A Look
at the Culture in Agri-culture: Tours of the Whiterock Conservancy and The
Homestead
FULL DAY TOUR
Explore what could become Iowa's largest nature preserve and research center
-- more than 5,000 acres of rolling pastures, timbered bluffs and patches of
native prairie and oak savannah along the banks of the Middle Raccoon River
near Coon Rapids. Established in 2005, the conservancy seeks to manage land
in ways that are friendly to wildlife and native plants, while incorporating
sustainable agricultural practices such as rotational grazing. Whiterock was
chosen as one of Iowa's first three ''Great Places'' and offers a variety of
low-impact recreation activities including biking, bird-watching, canoeing,
stargazing, camping and horseback riding.
Morning activities and lunch will be held at Whiterock in the historic Garst
barn. The tour will then travel to The Homestead near Runnells. This unique
community provides training and support for adults with autism. The
community operates a chemical-free apple orchard and Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA) program, and sells produce to restaurants and the public.
More about Whiterock Conservancy
www.whiterockconservancy.org
More about the Leopold Center project at The Homestead
http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/nwl/2000/2000-4-leoletter/orchard.htm
The Homestead
www.thehomestead.org
FULL DAY TOUR
The Leopold Center has been a key force behind development of a stronger
local food economy in northeast Iowa. Last year, 27 institutional food
buyers in Black Hawk County purchased $671,000 in local foods from nearby
farms and processors. On this tour you will meet the farmers, grocery
owners, restaurant managers and processors who are building new economic
relationships around local foods.
This tour includes stops at Roots Market in Cedar Falls and Hansen's Farm
Fresh Dairy in Hudson. Lunch will be provided at Rudy's Tacos, the site of
some of Iowa's pioneering local food meals, followed by a special treat on
the way back to Ames.
More about the UNI Local Food Project
http://www.uni.edu/ceee/foodproject/
Hansen's Farm Fresh Dairy
http://www.hansendairy.com
HALF DAY TOUR - MORNING
This morning tour will include landscape-scale solutions for water quality
improvement as well as pocket plantings in urban areas with the same goals
in mind. At the nationally recognized Bear Creek Watershed, you'll see one
of the nation's oldest riparian research projects established by the Leopold
Center's Agroecology Issue Team in 1990. Mature streamside plantings have
transformed the area, adding wildlife habitat, diversity and now a potential
source for biomass. In a unique partnership, Iowa State University
researchers worked with eight farmland owners to restore both sides of Bear
Creek.
On a much smaller scale in an urban setting, homeowners also can help
improve water quality by planting rain gardens. You'll visit a newly planted
demonstration garden on land owned by the City of Ames. Rain gardens use
native species that can tolerate both drought and brief periods of flooding.
They serve to filter many urban pollutants and help redirect storm water.
More about the Bear Creek project and buffers
http://www.buffer.forestry.iastate.edu
More about the Ames Rain Garden project
http://www.prrcd.org/RainGardenInformation.htm
HALF DAY TOUR - MORNING
This morning tour includes a visit to the Biomass Energy Conversion Center (BECON)
in Nevada followed by a field crop walk. At BECON we will see and learn
about new technologies for products and processes beyond corn ethanol and
learn about key biomass issues that influence Iowa's bioeconomy choices.
Following the processing we'll re-board the bus and head out to the land for
a walking tour of possible future biomass crops. We'll look at plots with
different kinds of crops that may form the backbone of our Iowa biomass
future, and learn about what it may take for farmers to grow them..
More about BECON
http://www.energy.iastate.edu/becon/
Matt Liebman and alternative cropping
http://www.plantsciences.iastate.edu/newsletter/2007-04/cusp.html
HALF DAY TOUR - AFTERNOON
Most of the gratifying things in life demand so little - family, friends,
food and the "nectar of the gods"... wine. Join us as we learn the latest in
on-farm viticulture research and then taste the end products at a local
organic winery. Surely this is evidence that the simple things satisfy best.
This afternoon tour will take us a short distance north of Ames. During the
first part of the tour we will stop at the Iowa State University
Horticulture Research Station to see grape cultivar trials and various
management techniques. Then we will travel to a commercial production
facility at Prairie Moon Winery. Here we will experience first-hand the
production intricacies of a successful vineyard - from soil to bottle.
ISU Viticulture Research
http://viticulture.hort.iastate.edu/
Prairie Moon Winery
http://www.prairiemoonwinery.com/
