Where's this MALT sign?
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Can you identify where this photo of a MALT sign was taken? The first person to email us with the correct answer will receive a MALT totebag!
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Fall Hikes & Tours
| Friday, September 10
 Save on airfare and get a taste of Tuscany right here in Northern California! Tour the McEvoy Olive Ranch, where 16,000 organic olive trees thrive in a spectacular valley near the Marin-Sonoma border. Walk among the orchards, learn about olive growing, and tour the pressing facility to see how olives are transformed into oil. Afterwards, taste and purchase olive oil and a variety of related products. Pre-registration required. $40 / $30 MALT members.
Register now.
Saturday, September 18
 Join fourth generation rancher David Evans, owner of Marin Sun Farms, for a tour of the Rogers Ranch where he raises grass-fed beef and pastured chickens. Learn about his family history and how the creation of his business supports local ranchers. After the tour, we will eat lunch at the Marin Sun Farms restaurant and butcher shop in Point Reyes Station. Pre-registration required (lunch included). $50 /
$40 MALT members.
Register now
See all of the new Fall Hikes & Tours
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 LTA
Accreditation!
WE DID IT!! After two years of difficult and time consuming work, on August 4, 2010, MALT earned accreditation from The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the
Land Trust Alliance. MALT joins 104 other land trusts from across the country, including 11 from California, that have been awarded accreditation since the
fall of 2008.
"Becoming accredited was a major goal for MALT this year, and we are very proud of this recognition," said MALT Executive Director Robert Berner. "For 30 years, we have believed in setting high standards for our agricultural land preservation program and stewardship practices and have held ourselves to a very high bar. Accreditation means we conduct our work in an effective and ethical way, that we have the organizational and financial resources to promise that we can care for our agricultural easement properties in perpetuity, and that donors can be certain their contributions will be invested carefully to protect working farm and ranch land in Marin County forever." Read more.
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 30th Anniversary Celebration at the Gale Ranch
Celebrate MALT's 30th anniversary on the Gale family's diversified ranch. Walk along Chileno Creek Ranch with Sally Gale, a fifth generation West Marin rancher. Hike the hills with Mike Gale to meet the grass-fed beef cattle that he raises and markets directly to consumers. Pick heirloom apples that we'll pair with local cheese. Learn why MALT, diversification, and direct marketing are essential to the survival of Marin family farms. Eggs, apples, tomatoes, and beef will be for sale. Pre-registration required.
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Photo: Gale Ranch photo by Chileno Valley Ranch
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Our Newest Easement
"Sheep ranching has to be born into you," Stan Mazzucchi says of growing up on his family's sheep ranch. "I can remember being four years old, riding on the saddle horse with my mom in the wind and the rain, bringing the sheep down off the hills during lambing season." Stan represents the third generation of ranchers in his family, who have been sheep ranchers and dairymen in the Valley Ford area since the 1920s.
One June 30, MALT purchased an agricultural conservation easement on the 215-acre Mazzucchi Ranch, located just south of Valley Ford, and adjacent to the scenic and environmentally sensitive Estero Americano. Owners Stan Mazzucchi and his sister Loretta Bidaurreta currently live on the ranch, originally purchased by their parents in 1964 after a number of years leasing the property to raise sheep. Read the full story here.
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New Faces Around the Office
 New Administrative Assistant Lynn Figone brings her personal agricultural perspective to MALT through her experience working and volunteering for organizations like the Lake County Farm Bureau, California
Women for Agriculture and American Agri Women. She has two children who are in 4H and compete in animal
husbandry events. Lynn created the
California Women for Agriculture Facebook page and regularly blogs for the
AG4You blog, which she co-created with Celeste Cettrini, a fellow CWA member. Lynn says that "MALT is the
next logical step in my pursuits in working to preserve farmland for future
generations, including my own children." She also brings a great smile to our office. When in Point Reyes Station, stop by and say hello to Lynn!
 Roana Tirado joined MALT as Stewardship
Associate in May 2010. Roana holds the
responsibility of annually monitoring working ranchlands protected by
conservation easements, along with extensive GIS mapping, spatial and site suitability analysis. "To me, it is meaningful to hear the landowner story and build a relationship where we can work together to steward and preserve the agricultural value of the land." Before coming to MALT, Roana worked as the Park Planning Technician
for Sonoma County Regional Parks and as a designer for landscape
architecture and planning firms both abroad and in the Bay Area. She holds a
B.A. in Landscape Architecture and City Planning from the University of
California, Berkeley.
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Photos: Lynn Figone and Roana Tirado by Hope Ratner
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A Taste of MALT for Your Table
 Many of the farmers and
ranchers whose land is permanently protected with a MALT agricultural
conservation
easement sell directly to consumers from their properties, websites, direct delivery and at local stores such as Whole Foods.
- In addition to their u - pick apple orchard, Mike & Sally Gale sell their Chileno Valley Ranch beef directly from their website.
- Loren and Lisa
Poncia bring modern
marketing and technology to their direct selling of beef and lamb from Stemple Creek Ranch.
- When driving along Point Reyes - Petaluma Road, stop by Kitty Dolcini' s Red Hill Farm road side stand and pick up fresh, locally grown produce and flowers.
- Marin Sun Farms is an excellent source for purchasing Bill Barboni's grass-fed, grass-finished beef.
- The Nicasio Valley Cheese Co.
draws on the Italian Swiss heritage of its owners, the LaFranchi family. You can buy their cheeses at the creamery in Nicasio and at local markets throughout the Bay Area.
- You can find Basque sheep cheeses created by Marcia Barinaga at her MALT-protected ranch at Cowgirl Creamery and Whole Foods.
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Photo: Gale Ranch eggs by Elisabeth Ptak
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Farmers Diversify for Farm & Planet
 Join MALT, the Agricultural Institute of Marin, and Bioneers on Thursday, October 14th to explore three diversified family farms and ranches in Marin County. Learn how value-added products and techniques to sequester carbon are helping farmers tackle challenges as basic as financial viability, and as complex as global climate change.
The day will begin with a behind the scenes look at the Thursday Marin Farmers Market, followed by a tour of Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, AllStar Organics, and the Marin Carbon Project.
The
tour will include talks on Marin agriculture and farmland preservation
by Constance Washburn, Education Director at MALT. A delicious locally procured lunch and transportation for the day will be provided.
Farmers Diversify Field Trip
October 14th, 2010, 9 am - 5 pm
Cost: $125
Register now, as space is limited
Bioneers is a premiere environmental conference that features social and scientific innovators sharing new ideas and tools that enable people to create positive change in their own communities. The conference takes place October 15th-17th at the Marin Center in San Rafael - check out their line-up for 2010.
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A Sneak Peek at Our New Look
Be on the lookout for MALT's new logo, making its debut in mid-September. Developed for us pro-bono as part of a Taproot Foundation grant, our new look celebrates the 30th anniversary of MALT and our commitment to its exciting future. See a preview and read all about it in our Fall newsletter and let us know what you think!
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