenhouses: moveable, glass, "greenhouses for the 21st century," are now online and in production.

Go Veg!!

Narrated by Alec Baldwin, the short video "Meet Your Meat" is compelling to say the least. Click the image to the right to view it online or click here to download.

A Couple of Interesting Articles

This one is about farmers who are debating whether to accept buyout offers on their community ethanol plant. A recent drop in ethanol prices is complicating their decision. And this one is about the growing trend of organic-to-go, including "drive through salad bars?" in Texas.