Organic Matters
What a snowy and cold winter it has been! We are getting very excited for spring - which will come! Seeds are arriving daily at the farm, the greenhouses are beginning to fill up with plants, and our staff is slowly returning to attend to the enormous list of spring tasks on the farm.
In the coming weeks we will announce our list of 2014 events on the farm including exciting cooking and gardening classes to inspire you! Until then, here is an update on organic matter(s): GMO labeling efforts, school composting, and a new video from NOFA-VT.
GMO Labeling
Cat, Will, and Kate have been busy working to get GMOs labeled in Vermont with the VT Right To Know Coalition, a collaborative partnership between Cedar Circle Farm, NOFA-VT, VPIRG, and Rural Vermont. This winter we hired two wonderful interns, Brooke and Maddie, to help in organizing to get the GMO labeling bill passed. We’ve had some successes but anticipate a struggle in the coming weeks to get the bill, H.112, moved out of the Judiciary Committee and toward Governor Shumlin’s desk. We’ll need your help to encourage our lawmakers to move this bill and to keep it a strong bill! Here are 3 ways you can help:
- Sign up for the VT Right To Know email to stay tuned to the latest grassroots and legislative needs.
- Attend the workshop: What You Need To Know About Getting GMO’s Labeled in Vermont with Cat Buxton at the Upper Valley Food Co-op on Thursday, April 10 and don’t miss the screening of GMO OMG in Woodstock on Saturday March 22. Learn more about the events and see the film trailer here.
- Contact your legislators in both the House and Senate and tell them you want GMOs labeled in Vermont. The bill will have to be approved by the House again once the Senate is finished changing it. Not sure what to say? For talking points go here.
Farm to School
Seeds are ordered and we are gearing up for our 8th year of school gardening and our 4th year of school composting at Thetford Elementary School. In an effort to help educators and institutions (and backyard gardeners) prepare for the upcoming mandatory statewide composting regulations there will be a free workshop on school composting at Thetford Elementary School on April 8 with Cat Buxton and Joette Hayashigawa, the school nurse. The event is sponsored by Upper Valley Farm To School. Anyone can attend.
The student-run compost at Thetford Elementary School reads 120 degrees even on a zero degree day. Join our workshop on April 8, 4pm at the school!
SCHOOL COMPOSTING 2.0 Tuesday, April 8 from 4 to 6 pm Thetford Elementary School, Route 112, Thetford, VT Join teachers, farm to school coordinators, school garden managers, food service professionals, composting experts and community members for School Composting 2.0. This workshop is a follow-up to our school composting tour in May 2013, but anyone will find it interesting and helpful. Learn more about TES’s compost system, hear from a local farmer (Cat Buxton) about how they compost on a larger scale and discover how Vermont’s new compost requirements will impact your school.
Don’t Panic, Go Organic!
Check out this short film produced for The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) featuring Vermont organic growers on food and farming and why organic matters. The video premiered at the NOFA Winter Conference in February. Many of our staff attend and present at this conference every year. Recognize anyone in the video?
Spring is Coming!
The farmstand will open on Saturday, April 26 this year. We are really looking forward to it! If you have not signed up for a CSA yet, you still can! Go here to reserve your 30 weeks of fresh organic veggies. Hope to see you at one of our GMO labeling workshops and film screenings before we open again at the end of April.
~ Cat
