Brix Bounty Farm

Spring has arrived in full force.  After last week’s heavy rains and the abundant sunshine green is everywhere on the farm.  We can also gauge the coming of spring by our continued busy list of workshop presentations; including a free workshop on plant and seed selection in Fall River this Tuesday the 6th (see the Brix Bounty Events page).

On this Saturday, April 11th, we will be one of 10 locations around the state hosing a hands-on Organic Gardening Workshop in partnership with NOFAMass.  To pre-register of for more information please visit the NofaMass Programs Page.  The workshop will run from 9AM to noon.

Spinach in the GH, March 2010

This email was recently posted to the Food&Ag Working Group of the Southeastern Massachusetts Council on Sustainability…

Hello,

Hope to see folks at the quarterly Council on Sustainability meeting this afternoon (March 11th) and at this Saturday’s Shrink Your Footprint Fair; 1-5PM at the GNB-Voc Tech School, 1121 Ashley Blvd. in New Bedford.  Here are a few other items that might be of interest to the Food&Agriculture working group in the coming weeks:

Health, Nutrition, and Food

• The School Nutrition Bill and the Local Farm Products Bill will be voted on in the Senate today (March 11th); see also today’s Globe Article:  Support grows for limiting junk food…
• IATP Food&Society Fellows Child Nutrition Issue was recently published on the web (Feb 2010).
• Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition – Food Systems and Public Health: Linkages to Achieve Healthier Diets and Healthier Communities free access to current issue online.
• Healthy Southcoast by Design Summit in New Bedford featuring Mark Fenton – March 23rd and 24th.

Sustainable Agriculture at the Local Level

• Enhance Your Farm’s Future -One Day Farm Conference and Resource Fair – Sat. March 27th at BCAHS in Dighton.
• Building Sustainable Farms, Ranches and Communities, a guide to federal programs that provide financial and technical support for sustainable agriculture.
• Relocalizing our Foodshed Conference is next Mon/Tues in MN – might be worth watching what reports or abstracts come out of this gathering…
• The Carrot Project – Small Farm Loan Program has a March 19th deadline for loan applications.
• Slow Money’s Ideas for Change in America Invest in Local Food Systems to Save the Economy and the Planet

Educational Resources and Events

• Annual Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom Winter Conference – Sat. Mar 13th in Ludlow, MA.
• Saturday March 13th – Shrink Your Footprint Fair ; 1-5PM at the GNB-Voc Tech School, 1121 Ashley Blvd. in New Bedford.
• Helping You Grow Your Bounty, Trade Your Foodmiles for Foodsteps: ongoing – organic gardening, nutrient density, and sustainable agriculture workshops presented by Brix Bounty Farm – see list of upcoming events and resources.

Cheers,

Derek

UPDATE: Due to the anticipated arrival of a winter storm and a Snow Emergency Parking Ban in effect in the City of New Bedford, we have decided to postpone the start of our Roots Down Series until next Thursday Feb. 18th. If you have any questions please contact the farm. Thanks.

And if you haven’t heard the news out of Washington; The First Lady launched Let’s Move, the new Childhood Obesity Campaign yesterday (c-span video coverage) and the USDA released it’s impressive Food Environment Atlas, which contains an astounding array of data related to access to healthy food.