Upcoming Events:

Next Film Presentations:
Feb. 9 and March 8, 7:00 p.m.
Midwest Renewable Energy Association in Custer
      
 Feb. 9 Truck Farm -- a light-hearted, yet serious look at what must be done in urban settings to grow food in ways that will minimize the negative impact of our industrial food system on our eco-systems. Film maker, Ian Cheney (maker of the film King Korn), plants a mini-farm in the back of his 1986 Dodge pick-up to create a Brooklyn CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that makes weekly deliveries to 20 families.  The filmmaker visits other sustainable farming sites on barges and roof tops to ask questions about how we can feed urban populations in earth-friendly ways.

March 8 End of the Line -- a powerful, award-winning documentary film, narrated by Ted Danson that encourages viewers to think about what the world might look like without fish. 

The films will be shown at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association in Custer (MREA) and are co-sponsored by Sustainable Stockton and the MREA.  As always, free popcorn will be available.  Please call 715-592-4051 with questions.

Two Upcoming Events from The Central Rivers Farmshed: 

Food Fair
The Local Food Fair will be held at SPASH on Thursday, February 16, 2012.  Any questions, contact  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

(From the Central Rivers Farmshed website) The locals like to call it "that potato dinner at the high school."  Farmshed's local food advocates like to call it the Local Food Fair and use it as their premier outreach event.
 
Either way, we want you to come join us for a free local potato dinner at Stevens Point Area High School (SPASH) on Thursday, February 16 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
 

As always, the Local Food Fair also features deluxe toppings for $1, an information fair comprised of local farmers, authors, and businesses and an educational entertainment piece.  We are currently accepting exhibitor sign up here:  https://donationpay.org/farmshed/foodfair.php.

Special this year is a live cooking demonstration with award-winning chef, author, and restaurateur Michel Nischan of the Wholesome Wave Foundation.  Sponsors of the Local Food Fair will be treated to an easy to make, locally sourced meal that showcases how local food can be affordable.  The proceeds of their sponsorship will go to support Farmshed’s Double Value Program for EBT/FoodShare (food stamp) recipients at the Wisconsin Rapids and Stevens Point farmers’ markets, which helps to make local food affordable to those of low income.  This dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. and shown on a live feed in the auditorium for the Food Fair’s general audience. Nischan’s keynote speech will take place in the auditorium at approximately 7:00 p.m.

Farm Course
The Beginning Farmer Course will be held February 11, 12, 18 and 19, 9:00 am-
4:00 pm at Jackson Community Center in Stevens Point. 

Registration is available online: http://farmshed.org/index.php/beginning-farmer-course and in paper form via email request at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Requests for the paper application may also be made via phone at 715-544-6154.

Course description:
Are you thinking about starting a farm or market garden to grow sustainable, local food?  This two-weekend course is taught by a group of experienced local farmers in Central Wisconsin.  Hear their stories about how they got started, their current practices and markets, and the future visions.  Course participants will learn a variety of strategies to grow healthy, local food.  Farmer instructors represent a range of growing and marketing styles, including vegetable and meat CSA, rotational grazing, permaculture, urban farming, and value added processing.

Course topics include: soil building and composting, seed starting and saving, weed and pest management, irrigation, harvesting, value-added processing, marketing strategies, small animals and grazing, season extension, perennials, and more.

News and Events from the Central Wisconsin Sustainability Newsletter:

• The Annual Green Living and Energy Expo.  The Expo will take place in Marshfield on March 24th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will include workshops, kids’ activities, vendors, prescription round-up for unused medications, recycling for electronic equipment and, believe it or not, free snacks and door prizes. http://ci.marshfield.wi.us/gogreenmarshfield/

• Biomass Plant Construction Going Full Steam Ahead in Rothschild (Adapted from the Wausau Daily Herald) A $255 million biomass power plant under construction in Rothschild already has put more than 75 people to work full time, providing them with family-sustaining wages, officials said. Once complete, the plant will burn about 500,000 tons of biomass -- the tops and limbs of trees. The plant is intended to help We Energies comply with state regulations requiring at least 8 percent of utilities' sales to come from renewable energy sources by 2015.

• New Magazine for the Hardy Wisconsin Gardener: SCENE written by Heather Morgan. http://point.scenenewspaper.com/arts-entertainment/24-arts-entertainment/873-new-magazine-for-the-hardy-wisconsin-gardener-.html

• Demand for Organic milk Is Growing.  Organic milk sales are growing, even though the milk costs significantly more than the conventional kind. Sales of whole organic milk increased 17 percent from January through October, measured by volume, compared with the same period last year, according to the Agriculture Department. Reduced-fat organic milk sales rose by 15 percent. At the same time, total conventional milk sales decreased 2 percent. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/business/rising-production-costs-cause-organic-milk-shortage.html?pagewanted=all

• April 13-15 Central Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Festival http://prairiechickenfestival.org/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGBj6JU1HZM