Pioneer Valley Women's Agricultural Network Newsletter

Pioneer Valley Women’s Agricultural Network Newsletter
Fall, 2006

October Pioneer Valley WAGN Meeting Provides
Opportunity to Showcase Products

Monday, October 23, 2006; 6:30 PM—Showcase of Women in Agriculture in the Pioneer Valley. Bring a display of your products and marketing materials to share with others. Dinner provided, cost $9.00. Frontier Regional High School cafeteria, 113 N. Main Street, South Deerfield. To register, call CISA at 413-665-7100 or email jennifer@buylocalfood.com. Please let us know if you will bring a display of your products so we can set up enough display space in the room.

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2007 Pioneer Valley Women’s Agricultural Network Meeting Schedule
Save the Dates!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007—Topic: Planning for the New Year. Meet at Flayvor’s Restaurant at Cook’s Farm in Hadley.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007—Topic: Stockbridge Farm Cooking School . Denise Lemay and Mary Ellen Warchol. Meet at Frontier Regional High School, 113 N. Main Street, South Deerfield.

Thursday, July 26, 2007—Topic: TBA. Meet at Whately Town Hall.

All meetings scheduled from 6:30 – 9:00 PM unless otherwise noted.

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CT Women's Ag Network Gathering

Sunday, October 15, 2006, 4-7pm
Auer Farm 4-H Ctr. 158 Auer Farm Rd, Bloomfield (off Rt.185, 1 mi. from Rt. 218)

*speaker from Vermont WAgN-- Mary Peabody, founder
*potluck supper --bring a simple dish for 6
*stories, inspiration and sharing

A grassroots organization modeled after groups in VT, ME, PA, MA and IA, CT WAgN begins with this purpose: " to help women succeed at starting, sustaining, and supporting agriculturally-related enterprises."

Membership is open to all people. If you farm, or want to, if you have an ag-related business/ project, or support one, WAgN is for you....

What would YOU like this group to do? What speakers, educational or technical workshops, farm & business visits would interest you?

Bring your ideas---and friends--- to the First Gathering of CT WAgN!

For more info: Elaine Frost 860-491-2272 ecfrost@bestweb.net
More specific directions from Rte. 91 South: Exit 36 to Rte. 178 West; Go approx. 7 mi. to Rte 185; Turn left (south) onto 185. Go about 1 mi., watch for WAgN signs. Turn onto Auer Farm Rd. & follow to parking area. Meeting is in the Learning Center

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Women Connecting - Field, Forest and Self

A Conference to Celebrate 10 Years of Maine Women's Agricultural Network, the Women and the Woods Program and Women's Networks, December 8, 9 and 10, 2006, Bangor, Maine

Tours and Hands-on Activities Include:
• Globe Positioning System (GPS)
• Food Science & Research Kitchen at UM
• Diversified Farms
• Woodlot Walk and Talk

Concurrent Educational Sessions Include:
• Financial Goals
• Nuts & Bolts of Marketing
• Valued-Added Home-based Food Business – Getting Started
• Valued-Added Home-based Food Business – Product Research & Development
• Maine’s Animal Identification System
• Work Smarter, Not Harder
• Real Money – Financial Incentives for Landowners
• Cooperative Marketing
• Making Money from Your Farm – Are You Ready?
• Maine’s Current-use Property Tax Programs
• Getting Started in Grant Writing
• Grant Resources
• Protecting Maine’s Farmland
• Grassroots Organizing
• AGR-Lite & the Need for Financial Recordkeeping
• AGR-Lite & Liability Insurance
• Alternative Forest Products
• Forest Management Planning for the Beginner
• Wildlife Habitat in Managed Landscapes
• Working with Forestry Professionals
• Bridging the Generational Divide
• Reinvigorating Reverence: Honoring & Celebrating the Land & Food That Sustains Us
• The Value of Telling Our Stories
• Exploring Self & Nature Through Writing

For more information call 207-353-5550 or email vholmes@umext.maine.edu
Celebrations, Educational Sessions, Networking, Relaxation, Farm Tours
Keynote Speakers, Educational Displays, a Women and the Woods track, and, so much more. http://www.umaine.edu/umext/wagn/anniversaryconf.htm

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2007 Sustainable Community Grants Available from Northeast SARE

The 2007 Sustainable Community Grant application materials are now on the Northeast SARE web site at www.uvm.edu/~nesare, where you can read the application on line or download it as a Word file. If you would prefer that we send you the application in hard copy, please let us know by sending e-mail to nesare@uvm.edu.

If you have questions, call 802/656-0471 or send e-mail to helen.husher@uvm.edu.

The deadline for the Sustainable Community grants is November 28. Awards will be announced in the spring of 2007.

Federal program available to help Massachusetts landowners improve wildlife habitat

Massachusetts landowners who would like to protect or restore valuable ecosystems and wildlife habitat on their property may be eligible for technical and cost-share assistance to install conservation practices through the federal Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP).

Through the WHIP program, landowners may receive up to 75 percent of installation costs for conservation practices. WHIP was authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill and is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

According to Massachusetts WHIP program manager Beth Schreier, summer is the best time to assess wildlife habitat. “Now would be a good time for landowners to contact their local NRCS office for assistance in assessing habitat on their property,” said Schreier. “Plant identification, for example, is much easier at this time of year when things are growing and there’s no snow cover.”

Interested landowners should contact their local NRCS field office at a USDA service center for more information. Contact NRCS locally for more information:
Greenfield: (413) 772-0384 ext 3
Hadley (413) 585-1000
Pittsfield (413) 443-6867 ext 3
General program information is available on the NRCS Massachusetts website at www.ma.nrcs.usda.gov.

Eligible lands include privately owned land and occasionally state and local government land. Target areas in Massachusetts include early successional habitats (grasslands, shrub lands, and young forest), freshwater wetlands, upland oak forest, pitch pine/scrub oak habitat, coastal habitats, and rivers and streams. Examples of conservation practices eligible for WHIP cost-share funding include early successional habitat development and management, projects enhancing fish passage, wetland restoration and riparian buffer establishment.

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Funding for CISA’s Women in Agriculture Program is provided by the Risk Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Northeast Farm Credit AgEnhancement Program, the Agway Foundation, and the Lawson Valentine Foundation.

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Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture
1 Sugarloaf Street, South Deerfield MA 01373
Tel: 413-665-7100 Fax: 413-665-7101
http://www.buylocalfood.com