Action Alert 3/10/8

--FARM FRESH MILK BILL - action needed!
--UPDATE on Hemp for Vermont
--RURAL VERMONT EVENTS
--Other Upcoming Events

***FARM FRESH MILK RESTORATION ACT of 2008***

HEARINGS ARE SCHEDULED for the Farm Fresh Milk bill this week:
Tuesday, March 11th, 9 AM - 10 AM
Wednesday, March 12th, 9 AM - NOON
Thursday, March 13th, 9 AM - NOON
All hearings will be in the House Agriculture Committee Room, on the second floor of the statehouse. If you can't find it, ask someone wearing a green blazer for directions.

WE NEED YOU to come to the hearings, and to keep the calls and notes coming to legislators during this critical week. We'll also need folks to come NEXT week for the big vote in the House of Representatives! Watch your email and postal mail box for updates, or check our website at www.ruralvermont.org for news as we get it. The above schedule is subject to change with very little notice - if you have a long way to drive, call our office for an update: 802-223-7222 - we will change our outgoing message each evening to reflect the next day's happenings. Come for all of the hearings, or just part. Come even if you can only stay for a little while. We want to show the committee and the other legislators that there is STRONG SUPPORT for this bill.

Here are some tips for coming to the hearing:
-Turn OFF your cell phone when you get inside the statehouse
-Bring quarters to park on the street, OR park in the garage on East State Street – it is somewhere around $5 to park all day in the garage, and it is a 3 block walk to the statehouse.
-Wear “inside clothes” – it can be hot in the statehouse!
-If you want to eat lunch at the statehouse or in town, bring about $10 and you can get a pretty decent lunch. For a really nice lunch in town, bring $15.
-You will not be allowed to speak at these hearings. It is critical that we are all respectful during the hearing. If you feel upset or agitated, just leave the room for awhile and then come back.

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP THIS WEEK TO KEEP THE FARM FRESH MILK RESTORATION ACT MOVING!

(1) CALL YOUR HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE and ask them to support H.616 - the Farm Fresh Milk Restoration Act. Call them at the statehouse: 802-828-2228. You will need to leave a message with your name and phone number, and be sure to ask for a CALL BACK to make sure your rep gets the message. If you don't know who your rep is, the person who answers the phone can tell you. DO NOT EMAIL your reps - this is not effective.

(2) WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR! Write a letter to the editor of your local paper and express your support for the bill. Be sure to say why you support it. You can find a list of newspapers and their contact info here: http://www.ruralvermont.org/getinvolved.html . Samples of Letters already written are also available here.

(3) VOLUNTEER for Rural Vermont - we need help with many tasks to help everybody stay up-to-date on what's happening with the bill. If you can make phone calls, work in the office on mailings, help us spread the word in your community, or anything else, please contact Colin at colin@ruralvermont.org or 802-223-7222. Even 1 hour of your time can really help!

(4) MAKE A DONATION! All of these activities cost money, and we need all the help we can get to make sure we get the bill through the statehouse. If you can help, please send a check to Rural Vermont, 15 Barre Street, Ste. 2, Montpelier, VT 05602 - mark it FARM FRESH MILK. Any amount will really help!

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RURAL VERMONT EVENTS
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**POTLUCK AND DISCUSSION**
Monday, March 17, 2008
Unitarian Church in North Bennington
6 to 9 p.m
Free and open to the public!
Join Rural Vermont for a potluck dinner followed by a screening of the film Deconstructing Supper. After the film there will be time for a discussion on the film and the three major issues Rural Vermont is currently working on. Please come to hear about how you can help us to achieve our vision of Food with Dignity - Living Soils, Thriving Farms, and Healthy Communities. Bring a yummy dish and a friend!

*** Dinner & Movie with King Corn Director Aaron Woolf ***
Saturday, March 29
5 pm dinner with Aaron Woolf at That’s Life Soup
6:30 pm King Corn film screening at City Hall
dinner only: $35 / dinner and movie: $40

Rural Vermont hosts a fundraiser featuring Aaron Woolf, director of the much anticipated and celebrated film King Corn. Come to Montpelier on Saturday, March 29 for an intimate dinner party with Aaron Woolf at That’s Life Soup, followed by an early evening screening of King Corn at City Hall. There will be a limited number of dinner tickets sold, and they are only available through Rural Vermont, so get yours today! Dinner tickets are $35 each, and the film tickets are available to dinner-goers at a reduced cost of $6. Much thanks to the Savoy Theater, the Green Mt Film Fest, and That’s Life Soup for supporting this fundraiser. All proceeds will go to Rural Vermont's work to achieve our vision of living soils, thriving farms, and healthy communities. To order tickets or for more info, call Rural Vermont at (802) 223-7222 or email Shelby at shelby@ruralvermont.org. To find out more about the film, visit www.kingcorn.net.

** SAVE THE DATE: RURAL VERMONT'S ANNUAL MEETING **
It's time to celebrate another year of moving our state closer to Rural Vermont's Vision for Vermont Agriculture! Come hear a recap on the progress we've made in the last year, and get an update on where we're headed next. The night will also include an inspiring keynote speaker, board elections, an awards ceremony, a silent auction, and local eats. More details to come.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
6:30 - 9 pm
Royalton Academy
Route 14, ROYALTON

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OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS
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** Health, Beauty, and Strength with Nourishing Traditional Diets **
Come watch the 5-hour lecture series on nutrition by Sally Fallon based on her cookbook, Nourishing Traditions. The DVD presentation includes the importance of animal fats in our diets, health benefits of raw dairy, how to prepare grains and legumes, benefits of lacto-fermented foods, and much more. The lecture will be shown in 70 minute increments.
When: Every Wednesday in March (3/5, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26) at 7 pm
Place: Heartbeet Lifesharing, Kaspar House, Hardwick
Fee: Free of charge
Registration/More info: Kara Fitzgerald, 472-5598


**Maximizing Milk on Home Grown Grains and Forages
Time: 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Days and Locations listed below:
March 13 – Newport, VT
March 14 – Highgate, VT
March 18 – Springfield, VT
March 19 – Rutland, VT
This traveling one-day workshop, organized by NOFA-VT and UVM Extension, is designed to meet the needs of dairy producers wanting to maximize the use of their forages systems and/or learn about incorporating home grown grains to offset the costs of purchased feeds. For more information, contact NOFA-VT, 802-434-4122 or UVM Extension, 802-524-6501

"Health & the Hive: A Beekeeper's Journey"- a New Film!
On Friday, April 25 at 7pm there will be a free showing of the film "Health & the Hive: A Beekeeper's Journey" at the Ilsley Library Meeting Room in Middlebury, Vermont. The film, made by Vermont filmmaker Jan Cannon, features several beekeepers, including Todd Hardie of Honey Gardens Apiaries in Ferrisburgh (honeygardens.com), and Ross Conrad of Dancing Bee Gardens and author of Natural Beekeeping (dancingbeegardens.com). The film will appeal to gardeners, farmers, healers and the sick. It will interest chefs, eaters, localvores, and people concerned about the environment and the impacts of industrial agriculture. Filmmaker Jan Cannon lives in Charlotte, and recently made a film about Bill McKibben's climate change march from Ripton to Burlington last year. He has been working to raise awareness on environmental issues through filmmaking. (www.jancannonfilms.com). Todd Hardie of Honey Gardens and Jan Cannon will be at the showing for this Vermont film debut. Todd recently showed the film to several audiences in Colorado, Seattle, and Portland, OR, and Ohio,where it was very well received. To find out about future showing dates, visit honeygardens.com.
**Whole Farm Planning Training Program – First Session April/May
We invite anyone who works directly with farmers to enroll in this educational opportunity. This is a unique opportunity to expand your skills and expertise in a topic much needed by your farmer clientele. Whole farm planning is essential for many farmers looking to expand, diversify, transfer assets to the next generation, and improve environmental conditions and farm profitability. This training will involve three intensive sessions. Each session will last 3-4 days. The first session will be held in April/May, 2008, the second session in September/October 2008 and the third session will be held in February/March, 2009. The sessions will focus on:
-farm/family goal setting,
-farm resource delineation,
-on-farm decision making,
-farm financial planning and analysis,
-reading the land/environmental monitoring,
-grazing planning
All expenses for the training will be paid through a Northeast SARE Professional Development Grant. Covered expenses include travel, room and board, and supplies and materials. Additionally, a program mentor will assist participants through the use of a list serve, interactive web site and other distance education methods.Farmer-educators will receive an additional $300 per session as a stipend for their time and to help defray costs while they are away from the farm. Participants will be required to attend all three sessions and work with at least two farms between sessions to implement the knowledge and skills gained during their training. Farmer participants may use their own farm as one of the two required. Two concurrent training sessions will be offered. One set of sessions will be held in central NY and the other will be held in central New Hampshire. Twelve participants will be accepted for each training site (NY and NH). The training is targeted at educators across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. For more information about the New York sessions call Phil Metzger at (607) 334-3231, Ext. 4 (Central NY RC&D). For information about the New Hampshire sessions, call Seth Wilner at (603) 863-9200 (UNH Cooperative Extension).

**2nd Annual Northeast Animal Power Field Days
September 26 – 28, 2008
Tunbridge Fair Grounds, Tunbridge, VT
The Northeast Animal Power Field Days is a celebration of sustainable farming and renewable resources promoting conservation, stewardship, small farms, healthy forests, and the roles that they play in vital communities. This 3-day conference will feature working animal and equipment demonstrations in field and forest settings, workshops, exhibits, networking sessions, and an auction and swap meet on Sunday. Workshop topics will include grazing management, working with draft animals, livestock health, getting started with animal power and more. For more information, go to: www.animalpowerfielddays.org or contact Carl Russell and Lisa McCrory, info@animalpowerfielddays.org, 802-234-5524. Join our discussion forum; www.draftanimalpower.com .