UPCOMING EFAO WORKSHOPS, AND COURSES

Holistic Resource Management still Has a Few Spaces

As the newsletter went to press, there were still openings for a couple of farms in the Holistic Resource Management workshops. HRM is a process of planning and decision making. It starts with the farm family setting goals for themselves, their farm and their community. HRM then uses these goals to determine how to organize the farm's resources to meet the family's needs for profit and sustainability. Its potential as an ecologically sound method of planning and evaluation could be very useful on your farm. If you would like more information on the HRM workshop call Tony McQuail at (519) 528-2493.

Organic Vegetable Growing and Orcharding

This course will be held on Saturday, February 4, between 10:00am and 3:00pm, at the office of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority in Wroxeter. The cost is $15.00; please bring your own lunch. Presenters will include Bob Budd, Harold Saunders and Tony McQuail. Besides indepth coverage of the above topics, the presenters are hoping this will be an opportunity for a seed exchange as well - so bring your favourite (and your-less-than favourite) vegetable and flower seeds to trade.

The Business of Grazing

If you are grazing, if you are thinking about grazing, if you need some grazing equipment ideas, if you just need some mental stimulation or if you think that grazing is what you do at an OntarBio potluck, "The Business of Grazing" conference is for you. EFAO director Hubert Earl has worked hard organizing a one day conference on intensive pasture management for February 25, 1995 at the University of Guelph. It will start promptly at 9:00 a.m. Don Shaver of Shaver Beefblend will cover "What grazing can do for you!" University of Wisconsin economist, Larry Tranel, has the topic "Rotational grazing controls dairy costs." "Getting the most from your grass" will be the theme for Dr. E. Ann Clark, University of Guelph.

During lunch there will be opportunities to speak with fencing suppliers at their displays and to visit with the presenters. After lunch Hubert Earl, Addison, Ont. will discuss "Getting Started in Managed Rotational Grazing". We plan to have several fencing suppliers describe their equipment and explain how they would subdivide a sample farm and include costs. Paul Bickford, a dairyman from Ridgeway, Wisconsin will conclude the presentations with his talk "Maximizing Profits from Grass Dairying". The conference will end with a panel discussion involving all the presenters and questions from the audience.

The cost is $30 single or $40 couple if pre-registered by February 10, 1995. Late registrations and at the door will be $40 single and $50 couple. Make cheques payable to EFAO and send to Ruth Knight, EFAO, Box 127, Wroxeter, Ontario, N0G 2X0. Please indicate what livestock you pasture. Lunch is available at various cafeterias on the Guelph Campus or bring a lunch and graze at the fencing displays at the conference. It should be a great day to learn how to make the most of that soil building crop, pasture.

Ecological Forest Management on the Farm

This workshop is scheduled for Saturday, March 25, at the Institute Hall in St. Helen's. Registration begins at 9:30am; the course gets underway at 10:00 and continues to 3:00pm. The cost is $6.00 per person. Bring your own lunch. Coffee and muffins will be provided, as will information sheets on the topic. Presentation will help participants assess the health of their woodlot, and give suggestions on management practices to maintain or improve it. Presentations will be made by an ecologist, a tree inspector and a logger. A discussion on ecologically sound logging practices will be included. In the afternoon there will be a woodlot tour at Tony McQuail's (weather permitting) with Rene Schmitz. Rene is an EFAO member and a professional logger who trained in Switzerland (using horses).

(For a complete listing of upcoming EFAO events, please check the 1995 Calendar - see insert.)

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS

A Workshop in Synergistic Agriculture

This workshop is scheduled for January 13 to 15. The presenter is Emilia Hazelip, a French farmer who has studied the work of Masanobu Fukuoka, author of "The One Straw Revolution", for fifteen years. The cost ranges from $75 to $120 for the weekend and includes 3 vegetarian meals but no accommodations. It will be held at the office of Energy Conservation Society of Ontario, located at 80 Barbados Court in Scarborough. For complete information about this event contact Richard Griffith at 416-497-5746.

Vegetable Production For CSA's

This course will be held in Milverton, on January 18 and 25. For complete information contact Ivy Reeve at 519-395-8922.

A Day With Bernhard Hack

Back from his mission in Russia, Bernard Hack will be in Belfountain on January 21 to give one of his talks on growing things using bio-dynamic methods. (It's one you can never hear too often!) This talk will be for gardeners and farmers. He'll also give us a first-hand account of the grassroots level struggle in Russia. The cost is $10.00 per person, and this includes lunch and tea break.

Depending on the expected turnout, the location will either be at our home, just south of Belfountain; or the Belfountain Village Hall, just east of town. Please let us know ahead of time if you're coming, so we can book the hall if necessary. Last year so many unexpected people showed up, Bernhard almost had to hang from the ceiling. Call me, Mike Pembry at 905-838-2800, or fax 838-0214.

The Guelph Organic Conference

The event starts off Friday January 27, with a Public Forum at 7:00pm. The keynote speaker is Harriet Behar, the Marketing Director for Organic Valley- CROPP of Wisconsin. She'll address organic farmer networking and co-operation.

The workshops on Saturday January 28 including Pasture Management (via tele-conference) with Joel Salatin; Organic Dairy Market Development with Harriet Behar & Ted Zettel; Organic Dairy Farming Research with Dr. Peter Stonehouse: a video on Livestock Handling; Crop Rotation with Tony Vyn; Organic Soybean Production with Joe Scrimger; Can No-till Be Organic? with Doug Smith & Roger Samson; a panel discussion on Networking with Tony McQuail, Tomas Nimmo, Harold Saunders, Cathy McGregor-Smith & Phil Matheson; Market Trends with Harro Wehrmann; Certification with Anne Macey & Paul Lycett; a round table discussion of Transitional Strategies of the Organic Farm(er) lead by Jim Naish; Managing Field Margins and Waterways with Peter Kerwan & John Fitzgibbon; Flower and Seed Production with Ken McMullen; Tree Fruit Production with Bernie Solymar & Tony McQuail; CSA's with Mary Lou Morgan & Bernie Fox; and Market Gardening with Don Blakney. For full details contact Hugh Martin, OMAFRA (519)631-4700, or Tomas Nimmo, COG (705)444-0923.

OntarBio's Annual Banquet

This will be at the Formosa Community Centre on February 11. People are asked to gather at 11:00 am, the meal will be served at 12:00am. For more information about tickets etc. contact Joan Fischer at 519-881-1678.

An Introduction to Ecological Agriculture

Peter Leahy is organizing this course for the Peterborough area. It will be on March 10 & 11. For more information contact him at 705-652-1337.

Production Information Seminar

OntarBio will be presenting this in mid-March. For more details call Harro Wehrmann at 395-3126 or OntarBio at 369-5316.

Federal Business Development Bank Courses

The FBDB offers two courses which may be of value to our members. The first is "Farm Business Initiative". This series of sessions (10) is intended to identify alternate opportunities and improve business management skills and practices. This is being offered in Huron ($450) and Bruce ($330) Counties. "Rural Business Enhancement" is offered as a second tier of seminars (10) aimed at helping rural based businesses capture new markets or gain greater efficiency. This is also being offered in the Huron, Bruce and Perth area ($850). For full details contact the FBDB in Stratford at 1-800-265-2489, fax 519-271-8472.

Info Request | Services | Become EAP Member | Site Map

Give us your comments about the EAP site

Ecological Agriculture Projects, McGill University (Macdonald Campus)
Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9 Canada
Telephone: (514)-398-7771
Fax: (514)-398-7621

Email: info@eap.mcgill.ca

To report problems or otherwise comment on the structure of this site, send mail to the Webmaster