Blues Guitarist Ainslie, Red Springs, Oct. 8

Dear Friends,

Friday, October 8th a very wonderful blues guitarist will be performing in Red Springs. Scott Ainslie is a great performer and advocate for social justice, and also an historian and performer of the music of Robert Johnson and the African American roots of American jazz and blues. Ticket prices are heavily subsidized so don't let that fool you. You can hear and learn more about Scott at his website: http:// cattailmusic.com/

Please help us publicize this event so we can have a good audience to welcome this fine musician. Feel free to forward this message to others. And feel free to call me for more details if you have any questions.
Thanks,
John and the Red Springs Arts Council

You can find more information about this performer at:

http://www.loydartists.com/index.php?page=bio&display=4
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Pickin' on the Porch, Oct. 7, Fundraiser for Sustainble Sandhills!

Pickin' on the Porch is just one week away!

We hope you can join us at our historic home in Grays Creek next Thursday, October 7 for a casual evening of good food and fun to benefit Sustainable Sandhills!   The old farmhouse and fields date back to the 1840s, and we'll tune up our instruments, light a bonfire, and coax a few of the old family ghosts out to join us on the porch!

The Board and Staff of Sustainable Sandhills will serve you a delicious meal of barbeque, chicken, sides and desserts while The Parsons—and a handful of special guests—entertain you from the porch. Guitars, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, accordion, storytelling and singing are a part of the bargain, and all proceeds go to this great organization, Sustainable Sandhills!
Food and drinks will be ready at 5:30pm, and Fayetteville's "Best Local Musician 2010" Chris Hurst will kick off the music at 6:00pm.
Those who attended Pickin’ on the Porch last year know what a great time is in store—so don’t miss it!

Purchase your tickets today:
Online at www.sustainablesandhills.org with a credit card or PayPal account.

Over the phone – call our office 910.484.9098 and we’ll take your credit card info or tell you where to mail your check.

Stop by our office at 215-B Williams Street (Moore Exposure Building), Fayetteville, NC 28301 and we can take care of your order in person!

Please contact us at 910.484.9098 or email info@sustainablesandhills.org if you have any questions or need further information.
We can’t wait to see you there! Jon & Caroline Parsons

Harvest Dinner, Sept. 30, SCC

Fall Harvest Progressive Dinner In The Garden - September 30th (rain date Oct. 1st) 5:30pm. Dinner, wine, music and art in the beautiful gardens of Sandhills Community College. Part of the proceeds will benefit the Landscape Gardening, Culinary, Music and Art departments of Sandhills Community College. Horticultural Society members $55.00 / non-members $60.00. Seating is limited. Contact Tricia Mabe for a reservation at 695-3882.

The Sandhills Horticultural Society is planning a Fall Dinner in the Horticultural Gardens of Sandhills Community College. They have teamed up with the Landscaping, Culinary, Art, and Music departments to host the event. The Culinary Department will prepare and serve dinner and wine. Music will be played during the evening by the Music Department and the Art Department is designing handout menus and doing the decorations. The Landscape Gardening Department will be preparing the gardens and making arrangements for the particulars of the event.

Must Watch Video re: Slow Food, Terra Madre Conference

http://www.slowfood.com/dossier2010/eng
And Sandhills Farm2Table reps will be there in October, very exciting!  Let's help them when they bring those excellent ideas and motivations back home.  Slow Food for all, sustainable farming methods for all, cleaner air and water for all, community-building for all!  Congratulations to Jan and Fenton, buen viaje, Amigos!

Local Non-profits, Moore County and Beyond

The Moore County Historical Association will have a non-profits display table during its Shaw House Vintage Colletible and Antiques Fair, Saturday, Oct. 9, 9 am - 3 pm.

If you would like for us to display your info and/or brochures about your organization, please let me know by Oct. 5th.  Thanks! and I hope to hear from you!

suttonmaureen@hotmail.com  or  730 0480

THIRST in Fayetteville, Sept. 14, 6:30

Is water part of a shared "commons" - a human right for all people? Or is it a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded in a global marketplace?
Sustainable Sandhills' Cumberland County Sustainable Film Series
Join us TODAY, Sept. 14   for    Thirst
September 14th, 2010, 6:30-8:30 PM
Pate Room, Headquarters Library
300 Maiden Lane, Downtown Fayetteville
Sustainable Sandhills is partnering with the Cumberland County Headquarters Library for a FREE screening of Thirst.

Backyard Chicken Care, CCCC, Oct. 16

BACKYARD CHICKEN SCHEMES


Instructor: Judy Hogan, Hoganvillaea Farm, Moncure
October 16, Saturday, 9 AM-4 PM. CCCC, Sanford, Civic Center
Farmer Hogan will introduce students to backyard or urban chicken care: appropriate facilities, chick care, nutrition, litter management, laying, egg sales, and killing as needed.
With limited space and experience, plus a sense of humor, raise a small flock of happy chickens. Hogan shares her learning curve on basics, chicks to healthy eggs and meat. Topics include: Everything wants to eat chickens, Spoiling your chickens and why, Outwitting your not so dumb chickens.
Students will gain confidence in starting and maintaining their own small backyard chicken flock, have a handle on potential problems, solutions, and additional resources.

Judy Hogan of Hoganvillaea Farm is a sustainable farmer whose main goal is self-sufficiency and growing her own food. She began raising White Rock chickens in 2003, and she sells extra eggs, vegetables, fruit, herbs to restaurants and individuals. She’s a member of Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. A published poet, free-lance writer, and creative writing teacher, she writes for Chatham County Line and lives in Moncure.

For more information: Judy Hogan, (919) 545-9932
Cindy Horrell Ramsey, Lee County Continuing Education, CCCC. (919)775-2122, x7790

Wise Use of Money, Keep It Local

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDoipQt3whU

It's Debt, It's Jobs

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5418

Discuss Renewables, Aug. 19, 7:00, Pinehurst

You are cordially invited to a free discussion:

RENEWABLE ENERGY with STEVE KALLAND
Director and Chief Policy Analyst North Carolina Solar Center, NC State University
Kalland was recently featured on NPR’s “The State of Things” with Frank Stasio
THURSDAY, AUGUST 19th 7 PM

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF PINEHURST, UCC
895 Linden Road - Pinehurst (across from “Elliott's” Restaurant)
Phone: (910) 295-2243)

Fall Subscriptions for Farm2Table Coop

Sandhills Farm to Table is now offering Fall Subscriptions.
This will be an 8 week season beginning September 8/9 and running through October 27/28.
Local produce:  lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, winter squash, onions, peppers, peaches, collards, kale, apples, sweet potatoes, chard, pecans, salsas, jams, honey, juices.
Box sizes are Standard for $21 and Family for $38. Delivery frequency is either weekly or every other week.
Available only to members.  go to SandhillsFarm2Table.com and sign up.

In Sustainable Montgomery County

http://www.sustainablesandhills.org/docs/EblastMontgomeryCountyarticlefinal.pdf

Angry Moms at SCC July 22, 6:30

“We are facing an obesity epidemic. This generation will be the first in the nations’ history to live shorter lives than those of their parents.” - Centers for Disease Control


Sustainable Sandhills Presents “Two Angry Moms”
Thursday, July 22nd 6:30-8:00 PM

Dempsey Student Center Sandhills Community College
Two Angry Moms shows not only what is wrong with school food; it offers strategies for overcoming roadblocks and getting healthy, good tasting, real food into school cafeterias. The movie explores the roles the federal government, corporate interests, school administration and parents play in feeding our country’s school kids. See what happens when fed-up moms start a grass-roots revolution!

Please stay after the film for a panel discussion with local school food experts.

SOS, July 29, Ft. Bragg's Environmental Stance, Sou. Pines

SAVE OUR SANDHILLS SPEAKER DISCUSSES FORT BRAGG’S COMMITMENT TO CONSERVATION AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT

On July 29, Save Our Sandhills will host Alan Schultz to speak about Fort Bragg’s commitment to conservation and wildlife management. Fort Bragg, initially constructed in 1918 in order to fulfill an essential role in our national security, has also evolved into an outstanding natural resource for the North Carolina Sandhills. Fort Bragg’s and Camp Mackall’s 160,000 acres (they are managed as one) comprise only a fraction of the nation’s Department of Defense lands. Nevertheless, the Fort’s forest managers began a visionary program decades ago that has had profound implications for research involving the health of the longleaf pine ecosystem with its unique wildlife habitat.

Alan Schultz, currently Chief of the Fort Bragg Wildlife Branch, leads teams of biologists, conservation officers, and public use specialists as they collaborate with others to enhance and protect the Sandhills natural resources. Schultz’ academic training is in Wildlife Ecology and Management, and his career spans over 27 years in the southeast with specializations in wildlife ecology and management, ornithology, forestry, and public natural resource regulation and usage.

In all, Schultz’ varied experiences make him comfortable in addressing the issue of multiple land use in conservation. Fort Bragg’s multiple land use incorporates the following into a single management strategy: military training, conservation, forest products, prescribed fire, and the public use of natural resources. Some of this strategy evolved as a by-product of experience. For example, military training exercises occasionally produced small fires, and these fires mimicked the natural lightning strikes common in the Sandhills. This fire was found to be essential to both the flora and the fauna of the longleaf pine ecosystem.
Because of Fort Bragg’s focus on conservation management and its immense amount of acreage, it not only serves as an ecological laboratory, but also as a showcase for diverse habitats and their resultant diversity of species. Its combination of natural resource managers and military trainers working together helps humans, plants, and wildlife benefit from a unique symbiotic relationship.
Join us for an informative and interesting evening; refreshments will be served.  Thursday, July 29 at 7 PM in the Southern Pines Civic Club at the corner of Ashe and Pennsylvania.

Historic Crossover Reached, Solar Now Cheaper

http://www.ncwarn.org/?p=2290

Big News from CFSA (Carolina Farm Stewardship Assoc.)

Local Food to the Rescue: Joel Salatin Comes to North Carolina

by Fred Broadwell

CFSA was honored to host influential farmer and activist Joel Salatin as he visited Pittsboro, NC yesterday. Joel started his day with a brief stop by the CFSA office where staff filled him in on CFSA activities. Roland McReynolds then escorted Joel to Piedmont Biofuels and CFSA member Doug Jones' Biofarm, where Joel learned about Piedmont's biodiesel production and Doug Jones' season extension and variety trials work.
At 4 PM, a group of fifty CFSA farmer members and friends gathered at Cohen Farm for a CFSA member exclusive pasture walk with Joel. Cohen Farm, owned by CFSA members Murray and Esta Cohen, is a longstanding organic farm with 40 head of beef cattle, pastured hogs, heritage chickens and organic hay production. While standing in the middle of a gorgeous pasture, Joel enthralled the crowd with his provocative discussion of farm management, using the Cohen's farm as a case study. Joel described in detail his mob grazing techniques, putting 350 beef cattle in a small area with four foot tall grasses and moving them daily, on a six month rotation. "My neighbors think I'm nuts! But it works." Joel believes that the mob grazing forces the cows back into their natural behaviors -- they eat more aggressively lest their neighbor eats a plant first. "The cows don't just eat the ice cream and ignore the spinach." To Joel's pleasure, this has been leading to better plant biodiversity in the fields.
Following the herd, he deploys two chicken tractors with 800 birds each, commenting that it takes just as much time to handle a large flock as a small one. "We need to build in efficiencies on the farm." At a minimum, he recommends one chicken per cow to complete the mob gazing system.
When asked about liming and seeding, he said that he had never sown a seed or put out lime in thirty years. He said that proper grazing and letting the grass grow tall will build soft and rich soil; management is the key problem, not the soil ph. He's not opposed to some soil amendments and does purchase greensand, but doesn't see that as the place to start. Joel talked extensively about fencing and preferred to buy or lease land with no fencing in place since so often it is in the wrong place. "No straight fences!" he extolled. "Let the fencing follow natural pathways and good access points."
When the discussion moved to water, Joel suggested investing money in ponds and building them deeper and bigger to make a farm more drought tolerant. "We are stewards of the land and it is our duty to honor the land by making it resilient. Water is critical."
When asked about shade, Joel extolled the virtues of portable shade devices and described his equipment, joyrigged from old wagon chassis, piping and shade cloth. His equipment is made to withstand strong winds, which is important. One of his devices, he said, can provide shade for up to 100 head of cattle.
What about predators getting his chickens? For flock protection from ground predators, Joel strongly suggested well-trained guard dogs, whether exotic breeds or mutts. "Start them young." For aerial predators, he likes having a goose -- just one goose per flock has worked for him.
After the pasture walk on Wednesday evening, Joel spoke about food issues to an overflow crowd of 300 at Central Carolina Community College. He complimented the college on its sustainable farming program and new Natural Chef program (cosponsors of his visit.) Joel then gave an engaging hour-long talk on the perils of our industrial food system and how it is affecting our health, our communities and our rural landscape. When asked whether sustainable farming could feed the world, he brought up the events of the 1940s. Just when composting and a profound biological view of farming was emerging, World War II hit with its massive investment in bomb-making. Chemical fertilizers, cousins of bomb-making materials, received a massive subsidy from the government. It is just now that biological farming is finally catching up!
CFSA thanks Joel for visiting the Carolinas and appreciates the support of the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, CCCC and an anonymous donor for making his visit possible. We also want to thank the Cohens for opening up their farm and Angelina's Kitchen for refreshments.

Angry Moms Coming to SCC July 22

http://www.angrymoms.org/pdfs/facts.pdf

Joel Salatin Tonite, Jun 30, CCCC

Joel Salatin: "Local Food to the Rescue"


Free public lecture Wed. June 30th, 7 PM
Central Carolina Community College, Building 2
764 West Street, Pittsboro

Before the lecture, tour the CCCC Student Farm with Joel -- 5:30 - 6:30
Refreshments -- 6:30 - 7:00
Sponsored by CCCC Sustainable Ag program, CCCC Natural Chef program, Carolina Farm Stewardship Assoc. and the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.
Info at www.cccc.edu and www.polyfacefarms.com

Safe Hens?

http://www.roseacre.com/cagesafe.html

Detroit Progressing Backwards, Local Food

www.democracynow.org/2010/6/24/detroit_urban_agriculture_movement_looks_to