Sunday, October 31, 2010

[TheUWfarm] Farmweek Newsletter October 31, 2010

Farmweek Newsletter | October 31, 2010

Upcoming Farm Events and General Information

Tuesday Farm Lunch

All quarter, T 12:30-1:20 in Anderson 022

Monthly Pizza Bake

Next one: Nov. 18th

November All Farm Meeting

Nov. 3, 5 - 6 pm Botany Greenhouse

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New ways to get farm information!

We have a new website!

(and blog)

Facebook Fan Page - become a fan!

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Send all submissions for the weekly newsletter to michelle@uwfarm.org


During the academic year, the newsletter will go out weekly on Sunday evenings.

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UW Farm Dirty Dozen Weekly To-do List

Area A:

  • Chop in clover in the first two pots (where it has grown significantly) and chop in the bucket with fava beans
  • Make compost tea for the stunted leeks in the buckets
  • Plant something in the empty bucket
  • A10-11- sow mixed winter grain; cover where wild blackberries were (left of raspberries)
  • A13- thin out leeks (and general bed care)

Area B:

  • Fill empty buckets!
  • Pest control with slugs
  • Pull out Anashithop (?) and plant cover crop
  • B7-B8- plant chard (in greenhouse or Quonset Hut)

Area C:

  • Harvest kale?
  • Empty buckets- plant cover crop
  • Chop in cover crop better; cover with a layer of compost
  • Add woodchips between aisles
  • Extend and reshape the beds
  • Pest control with slugs
  • Control that fig! Cut sprouts back/down
  • Clear sawdust bed (careful of fig sap- don't let it get on your skin)
  • Weed invasives
  • Burlap sacs- empty and use for covers
  • C4- determine what needs to be planted (maybe the rest of the chard/kale?)
  •  

Area D:

  • Plant something in bed facing the Burke (with the artichokes, to the right of the sign)
  • Plant garlic by sign
  • Plant cover under sign?
  • D3-4- plant cover
  • D8- plant something
  • Harvest a few J-chokes
  • D14- harvest beans
  • Small buckets- compost/soil mix- plant cover crop
  • Weed beds in front of fence
  • Bed tags
  • D13- slug problem, beer traps needed! Bring beer!
  • Pull solanum (black shiny berries) and make chutney

Back 40 and cob oven area:

  • WEED ARUM!
  • Find and spread more woodchips
  • Collect materials for compost (dry leaves in one pile, greens in another)
  • Weed permaculture garden (if you're feeling generous)
  • Harvest walnuts
  • Make gate
  • Take string down
  • Cut and harvest squash
  • Cut locus tree
  • Take trellis down
  • Pull melons and cover crop
  • Cut herbs
  • Harvest wapato

Greenroof:

  • Finish weeding
  • Harvest strawberries
  • Plant cover crop

Greenhouse:

  • Clean fridge!

Trouble viewing this newsletter? View it in a web browser.

UW Farm Updates

All Farm Meeting this Wednesday, November 3, 5 - 6 pm in the Botany Greenhouse

Interested in learning more about the farm? Want to get invovled? Stop by and see what's up!

Nicaraguan Campesino Leader to Visit the UW this Tuesday - UW Farm is co-sponsoring

The UW Farm is co-sponsoring this event on campus with the UW Bridges Center for Labor Studies. Augusto Obregon will speak on November 2nd, Gowen Hall 1A, from 11am-12:30pm. We encourage everyone to attend and learn from Obregon.

Augusto Obregon, a campesino farmer from Nicaragua will visit the UW on November 2nd. Mr. Obregon weaves personal stories to demonstrate how globalization, the neoliberal economic model and U.S. trade policy have contributed significantly to migration, poverty and environmental degradation in Nicaragua.

Mr. Obregon lives and works in Esteli, Nicaragua, where he serves as vice-president of the Federation of the Integral Development between Farmers. For over thirty years, Mr. Obregon has advocated for the rights of small-scale farmers and educated communities about the negative impacts of free trade on health, the environment, and food security. Most recently Mr. Obregon's work has focused on connecting water contamination to a free-trade zone tobacco factory, which set up shop in his region three years ago. He also works on projects to secure potable water for his community.

"For me, free trade agreements, neoliberal policies and the conditions on the aid from the international financial institutions has brought our country to extreme poverty…"Obregon explains, "In my community, the installation of a tobacco factory generates employment but also miserable salaries and contamination of our environment, principally to our water supply. The worst is that some farmers are selling their land to cultivate tobacco, causing less production of food to sustain us."

Mr. Obregon will be hosted by Witness for Peace Northwest, with complete Spanish to English interpretation by staff person Brooke Denmark. Witness for Peace is a politically independent, nationwide grassroots organization of people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. WFP's mission is to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing U.S. policies and corporate practices which contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America.

For more information about this tour or Witness for Peace, or to set up an interview with Augusto Obregon, please contact Colette Cosner at 206.250.2680 or wfpnw@witnessforpeace.org. Visit the website for more information.

Coming? Let us know on the facebook event page!

Tuesday Farm Lunch Topic this Week: Bread Making - The Ins and Outs of Dough!

More information on our classes page.

UW Farmer Blog: Blog Posts this Week

Be sure to take a look at our new farmer blog! Here is an overview of new stuff this week:

While you're at it, become a fan of our new Facebook Fan Page, and follow us on Twitter!

Fundraising Campaign for the Farm - Help us Spread the Joy!

We are beginning a fundraising campaign - and we'd would like send a mailer to our farm supporters. So we are collecting addresses - these addresses will not be shared outside the farm community!

We will send this to as many people as possible - you can add lots of people - your parents, aunts, uncles, neighbors - basically anyone you know with $5 to share. Are you inspired to donate? You can do so here right now!

And if you can't donate now - help us out by adding some folks to our list of supporters. Here is a link to a form. Add your friends to our list of supporters today!

Want to get more involved?

Check out our updated calendar page for work parties, pizza bakes, and committee meetings!

Off Farm Stuff

Environmental Education Alternative Spring Break (as recommended by UW Farmer Rachel Stubbs)

The UW Pipeline Project 2011 Environmental Alternative Spring Break program is recruiting for
participants!

The Pipeline Project is recruiting 10 UW undergraduates (two teams of five students) to volunteer in a
rural or tribal community (Quileute Tribal School, La Push & Brewster Elementary School, Brewster)
during UW's spring break from March 20, 2011 - March 25, 2011 to work on an environmental
education project. UW students will facilitate environmental science lessons with elementary and
middle school students and have an opportunity to explore the local ecology and environmental
issues of the region. This project is a part of the larger Pipeline Alternative Spring Break Projects
that facilitate literacy/arts projects across the state of Washington. Lodging and transportation
costs will be covered for UW students, and additional costs will be funded by group fundraising.

Environmental ASB members will enroll in a 2-credit EDUC 401 preparation seminar during Winter
quarter to plan, design and practice an inquiry-based, hands-on environmental science curriculum to be
taught during spring break. Students will also explore issues of rural and tribal education in addition to
the field of environmental education. In addition, students will tutor in a local Seattle-based environmental
education program or classroom during the winter quarter for 2 - 2.5 hours/week.

Preparation seminar meets weekly on Tuesdays from 4:30-5:50 pm during Winter Quarter 2011.

Application for Environmental Education ASB Week is available online at
http://www.washington.edu/uwired/pipeline/springbreak/2011environment.html.

Deadline is November 14th, 2010.

Seattle Tilth is looking for Garden Teaching Assistances in the Rainier and Rainier Beach Neighborhoods

Lead groups of school-age students in hands-on garden activities!  We inspire students to connect with the food they eat by engaging them in the entire veggie growing cycle, from seed starting, to caring for the soil and plants, harvesting, cooking and sharing in a meal.  Volunteers commit to approximately 2 hours every week to support these fun and rewarding garden classes. 

·         Wednesdays, 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the Rainer Beach Learning Garden or Rainier Community Centers (classes rotate every week) Childcare Garden Classes

·         Thursdays, 2:45-4:45 p.m. at the Rainier Beach Learning Garden

Interested? Email marenneldam@seattletilth.org

Cultivating Regional Food Security: Recent Research in Urban-Rural Food Systems

WSU Extension and the UW Botanic Gardens are collaborating to jointly host a conference about recent research and issues related to regional food security. Deadline extended to November 7!

Date & Location:

December 4 – 5, 2010 at UW Center for Urban Horticulture

Registration, agenda, and information

Available at: http://depts.washington.edu/uwbg/news/food-security/

Sessions Include:

Regional Food Insecurity in Western Washington

                Realities of the Regional Food System

                Research Debunks Food System Assumptions

Food Availability is Inadequate

                Getting Food to Market

                Land Use Policy in a Growing Population

Food Access Initiatives are Fragmented

                Business and the Food System

                Getting Food to the People

Visioning for a Resilient Food System

                Communities Putting Prevention to Work

                Adapting Agriculture for Regional Food Security

Working sessions on Urban-Rural Partnerships and Research Tasks

Who should attend?

Extension professionals, County Commissioners and department staff, City officials, NGOs who work in food production, equity and access, and other aspects of food security.

Dare to be Square November 5 - 8, Join other UW Farmers in Dance

Dare to be Square is right around the corner!! We're so excited to have fantastic callers Bill Martin from Portland OR & Nancy Mamlin from Durham NC on board, along with great musicians Mike Schway + Sandy Bradley, Dave Leddel & Tony Mates, the Atlas Stringband, The Tallboys, & Nettle Honey... along with tons more awesome folks! It will be a great opportunity to learn about calling square dances, playing square dance tunes, or just dancing the weekend away!

If you want to register for the entire event (which includes daytime workshops, nighttime dances, parties, lunches/brunches & Sunday dinner), we've still got spots!
Register here.

We've also opened ticket sales for the evening dances, so if you can't make it to the whole event, definitely join us for the Friday 11/5 & Saturday 11/6 evening dances!! These dances will be open to all ages, & no square dance experience needed, lots of opportunity for jamming as well as dancing! Discounts for 18 & under, SFS members, and for attending both nights!
Get your tickets here.

There's a Fungus Among Us - Free Event at Botanic Gardens

In partnership with the Puget Sound Mycological Society, and with generous support from the Arboretum Foundation, the UWBG is hosting this special event in an attempt to inventory the mushroom species growing at the Washington Park Arboretum. Come join in this scientific scavenger hunt; no experience necessary.

Thursday, October 28. Scheduled "hunts" at 10:15 - 12:30, 1:15 - 3:00 pm, 3:15 - 5:30 pm.

Public Lecture 6:30 - 7:30: "The Role of Mushrooms in the Ecosystem with Marian Maxwell

For more information or to register, visit www.uwbotanicgardens.org or call 206-616-3381

Message from the Friends of the Atlantic City Nursery: Rainier Beach Urban Farm needs your support!

Deadline for written support extended to November 17!

A community group in Rainier Beach is proposing turning the abandoned Atlantic Tree Nursery into an urban farm (which is 10 acres!), and is in the process of gaining support from the City of Seattle. After being recommended by the board of the Department of Planning and Development, they are now petitioning the Parks and Green Spaces Levy for funding through an opportunity fund. After speaking at an October 25th meeting in front of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Committee, the deadline for written support has been extended to November 17. Contact the committee this way;

Submitting your written testimony in support of the Urban Farm & Wetlands Project for the Committee's consideration prior to the October 25th meeting. Written testimony can be send in one of three ways:

  • By Email to Susan Golub at susan.golub@seattle.gov
  • By Fax to (206) 233-7023 Attn: Susan Golub
  • By Mail to Parks & Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee, Attn: Susan Golub at 100 Dexter Ave N. Seattle, WA 98109-5199

The Parks & Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund provides funding for community initiated projects. Parks will award up to $7 million to projects in the first funding cycle of the Opportunity Fund which is part of the $146 million Parks and Green Spaces Levy passed by Seattle voters in 2008.

It is critical that the committee hears from you, your voice could make the difference on whether or not, the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands Project receives a share of this funding from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund. Please send your written testimony today!

Nutrition Survey at the UW: Please Participate!

If you haven't had an opportunity to take the online survey on Undergraduate Opinions on Nutrition and Wellness On Campus now is your chance! This is a great opportunity not only to make your voice heard in a manner that may help direct policy, but to participate in and gain exposure to a master's thesis research project. The survey also contains information on nutrition and wellness-related projects and classes that are either already in existence or being proposed at the University.

To take the survey, click on this link:
https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/jennir/112202

Our recruitment goal this quarter is 600 students. The deadline to take the survey is December 15, but I encourage
you not to delay. It will take less than 10 minutes of your time. Please h! elp us to reach or exceed our goal!

UW Farmers - Rally for Green Seattle Day on NOVEMBER 6!

Message to UW Farmers: My name is Brianna Craft.  I'm a recent UW graduate who now works as an AmeriCorps Volunteer for a local environmental non-profit.  I just wanted to pass on a great Volunteer Opportunity for current UW students.  As part of the 5th Annual Green Seattle Day, hundreds of volunteers are coming out to plant trees all over Seattle!  It sounds like a great event that UW Farmers would be interested in.  You can find out more at www.greenseattle.org

The closest projects to UW are the ones taking place in Magnuson Park and Woodland Park, but my AmeriCorps team at EOS Alliance would love your company if you felt like making the trek to our site.  We'll be planting at the Maple School Ravine, which is at 20th Ave S and S Lucile St.  Even if can't make it all the way down, hopefully you'll get involved in Green Seattle Day!

 

UW Student Farm | uwfarm@uw.edu
University of Washington Campus

 

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