[TheUWfarm] FARMmonth September 2010 - Your monthly summer farm newsletter

FARMmonth Summer Newsletter | September 2010
Upcoming Farm Events and General Information September 27 Dawg Daze Pizza Bake 12:30 - 3 pm See Facebook event here _____________ New ways to get farm information! Facebook Fan Page - become a fan! Twitter Feed- follow us! ___________ UW Farm website UW Farm Blog Send all submissions for summer's monthly newsletter to uwfarm@u.washington.edu During the summer, the newsletter will go out once a month. The next newsletter will go out at the beginning of October ___________	UW Farm Updates Updates for the Coming Year Beth Wheat (who happens to be defending her thesis tomorrow September 8, at 10 am, in Fisheries 102 and would love to see you there) has some updates for the fall quarter: Beth will be running the tuesday farm lunch seminar on Tuesdays from 12:30 - 1:20. If there are farmers who have a particular interest they'd like to explore it would be great to send ideas/speaker suggestions to Beth at elizaw@uw.edu. The seminar will focus on more or less equal parts reading/discussion partnered with visiting speakers this fall. The readings will focus on G.E. crops and sustainable agriculture. This is offered C/NC, but you don't have to register to show up! We are looking for a stalwart crew of dirty dozen volunteers this fall. Dirty Dozen volunteers are the core group of UW farm workers - they literally 'make the farm run.' Each dirty dozen volunteer must commit to attending Friday morning meetings at 7:30 (all quarter long) in addition to volunteering for two hours of work each week. The Dirty Dozen orientation will be Saturday, October 2nd from 9 - noon. Becoming a dirty dozen volunteer is a great way to get involved in the farm. If you are interested please write to beth at elizaw@uw.edu. Lastly - We have two interns this coming fall, but we'd be happy for one more. If you are interested in becoming a farm intern - it isn't too late. Farm internships are 3 credits of biology 399. It requires ~10/week of time spent at the farm along with additional reading time and a weekly meeting. It is a great way to deepen your understanding of sustainable agriculture its practice in the Urban Environment. Please send a explaining your interest in the internship to our education coordinator, Beth Wheat - elizaw@u.washington.edu Lastly, for our mailer we are seeking addresses of people you think might like to donate to the UW FARM fund! We have a great direct mailing that is about to go out and we need to people our address list - parents, family members, friends - please add them to the list here! Green Team - Planning the 2011 Growing Season Hey all - the start of Fall quarter is approaching, and with it the season of dreaming up Farm veggies on the Green Team! Let me know if you might be interested in participating. I'll ask everyone I hear from about times that work for them for our first meeting in early October, before announcing it to Farm followers at large. Below is the description of the GT from August. ------------------------------------ Hi Farm Friends, Rachel Stubbs here - future co-leader of the UW Farm Green Team. I have the fantastic job this year of heading up a group of people who'll plan what to plant, grow, and eat in 2011! As UW's fall quarter approaches, I hope you'll consider being involved in this exciting, educational, and essential part of the Farm. Here's what the process might look like based on other years, conversations with previous Team members, and my time as a Dirty Dozen member and intern last year: We'll meet once or twice a month during Fall Quarter with the aim of making a seed order and having a planting calendar in January. During these meetings, we'll brainstorm what crops we want on the Farm during the Spring, Summer, and Fall growing seasons, research the conditions and timing these plants need, and make a plan for their locations and time frames. Then starting with early Spring crops in February, the Farm will put the plan into action. We'll follow its progress, meeting at our convenience to touch base about what we see working and what could be improved for next year's plan. Throughout the process, we'll be working with the Farm Director, interns, Dirty Dozen, and other involved folks. What's asked of Green Team Members: - Consistent attendance at monthly/bimonthly meetings - Willingness to do some outside research into the plants you love - Thoughtful contribution to the ongoing improvement of the Team - A creative and cooperative spirit in approaching the planning process Why Green Team is going to be such a worthwhile experience: - We'll learn a LOT about the essential elements of growing things - We'll be able to make the UW Farm our own in a personal way - We'll get to know other people who love the Farm and what happens there - We'll get to decide just exactly what will go on our pizzas next year! As you're vamping up for the coming Fall quarter, please think about whether you'd like to be part of the 2010-2011 Green Team. Email me with any questions, suggestions, or just as a heads-up on your interest. Can't wait to see y'all in the fall! -Rachel Stubbs rachelnstubbs@gmail.com Want to get involved in the farm? The Outreach Committee Wants You! Ready for a new year at the farm? We are! An important part of what we do is making sure that everyone knows what's happening at the farm - that's where our Outreach Committee comes in. If you are looking for a way to get involved with the farm please check out this committee! With the farm's growing student interest and potential expansion, it is extremely important that we continue to get the word out about the wonderful happenings! We will be meeting once every two weeks for an hour or so to work on: -Organizing pizza bakes and fundraiser dances -Strengthening relationships with students, professors, faculty and the greater community -Student recruitment -Publicity -Planning tabling at events -Designing t-shirts and buttons If you are interested, have any questions, or just want to talk, feel free to email our Outreach Coordinator Julia Reed at juliareed1105@gmail.com. As a subset of this committee, we will be increasing our efforts in different forms of online social networking. If you'd like to write blog posts, learn how to update the webpage, be a part of our twitter/facebook crew, and/or work on the weekly newsletter, please email Michelle Venetucci Harvey at harveym@uw.edu. No experience necessary! Sept. 27 Dawg Daze Pizza Bake - Come Welcome Freshmen Hazzzzah! The U.W. Farm and U.W. Student Food CO-OP invites you to join us for an event that will knock your overalls off. Come eat pizzas in our very own wood fired cob oven. These pizzas will be topped with fresh organic vegetables grown at our farm! Its going to be a hoe down with some good ole tunes (that means dancing!). This is a Dawg Daze event for incoming freshmen. It would be great if you could come and give them a warm farmer welcome! Facebook event page here While you're at it, become a fan of our new Facebook Fan Page, and follow us onTwitter! Off Farm Stuff Social Justice Film Series: The Garden The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country's most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis.The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers: Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made public? The movie's trailer can be found here. For more information on the event, please visit the WA Community Action Network website. There will also be a training about "Campaigning in the Digital Age" put on by the same organization on September 17th. In this training, we will analyze and discuss the what and how of campaign strategy in the age of digital organizing. The seminar will look at a number of campaigns combining online and offline organizing to effect change, with a special focus including Presente.org's Basta Dobbs campaign (www.bastadobbs.com), the successful effort to remove Lou Dobbs from CNN. We will look at & discuss how the campaign fused traditional, offline organizing methods with online and other new media organizing methods, how we became media to defeat Media. After studying examples of successful strategy development, we will take a hands-on, practical session that applies principles and practices learned to a specific campaign. This day-long training is $50 and has very limited space available. Please contact danisha@nwfco.org for more information. Both events will be held at Southside Commons, 3518 S. Edmunds St. Work-study Job Opportunity: Ethnographic Study of Urban Foraging The Institute for Culture and Ecology is looking for a student assistant with Work Study approval to help with an ethnographic project on Urban Foraging. We are looking for a student who can work approximately 10-19 hours per week beginning Fall quarter and possibly through the academic year. The student assistant will primarily be responsible for transcribing interviews. Other duties may include library research, database management, and support with focus groups and workshops. Please forward this announcement to interested students. Link to work study announcement. Volunteer at Seattle Tilth's Harvest Festival This Weekend! Volunteer with Seattle Tilth as we present the Harvest Fair on Saturday, September 11, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Opportunities include assisting in the children's garden, helping with set-up/ clean up, photographing the event, and much more! Join us in celebrating urban agriculture at this community festival and enjoy free snacks, camaraderie, the volunteer party, and help create a lively, wonderful event! Please visit the Tilth website for more information: http://seattletilth.org/get-involved/volunteer/harvestfairvolunteers2010. COFED Job Opportunities CoFed is a start-up research institute and training program that helps university leaders to create community-run, ethical food cafes on their campus. Working out of The Hub in downtown Berkeley, we are currently supporting six teams across the West coast organizing on their campuses to create financially viable hubs for the sustainable food movement. We've got an exciting projected growth plan for the coming years, have built great traction after only six months, doing over 100 hours of training for over 30 students and supporting the opening of two spaces on campuses across the West coast. We've gotten attention from folks like Good Magazine, were flown out to speak at the Slow Money Gathering in Vermont and are well-connected in our sector. We're looking for additional help at lots of levels of experience and possible (future) compensation – this is a young, fresh and exciting organization with a lot of possibilities. Jobs include: Regional Organizers, Research Team Member, Social Media Czar, Administrative Intern, Events Coordinator, and Development Intern. See here for full job descriptions. VERA Project 10k run & 4k run/walk on October 10 What is the Vera Project you ask?  We are a non-profit, volunteer run music venue and art gallery located at the Seattle Center.  Our mission is to foster a participatory creative culture through popular music concerts, arts programs, experiential learning and volunteer opportunities for all ages, especially young people. Vera's programs are always all ages and alcohol/drug-free, with a focus on young people ages 14 to 24. Our event Run Vera Run (http://runverarun.org) is in Seward Park on October 10 and features a 10k timed run & 4k run/walk.  The proceeds will go to support youth access to music and the arts in Seattle. We'll have a post-run performance from The Redwood Plan, an awesome warm-up routine, great complimentary food and drink from Caffe Vita, vitaminwater, and Via Tribunali's mobile pizza oven as well as prizes for the fastest runners and biggest fundraisers.
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