Renewable Energy Field Days!

The field days I wrote about are finally scheduled! When I posted about the process before I wasn't sure how long it would take. It turned into one of those situations in which you work and work and work and think you're making no progress, but one day, without warning, you find yourself with your goal in hand! Our networking efforts produced some great results: three of the field days are co-sponsored. Sincere thanks are due to Richard Gast of Franklin County Cooperative Extension, Molly Ames of Jefferson County CCE, and Dick Winnett of the Finger Lakes Resource Conservation & Development Council. Richard and Molly are members of the Small Farms Energy Work Team.

There are four field days scheduled. See the Small Farms Program website for more information.
July 25, 2009: Photovoltaic electric system at Happy Haven Farm, Mooers.
July 30, 2009: Photovoltaic electric system at Lilac Lawns Farm, Mannsville.
August 5, 2009: Off-grid solar, wind, and water energy at On Warren Pond Farm, Trumansburg.
August 6, 2009: Solar-powered livestock watering at Bob Bondi's farm, Pulteney.

The current challenge is publicizing the field days. Violet realized that our press list was last updated three years ago, so she's asked me to make sure that the contacts are current and to expand the list. While working on that project, I've brainstormed some other ideas for getting the word out. My favorites: posting fliers at county fairs, asking farmers' market managers to tell their vendors, and listing the field days on the Ithaca Journal events calendar. Publicity has already gone out through the newsletters of several organizations and people are starting to sign up!

Welcome to Your Small Farm

The 2009 4-H Career Explorations were held here on campus from June 30 through July 2. Violet and I were asked to lead one of the focus groups, called Exploring the Small Farm Dream. We led 13 teens and 4 chaperones in a discussion of the many farm-related careers and different possibilities for farming on a small scale on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, we visited Dilmun Hill (Cornell's student-run farm), Finger Lakes Farmstead Cheese, and Reisinger's Apple Country. We finished on Thursday morning by discussing the field trip and asking the group to reflect on their experiences.

Since everyone was so quiet in the vans on Wednesday, I was surprised and grateful when Thursday's discussion turned out to be lively. Visiting farms with different business models worked out well: it was easy and educational to compare their strengths and weaknesses. One group of teens recorded a video of the field trip. The highlight (of course) was getting the vans stuck in the mud.

If you're unfamiliar with 4-H, check this out.

Dilmun Hill put us to work:













The cheese was amazing!













Mr. Reisinger explains about thinning the fruit.