Hanging out with other Foodies at the MOSES Conference

Maree, Graham, and I finally made our way down to the mecca of organic growers in the US, the Midwest Organic Conference (http://www.mosesorganic.org/conference.html).  About 3,200 organic growers, wanna-be farmers, and organic foodie types descended on LaCrosse, WI last Thursday-Saturday to take in workshops about soils and raising livestock as well as a poetry slam and a lot of organic foods and snacks.

I presented a poster as Ryan Pesch, Extension Educator, about a food survey I did in Renville County-it was not  the headliner of the event-but the ideas we got for our own farm were the highlights.  Since we raised three hogs last year, we appreciated the session on raising hogs on pasture and also the session on integrating CSA with other enterprises like farmers market and livestock.  The presenters were doing some cool things around farm to table like making pizzas made with all-farm ingredients for on-farm dinners, but we didn't think it was something we'd pull off for this year.  Still, at the very least, we're much more fired up about the farm season.  Inspiration is great fuel!

Looking for a Few Good CSA Members

Well, even though I try to hibernate as much of winter as possible, the stirrings of spring have begun to pull my mind towards the 2012 CSA season.  For those of you who were members of Lida Farm CSA last year, you should have received a brochure and order form to join for this year by mail.  For those of you just perusing the web for a CSA, we serve the lakes district between Pelican Rapids and Detroit Lakes and would welcome your membership in the 2012 season.  Please check out our 2012 CSA Brochure for details.

If you know of others who may be interested in joining a CSA in the area, please feel free to forward the link and materials to them.  We will be adding a few more shares this year, so are looking for new recruits.