News from members

Sunday, July 29, 2012

3:00 PM

Veggie House

2309 South Goliad, Rockwall, TX

Where do you have to grow food: Farm Land? Small Acreage? City Lot? You can establish a food forest on any of these sites. Geoff Lawton will show you how to do this toiling the Permaculture way—which is always very little: Most yield for least effort!

Better yet-you can plan your food forest to eat or sell food from it 12 months out of the year.

On an 80-minute DVD, Lawton starts with the basic concept of a forest, then takes us from planning, timing, and day 1 through year 7.

The bonus feature shows the remarkable lasting power of a food
forest with videos of:
30 year-old-food forest in Australia
300 year-old food forest in Vietnam
2000 year-old food forest in Morocco

This restaurant is closing druing the showing of Lawton's DVD. Please join us if you wish for lunch at 1:30. Or stay to eat after the DVD. Food is optional but you will enjoy their varied, mostly Asian food.

Continuing this week and next, we will put new information about the Food Forest DVD and Permaculture in general on Facebook and add a few pictures of Food Foests. Keep checking back here for more info:
http://facebook.com/dfwecovillage

This course is tailored to farmers, Extension agents, Natural Resources Conservation Service personnel, Soil and Water Conservation District specialists, and state agricultural agencies. The program is also targeted to crop consultants, non-governmental conservation organization staff, and others interested in pollinator conservation. This day long course will cover basic bee field identification, pollinator biology and habitat requirements, habitat restoration, bee-friendly farm management practices, and incorporating pollinator conservation into federal conservation programs. Please visit www.xerces.org/events  to view information about the courses or see the announcement below. We would be very grateful for any promotional help from TOFGA to local farmers.

Location:   

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Brown Auditorium
4801 La Crosse Ave.
Austin, TX 78739 

Date/Time:   

July 25th, 2012    9 am to 4 pm CDT 

Cost:

Thanks to support from Southern SARE, we are able to offer 30 scholarships on a first-come first-served basis. Registration is $45 per person thereafter. Discounted registration is available for NRCS personnel at $35 per person.  

Lunch is not included. Please plan on bringing a sack lunch with you to the course. 

Canceled registrations can be refunded until July 16th, 2012. 

Registration:

Registration is required for this course, click here to register online.

Contact:  

Ashley Minnerath
Pollinator Program Assistant
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation shortcourses@xerces.org or (855) 232-6639 ext. 102.     

 5-10 acres of lakefront property on Cedar Creek Lake, includes a brand new 1 bedroom apartment, on site, as well as equipment. The owner is willing to establish a lease agreement for a farm manager interested in bringing this land into production. No chemicals/pesticides have been used on this property for the last 5-7 years. Very fertile sandy loam soil. The property is 54 miles from downtown Dallas, and would be ideal for bringing produce to market in Balch Springs, Ennis, Waxahachie, Corsicana or Dallas. A local vineyard and the lake community are also interested in fresh farm products. Acreage is part of a larger tract of 100 total acres that may be available as well.

For more information, contact Mark Envani at 214-914-6012 or menvani@gmail.com. Serious inquiries only.

For photos of the property, click here.

Prairie View A&M International Goat Research Center Celebrates 30 Years

PRAIRIE VIEW, TX – Prairie View A&M University’s College of Agriculture and Human Sciences is celebrating two major events on May 5, 2012undefinedthe 30^th year existence of the International Goat Research Center and the 28^th Annual Goat Field Day. These events will begin with registration at 7:30 a.m. in the Carden-Waller Cooperative Extension building on campus followed by workshops and exhibits held at the renowned PVAMU International Goat Research Center (IGRC). Moving on to the Next 30 Years is the focus of the 2012 program.

“For the past 30 years the International Goat Research Center has engaged goat producers in Texas and provided them with information, practical workshops and a chance to interact with our staff to help determine directions for our College of Agriculture and Human Sciences research and extension programs,” said Dr. Gary Newton, director of the IGRC. “We plan to carry on this tradition.”

Topics for the 2012 Goat Field Day include: Current Status of the Meat and Dairy Goat Industry, Diseases of Pregnant Goats, Internal Parasites in Goats, Protecting your Goats with Guardian Dogs, and many more. Experts from agriculture centers and universities throughout Texas and Louisiana will be in attendance, sharing a wealth of knowledge.

Special activities are also planned for young people eight years old and under.

The program’s opening session starts at 8:30 a.m. in the Cooperative Extension building. Registration fee for adults and youth, ages nine years and older, is $10. Registration fee for youth eight years and under is free. Fees cover the costs of lunch and program materials.

Registration materials should be sent to IGRC Field Day, P.O. Box 519, Mailstop #2008, Prairie View, Texas, 77446. Interested persons can register at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7djgqxg1olcy7bj/PVGoatDay2012.pdf.

For more information contact Scott Horner, research specialist, Cooperative Extension Program, (936) 261-5087, email, sdhorner@pvamu.edu or visit http://www.facebook.com/pvcooperativeextension.

Sustaining Our Food, Sustaining Our Future
Thursday and Friday, May 10-11
Madison High School's Agriscience Magnet Program
5005 Stahl Road
San Antonio, TX

The conference will consist of three tracks, focusing on Producers and  
Markets, Community Food Systems, and Policy. Presentations will  
include Community Garden Initiatives, Food Waste Recovery, Federal and  
State Food Policies, and Food Justice.

Mark Winne will keynote the conference with a presentation on May 10.  
He is the author of Food Rebels, Guerilla Gardeners, and Smart Cookin’  
Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture and Closing  
the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty. Winne is co- 
founder of a number of food and agriculture policy groups including  
the City of Hartford Food Policy Commission, the Connecticut Food  
Policy Council, End Hunger Connecticut, and the national Community  
Food Security Coalition.

Talk and Book Signing
If you can't attend the conference but would still like to hear  
keynote speaker Mark Winne, he will also be speaking at St. Mark's  
Episcopal Church, 315 E. Pecan, San Antonio, at 7 p.m. Wednesday May  
9. Call the church office, 210 226-2426 to RSVP.

Both of his books will be available soon at The Twig Book Shop and the  
St. Mark's Bookstore, and will be sold at the conference.