Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Leopold Notes October 2012

Notes from the Leopold Center Archive

OCTOBER IS FARM TO SCHOOL MONTH
Elementary students tending two Ames school gardens will celebrate their harvest and National Farm to School Month by hosting their own farmers markets. Sawyer Elementary School will have its first annual market and ribbon-cutting for its new garden on Thursday, October 4 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Additional produce and food will be available from local farmers and other vendors. Student-led garden tours and family activities are planned. A similar event will be Tuesday, October 9 at Kate Mitchell Elementary School, which attracted more than 500 people last year. Proceeds will support the gardens and the public is invited. Special grants from the Leopold Center and the Local Food and Farm Initiative have supported AmeriCorps and Iowa FoodCorps service members who have been working with schools in Story and Polk counties this year.

More about Leopold Center support of community gardens

More about Iowa Farm to School Month [PDF]

Sawyer Neighborhood Garden Facebook page

Kate Mitchell Community Garden Facebook page

National Farm to School Month website

NABBING NITRATES
The Leopold Center is among 13 co-sponsors of a new video series that shows how conservation practices remove nitrates from water. The videos were produced by M&M Divide Resource Conservation & Development based in west central Iowa. The Leopold Center also purchased DVDs for more than 200 high school and community college ag instructors to use in their classrooms.

Watch the videos on the Leopold Center website

Check out the M&M Divide RC&D website for Spanish translations (go to Projects page)


FARM ENERGY RESOURCES
The Iowa Farm Energy Working Group has created a One Stop Shop for resources on how to reduce fossil fuel use on farms, energy conservation, renewable energy, utility rebate programs and energy audits.

Learn more about this group and get a link to their new resource page

FOOD MARKETING RULES
The Leopold Center has a new summary of food rules that govern the sale of locally raised fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, honey, eggs and dairy products in Iowa. The guide also directs people to the appropriate agency or official who can answer specific questions or how to begin the licensing process.

Details here

BIOFUELS AND BIOMASS
Two new brochures offer findings from long-term research that has been supported by the Leopold Center’s Ecology Initiative. “Comparison of Biofuel Systems” looks at soil quality of various cropping systems to produce biofuel feedstock. “Landscape Biomass Experiment” factors in landscape position (from summit to floodplain) and various cropping systems for biomass production. Both consider the benefits and challenges of alternative cropping systems for future markets related to biofuels

More about "Comparison of  Biofuel Systems"

More about "Landscape Biomass Experiment"

PESEK COLLOQUIUM
You will not want to miss landscape ecologist Erle Ellis when he comes to Iowa State on Monday, October 29. An associate professor at the University of Maryland, Ellis will discuss our human footprint and how we can make it sustainable. His work has been featured on the Discovery Channel.

Details about the 2012 Pesek Colloquium

MORE EVENTS
October and November are loaded with fantastic events. Sustainable business guru Hunter Lovins will speak at the Iowa Environmental Council’s annual conference October 4. World Food Prize laureate Daniel Hillel will be in Ames on October 15. Novella Carpenter, who writes about urban ag from Oakland’s ghetto, will be at Central College in Pella on October 18. Growing Power founder and former NBA star Will Allen (and our own Fred Kirschenmann) will keynote the Iowa Organic Conference November 18-19 in Iowa City.

Search by date on our web calendar

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