Attached you will find three items, the May 2011 meeting minutes, the July meeting agenda, and the poster for our upcoming Agroforestry tour on July 25th.

Please help spread the word about the July 25th Agroforestry tour by printing the attached poster and posting it in your church, work site, business, and/or community gathering place.


Greetings all! 



Our next Meeting/Gathering. Our next meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, July 14 at the MREA.  We will meet ahead of the film Intern Ellie Jackson has scheduled for the month. Those interested can then stay for the film. 



The 2011 Farm Fresh Atlas is out and can be picked up at area libraries or by calling Sue Anderson at 715.347.6460.  If you want a stack for your club, church or workplace please let Sue know.




Sustainable Stockton with host a tour of the Olson Brothers’ Agroforestry Project, scheduled for 5:00 p.m., Monday, July 25th.  Those interested will meet at 4:30 p.m., at the Informal Park & Ride area at the intersection of Hy.66 and Wilshire Blvd. (near KwikTrip).  We will then caravan to the project site.  If you would like to drive independently, please call Sue (592-4423) or Mary (592-4051) for directions.

Agroforestry combines agricultural and forestry practices to create a profitable and sustainable land use system producing food and fiber.  Erosion and water quality impacts are minimized. Tilling is reduced and harvesting is spread over the growing season for a diversity of crops.  The Olsons’ project is located in the Town of Sharon.



Thursday, June 14th at 7:00 p.m., “King Corn” will be playing at the MREA’s Custer office, 7558 Deer Road.

“King Corn” is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation.  In “King Corn,” Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from.  With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, nitrogen fertilizers, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America’s most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil.  But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat – and how we farm.

Follow this link to view a trailer for the film: http://www.kingcorn.net/

Please contact Ellie Jackson, mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , (715) 592-6595 with any questions.

For more information on the MREA, visit www.midwestrenew.org 


Upcoming Area Events:


?    July 5, 12:00 noon – Webinar to Introduce Local, Sustainable Food System.
Trainer Natural Resources Building – UWSP Campus
This next in a series of webinars to introduce models for building a local, sustainable food system will be presented by Jeremy Nowak, who will describe The Reinvestment Fund, first implemented  in Philadelphia, PA in 1985 (www.trfund.com).

The primary focus of The Reinvestment Fund is to identify financing to revitalize neighborhoods. What began as a small community development organization working in Greater Philadelphia, has evolved into a model for localized community investment that has delivered over !1 billion in capital across the Mid-Atlantic region.  Working with a diverse network of investors, developers and entrepreneurs, the fund develops private initiative and private capital to create new jobs, jump-start new businesses, develop new housing units while generating renewable energy.

Local sponsorship for the webinar series includes the Environmental Education Resource Library on campus at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and Farmshed, a Portage County non-profit organization of volunteers dedicated to increasing the availability of locally grown, sustainably grown food.  Join the webinar series to hear more about how The Reinvestment Fund might be implemented to foster private investment in local food for Stevens Point.  Call Mary 715-592-4051 with questions.


?    July 16, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Maplewood Gardens Tour sponsored by Central WI Farmshed.  Farm located at 680 Hy 49, Elderon, WI – host: David Peterson
Maplewood Gardens is a collection of over a dozen small organic gardens totaling about two and half acres built over the last 25 years. Dave has never used any toxic substance in any of his gardens for any purpose and often says the only crop he grows is soil.  Then the soil grows over 170 varieties of 55 different kinds of produce.  Maplewood Gardens produces maple syrup, garlic, CSA vegetable shares, farmers’ market, and specialty restaurant produce. 

In addition to seeing the diverse farms this tour will be a specialty garlic harvest and curing work day. 

?    July 23, 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., Malek Family Stewardship Farm Tour sponsored by Central WI Farmshed.  Farm located on Highway 66, in Rosholt – host:  Chris Malek
Malek Farm is a certified organic vegetable farm that is in its 3rd year as a CSA.  The farm started as an organic potato farm, growing over 40 varieties of tubers of all shapes, colors, sizes, and flavors. Over time this developed into a fully diversified vegetable farm that sells produce year round through direct sales, CSA, farmers’ markets, restaurants, and farm to school.  Malek Farm is also a host farm for the Farmshed Beginning Farmer Internship Program.