If you have a student in need of volunteer hours or are looking for an opportunity to help a local nonprofit ahead of its busy Farmers Market season in June, the Huss Project is hosting its Spring Cleaning Volunteer Day in Three Rivers Saturday.
Farming
CSA is a farm membership system that allows consumers to sign up to receive a season’s worth of a farm’s products (veggies, eggs, meat, flowers, grain, etc.) over a number of weeks. Find information on how to sign up for Full Circle Farm’s CSA here.
As lawmakers begin envisioning the next farm bill, some U.S. House Republicans are wary of making climate change a priority for farmers and ranchers.
The European Green Deal seeks to increase the amount of farmland that is being managed to produce organic crops to 25% by 2030. The practice is more environmentally friendly but often produces lower yields.
Over the course of the next year, lawmakers on the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture committees will draft a new federal farm bill that will shape food, farm, conservation and nutrition programs across the country for the next five years.
More than half of American farmers will reach retirement age in the next 10 years, but the steep price of entry to start a farm, along with rising input costs and volatile markets, make it tough for young and beginning farmers to take their places.
Held between the last Sunday in April and the first Sunday in May, National Stewardship Week is a time set aside to help remind people to care for the nation’s natural resources and environmental treasures for generations to come.
WSV’s Amy East writes, “Having a garden, doesn’t matter how big or small, means living in tune with the seasons. For me, it means focusing less on man-made constructs of time and more on the natural cycle of the earth. Growing food not only feeds your body, but (in my oh so humble opinion) feeds your soul by connecting you to nature. And so, while it can be overwhelming and no short amount of work, I love the bounty of food that each late summer brings with it. I love putting up as much as I can before the frost returns, and feeding my family with homegrown produce through the cold months.”
WSV’s Amy East writes, “With the first dumped feeders and somewhat pillaged barn, I got the traps back out this spring. And despite the first two catches going smoothly, I walked to the barn several days ago to be met with a scattering of chicken feathers outside the barn door. Not good. I’ll spare you the details, dear reader, but suffice it to say that it was carnage. As of this writing, I’ve lost eight chickens and we’ve dispatched additional two raccoons, and it’s not over yet. We’ve upped security measures and changed tactics, yet the ringleader is still at-large.”
For decades, scientists have studied the effects that livestock farms with large animal concentrations in Iowa and other states have on regional water quality, as increasing amounts of waste flow into rivers and groundwater. Now activists and some lawmakers say emergency measures are needed to stop toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie, dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay, and threats to drinking water in rural communities. In some states, lawmakers worry about the future of smaller family farms.
Watershed Voice spoke with ten *culture is not optional staff to learn more about the work they are doing at The Huss Project, their backgrounds, and how their time in Three Rivers has been going.